Networking problem [Redback router --> Juniper firewall]

Hi people, we have been having problems for the last 3 or so days... We have a redback router, a juniper router, an extreme switch and a juniper firewall. All have gigabit interface. They are connected like so: Juniper router [user traffic] -------------->Redback router [backbone network] ------------------>switch---------------------------> Juniper firewall-------------------->internet [gigabit interface] Now we have created vlans in each of this interfaces since the hardware have limited number of ports [except the switch of course] to carry different traffics between the routers, firewall ... etc Each router is configured with a virtual router [vrf] or contexts [in case of redback] to separate the different traffics [ which are separated by the vlans on the gigabit interfaces] Here is the puzzle - The Redback router cannot reach the Juniper firewall [ping] . This went on for days until we untagged the port at the switch level and thats when the Redback was able to reach firewall. This means only one vlan is allowed through. The moment we put the tag back on, the connection btwn the two dies. Now we really need this tags because the cable has to carry all the different vlans in the network. If you put a laptop [untagged] and try to reach the firewall, it reaches just fine... but any tagged traffic is rejected. == Juniper firewall has ScreenOS - revision 6 - ISG 2000. And the Redback router has version 6 too. Does anyone know of any inherent bugs in these systems that is causing these two not communicate through "*dot1q*" tagging? I have scoured the internet for past two days [seen the juniper knowledge base] but no one else on the whole wide net seems to be facing same issue. == Any contributions would be appreciated. w/regards Stephen N.

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 3:42 PM, ndungu stephen <ndungustephen@gmail.com> wrote:
The Redback router cannot reach the Juniper firewall [ping] . This went on for days until we untagged the port at the switch level and thats when the Redback was able to reach firewall. This means only one vlan is allowed through.
How many VLANs are you carrying? BR, S

Carrying a total of 6 separate vlans.

Hi, seems the vlan tagging would be vendor specific. However, pls setup a net trace viewer program and see where the MAC drops packets, could be a port setup issue i.e entry and exit ports. HTH's

@ Aki, Thanks... lemme try the trace on the switch -- however, since the first router [juniper] can reach the redback router through this same switch with the same vlan tagging... [see network diagram, all traffic btwn routers and firewall must go through switch] we are suspecting the problem is not the switch but between Juniper firewall and Redback router. There could be an incompatibility in the tagging/encapsulation btn these two.

pls run a deep inspection on the packets at switch, especially on MAC encap. There will be a field that is creating an issue between the 2. You may not able to change this field as its specific to vendor, but you maybe able to identify the error field and will help you with the journey... HTHs. :-) ---------------------------------------- | IP delivery header | destination addr | IP proto = MAC type of the UDL ---------------------------------------- | Payload packet | MAC packet ----------------------------------------

Hi, After upgrading the software on the redback side [with a higher revision], the redback and the firewall are now communicating fine... However, as per the network diagram, the redback router can reach the firewall with the tagged vlan,, but the Juniper router cannot reach the firewall... I think we need to recheck the routing tables.. Thanks for your contributions. [will update if we hit another rock] w/regards Snn
participants (3)
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aki
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ndungu stephen
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Steve Muchai