3100 doesnt have IOS?

calaverasgrandes

I have an old catalyst 3100 switch. It took me a while to get a console into it. It has a serial port for console, not an RJ45. I tried every dang serial to serial cable I have and none worked. Finally just hooked up a patch cable from one of my routers ethernet interfaces and used CDP to find out its ip address, then telnetted to that. Bingo.
Thing is, I only get a menu system. Up down arrow, hit enter etc.
Is there a way to get to IOS? On some switches like the 1900 you hit "K" from the menu screen and it pops you down to IOS. Or does this guy only have menus and Rmon?
I searched the web and Cisco and havent found any good info. (it was EOLed a while ago)

dtlokee

calaverasgrandes wrote:

I have an old catalyst 3100 switch..... (it was EOLed a while ago)

I think that says it all.

calaverasgrandes

So it really doesnt have any IOS prompt to play with? That seems strange as there were all kinds of cards for this guy back when it was a current model. Even the fabled 3011, which is a router (on a stick...?). Well that kind of blows if it has no IOS. But Ipicked up a couple 2900's on the bay earlier this week. I actually see those in datacenters on a regular basis. So I assume they are more current. Maybe I'll use the 3100 as a doorstop?

astorrs

Nope that was an acquired product from Kalpana. No IOS and it differs from everything but other 3000 series switches.

Paul Boz

2900s or 2950's? The 2900XL switches have some relatively archaic commands that don't really jive with the current way things are done.

astorrs

Paul Boz wrote:

2900s or 2950's? The 2900XL switches have some relatively archaic commands that don't really jive with the current way things are done.

I wasn't meaning they were the only ones that did things differently, just that they were unique among all other Catalyst's - the other switches Cisco sold in the beginning were from Grand Junction and Crescendo (running what got re-branded as CatOS) and were again different from the Kalpana ones. The 3100 he has is about 10-12 years old and dates back from the time when Cisco was trying to "own" the enterprise and knew they needed to get seriously into switching (3Com was kicking butt there). I've only seen one 3000 series stack in production ever (I remember replacing it with a ProCurve 5000-something chassis switch - maybe a 5308xl).

It's would make a very good doorstop and if you can get a few more 3000's and some Catalyst Matrix modules and cables you can have a "stacked doorstop" - operating as a single doorstop and able to hold the heaviest of fire doors.

I have 5 ProCurve 2424M's and 2 ProCurve 1600M's with stack modules and fiber cables - maybe I should create a stacked doorstop too...

Paul Boz

Astors, I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to calaverasgrandes's statement about buying some 2900's.

astorrs

Paul Boz wrote:

Astors, I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to calaverasgrandes's statement about buying some 2900's.

Gotcha my mistake, I missed that he had said he was buying some 2900's. Uh oh.

calaverasgrandes

they are 2912xls. I am sure they are a bit different than other switches. But at this point I just want to be able to do some of the switching stuff in my books. i am bored with beating my routers to death and feel really weak on vlans/trunking.
Its funny of all the stuff thats emphasised in the CCNA books it doesnt seem to jine with what I see in colo's and datacenters. It seems that anything less than a blade switch is obsolete. Routers? I see like one or two routers in each NOC. Compared to dozens of big old 6500's.
I actually see 2900's here and there. Most often they are for patching a secondary connection, with the main lan connect going to a patch, which goes to the aformentioned 6500.
as far as 3100 being obsolete.
I used to think there was such a thing as obsolete. There isnt. I have done work in major banks, bio -pharm, insurance companies etc. You'd be surprised at the number of NT/win 2k machines. I often see 10base t switches used for management lans, heartbeat, etc. full duplex 100tx or 1000tx is great. But its hard to justify tossing anything cisco no matter how slow.

scheistermeister

calaverasgrandes wrote:

they are 2912xls. I am sure they are a bit different than other switches. But at this point I just want to be able to do some of the switching stuff in my books. i am bored with beating my routers to death and feel really weak on vlans/trunking.
Its funny of all the stuff thats emphasised in the CCNA books it doesnt seem to jine with what I see in colo's and datacenters. It seems that anything less than a blade switch is obsolete. Routers? I see like one or two routers in each NOC. Compared to dozens of big old 6500's.
I actually see 2900's here and there. Most often they are for patching a secondary connection, with the main lan connect going to a patch, which goes to the aformentioned 6500.
as far as 3100 being obsolete.
I used to think there was such a thing as obsolete. There isnt. I have done work in major banks, bio -pharm, insurance companies etc. You'd be surprised at the number of NT/win 2k machines. I often see 10base t switches used for management lans, heartbeat, etc. full duplex 100tx or 1000tx is great. But its hard to justify tossing anything cisco no matter how slow.

In a datacenter I wouldn't expect many routers, but instead Layer 3 switches.

As to the obsolete thing, yeah I still see Win98 and Novel networks all over the place where I am. But then again the tech work I have been doing is mainly for the Health Care industry that does not have very large or many file transfers or huge data processing needs. The old stuff works and is already in place so why mess with it is the main response I have heard as to why they never upgrade.

astorrs

calaverasgrandes wrote:

I often see 10base t switches used for management lans, heartbeat, etc. full duplex 100tx or 1000tx is great. But its hard to justify tossing anything cisco no matter how slow.

I can't agree with you there, keeping a 10+ year old switch in production on a management LAN or heartbeat network (now that's insane!) vs. replacing it with a $500 Catalyst Express 500 or something similar doesn't add up to me.

As for Cisco switches in a data center, you are usually looking at a pair of 6500's at the core (with VSS if you're lucky ) and either 4900's or 3750's for rack aggregation (except for blades). 2950's/2960's and CatE 500's are usually what I see for dedicated heartbeat and management LANs if a physical split (vs. VLANs) are required.

Routers can really vary, sometimes they are more 6500's again or 7xxx's. At other times I've seen multiple 37xx/38xx's and 28xx's filling lots of different roles for the same client (fairly common in leased facilities where each customer maintains their own routing equipment). It really depends on the kinds of WAN links and the size of the data center/company.

calaverasgrandes

well there is ideal and there is real world. I think what happens is that the IT manager says they really gotta get rid of these old switches. But the preson who approves the budget goes into a coma when they hear the explanation of why. It also seems that swapping CRTs out for LCDs is more important right now than upgrading some peripheral network hardware.
That save some power and makes the users happy. Replacing a 10 year old switch only makes the IT guy happy. What kills me is when they HANG ON to old stuff like that. It may be slow but if it does Vlans?

astorrs

Its not about it being slow that concerns me. It the MTBF, it was probably up a year or two ago.