So, I finally have my lab all cabled and I have a few spare minutes to start the initial configuration of the vmFocus lab.
What do we do first? Well I always start with networking and making sure that my switch is running the latest firmware. OK, I do have one exception to this, when you check the manufacturer’s website, if you have release 8.9.5 and 9.0.0, I tend to stick with 8.9.5 as it should be more proven.
Anyway, back on topic, the HP v1910 24G switch is a beast for the money, some of it’s features are:
– Gigabit
– Layer 2 Managed
– Layer3 Static Routing with 32 routes
– Access Control Lists
– STP, RSTP and MSTP
– 802.3X Flow Control
– VLAN with 256 simultaneous
– Link Aggregation
– Lifetime Warranty
It should be a worthy addition to any home lab.
Firmware Upgrade
When I first opened up the switch, I was surprised by how light it was, but comparing this to Cisco’s which I work with on a daily basis (which cost 20x the amount) doesn’t seem fair.
The HP v1910 will pick up it’s IP address via DHCP, so depending on your environment, either check your DHCP servers newest address lease when you power it on or do a ping sweep of your network using something like IPScan
If you don’t have a DHCP server I would recommend using Antamedia DHCP Server, don’t worry it’s free.
Once you have located the IP address of the HP v1910 open up a web browser and type in the address. Which in my case is http://192.168.37.104. You should hopefully be greeted with this login screen:
I was quite surprised to see a ‘random’ text generator at the login screen but kudos to HP/3COM for the addition. The default username and password is:
Username admin
Password
Once logged in, it should look something like this:
We are going to navigate to Device on the left hand side and then onto Device Management:
Now it’s time to download the latest firmware from HP, at the time of writing this blog the most recent firmware is 1910_5.20.R1512P05 which can be found here. Select this and begin the download
After the download completes select choose file
Select ‘if a file with the same name already exist, overwrite it without any prompt and also ‘reboot after the upgrade is finished’
Click on apply. It will take approximately five minutes for the switch to come back up again, so go grab a cup of coffee before we move onto the next part.
Initial Setup
The first thing we are going to do is change the name of the switch, from HP, to do this select Device from the left hand column and then Basic. Then enter a new name in ‘sysname’. As you can see mine is named SW01 (very imaginative). Don’t forgot to click ‘apply’
System time is perhaps one of the most overlooked items for networks. I can’t stress how important this is, if you are trying to troubleshoot an error and the time stamps are 10-04-00 01:12, leaves you thinking when did the issue occur?
To setup select Device from the left hand column and then System Time and then Net Time.
In this example, we are using the Source Interface as VLAN 1, which is the default VLAN. Our external NTP Servers are:
0.vmware.pool.ntp.org – 31.170.110.148
1.vmware.pool.ntp.org – 46.227.200.71
Select you time zone and click apply, once done you should see Clock Status: synchronized.
Moving down the list we are going to change the password for the admin user, select Device from the left hand column then Users then Modify. Select admin tick Password Modify and then enter your new password
The last thing we are going to do is set a static IP address for the switch, we wouldn’t want to leave it on DHCP would we? To do this select Network from the left menu, then VLAN Interface, then Modify. Select Manual and enter the static IP address.
This may sound crazy, but before you click apply, write down the last octet of the static IP. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times I do this and the moment I click save/apply I get a phone call, colleague asking for help and I forget the damn thing.
Click apply and reconnect to the switch on the new IP address and with the password the admin user we applied earlier.
In the next ‘how to’ we are going to configure some VLAN’s.
VMFocus 
Just got a pair of these switches, too.. VLAN's have been fighting with me, so I decided to update to the latest firmware– thanks for the link, def saved me time digging it up from HP =) .. Look forward to the next article.
i have the same switch running on production environment, now i need to update to latest firmware to make routing work.
what are the chances to lose every vlans/config etc.. ?
As before any upgrade, make sure you take a backup of your config first and have a copy of the firmware you are currently running. You shouldn’t loose any config, but it’s always worth proceeding with caution.
Hi Craig, how can i backup my firmware before upgrading, the factory version is: Software Version 5.20 Release 1111P02 and the last firmware available is: 1910_5.20.R1513P15 .
thanks for your reply!
To create a backup Device > Configuration > Backup.
Hi Craig I have HP switch V1910-16G and I tried to update the software from the HP official page ( https://h10145.www1.hp.com/Downloads/SoftwareReleases.aspx?ProductNumber=JE005A&lang=en,en&cc=us,us&prodSeriesId=4218346 )but after the update the switch starts to work even worsе. When i tried to log in to the web interface page the browser (Firefox and IE) logs me out . Can you tell me some solution of this problem and a working update IOS for my switch? Thanks 🙂
Hi Milena, I would recommend downgrading to an older version of the firmware and see if this gives you better results.
Thank you for your answer Craig. I tried to run the switch with the original IOS (1910_5.20.R1111P01) but when I tried to configured the switch from the web interface page the page starts to reload and I have to refresh it to enable the switch to get my configuration. I think that with the newest version of IOS this problem will be solved but i was disapointed. Maybe the problem is that in the newer version if I want to configure the switch in the web interface I have to have more administrative privileges ? Is there a way to get more rights for configuring the mashine? If needed i can buy it. Thanks !
