Loop protection on trunk ports

[Maaruis]

Hello, We've encountered a problem with loop protection. We would like to ask for help regarding our situation.

We are trying to make sure our network is protected against loops, however we mainly run switches which do not have STP or Loop protection. Below is an example how our network looks like:

Switches A,B,C,D(I have decreased the number of switches for simplicity) are Procurve 1800-24G (J9028B), Switches E,I are HP 1810-48G (J9660A) which do have Loop protection, but no STP.  

If a loop occurs on one of the A,B,C,D switches, we would like to configure it in a way so that it would only affect that one switch. For example, if a loop occurs on Switch A, we would like it to affect only the Switch A and not the whole network.  

The main problem is that we cannot turn on Loop protection on trunk ports. Is there a way to solve this?

Thank you in advance.

P.S. This thread has been moved from ProCurve / ProVision-Based to Web and Unmanaged. - Hp Forum moderator

[Vince-Whirlwind]

Nice diagram.

The way I use Loop Protection is to enable it globally on the lowest switch in the hierarchy where STP is supported.

So in your diagram, loop protection would be globally enabled on SW I.

The effect of this is that if a Loop occurs on Switch A, then SW I will disable its uplink port to Switch A, thus protecting the rest of the network from the loop on Switch A.

Switch E and Switch I should have STP enabled.

[Maaruis]

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, we have thought of the STP protocol to prevent loops, however our switches do not support STP, they only support Loop Protection. The specifications on HP 1810 switches say that they do support STP, but there is no STP configuration in the web menu, so we cannot configure STP in a way the we would want to.

[Vince-Whirlwind]

The 1810 manual says,

"To display the Spanning Tree configuration page, click Switching > Spanning Tree in the navigation pane."

How recent is the firmware you have on these two things?

[Maaruis]

Thank you for your reply.

I have read other threads on HP forums where people encountered the same problem, the problem that STP configuration isn't there. Most of the solutions on those threads are that HP V1810 doesn't support STP.

Checking this manual, there is no option for STP at all : http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c02879282

The version of our switches are PK.1.15. Newest one is PK.1.18, but there is no STP configuration integration in the release notes of the new version.

[showneek]

STP and RSTP is available only with v2 switch models...

J9802A HP 1810-8G v2 Switch
J9803A HP 1810-24G v2 Switch
J9800A HP 1810-8 v2 Switch
J9801A HP 1810-24 v2 Switch

BR,

Jan

[Vince-Whirlwind]

Ah, that explains it.

I'd replace Switch I with something a bit more usable.

[Maaruis]

Replacing the switch is always an option, but is there any other way?