Advantech Switches – What Are the Hardware Failures of Switches?

Hardware failure of the switch:

(1) Power failure:

The power supply is damaged or the fan stops due to unstable external power supply, aging power lines, lightning strikes, etc., and the fan cannot work properly. It is not uncommon for other parts of the aircraft to be damaged due to the power supply.

If the POWER indicator on the panel is green, it means normal; If the light is off, the switch is not powered properly. This kind of problem is easy to find, easy to solve, and easy to prevent.

For this kind of fault, the first thing to do is to do a good job of external power supply, generally by introducing independent power lines to provide independent power supply, and adding voltage regulators to avoid instantaneous high or low voltage phenomenon. If conditions permit, you can add UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to ensure the normal power supply of the switch, some UPS provides voltage stabilization function, and some do not, pay attention to the selection. Set up professional lightning protection measures in the equipment room to avoid lightning damage to the switch. Nowadays, there are many professional companies that do lightning protection engineering, which can be considered when implementing network cabling.

(2) Port failure:

This is a common hardware failure, whether it is an S fiber port or an RJ-45 port of a twisted pair, you must be careful when plugging and unplugging the connector. If you accidentally stain the fiber optic plug, it may cause the fiber optic port to be contaminated and unable to communicate properly. We often see a lot of people who like live plug-in connectors, which is theoretically possible, but this also inadvertently increases the failure rate of the port. Carelessness during handling can also lead to physical damage to the port. If the purchased crystal head is too large, it is easy to damage the port when plugged into the switch. In addition, if a section of twisted pair cable connected to a port is exposed to the outdoors, if the cable is struck by lightning, it can cause the connected switch port to be broken, or cause even more unforeseen damage.

In most cases, a port fault is when one or more ports are damaged. Therefore, after eliminating the fault of the computer connected to the port, you can determine whether it is damaged by replacing the connected port. In case of such failures, you can clean the port with an alcohol cotton ball after the power is turned off. If the port is indeed damaged, the only way to do it is to replace it.

(3) Module failure:

A switch is composed of many modules, such as stacking modules, management modules (also called control modules), and expansion modules. There is a small chance that these modules will fail, but if they do occur, they can suffer huge financial losses. Such failures can occur if the module is accidentally plugged and unplugged, or if the switch is bumped while transporting the switch, or if the power supply is unstable.

Of course, the three modules mentioned above have external interfaces, which are relatively easy to identify, and some can also identify faults through the indicator lights on the modules. For example, a stacked module has a flat trapezoidal port, or some switches have a USB-like interface. There is a CONSOLE port on the management module, which is used to establish a connection with the network management computer for easy management. If the expansion module S is connected to optical fiber, there will be a pair of optical fiber interfaces.

When troubleshooting such faults, first ensure that the power supply of the switch and module is normal, then check whether each module is plugged in the correct position, and then check whether the cable connecting the module is normal. When connecting the management module, it is also necessary to consider whether it adopts the specified connection rate, whether it has parity, whether there is data flow control and other factors. When connecting an expansion module, it is necessary to check whether the communication mode is matched, e.g. whether to use full-duplex mode or half-duplex mode. Of course, if it is confirmed that the module is faulty, there is only one way to solve it, and that is to contact the supplier immediately to replace it.

(4) Backplane failure:

The individual modules of the switch are plugged into the backplane. If the environment is humid, the circuit board is short-circuited due to moisture, or the components are damaged due to high temperatures, lightning strikes and other factors, the circuit board will not work properly. For example, the heat dissipation performance is not good or the ambient temperature is too high, which causes the temperature in the machine to rise, which means that the components will burn out.

In the case of normal power supply of external power supply, if the internal modules of the switch are not working normally, it may be that the backplane is broken, even if the electrical maintenance engineer has no choice but to replace the backplane.

(5) Cable failure:

In fact, theoretically speaking, this kind of fault does not belong to the fault of the switch itself, but in actual use, cable faults often cause the switch system or port to fail to work normally, so this kind of fault is also classified as a switch hardware fault. For example, the connector is not tightly plugged in, the sequence of cables is wrong or not standardized, the cable connection should be crossed but the straight connection is used, the two optical fibers in the optical cable are staggered, and the wrong line connection leads to network loops.

Judging from the above hardware failures, the poor environment of the computer room can easily lead to various hardware failures, so when we build the computer room, we must first do a good job in the construction of lightning protection and grounding, power supply, indoor temperature, indoor humidity, anti-electromagnetic interference, anti-static and other environments, so as to provide a good environment for the normal operation of network equipment.

Advantech Switches – What Are the Hardware Failures of Switches?

Advantech Switches – What Are the Hardware Failures of Switches?

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