# Connecting to a Cisco 2950



## Woodgie2 (Oct 18, 2004)

A good morning to all you good people.

I've been given an old Cisco 2950 at work as a part toy / part 'bit of a project'. Lucky me huh?

There's only one problem, I have _no_ idea how to connect to it. If I could just leap that hurdle then I'm sure I'll have fun bashing out the rest.

The equipment I have to hand is: a PowerBook running 10.3.5, a Keyspan USA-19HS USB/Serial adapter, a DB-9 to RJ-45 lead, a Cisco 2950 running IOS 12.1(6)EA2c...

And there you have it. I just need to know how to hook the lot up and connect, once there I'll have fun figuring the rest out myself (with the help of a big thick manual and the interwebnet  ).

If you need any more info to get me going, just ask!


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## Pengu (Oct 18, 2004)

You may be able to simply telnet to it...


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## Woodgie2 (Oct 18, 2004)

Pengu said:
			
		

> You may be able to simply telnet to it...



Yep, but HOW? Simply typing telnet will merely drop me into telnet without connecting to anything. Unless I'm missing something, of course.

I also need to know how to set the serial parameters (9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, No parity, None (flow control)) But they sound pretty default to me.


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## Pengu (Oct 18, 2004)

uh. I meant telnet to an ip address. find out where the switch was last used, then connect over ethernet.


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## Woodgie2 (Oct 18, 2004)

Pengu said:
			
		

> uh. I meant telnet to an ip address. find out where the switch was last used, then connect over ethernet.



Aaaahhh, that's kind of the problem, and the main reason I have the switch in the first place 

No one knows what the IP address is.


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## nixgeek (Oct 18, 2004)

I believe if you hold down the MODE button for a few seconds while you power it on, it should wipe out everything and start you off on password-recovery mode.  Problem is, you won't know unless you hook up to the console port on the switch.  I know this can be done with a PC using the serial port and a rollover cable, but I haven't researched on how to do this from a Mac.  I'm sure there are USB to serial converters out there which would cover that aspect of it.

You would also need a terminal emulator software similar to HyperTerminal in Windows or minicom or seyon in Linux/UNIX.  I'm sure there's something out there for Mac OS X like this.  Maybe Zterm or something if all else fails?? 

My other question is if you are familiar with Cisco's IOS??  If you want, I could give you a few pointers on what you need to do.  PM me if you are interested...


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## Woodgie2 (Oct 19, 2004)

OK, with the help of a friend who knows a bunch of Cisco stuff I got this running smoothly. It's actually damned easy.

I could write up a tutorial on it and post it here or somewhere else if people think it's be worth it. Votes?


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## backebergd (Jun 18, 2005)

I've covered getting the Keyspan USA-19HS working with minicom (free using Fink; didn't want to pay for something I could get for free) and serial devices through MacOSX on my website: http://www-math.mit.edu/~dave/bugs/#powerbook_serial


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