Category: Hardware

Get Your ACS in Order!

ACS 1113 Appliance Password and IP Change Process:

1.  Insert ACS Recover CD into DVD-Drive
2.  Connect Console Cable (DB9 to DB9) to Laptop and Appliance
3.  Start Terminal Session with Following  (115200, 8, None, 1, NONE)
4.  Connect Monitor and Keyboard to ACS Appliance
5.  Power Cycle ACS Appliance
6.  Use Keyboard and mouse to Select Option 1 for Administrator Password Reset
7.  Remove Recovery CD from Appliance
8.  Press Enter on Keyboard to reboot appliance
9.  Disconnect Keyboard and mouse from Appliance
10. Wait approx 5 minutes for Console session to return.  (Don’t rush it, get a coffee or a snake then come back)
11. At login prompt user the Default = Administrator with no password.
12. You will be prompted to enter a new username.
13. You will be prompted to enter a new password, you will be prompted to enter this twice
14. Login with new Username and Password
15. Connect Ethernet Port 1 (Top Port) on Appliance to laptops ethernet port wait for green link light  (Without this step the appliance will not accept interface changes.)
16. Type “Set IP”  Follow the prompts to enter new IP information and select YES at the end
17. Type “Set domain” Follow the prompts to enter the new DNS prefix select YES at the end
18. Type reboot
19. Wait approx 5 minutes for Console session to return.  (Don’t rush it, get a coffee or a snake then come back)
20. Login with new Username and Password
21. Type Show to validate your config changes
22. Disconnect from laptop
23. Connect to production network
24. Done

ALL YOUR AP’s ARE BELONG TO CONTROLLER ….

Recently we got an order of Cisco 1142 Access Points in. What we discovered was that if you order a 5 pack you end up with Autonomous Access Points.  If you order the 10 pack you can choose Autonomous or LWAPP.  Anyway we needed the ones we ordered to be LWAPP for the environment they were destined for.  So we did what we normally do and we fired up the AP conversion tool…wait for it…but it does not support conversion of the 1142.  Yeah that’s right the conversion tool wont convert the 1142N APs.  So after about 3 seconds of digging I found this Convert 1142 to LWAPP.

That link gives you 99% of what you need to pull this off.  The rest is a valid CCO account and the hardware.  To do mine quickly I setup a spare 3750-PoE switch we had on our bench.  Keeping it quick and dirty I just set it up as follows using my console cable for the the CLI input:

 

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Where the Heck are My TenGigabit Interfaces?

Well the picture to the right shows exactly where they are.  In the past we have dealt with 1Gbps interfaces on supervisors that had both RJ-45 and SFP slots and it was an either/or decision if you wanted to use them.  In those cases you had a config entry that required you to state SFP or RJ-45 in the interface configuration.  No matter what you chose it was always shown Interface GigabitEthernet Mod#/Port#.  So when I dove  into the Sup720 I was configuring I decided it was supposed to be the same way because why would Cisco ever let me use all the ports on the front of my hardware?  Being the all knowing geek that I am I also ignored the config file that I have seen at least 30 times in the last hour and I just started typing Interface TenGigabitEthernet 5/1, and I kept getting this; Read more

What on earth can I do with this stupid PC Card Slot…

So for the past two years I have been a Mac guy.  I have fallen in love with the clean easy to use interface of OSX coupled with the power of the base os for when I need to get down and dirty on a network.  Along with this love affair I had come the the conclusion that the days of portable computers bristling with ports and expansion slots like guns from battleships of old were gone.  Then I switched jobs and was issued my Dell Lattitude D630.  So far it is a nice laptop.  Aside from the OS options I have ( I chose Ubuntu) I was surprised to see all my hardware options including a serial port (woohooo no need to care my keyspan USB adapter!!!!), a docking port slot ont he bottom, the ability to remove my DVD drive for a few extra hours of battery, 4 USB slots, VGA out on board, an a PCMCIA slot.

Lets just say out of all of those mentioned my PCMCIA (PC CARD) slot was my least favorite.  Many computers are moving to the PC Express Cards that have much more bandwidth for options just out audio and video interfaces.  So I just left my PC Card slot alone with the blank that had come in it.  Some of the guys I work with are carrying super thin laser mice in that slot and my wife’s HP has a cool little remove that hides in that bay but all in all it seems pretty useless.  That was till I found an old CF to PCMCIA apter that I had picked up to try to use CF cards in my older Cisco routers (That did not work!). Read more

Upon us all a little rain must fall.

Led Zeppelin said it best I guess.  This past week Ohio along with lots of other states got hit with the remains of hurricane Dean.  So far it has been the most damaging storm for my clients in my short consulting career.  The first call came on Tuesday morning August 21st.  That call was from one of our account managers who indicated a client had sustained catastrophic damage to their 6509 when water rushed into their core network closet.  My first two thoughts were how quickly can we get replacement hardware and how long should it take for me to get them back up and going? Read more