The Common Software Failure of the industrial Ehernet switch

The software failure of the industrial ethernet switch refers to the failure of the system and its configuration. When it is found that the Industrial Switch has a problem in communication and it is suspected that the industrial switch has a problem, how should we deal with it?

(1) System error:

Industrial switch system is a combination of hardware and software. There is a refreshable read-only memory inside the industrial switch, which stores the necessary software system of the industrial switch. This kind of error is also the same as our common windows and Linux. Due to the design reasons at that time, there are some loopholes. When the conditions are appropriate, it will lead to full load, packet loss, wrong packet and other situations of industrial Ethernet switch. Therefore, the industrial switch system provides ways such as web and TFTP to download and update the system. Of course, errors may also occur when upgrading the system.

For such problems, we need to form the habit of browsing the website of equipment manufacturers frequently. If there is a new system or a new patch, please update it in time.

(2) Improper configuration:

Beginners are not familiar with industrial switches, or because various industrial switches are configured differently, administrators often make configuration errors when configuring industrial switches. For example, incorrect VLAN division leads to network failure, ports are wrongly closed, and the mode configuration of industrial switches and network cards do not match. This kind of fault is sometimes difficult to find and requires certain experience accumulation. If you cannot ensure that there is a problem with the user's configuration, please restore the factory default configuration first, and then configure it step by step. It is best to read the manual before configuration, which is also one of the habits that network management should develop. Each industrial switch has a detailed installation manual and user manual, and there are detailed explanations for each type of module. Since many manuals of industrial switches are written in English, users with poor English can consult the supplier's engineers before making specific configuration.

(3) Password lost:

This may be what every administrator has experienced. Once you forget your password, you can restore or reset the system password through certain operating steps. Some are relatively simple. Just press a button on the industrial ethernet switch. While others can only be solved through certain operation steps.

(4) External factors:

Due to the existence of virus or hacker attacks, it is possible that a host may send a large number of data packets that do not comply with the packaging rules to the connected port, causing the processor of the industrial ethernet switch to be too busy, so that the data packets cannot be forwarded, resulting in buffer overflow and packet loss. Another case is broadcast storm, which will not only occupy a lot of network bandwidth, but also occupy a lot of CPU processing time. If the network is occupied by a large number of broadcast packets for a long time, the normal point-to-point communication cannot be carried out normally, and the network speed will slow down or paralyze.

Failure of a network card or a port may trigger a broadcast storm. Because the industrial ethernet switch can only divide the conflict domain, but not the broadcast domain (without VLAN Division), when the number of broadcast packets accounts for 30% of the total communication, the transmission efficiency of the network will be significantly reduced.

Generally speaking, it takes more time to find faults than hardware, but it takes more time to solve them. It's best to form the habit of recording logs in your daily work. When faults occur, analyze and summarize their own fault phenomena and solutions in time. For example, sometimes during configuration, due to various reasons, the network was not affected or problems were not found at that time, but maybe the problems will gradually appear in a few days. If there are log records, you can think of whether there are errors in the configuration of the previous few days. Because this point is often ignored, I think there are problems in other aspects. After taking many detours, I can find the problem. Therefore, it is very necessary to record logs and maintain information.