Console Servers

Wed Sep 19 17:44:40 UTC 2018

On 9/19/18 04:40, James Bensley wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Sep 2018 at 14:38, Alan Hannan <alan at routingloop.com> wrote:
>> I'd like your input on suggestions for an alternate serial port manager.
>>
>> Long ago I used Cisco 2511/2611 and was fairly happy.  A little later I used portmaster and was less so.  Recently I've been using Opengear and they work fairly well but the price is fairly high.   I use the CM7100 and IM7100.
>>
>> General specs I'm looking for are:
>>
>>   * 8 to 48 or more rs232 serial ports on rj45
>>   * nice-to-have software selectable pinouts (cisco v. straight)
>>   * gig-e ethernet port (100mbps ok)
>>   * 1U form factor
>>   * redundant AC power
>>   * access physical serial connections via local port #
>>   * access physical serial connections via local IP alias (nice to have)
>>
> Hi Alan,
>
> I'd be reluctant to deploy Cisco 2800s (or similar) today unless there
> is a newer variant, is there an ISGv2 variant with serial connectivity
> that Cisco will be supporting for a few more years? I know OpenGrear
> are expensive but in my current outfit, they do "just work" and the
> few we had at my old place, again they did "just work".
The ISR G2s do have several options for async available as do the 
current generation ISR4Ks.

The ISR G2s (1900/2900/3900s) can take the HWIC-8A, HWIC-16A, or SM-32A 
for 8/16/32 ports (SM-32A only in 2911 and higher due to being a Service 
Module form factor)

Data sheet: 
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/1800-2800-3800-series-16-port-async-high-speed-wan-interface-card/product_data_sheet0900aecd80274416.html

The ISR G2 routers were all announced for End-of-Sale a while back, the 
modules for them were also announced recently, but are still available 
for sale until Feb 2019.  They'll still be supported until Feb 2024.

EOL Announcement: 
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/network-modules/eos-eol-notice-c51-741231.html

The ISR 4Ks have the NIM-16A, NIM-24A, and the SM-X-64A (16/24/64 
ports).  The SM-X is only supported in 4331 and higher due to the SM-X 
form factor, the 16/24 port ones support at least 2 modules in all 
ISR4Ks even the low-end 4221.  The NIM-16A and the SM-X-64A can use the 
same cables as the older async modules, the NIM-24A requires the newer 
low profile cable for 1 of the ports (can use it for all ports).

Data sheet: 
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/routers/4000-series-integrated-services-routers-isr/datasheet-c78-739968.html

Talk to your favorite SE or partner for more info and pricing.

Jeremy

Disclaimer, I do work for Cisco, this info is provided to the list as it 
was requested and hoping to clarify what's available.

My personal $0.02: I've also used some of the older Opengear boxes in 
the past, they're solid, and Opengear are very good with customer 
suggestions/feedback.  Lantronix SLCs work once you get them configured, 
but their configuration web interface was intolerably slow (page 
refreshes would eat whatever you input into a second option box you 
clicked to change) and their built-in terminal required Java.  Benefit 
of Opengear is the other "things" you can do with them since they're 
Linux based (TFTP/syslog/etc). Benefit of a Cisco ISR is they're 
straight IOS (G2s)/IOS-XE (4Ks) so any configuration tool that can 
handle a Cisco box can work with them.