Why there is no power button on a cisco switch ?

As mentioned at the title, why ? why and whyy ?

Or maybe I am thinking so narrow to understand the technology lies here. On a Catalyst 2950 switch, it is really hard to plug in and off the power cable every time. Wouldn't it be so easy if there was a power button like a cisco router ?

Enlighten me pls....

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Comments

Xtend

network equipment are not ment to be turned on/off so often like a PC or TV

they are plugged and stay plugged for months/years without beeing turned of. That's why no on/off switch

alliasneo

something I have also wondered but don't know the answer too...

GOZCU

Xtend wrote: »

network equipment are not ment to be turned on/off so often like a PC or TV they are plugged and stay plugged for months/years without beeing turned of. That's why no on/off switch

Yes I see your point, but for a home lab purpose, it reflects as a pain or if you prefer to keep it open always, then an electric bill....

ciscoman2012

This solved my problem quite easily.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OMXZ3I/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details

Turgon

GOZCU wrote: »

Yes I see your point, but for a home lab purpose, it reflects as a pain or if you prefer to keep it open always, then an electric bill....

You can invest in a powerdown solution if it's a problem for homeuse. To be honest I used to just power off my whole rack whenever I wasn't using it and power the whole thing up when I needed it. In the field, the last thing you want is someone working in a cabinet and accidently turning the power off to a mission critical switch, which is why there isn't one.

nel

ive always been under the impression its incase someone knocked it off by mistake.

Our ASRs have a power button, but even then its tucked away at the back and covered so you cant knock it off too easy.

alxx

You could plug it in via a network pdu.

A pdu is a power distribution unit, some are designed to go in the back of racks.
network ones , allow you to log in via telnet or ssh and remotely power on and off and monitor power use.
can plug them into software like big brother Download - Big Brother System and Network Monitor

We use them to allow computer control of power cycling equipment between users and for hard resets.
remotelabs.eng.uts.edu.au

E.g hard reset for Labshare -

JDMurray

To save manufacturing costs. Including a power switch and the additional wiring would add several dollars per switch in manufacturing costs. When 10K+ units are being manufactured each month, that's a considerable savings (not to mention one less part in inventory and one less part to break and RMA).

The real question is, "Why did Cisco bother to put a power switch on their routers?"

Turgon

nel wrote: »

ive always been under the impression its incase someone knocked it off by mistake.

Our ASRs have a power button, but even then its tucked away at the back and covered so you cant knock it off too easy.

Pretty much.

Syntax

JDMurray wrote: »

The real question is, "Why did Cisco bother to put a power switch on their routers?"

I would assume because routers have modules/cards that require it to be powered down in order to install them safely, whereas most layer 2 switches (that I know of) do not. Granted, you could also unplug the router to power them down as well, but I guess in certain situations it works better to flip a switch.

JDMurray

Syntax wrote: »

I would assume because routers have modules/cards that require it to be powered down in order to install them safely,

Good point. The bigger switches that accept modules do have power switches. But still, power switch or not, I'd rather pull the AC cable before making hardware changes.

GOZCU

Syntax wrote: »

I would assume because routers have modules/cards that require it to be powered down in order to install them safely, whereas most layer 2 switches (that I know of) do not. Granted, you could also unplug the router to power them down as well, but I guess in certain situations it works better to flip a switch.

Actually after Turgon's answer, i was so curious about routers too. Just afraided of asking another meaningless question. On the other hand, thank you so much to all of you. I am convinced

Netwurk

Cisco always had power buttons on their hardware. But when they bought out Catalyst and their line of switches, lo and behold it turned out that Catalyst switches did not have power buttons. So Cisco carried on with this fine money-saving tradition. I've been involved with closet build projects. We did checks and double checks that all ports were up. You're more likely to knock a cable out of a port than you would be to flip a power toggle. So IMO it's both an inherited Catalyst tradition and a money-saving thing.

TesseracT

They don't seem to be too consistent with this sort of thing though do they?

For example the ASA 5505 has no power switch while the 5510 does... modules can be installed in both

Trifidw

TesseracT wrote: »

They don't seem to be too consistent with this sort of thing though do they?

For example the ASA 5505 has no power switch while the 5510 does... modules can be installed in both

5505 is a firewall with a switch on the back where as the 5510 has routed ports. Routers have a power switch.

4XXX series switches and above have a power switch.

Daniel333

I was thinking that since switches are more likely to be touched by end users and junior staff removing the switch removes a temptation... routers on the other hand might be more tucked away.

stlsmoore

Netwurk wrote: »

Cisco always had power buttons on their hardware. But when they bought out Catalyst and their line of switches, lo and behold it turned out that Catalyst switches did not have power buttons. So Cisco carried on with this fine money-saving tradition. I've been involved with closet build projects. We did checks and double checks that all ports were up. You're more likely to knock a cable out of a port than you would be to flip a power toggle. So IMO it's both an inherited Catalyst tradition and a money-saving thing.

My coworkers and I always wondered why switches were pretty much the only Cisco devices without a power switch. You can flip a switch to power off your production router that connects the HQ site to your MPLS network but you can't flip off a dinky Cisco 3550 access switch. Granted newer routers have redundant power supplies and all that good stuff (none of that RPS non-sense lol).