How to interconnect 2 switches (Cisco/Dell) with trunks

cisco dell vlan switch

14,283

Solution 1

You don't need trunking at all - the two VLAN's are running on separate cables and you aren't using 802.1q on the Dell side.

The same commands you're using on the Dell (switchport access vlan xxx) will work on the Cisco side as well, as the syntax is actually derived from (read: copied) Cisco.

Solution 2

Configure the Cisco side just like the dell side. Instead of switchport trunk native vlan 10 use switchport access vlan 10 and switchport mode access. If you wanted to trunk the VLANs you would use a single cable and run both VLANs across that cable. This configuration is just a couple of access ports.

14,283

Disco

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Disco over 1 year
In order to migrate to a new rack inside the datacenter I have to replicate the VLAN setup between a Cisco Switch and a Dell PowerConnect Swithch.

On the Dell Switch I have 2 VLANs :

vlan 10 : WAN vlan 20 : MGMT

On the Cisco Switch i have created the same VLANs and set up different port range

vlan10 : Ports 1-12 vlan20 : Ports 13-24

Like this example:
```
interface gigabitethernet2                            
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 10
exit
```
The Cisco and the Dell switch are patched like this :
```
Dell (Port 13) ---> Cisco (Port 1)  - VLAN 10
Dell (Port 22) ---> Cisco (Port 13) - VLAN 20
```
Here are the port configs CISCO side :
```
interface gigabitethernet1
switchport trunk native vlan 10
exit
interface gigabitethernet13
switchport trunk native vlan 20
exit
```
And on the DELL SIDE:
```
interface gigabitethernet1/0/13
 switchport access vlan 10
!
interface gigabitethernet1/0/22
 switchport access vlan 20
!
```
Now, i can ping anything that is on vlan20; but cannot ping anything on the vlan10. I'm pulling my hairs out; what is wrong here ?
- Mike Pennington almost 12 years
  
  I just replicated your topology in the lab, I have a powerconnect 8024 and a Cisco 4948 connected with two Cat6 cables. I put one set or ports in access vlan 10 on both sides, the other ports in access vlan 20 on both sides. Then I added interface vlan 10 and interface vlan 20 with different IPv4 subnets assigned to each vlan. I have no problems pinging between those two vlan interfaces on the Cisco and PowerConnect
Disco almost 12 years

thanks; i think i've tried that already but didn't work; and in order to use a trunk; do i have to setup the port as a trunk on both switches ?
resmon6 almost 12 years

yes that is correct. if you wanted to trunk you would set switchport mode trunk and then switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20 on both switches.
Disco almost 12 years

I've tried as suggested; both sides on port 13(Dell) and 1(Cisco); it won't let me do it, after a few seconds i get : %CDP-W-NATIVE_VLAN_MISMATCH: Native VLAN mismatch detected on interface gi1 (on the cisco)
Disco almost 12 years

and for some reason i see : "%LINK-I-Up: Vlan 1" when I enable the trunk on port 1 (cisco side) why the hell Vlan 1 here ...
Disco almost 12 years

oh one more think; if i put 2 cables; same configuration will it work too ? or is this only valid for 1 link ?
Shanmugalakshmi almost 12 years

@Disco - Yes, you can configure both of those links the same way, and then you'll get some redundancy, too. However, it's very important that spanning-tree (STP) be running on those switches (should be by default), otherwise you would create a loop. Some form of show spanning-tree on each switch will probably give you more details.