Recently, i got an EOL Cisco Catalyst 2960-X switch, and this is what i’ve learned about how to set it up from scratch. it seems like the community eschews these because they’re too intimidating, or maybe its just that they’re so proprietary nobody wants to deal with learning such a niche product with so few re-usable applications. i’m gonna figure out why they’re regarded that way, and hopefully overcome whatever it is people are turned off by. this will be a ongoing document as i learn stuff, i will update it here.
step 1: connect to terminal interface with serial
apparently these switches have their own OS with propriety cisco commands that we need to learn. this is probably part of the intimidation factor.
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/q6468i/cisco_2960x_noob_configuration_as_unmanaged_poe/
in order to connect to serial from macOS, seems like the best way is to use Screen inside of terminal. seems like step 5 is right what i’m looking for:
also, a homebrew install of putty for mac, or also SerialTools are alternative tools mentioned.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/17ei5n2/brand_new_mac_user_looking_for_something_akin_to/
step 1a: how ‘screen’ works – some commands:
this is similar to TMUX.
screen -r [session number] to reattach
screen -ls to show all currently running screens
while in a screen, type ctrl+a to get into command mode,
then ctrl+\ to kill session, or,
ctrl+d to detatch screen and get back to regular terminal
step 2: factory reset
The console requires a password to login before anything can work, so if you’re working with some decomm’ed old equipment (like me), now i need to reset to factory defaults to get access.
also, it may be possible to perform a “password recovery” from the console:
factory reset:
https://niksec.com/how-to-reset-cisco-catalyst-2960-switches-to-factory-default