Digi CM32 console server

cmitchell_00 · March 2012

JeanM wrote: »

Just powered it on today, so far so good. Working via serial port (rj45 to db9 adapter must be used, cisco console cable won't work), and via ip connect to my pc's nic.

Currently I am waiting for my pcmcia wifi card to arrive, then I can really test it and go through it's settings. The cooling fan in it is a bit loud, it's easily louder than 3x2950 and 3x2620s next to it I'll have to look into getting a different fan for it...

Front view - http://www.techexams.net/members/jeanm-albums-lab-picture2141-cm32-front-view.jpg

Rear view - http://www.techexams.net/members/jeanm-albums-lab-picture2142-cm32-rear-view.jpg

Inside (fan will be easy to replace) http://www.techexams.net/members/jeanm-albums-lab-picture2140-img-8706.jpg

My lab work in progress, the 1924s were my first purchase (only paid $20 for the pair) but they ended up having cat-os/menu driven vs. ios. So ignore those, tomorrow my 3640 should arrive, and later this week 2 more 2950-24s.

http://www.techexams.net/members/jeanm-albums-lab-picture2143-work-progress-waiting-3640-2950-24s-arrive.jpg

Dude...nice lab pics. I need another rack that size too so; I'll have to get back on ebay.

JeanM · March 2012

cmitchell_00 wrote: »

Dude...nice lab pics. I need another rack that size too so; I'll have to get back on ebay.

Amazon.com $28

LinuxRacr · March 2012

OMG! I just got to really play around with the features, and connected to my Cisco equipment from the CM32 for the first time. This thing is awesome!! CLI or web interface!!

veritas_libertas · March 2012

LinuxRacr wrote: »

OMG! I just got to really play around with the features, and connected to my Cisco equipment from the CM32 for the first time. This thing is awesome!! CLI or web interface!!

Web interface? Can I get a picture, and I assume it's HTTPS?

LinuxRacr · March 2012

Here is the screen where you can connect to each console port via the https web interface. It opens a java console session to the port when you click on the little computer terminal icons:

veritas_libertas · March 2012

Very nice! The more I think about it though, the cost of leaving my Routers and Switches on all day would get very expensive.

JeanM · March 2012

Detected PC card : Unsupported Card

Model : Agere Systems Wireless PC Card Model 0110

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

" Proxim ORiNOCO Laptop Wireless WiFi PC Card PCMCIA " It shows Orinoco 802.11b SILVER, but not WORLD... so it's not supported. I wish Digi would show actual MODEL numbers ...like 8421-WD etc...

This is going to be interesting trying to find a card that works--

Cisco Systems

AIR-PCM340/Aironet 340

Cisco Systems 340 Series Wireless LAN Adapter

11 Mbps Wireless LAN Adapter

Proxim

ORINOCO

Silver World/Classic Gold

11 Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card

JeanM · March 2012

Ordered card #3 Orinoco Classic Gold WiFi PC Card | eBay

LinuxRacr · April 2012

I actually have the old Orinoco Silver card sitting right here on my desk from my old laptop. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it possible to upgrade the firmware on those to match the Orinoco Gold settings?

EDIT: Yes, I remember that's exactly what I did years ago...

JeanM · April 2012

LinuxRacr wrote: »

I actually have the old Orinoco Silver card sitting right here on my desk from my old laptop. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it possible to upgrade the firmware on those to match the Orinoco Gold settings?

EDIT: Yes, I remember that's exactly what I did years ago...

Hmm, I have a laptop here with PCMCIA slots. I'll google it, if you any direct links for this, post it

LinuxRacr · April 2012

Just for the fun of it, I ran a Nessus vulnerability scan on the CM32 (for PCI DSS), and here is a brief summary of the results:

Number of vulnerabilities

High
3

Medium
48

Low
121

Most had to do with telnet, so I turned it off. It also says that OpenSSH needs to be upgraded from v4.2 to v4.3.

LinuxRacr · April 2012

Updated the firmware today to the latest version. It took less than 5 minutes.

JeanM · April 2012

Sweet! Now re-run the Nessus vulnerability scan

LinuxRacr · April 2012

In progress...

