Lessons · Network switches · an office closet, not a plant floor

A desk port and a machine port are configured for different lives

People and their devices move; a machine stays where it was bolted. So an office port is configured for a role and a plant port for one specific thing.

Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

It changes what you check after a swap. On a desk port there are usually three lines doing three jobs, and a restore can land some of them.

How to think about it

Same commands either way. What differs is how many of them one port needs.

Worked example

enable

In.

configure terminal

Configuring.

interface gi0/1

An office desk.

switchport mode access

One VLAN, untagged.

switchport access vlan 10

Data for whoever sits there.

switchport voice vlan 20

And voice, for the phone in front of them.

spanning-tree portfast

So a PC that boots gets an address before it gives up.

exit

Out.

interface gi0/2

A machine cell, on the same switch.

switchport mode access

One VLAN.

switchport access vlan 40

One job. It will be doing it in ten years.

end

Done.

show interfaces status

Two ports, two lives, one command set.

Your turn

Put the phone's traffic on VLAN 20 on this port.

switchport  vlan 20

The trap

Expecting different commands in an office. The console is the same; the number of jobs per port is not.

Practise an office closet, not a plant floor on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.