Quick Start Guide
Catalyst 2900 Series XL Cabling and Setup

1 Take Out What You Need

2 Cable the Switch

Connect PCs, Workstations, Servers, and Routers

Connect Switches and Hubs

2 Cable the Switch (Continued)

Connect the AC Power Cord

Connect the Console Cable

Important Note for Clusters

3 Assign IP Information to the Switch

IP Information Requirements

First-Time Startup

4 Display the Cisco Visual Switch
Manager Software (Optional)

For More Information

Quick Start Guide
Catalyst 2900 Series XL Cabling and Setup

1 Take Out What You Need


Catalyst 2900 series XL switch
Catalyst 2900 Series XL Installation Guide and Release Notes for Catalyst 2900 Series XL and Catalyst 3500 Series XL Cisco IOS release 11.2(8)SA6
RJ-45-to-RJ-45 rollover console cable
AC power cable
RJ-45-to-DB-9 serial connector
RJ-45-to-DB-25 terminal connector
Rack-mount kit
Rubber feet

Note You need to supply Category 5 straight-through or crossover cables to connect
to Ethernet devices.

2 Cable the Switch

Connect PCs, Workstations, Servers, and Routers

1. Connect a Category 5 straight-through cable (not supplied) to a 10/100 port on the front panel of the switch.

2. Connect the other end of the cable to the RJ-45 port of the PC, workstation, server, or router.

Connect Switches and Hubs

1. Connect a Category 5 crossover cable (not supplied) to a 10/100 port on the front panel of the switch.

2. Connect the other end of the cable to an RJ-45 port of the target switch or hub.

Note Use a straight-through cable to connect two ports when one of the ports is designated with an X. Use a crossover cable to connect two ports when both ports are designated with an X.

2 Cable the Switch (Continued)

Connect the AC Power Cord

1. Connect one end of the supplied AC power cable to the rear panel of the switch.

2. Connect the other end of the power cable to a grounded AC wall outlet.

Connect the Console Cable

1. Connect the supplied flat, blue rollover cable to the port marked CONSOLE on the rear panel of the switch.

2. Connect the other end of the cable to a terminal or PC with terminal emulation software. Use one of the supplied adapters if you need to.

The console port has the following data characteristics:

9600 baud

No parity

8 data bits

1 stop bit

If you are configuring this switch as a cluster member, Section 3, "Assign IP Information to the Switch," and Section 4, "Display the Cisco Visual Switch Manager Software," are not required (see the Cisco IOS Desktop Switching Software Configuration Guide for details). In all other cases, you must complete Section 3.

3 Assign IP Information to the Switch

The first time that you start the switch, it prompts you for IP information. You must assign IP information so that the switch can communicate with local routers and the Internet and so that you can use the Cisco Visual Switch Manager (CVSM).

IP Information Requirements

Before you start the switch, get the following IP information from your system administrator:

Switch IP address
Subnet mask (IP netmask)
Default gateway (router)
Enable secret password

First-Time Startup

Use this procedure to assign IP information to the switch:

Step 1 Enter Y at the first prompt:

Continue with configuration dialog? [yes/no]: y

Step 2 Enter the switch IP address, and press Return:

Enter IP address: 
1

Step 3 Enter the subnet mask, and press Return:

Enter IP netmask:

Step 4 Enter Y at the next prompt to enter a default gateway (router):

Would you like to enter a default gateway address? [yes]: y

Step 5 Enter the IP address of the default gateway, and press Return.

IP address of the default gateway:3

Step 6 Enter a host name for the switch, and press Return:

Enter a host name:

Step 7 Enter a secret password, and press Return.

Enter enable secret:

The initial configuration displays:

The following configuration command script was created:

interface VLAN1
ip address 172.20.153.36 255.255.255.0
ip default-gateway 172.20.153.01
enable secret 5 $1$M3pS$cXtAlkyR3/6Cn8/ 
snmp community private rw
snmp community public ro
end

Use this configuration? [yes/no]:
4

Step 8 If this is correct, enter Y; if not, enter N to restart the procedure.

4 Display the Cisco Visual Switch
Manager Software (Optional)

After you have assigned an IP address to the switch, you can use CVSM to view or change configuration settings. You can also use the Cisco IOS command-line interface (CLI) to view parameters and to configure the switch.

CVSM supports these platforms and network browsers:


Win95 Win 98	Netscape Communicator 4.5. and 4.5.1	Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and 4.01 with Service Pack 1
Windows NT	Netscape Communicator 4.5. and 4.5.1	Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or 4.01 with Service Pack 3
Solaris 2.5.1 or higher¹	Netscape Communicator 4.5. and 4.5.1	Not supported.

¹Use the SUN-recommended patch cluster for that OS and the Motif library patch 103461-24.

Follow these steps to display CVSM:

Step 1 Start Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer.

Step 2 Enable the browser options needed to communicate with the switch.

For Internet Explorer:

1 Select View>Internet Options>Advanced tab.

2 Scroll through the list of options until you see Java VM, and then select the Java JIT compiler enabled and the Java logging enabled check boxes.

3 Click Apply.

4 Select the General tab, and click Settings. Click Every visit to the page.

5 Click OK.

For Netscape Communicator:

1 Select Edit>Preferences>Advanced.

2 Select the Enable Java, the Enable JavaScript, and the Enable style-sheets check boxes.

3 Click OK to return to the home page.

4 Click Edit>Preferences>Advanced, and then click Cache to display the cache dialog.

5 Select Every time, and click OK.

Step 3 Enter the IP address of the switch in the Location field (the Address field if you are using Internet Explorer).

Step 4 Press Return. The universal access page for your switch displays.

Note You are prompted with a message if your browser version is not supported.

Step 5 Click Visual Switch Manager to display the CVSM home page.

For More Information

See the Catalyst 2900 Series XL Installation Guide for detailed instructions on installing the Cisco 2900 series XL switch. See the Cisco IOS Desktop Switching Software Configuration Guide for instructions on using CVSM, the Cisco IOS CLI, and cluster management software to configure and manage switches. See Release Notes for the Catalyst 2900 Series XL and Catalyst 3500 Series XL Cisco IOS Release 11.2(8)SA6 for recent information about the Catalyst 2900 series XL switch.

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