Help isolating a switch

[shad21]

Hey guys, I have little problem that I need help troubleshooting. The company I work for has this client that has about 28 switches onsite, now the problem is one building is always dropping internet statues about every 5 or 10 minutes...sometimes even a couple hours at a time.
I called the local internet provider and they said no issues with fiber in the area, so I isolated the problem to a switch on one side of the property... Now I could just plug out one plug at a time and see whats causing the problem but its 4 x48 port switches on that side of the property.

Is there a way I can further diagnose the problem? It just started about 4 days ago...the property manager said that they was power outages in the area earlier so maybe something on the network is not stable maybe??? They are all POE switches btw 


shad21

[Dieselboy]

Do a mac level trace out to the internet and draw yourself a network diagram with each switch and physical ports. Check the ports for speed and duplex states. Set up a bunch of pings and then wait for the internet to drop and see which if your pings are failing.

How are the 28 switches connected together? I wonder if the problem is spanning tree..

[shad21]

There is about 9 houses on the property and all is connecting back to the main villa with fiber directly.... there is however a split in the middle of the property which connects the beach house to the main villa... I tested the fiber and lights passing through fine. Will try what you said on monday when I get back onsite. If you have any other ideas I'm all ears. Thank you


shad21

[Dieselboy]

If it's fibre then may be one of the links are erroring. Start at one side and trace out the entire network. If it's all layer 2 then draw out the spanning tree topology - you'll need the network diagram anyway. While doing this, check the interfaces for errors or any counters that shouldn't be incrementing.
Once you've done that you might be able to ping 8.8.8.8 and then the switches in between up and the router / firewall and the next hop up beyond the firewall. Basically, when the issue hits; take a look at all your pings and work out which ones dropped and which didn't. It should help you identify where the problem is roughly.

[deanwebb]

Can the site get auxiliary power to assist when there are power outages? Outages can also go along with "dirty power" when the current is variable in the main line. Auxiliary power schemes usually also come with "clean power" features to help smooth out dips and spikes on main line current.

Bad power can certainly lead to erratic device function and behavior, eventually leading to degradation and loss of equipment.

[shad21]

*Update* Thanks for the help guys....really appreciate it. As for issue I might have found the solution but not 100 percent sure, there is a amx processor in each house on the property that controls each unit like light,music,pool,doors,cameras etc......the amx for the beach villa was acting very funny when I was testing the fiber link...it would all of a sudden just go blank when i disconnect the fiber which was bringing the internet in. That should not happen because its a p.o.e device on the network and should not need the internet to work however....

Maybe how it was configure but somethings definitely wrong....I emailed the head IT guy for the site because he lives in new jersey but still no response. At this point I will have to wait because he has everything configure and lock up.. Also I moved the amx to a different port on a different switch and the internet has not drop since...I still would like to know why but will have to wait..

Thanks for the help guys