MS120-8P switch problem

[Qing]

Hi, have some questions on ms120-8p switch

1. how to set static ip address for a new ms120-8p switch? 

    connect laptop to ms120, cannot get IP address , DHCP seems not working. 

2. if configure two VLANs on ms120-8p, 1 VLAN is used for wan connection, and another VLAN used for LAN connection and set management IP same as one LAN VLAN (this VLAN has internet access), then ms120-8p offline in dashboard. For normal Cisco switch, there should be no problem, but ms120-8p seems network looping occurs. 

Please advise, thanks in advance. 

[BrechtSchamp · Accepted solution]

1. The easiest way is through the dashboard. This only works if your switch can connect to the dashboard of course (using an IP address it received from a DHCP server). To do this, just claim the device using the "Organization/Inventory" page. After claiming it will show up in your "Switch/Switches" list. Just click on it and in the page that comes up just click on the small pencil next to the IP. There you'll be able to change the IP.

If it can't connect to the dashboard (for example because it needs a specific DNS server or gateway to be able to get out to the internet) you'll have to do it using the local status page:

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Using_the_Cisco_M...

2. Not sure what you mean. The IP you set in the previous step is only relevant on the Management VLAN, which by default has id 1. Are you talking about the "Addressing & VLANs" setting in the "Security & SD-WAN" menu by any chance? That is for the MX, not for the switch. The switch can have a trunk to the MX, but it's a layer 2 switch so it will not have an IP address of its own on the VLANs.

[NolanHerring]

For the sake of curiosity, why do you want to use a static IP?

If you are trying to do it via local access, you will need to follow the guide here:

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Using_the_Cisco_M...

Either go to http://switch.meraki.com

Or you will need to configure your computer with the following:

1.1.1.99

255.255.255.0

Then you should be able to access 1.1.1.100 (switch IP)

If the switch is able to reach the cloud, then you can configure it here:

What device is the MS120 connecting to? Does that device have the same VLANs?

[Qing]

Thanks for both of you kind reply. 

The MS120-8p  works as wan switch, port 1 is configured as vlan 100, and  connected to HP msa router. MS120-p port 2 is also configured to vlan 100, and connect to mx84. MS120 port 8 is configured to VLAN 200, and connected to LAN core switch one port, which is also VLAN 200. LAN vlan 200 can access internet. MS120-8p vlan 200 ip address is used to register on dashboard, but this actually not working, dashboard displays MS120-8p offline. Please advise what the possible cause. Thanks.

[Dillon]

Does your VLAN200 have internet access? And if so, is the IP address for the Meraki switch behind something doing NAT?

[BrechtSchamp]

In what subnet did you put the switch's IP?

If it's an IP in the VLAN 200 subnet, and the management VLAN on the switch is set to 1 (the default) and you don't allow VLAN 1 to cross the link to your MX (which from your description only allows VLAN 100) then the switch will not ba able to access the internet via MX84 NATing. It simply won't reach the VLAN. So change the port configuration on the MS (port 😎 to allow VLAN 1 (and VLAN 1 should also be defined on the MX, which it by default is).

If it is in a subnet that gets NATed by the HP Router then that might work too, but then you'll have to change the management VLAN on the switch to VLAN 200.

[Qing]

yes, the core switch is behind MX84, and vlan 200 can access internet. This means that MS120 use vlan 200 as management vlan, but this configuration doesn't work properly. MS120 cannot reach internet, don't know why

[NolanHerring]

Can you provide screenshots of how you have the local status page configured. Assuming its never actually connected to the cloud yet?

[Dillon]

From the tools page of the MX, can you ping the MS? I would also look through the logs of the MX and see if you can see anything in the logs. You can filter by types or filter by the MAC address of the MS switch port.

[PeteMoy]

I just finished trying to configure a static IP for an MS-120 and what a frustrating experience.

I was unable to bring up the local screen for configuring a static IP address.  Let me explain.

This switch will serve as the "outside" switch where a new ISP for the office will land in.  They gave us a /29 range.  All well and good, but I needed to assigned a static IP for this switch.

The main issue is that this switch has no dedicated management port.  With a mgmt port, I could wire right into that an kick off a local GUI to configure a static IP for the switch.  The instructions say to plug into any switch port and goto my.meraki.com or http://1.1.1.100 and off you go.  

Well, not that simple, I was unable to bring up the local config screen no matter what port I tried.

I didn't think of assigning my laptop an IP of 1.1.1.99 like @NolanHerring said because I didn't see this mentioned anywhere in the documentation!

Here is what I ended up doing.

1. The office already has a working Meraki network.  I added this switch to the site

2. I was sitting at home with this switch.  I was planning to assigned it a local IP address and bring it to the office later this week for installation.

3. I booted the switch as a DHCP client on my home network.  It got an IP address and connected to the cloud.  The GUI for my office network saw the switch.

4. At this point, I could configure a static IP via the GUI but I would have no real confirmation that the IP's took because as soon as the local IP of the switch is changed, it will disconnect from the cloud.  Chicken and egg scenario.

So at this point I had one port of the new switch connected to my home network and the switch was visible on my office network.  I still wanted to configure a static IP for this switch.  What to do?

From the GUI, I changed all the ports from trunk to access except for the uplink connection.

I connected an ethernet cord from my laptop to the switch and tried the http://1.1.1.100 and sure enough it came up this time!

Now the ID and password are not the Serial # anymore because it's already connected to my office LAN so I had to use the admin password to get into the local GUI.  

Finally I was into the local GUI of the MS-120 and was able to configure a static IP.

Now the real test will be tomorrow when I connect the new ISP handoff to this switch and see if it's able to get back to the cloud!

As soon as I think I've seen it all with Meraki, something else comes along to surprise me.

[BrechtSchamp]

Hi Pete, you must've missed it:

Source:

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Using_the_Cisco_M...

That page is also linked to from this page:

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Using_the_Cisco_M...

From a networking standpoint it's kind of logical. If there is no DHCP server available you need to set your own IP address. And to be able to reach the switch it needs to be in the same range.

Good that it worked out in the end!

[Karabas]

I once had a similar problem, but now everything is working, I hope that the developers have fixed it.