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Avatar of evault
evault๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

PIX 501
I have a cisco pix 501 and have looked at he procedure for resetting the firewall. The problem I am having is I am not able to communicate with the firewall. I have a pix without the floppy and the console port is a RJ-45 connector. I Connected my PC to the firewall through the network card straight to the console port; nothing, not even an indication it was receiving characters; I used a cross over cable with the same results; I picked up a Avocent Serial to RJ-45 kit and connected the serial com1 port to the RJ-45 console port on the pix and got the same results, nothing. The only time I even got close with the procedure Cisco suggested, was connecting my PC NIC to one of the network ports on the PIX and then sending the break and/or Escape characters right after power up. I did get the monitor prompt but there were only four or five commands available through the help and none of them were the command Cisco said needed to be used. I typed them in anyway and none of the command were recognized. I am using the the HyperAccess version of HyperTerminal but I am getting nowhere. I need some serious help or else I will have to buy a new firewall.

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Avatar of Les MooreLes Moore๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

>I Connected my PC to the firewall through the network card straight to the console port; nothing
That's because the console port is a serial port and should connect to your PC's serial COM port

Check out this getting started guide. It has pictures and everything..
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/iaabu/pix/pix_sw/v_63/63qsg/501quick.pdf



Avatar of Les MooreLes Moore๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

> picked up a Avocent Serial to RJ-45 kit and connected the serial com1
You really need the Cisco kit that comes with the PIX. It's a baby blue cable RJ45 on one end and DB9 serial on the other end..

Avatar of harbor235harbor235๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

Or you could build a custom roll-over cable (light blue cable) with the following pinouts:
pin ย pin
1 ย  ย  8
2 ย  ย  7
3 ย  ย  6
4 ย  ย  5
5 ย  ย  4
6 ย  ย  3
7 ย  ย  2
8 ย  ย  1

A roll-over cable is very easty to make if you have the rj-45 crimper.

harbor235
ย 


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Avatar of evaultevault๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

ASKER

I know the console port is a serial and have tried the serial connector kit that I purchased. I tried a cross-over (roll over) cable nothing happened. I have the serial port to RJ-45 connector and there is no response. Unfortunately this is a client's firewall and I don;t have what I need, including the PIX cable and the password.

Avatar of evaultevault๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

ASKER

None of these answers have proved helpful; Would anyone like to buy a Cisco 501 PIX?

Avatar of evaultevault๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

ASKER

OK. I have finally, with much suffering, tracked down the proper cables, cleared the passwords, reset the appliance to factory defaults and have re-generated and saved the RSA keys. I reloaded version 6.2 through the tftp server. I even have connectivity through the pix to the outside world. When I go to https:\\192.168.1.1\startup.html, the PDM begins to load. It says Cisco PIX Device Manager 3.0, then a purple type bar in the middle of the screen which says Loading Startup Wizard. Please Wait.....
This is where it hangs for ever. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Avatar of Les MooreLes Moore๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

PDM Version 3.0 supports only the PIX Firewall Version 6.3 software.
>I reloaded version 6.2

Reference:
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/iaabu/pix/pdm/v_30/rel_nts/pdmrn30.htm#wp109669

Avatar of evaultevault๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

ASKER

Now that is indeed strange. Before I reloaded the firmware, I checked the boot up messages with the console cables and it said it was running rev 6.2. I originally configured this firewall with the PDM that came with it. What went wrong and any ideas as to how to correct it?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Les MooreLes Moore๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

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Avatar of evaultevault๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

ASKER

I loaded 6.3, same thing happened. I can't download PDM 3.0.3 because it is behind a secure site and I need to activate a support account to access the secure site. They told me the support contract will cost $400. I can buy a TZ 170, ship it, and have a 90 day contract with SonicWall for less then $400. I would love to resort to the command line to configure the thing, but it is not real intuitive for someone like me. This whole expereience has tuned me off to Cisco in a big way. I have already spent much more time on this thing than it is worth. The way I see it, at this point I have two options:
1) let someone else configure it and pay them (if it isn't outrageous, which I can see why it would be)
2) sell it and get a SonicWall (preferred)

Even though the problem isn't resolved I think you deserve the points, lrmoore

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Cisco PIX is a dedicated hardware firewall appliance; the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) is a firewall and anti-malware security appliance that provides unified threat management and protection the PIX does not. Other Cisco devices and systems include routers, switches, storage networking, wireless and the software and hardware for PIX Firewall Manager (PFM), PIX Device Manager (PDM) and Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM).