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Connecting and Logging In to a Switch

Do not connect an Ethernet cable, ISDN, or live telephone line into the console

port. These things can damage the electronics of the switch.

Connecting to an Ethernet Port

The Catalyst 1900/2800 series switches have fixed port types. They are not
modular like the 5000 series switches. The 1900/2800 switches use only
10BaseT ports for workstations and 100BaseT or FX for uplinks. Each
switch has either 12 (model 1912) or 24 (model 1924) 10BaseT switch ports
with 2 FastEthernet uplinks. The 100BaseTX ports are referred to as ports
A and B. We have connected servers into these ports and are able to run
100Mbps. Works great for a small network. To connect the ports to another
switch as an uplink, you must use a crossover cable. It would be nice if there
were a button for this function, but there isn't.

The Catalyst 5000 switches can run either 10 or 100Mbps on any port,

depending on the type of cards you buy. The supervisor cards always take
the first slot and have two 100BaseTX or FX ports for uplinks. All devices
connected into either the 1900/2800 or 5000 series switches must be within
100 meters (330 feet) of the switch port.

When connecting devices like workstations, servers, printers, and routers to

the switch, you must use a straight-through cable. Use a crossover cable to

connect between switches.

When a device is connected to a port, the port status LED light comes on

and stays on. If the light does not come on, the other end might be off or
there might be a cable problem. Also, if a light comes on and off, an auto-
speed and duplex problem is possible. We'll show you how to check that in
the next section.

5000 Switch Startup

The 5000 series switch loads the software image from flash, then asks you to
enter a password, even if there isn't one set. Press Enter, and then you will see

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