Forum Discussion

Aspirant

Jul 31, 2015

GSM7312 - Is there any way to set it to be a Layer 2 switch rather than a Layer 3 switch?

I did a factory reset and it seems to default to a router setup (show run includes "router rip" and "router ospf" lines). I just want to use it as a simple Layer 2 switch but it looks like there's m...

Troubleshooting

JohnRo

NETGEAR Employee Retired

Jul 31, 2015

Hello ctav01,

Welcome to the community!

Regarding your question, the GSM7312 is a fully manageable layer 3 switch - it cannot be bypassed (cannot be compare to a layer 2+ switch which can be used as a plug and play switch); However, For it to function like a layer 2 switch, all you need to do is to assign it an IP address with the same subnet as your existing network. You may follow the installation guide as it mentions on how to assign an IP or how the switch can get its IP from your DHCP server. Once you have assigned an IP to the switch, it should perform like a layer 2 switch for as long as you do not configure any other settings.

You can also check out our unmanageable series switches if you consider buying one in the near future.

Hope this helps! I'll look forward to your reply.

Thanks,

ctav01

Aspirant

Aug 04, 2015

Thanks John.

I went through EZConfig and set an IP which seemed to work. I can access it via telnet and the web interface while I'm in the same subnet but I get no response when I try to communicate with it from a different subnet. I'm guessing there's some routing info that needs to be set on the 7312 but I'm not sure where. Suggestions?

JohnRo
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Aug 05, 2015
Hi ctav01,

Now, this is where it gets a little complicated. For you to access the switch with another subnet you will have to create a route from the VLAN accessign it or change the management VLAN. This image below is an example of VLANs being routed using a layer 3 switch:

If you want to get the details, please click here.

Hope this information will enlighten you, if you have more questions I suggest posting a diagram.

Thanks,
- ctav01
  Aspirant
  Aug 05, 2015
  Thanks again John.
  
  We actually have a pretty flat network. Each site has it's own VLAN designation from our main office but the sites themselves are all on VLAN 1. Other switches at this site are accessable from outside, just not this one (btw, as a layer 2 switch, it works fine on site but it was missed in our network survey so we haven't tried to configure it or monitor it until now) so it must be some setting on the switch that makes it unreachable. I'm still thinking it's a routing issue but I'm not sure where to look.
  
  Does it make any difference that while I was able to assign an IP to it (and use it while on site), when I go to the web interface on the status page, it shows 0.0.0.0 for the IP?
  - ctav01
    Aspirant
    Aug 05, 2015
    If I'm reading the manuals correctly, routing is disabled by default but, after a factory reset, a "show run" command shows "ip routing". That implies to me that routing is enabled. I tried "no ip routing" but I lost all access to the switch so I'll have to console in again to do another reset.
    
    I'm also looking at the "network parms" command to set the switch ip address. The manual has a note saying "The IP address assigned to network in the above table will not be routable. If access to management CPU via the routable interface is desired, use the ip command." so should I be trying to set the switch IP address via the ip command?