Horror of horrors...
Never has my arse hurt so much as today; I picked up an old 3COM LinkSwitch 1000 and configuring this thing is going to be a royal pain in the behind.
Let me explain. Firstly, all of the ports are configured as MDIX, so I'm gonna need a whole heapin' helpin' of cross-over cables. Since all of my current networking is through Asante switches, all I have available are straight-through ethernet cables. Darn!
That's just the beginning of my troubles. This switch has some pretty swanky security features. I need to trackdown admin passwords before I can configure the darn thing. Why? As part of the security on this switch, each port is configured to specific IP addresses and will only allow devices with set IP's to connect to each respective port.
As luck would have it, I do not have the admin passwords, so I'm going to have to reset the firmware. This going to involve downloading the firmware, setting up a TFTP server, and using a serial connection on the console port to tell the switch to reset to factory defaults.
So, I have to buy or manufacture a null-modem serial cable, download firmware from 3COM, setup my Windows box as a TFTP server, and use a VT100 terminal emulator to instruct the switch to reset. Once I finish that, I have to buy a bunch of cross-over ethernet cables and configure the switch to work with my Macs. What a pain in the posterior!
Geesh, this cheap old switch is turning out to be not so cheap after all!!!
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Hip, Hip, Hooray... Hip,
Hip, Hip, Hooray... Hip, Hip, Hooray...
Houston, we have ignition... 4...3...2...1... and liftoff!
Well, my arse doesn't feel so sore today. The switch is up and running but I'm still gonna need some crossover cables if I want to go any further.
It turns out that I didn't need to reset the firmware and the previous owner of the switch did not make each of the 24 ports IP specific. Thank God!
So, from now till September 24, 2005, I've nothing to do but take in the wonderful world of MDIX in all its splendour.