Cisco design fail
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This hilarious Cisco fail is a network engineer’s worst nightmare
In 2013, Cisco issued a ‘field notice’ warning of a problem with its very expensive 3650 and 3850 Series Switches, used in many datacenters around the world. One of the problematic switches That field notice detailed a major problem with th
I'll let the picture speak for itself.
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The cables, which are sometimes accidentally used in datacenters,
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Don't the
s also block the USB port?
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But hey, for $$$$$$, a Certified Cisco Cable Specialist can come install special Cisco Compatible cables (which cost $$$ per cable) in your switch.
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Did nobody beta-test the design before release? Hmm....
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The "easy fix" they mention is disabling the button. I'm guessing this can be done in software, but I also want to know what happens if the software then sh*ts itself or the configuration (permanently). Can you wipe it in some other fashion?
Willy-nilly disabling HW reset switches sounds to me like a problem waiting to happen.
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I think there's a few second timespan in which you can send magic packets and TFTP to the switch as it's booting.
Or JTAG. That might be a thing.
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The "easy fix" they mention is disabling the button.
The “easy fix” I'd have in mind is taking a cutter to that cable plug and trimming it a bit so that it doesn't hit the button.
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The “easy fix” I'd have in mind is taking a cutter to that cable plug and trimming it a bit so that it doesn't hit the button.
In my book that's even worse. Sure, in a small-to-medium environment, where everyone with access can be informed. But as soon as you go really large, you can bet that someone, somewhere (possibly in a hurry) will take an unmodified cable from their drawer and pop it in.
Anyway, I have one of these switches in my server room, but our IT staff consists of three people, all of who now know about this. (Also, the cables we usually order have slightly different plugs, so that this isn't a problem.)
Also, thanks to @Tsaukpaetra for the info - I'll look into that. Never know when such things come in handy
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But as soon as you go really large, you can bet that someone, somewhere (possibly in a hurry) will take an unmodified cable from their drawer and pop it in.
If you go really large, you just buy all the cables with the modification pre-applied to it.
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If you go really large, you just buy all the cables with the modification pre-applied to it.
This. You don't really need "protective boots" on cables going into cable closets. Half the time those boots just make it a massive pain in the ass to push down on the tab and remove the cable
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Yes, it's really handy, especially if you manage to flash a bad firmware image and it won't boot up far enough to flash again from the normal interfaces.
I've had to recover a few routers at my home using such methods, so long as the boot loader isn't touched, there are a quite a few routers that are "unbrickable" thanks to features like this.
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The easier fix would be to simply not use that top left port.
Unless it's the Uplink.
Which is probably is, because that would make for MAXIMUM WTF.
I guessing the Cisco testing labs (assuming they have one) don't use those click-in cables because they spend all day plugging stuff in and out and those cables are annoying and get in the way for that usage-- any actual data center is going to use click-in cables, though.
It's like when a multiplayer game is only tested in a lab where all computers are on a gigabit LAN, then the developers are shocked when their netcode doesn't work on 45,000 Xboxes on 4,000 different ISPs all over the world.
You're supposed to be testing what your customer's going to be doing, idiot.
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An easier fix is to cut the push button, it does not need to stick out. Good old, pen points will suffice if reboot needed.
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I guessing the Cisco testing labs (assuming they have one) don't use those click-in cables because they spend all day plugging stuff in and out and those cables are annoying and get in the way for that usage-- any actual data center is going to use click-in cables, though.
They'll be click-in, but likely won't have the problematic shroud. Heck, there's no reason at all to have that on something that's going to spend its life sitting in a
closetdata center.
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They'll be click-in, but likely won't have the problematic shroud. Heck, there's no reason at all to have that on something that's going to spend its life sitting in a closet data center.
Well maybe my data center I worked in wasn't very orderly (definitely true), but when your cables are bundled, and you're pulling on a bundle to add a new cable or doing a new cable pull or even just shifting it around trying to get your toner arm deep enough into it to find the tone, you'd yank out all of those plugs if they didn't have the little click-in things. And users wouldn't like that much.
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Yes, that's the plastic locking clip, which is likely there for the reasons you give. The shroud around it to make it hard to press though… that's something I've only ever observed on consumer-grade cables.
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Those
, or in general can be a pain in the arse sometimes. Especially the cheaper ones. After a period of time the plastic "calcifies" and you cannot compress them enough to disengage the latch. Quite often you would find that thet had been pulled back along the cable thus defeating their purpose.Also, and I kid you not (Wish I still had the manual to "prove it") ICL actually issued a
with pictorial instructions of how to "unbend" it, for use as a CD removal tool.
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The “easy fix” I'd have in mind is taking a cutter to that cable plug and trimming it a bit so that it doesn't hit the button.
Talk about a "real life hack!"
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An easier fix is to cut the push button, it does not need to stick out. Good old, pen points will suffice if reboot needed.
I can't think of a single reason why it's made to protrude in the first place. Don't you usually want your
nuclear launchreset everything buttons protected from being accidentally pressed?
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Clearly, the real solution is to install a molly guard on the reset button.
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I can't think of a single reason why it's made to protrude in the first place.
Paperclips are expensive?
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cut the push button
Unauthorized hardware modifications!
Oh, your device spontaneously caught fire? Sorry sir, we're not responsible, you voided the warranty. But to show you that we're sorry, we'll sell you a brand new one at a fantastic 0.02% discount, only $5,499.
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I was only off by $300
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Pffffbt, corporate customers do not stoop to Amazon.
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Well damn.
What does "secureitstore.com" provide over Amazon (or other stores) that's worth $15,000?
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Pffffbt, corporate customers do not stoop to Amazon.
No - they're Cisco partners.
We pay ~$5100 for the C3850 48 port - we have the Cisco list price as $13000.
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Nothing really. But it was the first result for me when I was trying to find a price on those overpriced bastards.
Cisco Catalyst 3850 Stackable 48-Port Switch | SecureITStore.com