Milena, I experienced the very same thing. Clear cache, cookies and everything else in the browser and you should be fine. I tried accessing from a fresh computer that hadn’t previously logged on to the web interface on the switch and everything worked fine.
Semi-new to VLANS and Switches – when I set this up – I just want it to be able to separate wifi traffic from lan traffic and I don’t want it to be the default gateway – instead I will be using our SONIC Wall – so how do I configure that in the setup?
Hi David, if you create the VLAN, don’t assign it an IP Address and use the SonicWall as the default gateway.
The SonicWall should be using the X0 interface as VLAN1 (LAN) and then X0:Vxx (WiFi) for your sub interfaces. The sub interface should be VLAN tagged and be in Static IP Mode.
For the HP v1910, untagged VLAN1 and tagged VLAN10 and make sure you have an interface on every VLAN. The port connected to the SonicWall should be a hybrid port, in this mode, the frame is permitted on the VLAN and the VLAN tag remains intact.
can any one tell me default password of command line
_cmdline-mode on
All commands can be displayed and executed. Continue? [Y/N]y
Please input password: ?
For full CLI on HP V1910 telnet/ssh to the switch
enter: _cmdline-mode on
password: 512900
Thank you for your blog. It has really helped me setup a couple of HP 1910-8G switches. Your blog was a real time saver
Great article. I have an HP 1910-16G on its way. I need a DHCP server that can handle the multiple VLAN subnets.
You mentioned Antamedia but I don’t see how you can set up other 1 scope which is the subnet of the machine it is running on.
Been a while since I used Antamedia but I believe you need to have a device with multiple NICs with one on each VLAN
Hi Craig, Great Blog, I neen to buy 3 v1910 and add a fortigate 80c firewall with vlan support, do you think is possilbe connect three switchs and looks the firewall or is better keep simple with two
Hi Hector, I’m not familiar with Fortigate 80C firewall, however if it supports 802.1q (VLAN tagging) then you will be fine.
Thank you Craig for this information.
I’m trying to update the firmware on a 1920 switch but I recieve this error:
“Failed to upgrade software.
No enough space for uploading the file.”
Have some idea on what could be the problem?
Not an issue I have encountered.
I have come across this. The flash cards supplied with HP 1920 switches are pathetically small (32MB in my instance). 1920 firmware is 12MB, and the switch always keeps two copies – one main, one backup. Therefore there is no space for the updated binary file.
You need to delete one of the old binaries to give you space to upload the new one.
In Web Management Platform, use Device > File Management, or alternatively you can boot into the Extended BootWare menu and use TFTP if that is preferred.
If you get a corruption you can always use Extended BootWare to recover.
Thank you lain 🙂
I encountered the same problem with new 1920-8G.
Best Regards from Germany,
Andreas
Thanks a lot, that helped me and my 1910 too
Thank you lain for the help.
Thank you so much!
I ran into that problem on a brand new 1920-48G-POE.
Regards from Germany, Philipp
Thank you a lot, you helped me. What a stupid error.
I ran into this problem as well. Thanks for explaining how to fix it!
Thanks, made my day…
hi i have a problem of configuring a HP 1910-8G switch with Huawei Layer 3 Switch. if i place a CISCO SGE switch it communicates with huawei Switch but 1910-8G doesn’t work at all. please help
Suggest you log a support call with HP.
Thanks Craig for these information. Well, it seems that you should note here a BIG WRITTEN warning for all 3Com switch users. DO NOT UPDATE the original firmware directly with any of these newer HP firmware! I have here a 48 port 3Com Baseline 3CRBSG5293 Switch which is in fact the same as the HP 1910-48G Switch (JE009A). The problem of these original 3Com branded models seems to be the old bootrom. That one is INCOMPATIBLE with newer firmware version. I followed exactly these information here, and my switch NO LONGER starts up. It seems to be bricked. 😦 There exist a (super complicated) way to restore the switch via the serial port: http://community.hpe.com/t5/Web-and-Unmanaged/HP-V1910-24G-Switch-Application-program-does-not-exist/td-p/6441786
Well, will check first if this issue is covered under the standard lifetime warranty. If yes, I will send the whole switch back to HP. 🙂 If they cannot inform it’s customers that there exist a grave firmware incompatibility with old 3Com branded models then this is their own fault.
Hello,
I solved the problem, it is easy. Each firmware is one file in internal storage (flash) in the switch.
So, if not working actual 1516 fw version, then you go to boot menu CTRL+B (ověr RS232 cable) and “2. Select application file to boot”
In this menu you can set default firmware to load.
Ok, here follows a little addition regarding the mentioned 3Com branded switch firmware upgrade problem. It seems that only newest fw release 1910_5.20.R1516 is affected. It’s confirmed that the second newest firmware version 1910_5.20.R1515 works perfectly also on 3Com branded v1910 switches.
And, finally, HP has in the meantime accepted repair / exchange under warranty. 🙂