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I purchased a couple of cisco routers and a switch. My laptop doesn't have a COM port so that i can connect to the console port on the cisco devices. Could i use something like a rollover cable or anything to connect or do I have to purchase an adapter like USB to COM. Im look for some type of ethernet cable config that will work other than the USB to COM. But I will do whatever is needed.
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I purchased a couple of cisco routers and a switch. My laptop doesn't have a COM port so that i can connect to the console port on the cisco devices. Could i use something like a rollover cable or anything to connect or do I have to purchase an adapter like USB to COM. Im look for some type of ethernet cable config that will work other than the USB to COM. But I will do whatever is needed.

Cisco Routers and Switches

I purchased a couple of cisco routers and a switch. My laptop doesn&#39;t have a COM port so that i can connect to the console port on the cisco devices. Could i use something like a rollover cable or anything to connect or do I have to purchase an adapter like USB to COM. Im look for some type of ethernet cable config that will work other than the USB to COM. But I will do whatever is needed.

A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the Internet. The most familiar type of routers are home and small office cable or DSL routers that simply pass data, such as web pages, email, IM, and videos between computers and the Internet. More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, use of software-based routers has grown increasingly common.

Routers

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

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).