Force10 S50

FnordNet has a pair of Force10 S50 48 port Gbit Ethernet switches. Thanks, Bryan!

console cable

While there are a bunch of Cisco console cables on hand, Force10 uses a different connector pinout. The console port on the S50 is a female 8P8C modular connector (a normal twisted pair Ethernet connector, often called an RJ45).

The connections on the the console port are as follows. Numbering goes from left to right, looking into the console port connector.

Pin number	connection	Wire color
1	no connection	white/orange
2	no connection	orange
3	RXD - received data	white/green
4	no connection	blue
5	no connection	white/blue
6	TXD - transmitted data	green
7	no connection	white/brown
8	no connection	brown

The other end of the console cable is a DB-9 (or, more correctly, a DE-9 <ref name="Wikipedia page on D-subminitature connectors">Wikipedia page on D-subminitature connectors</ref>) female connector as commonly found on PC serial ports. There are two rows of pins on this connector, the "top" row having 5 connections, the "bottom" row having 4. Facing the connector pins are numbered 5 through 1, left to right, on the top row. Pins 9 through 6 are on the bottom row, from left to right. Here's the connection from the other end of the cable:

pin	signal	wire color	connected to
1	DCD - data carrier detect	any color jumper	pins 6 and 4 on the same connector
2	RXD - received data	green	pin 6 of opposite end of cable
3	TXD - transmitted data	white green	pin 3 of opposite end of cable
4	DTR - data terminal ready	any color jumper	pins 1 and 6 on the same connector
5	SGD - signal ground	no connect	no connect
6	DSR - data set ready	any color jumper	pins 1 and 4 on the same connector
7	RTS - ready to send	any color jumper	pins 8 on the same connector
8	CTS - clear to send	any color jumper	pin 7 on the same connector
9	RI - ring indicator	no connect	no connect

Clearing configuration

These switches arrived used, with unknown configuration applied and with unknown usernames and passwords required to manage them. [SFTOS] is the operating system these switches run, and clearing the switch configuration is accomplished fairly easily:

• Attach the console cable
• Configure terminal program to communicate at 9600bps, 8 data bits, no parity bits, and 1 stop bit.
• Power on switch
• At the prompt

CPU Card ID:   0x508245
Boot Menu Version: 01 Jan 2007
Version 02.01.45 02/07/2007

Select an option. If no selection in 2 seconds then
operational code will start.

1 - Start operational code.
2 - Start Boot Menu.
Select (1, 2):

quickly press 2 then Enter.

• At the next menu, select the Restore configuration to factory defaults (delete config files) option.
• Select the Reset the system option from the menu.

Give the switch an IP address

Log in to the switch. Elevate privileges using the enable command. Run the following to tell the switch use DHCP to get an IP address for management:

configure
interface managementethernet 
protocol dhcp 
^Z

Enable SSH logins

ip ssh server enable
ip ssh protocol 2  
ip ssh maxsessions 2
ip ssh timeout 30

Enable web based configuration

ip http secure-server enable
ip http secure-protocol TLS1 
ip http server enable

Showing MACs attached to the switch

Force10-S50#show mac-addr-table

      Mac Address        Interface  IfIndex     Status   
-----------------------  ---------  -------  ------------
00:01:00:01:E8:D5:C1:AE   0/3/1     401      Management
00:01:00:06:25:FE:9F:1F   1/0/2     2        Learned
00:01:00:0C:CE:91:C7:97   1/0/25    25       Learned
00:01:00:10:75:1A:0E:A6   1/0/14    14       Learned
00:01:00:10:75:1A:0E:A9   1/0/27    27       Learned
00:01:00:10:75:1A:1B:80   1/0/39    39       Learned
00:01:00:1A:A0:25:FC:F3   1/0/3     3        Learned
00:01:00:1D:09:69:88:53   1/0/1     1        Learned
00:01:00:25:84:6E:2B:02   1/0/16    16       Learned
00:01:78:E7:D1:ED:CD:64   1/0/37    37       Learned

Force10-S50#