Solved: Connecting to Cisco Catalyst 2960 Console Port

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netjon

Connecting to Cisco Catalyst 2960 Console Port

I've got a switch I need to get into and troubleshoot. On the front it says Catalyst 2960G Series. On the back it doesn't have an RJ-45 Console connection -- It has a Serial DB-9 / DE-9 / COM / Whatever port! I have a cable that goes Serial-to-Serial and tried different Baud Rates and other settings to no avail. All our other switches (and all other Cisco equipment I've been on) use a Serial-to-RJ45 cable. What is weird is that the data sheets that I could find for this series of switch only has manuals saying to use a Serial-to-RJ45 cable provided with the switch.

Does anybody have any insight into this? Seen this before? Do I need a special Cisco serial cable?

More about the switch: It's got 20 ports plus 4 combo ports [Ethernet or fiber].

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frajico

Does it have a mini-usb on the front of the switch? This is the new Console port. Just connect a PC with a USB to mini-USB cable to the switch

lruiz52🇺🇸

thats interesting my cisco 2960's have the console port in front on right side between USB and Management Port. can you post a Pic?

frajico

I think you also have to download the USB Console Software from Cisco

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Otto_N🇿🇦

The picture is of a 2960G-24TC-L Switch (see the Hardware install guide at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst2960/hardware/installation/guide/higover.html#wp1174601). According to the same installation guide, the console port is an RJ-45 connector at the back (also, no USB). I've never seen anything else on these models, even the oldest ones.

If it's not a case of mistaken identity (looking at the back of a different device), and the switch really have only a DB-9 console port, your DB9-to-DB9 cable should be a Null-modem cable (pins 2->3, 3->2 and 5->5 should be sufficient), as the switch should be a DTE port (Male connector, and the same as your laptop). Whether the concolse port is RJ-45 or DB-9, the settings should be the same - 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, 0 parity and no flow control. However, as there is no documentation on this, this is only guesswork, at best.

If you have any other detail of the switch (model number, serial number, pictures) we might be able to dig up some more information.

pistanu🇷🇴

rj45 to db9 serial cable(cisco cable)

9600 8N1 no parity.

if you dont receive nothing in console assume that your serial connection and cable are ok, change the speed, maybe some admin before you change this.

netjon

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I'm an idiot; I was looking at the wrong device when I was looking in the back of the rack to determine where the switch was.

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Networking hardware includes the physical devices facilitating the use of a computer network. Typically, networking hardware includes gateways, routers, network bridges, modems, wireless access points, networking cables, line drivers, switches, hubs, and repeaters. But it also includes hybrid network devices such as multilayer switches, protocol converters, bridge routers, proxy servers, firewalls, network address translators, multiplexers, network interface controllers, wireless network interface controllers, ISDN terminal adapters and other related hardware.