1810G-8 didn't work when installed in network, suspect STP issue

[jb_wisemo]

Hi,

We recently purchased the much recommended (at other sites) 1810G-8 managed switch to sit between our backbone D-link switch (a DGS-1248T) and a small group of servers etc.  Some of the servers run virtual machines, so the number of MACs is larger than the number of ports.  There is also a somewhat complex VLAN setup, with different ports belonging to different combinations of VLANs.  All VLANs are tagged on ports with more than one VLAN.  Ports with only one VLAN are untagged members of that VLAN.  VLAN 1 is not used at all.

After a month of planning and after configuring the 1810G with a direct connection to a workstation, this morning it was time to install it in the network, replacing separate cabling from each server to the backbone switch.

What a let-down.

Pinging anything behind the 1810G-8, or even the 1810G-8 itself from a workstation attached to the D-Link would time out.  Replacing the 2 port trunk with 2 VLANs between the D-Link and the 1810G-8 by a single link to an 1810G-8 port which was alone untagged in the main management lan (thus disconnecting the server that should have used that port) did not help.  Varying the STP mode on the D-Link did not help.

Googling for various combinations of keywords turned up a nasty surprise:It appears that the 1810G-8 is one of the few switches still in production without STP support.  One forum dedicated to users of a particular application (which I don't use) actually discussed adding the 18xx-series back onto their blacklist of never-use-these-switches.  HP had an obscure "support article"/FAQ entry flatly stating that the 1810G-8 doesn't support STP, which was so well buried that I didn't see it until the network had already failed.

For now I have reestablished the old direct cabling solution and taken the 1810G-8 out of production, but I sure hope there is some way to salvage the planned setup.

I am I right in assuming the total loss of connectivity from the D-Link to the 1810G-8 is due to the lack of STP support in the 1810G-8, or is there some other issue that can cause this failure mode?

[MelBeckman]

Yes, the connectivity loss was almost certainly due to the HP switch's lack of STP.

HP has two similar switches, the 1810G-8 (J9449A) and the 1810-8G (J9802A). The 1810G-8 DOES NOT support spanning-tree protocol (STP), which is critical for safe operation of the switch in a multi-switch environment, while the almost identically priced (and confusingly named) 1810-G8 does . I accidentally ordered ten of the bad bad bad 1810G-8 switches and put them into a network and chaos ensued. Why HP sells the non-STP switch is beyond me, especially given the confusingly similar product names. Worse, the documentation does not make any distinction between the two switch models, giving the impression that they both support STP. HP, PLEASE STOP THIS IDIOCY AND REMOVE THE BAD SWITCHES FROM THE CHANNEL!