Sometimes I am caught off-guard by a malfunctioning network switch inside the IT infrastructure that I am maintaining. The latest is just today from the time of this writing.
Just when I arrived at my table a co-employee of mine told me that our receptionists called because their computer program in the reception is hanging.
When I arrived at the reception area, I immediately test their network connection to the server. Their connection has to travel through seven switches before it arrived to the server.
Yes, you read it right, seven switches.
As I found out their connection has some lag problem. The system connects then hangs and the cycle of connected and hanging goes on and on and on.
Based on the information that I gather I thought the problem is about a grounded cable. I did an isolation just to pinpoint the root cause of the problem.
When I am very close in pinpointing the problem an idea just popped up in my head that a malfunctioning network could also be the problem.
Armed with the idea I immediately walk towards the switch that possibly causing the problem. And just as I thought, my suspicion is correct.
The switch that I have in mind is indeed malfunctioning. I just turned-off the switch and then turn it on to reset it.
After resetting the switch, the lag in the reception was magically gone. The malfunctioning switch took down the connection of six switch in the network.
Just to give you an idea there are fifteen switches and five routers in the IT infrastructure that I am maintaining.
Why a network switch malfunction
There is various reason as to why a network switch can malfunction and two of the most common reason is temperature and electrical surge.
It is normal for an electronic device to malfunction when it reached its operating temperature limit. When an electronic becomes hot expect it to behave abnormally.
Electrical surge is commonly caused by a sudden rise or fall of electrical current coming from the device's source of electricity.