CatOs vs ios

EdTheLad

Which came first? I persume ios
Why was CatOs developed and is Cisco slowly moving to ios?
I'm just wondering if its important for me to learn CatOs as i've seen afew jobs that
require it.Would it be worth buying a cheap 5000 for practice or is this old school tat will be phased out?

Miek

I’m not sure which one was first, but CatOS isn’t used that much anymore only with Catalyst 5000 and Catalyst 2948.

When I started as a Network Engineer, I wasn’t used working with CatOS (and that part is removed from the CCNA curriculum). If you are interested in learning: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps679/products_configuration_guide_book09186a008007f77c.html

Maybe there are some better configuration guides. This is the first I found on the Cisco website.

Grtz

EdTheLad

Thanks,but its actually used with the high end core switches i.e. 4500 and 6500 so i'm wondering were these switches actually developed by Cisco or did they come as a result of Cisco buying another company and if so, are there any know plans about a move to ios.

mikej412

Cisco couldn't switch a packet to save their lives.... so they bought a couple of companies. I remember that's how they got the Cat 5000 (and CatOS). I think Crescendo was the "cat company" they bought.

Everything seems to be moving to IOS... with only some CatOS still used on the high end... or hybrid mode with the route processors running IOS.

MrD

We just converted all of our 6509s & 6513s to native from hybrid. Hybrid sucked!

forbesl

According to Wikipedia:

"CatOS (Catalyst Operating System) is Cisco Systems' obsoleted operating system for many of their legacy network switches. CatOS is the UNIX like Kernel Cisco acquired during its acquisition of the Switching Company Crescendo. CatOS runs on Switches such as 1200, 4000, 4500 5000, 5500 6000, 6500 series. CatOS still runs on Cisco high end switches such as their flagship Catalyst 6509, which can run in either Native or Hybrid mode. Native is where the switch runs only Cisco IOS and hybrid is where the NMP runs CatOS and the Route processor/MSFC runs IOS."

We still have a couple of 4006s that use CatOS, but our newer 6500 and 4500 series switches all came with IOS. CatOS isn't very hard to use, but I like IOS functionality more.