LinuxRacr · April 2012

Wow, the updated firmware introduced a few more things to look out for. Since I turned off TELNET, all it has to complain about now are several concerns with the OpenSSH version 4.5 that is now installed with the firmware 1.9.5, and it is still talking about weak signing of the SSL certificate. I guess I could reduce the errors by shutting down all ports but the ones needed for console connectivity, but then again, I'm in my lab.

Number of vulnerabilities

High

33

Medium

269

Low

150

JeanM · April 2012

Update - the Orinoco card I've purchased would not update it's firmware, not exactly the same model.

Purchased a Cisco aircard that's on the compatibility list for $15

Downloaded new firmware for the CM32 box, will play with that this week.

cmitchell_00 · April 2012

JeanM wrote: »

Amazon.com $28

Thanks for the feedback.

lantech · April 2012

Is there a way to connect a computer to this if you don't have a serial port on your computer? I don't think even any of my old laptops have a serial port on them. LOL

LinuxRacr · April 2012

Yes there is. Please read back through this thread, specifically my posts about use of a crossover cable.

JeanM · April 2012

lantech wrote: »

Is there a way to connect a computer to this if you don't have a serial port on your computer? I don't think even any of my old laptops have a serial port on them. LOL

Yes, the access server has ethernet port on it. You can also get a USB to Serial adapter to works really well from amazon for under $20.

Something like this - http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-RS-232-Serial-Converter-TU-S9/dp/B0007T27H8/

lantech · April 2012

I went ahead and purchased one off of ebay for $60.00 shipped. Probably from the same seller in Texas.

I do wonder if there are any newer wireless cards that will work with it. It would be nice to be able to use my laptop from anywhere in the house and be able to practice.

JeanM · April 2012

Nope, I've contacted Digi Support and they said there are no updates available for these at all. I tried compiling updated pcmcia card manager for these but there is basically no room for anything else on the box.

I was pleasantly surprised DIGI looked at the issues I was having and provided some support even though it's out of warranty and all.

Yours too most likely will arrive w/o drivers loaded for the pcmcia cards, look at my other thread with steps on getting them on there if you want to try the short list of cards it supports.

You can add a wep2 etc AP and just have it connect to it using ethernet port

ayseaf · May 2012

what is different between pcm340 and 350 ?

astrogeek · June 2012

Hey all, I just picked one of these up and it looks really nice. Does anybody know how to change the timeout when accessing via SSH? I get kicked out after about 1:30 of inactivity and I haven't yet figured out how to change that. I don't really like accessing through the web interface so I'd prefer to get in by SSH.

Zartanasaurus · June 2012

Under Serial Port > Configuration, click on the port # and the timeout value is under host mode configuration.

astrogeek · June 2012

Thanks, I thought I was doing it right before but was still getting kicked out, now it seems to be fine.

Jasiono · July 2012

Mine is on order. I offered the ebay seller 20 dollars less than what he posted it for.

Surprisingly he accepted.

EXTREMELY LIGHT USAGE is in the description.

spd3432 · July 2012

EXTREMELY LIGHT USAGE -- needed a good laugh. If its been plugged in and powered up for the past 5 years, that's still 43,800 hours. Not exactly light usage on it. Maybe just the web interface was light -- they couldn't get it to stay connected (idle timeout) more than the default 90 seconds. I have one and have that as a problem even after setting the config to 0 (don't disconnect). Might be my version of java on the computer I'm using since I had to go with really old java for SDM.

astrogeek · July 2012

^^I had the exact same problem. I must have done something wrong previously, I don't know, but basically I did what Zartanasaurus said to do above and that fixed it. Now I stay logged in as long as the timeout is set on my switches/routers, but the Digi CM doesn't ever kick me out.

I connect via SSH, but the timeout can be applied for SSH or web sessions so that shouldn't matter, just make sure you have it set correctly for whatever profile you are using to log in (root, admin, user, etc.)

spd3432 · July 2012

I had ordered it and it arrived the day after I picked up a 2610 locally that had an NM-16a in it (found it on craigslist). I was originally thinking to resell it on ebay until I ran into the timeout thing. Since then, I mounted it in my rack and have been using it with no problems and don't need to deal with java versions. Just took me a while to track down that "ctrl-shift-6 x" key sequence to bounce between sessions.

Digi CM32 console server

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