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Catalyst 6500 Information
Lately I’ve been feeling like my 6500 knowledge is severely lacking. I work with them everyday, but my knowledge of the underlying technology isn’t very deep. I know the basics like most people, which supervisors are better, a general idea of what they’re capable of, etc. But I’m not familiar with the nitty gritty on the sups and line cards. Naturally I decided to learn more. 
Here are some good links:
- Great overview from Etherealmind
- Detailed 6500 presentation from Cisco Networkers 2004
- 6500 Architecture Overview from Cisco.com
- Good information on the SFM from Cisco.com
- Good information on the Module Buffers and Queues from Cisco.com
- Good information on the Sup32 from Cisco.com
I’m posting this here so I never lose it, and hopefully it will help others. If you guys know of any other decent 6500 links, please post in the comments!
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Colby on May 19, 2010 at 3:03 pm, and is filed under Useful Links. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 1 year ago
This diagram is actually wrong I think
the sups have to be installed in slots 5-6 unless it’s a smaller chassie
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps708/prod_qas09186a0080159963.html
backs that up for specific sups, could be smaller supes can use any old slot
about 1 year ago
BTW thanks, I have been needing to look more into 6500s for quite some time
about 1 year ago
ok 1 more post
yep one of those links even agrees with me for (except for the big and little ones… but the normal size ones sups go in 5-6
https://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps708/prod_white_paper0900aecd80673385.html
about 1 year ago
Only the Sup720′s and Sup32′s need to be in slots 5 and 6. Previous Sups can be in slot 1 and 2, while the SFMs (if equipped) would be in slots 5\6.
If I recall correctly, I think the 720 is physically only able to fit into slots 5\6 of the chassis. It won’t seat into slot 1\2 fully (Been awhile since I looked though).
about 1 year ago
Yea, that picture is assuming older Sups. I just put it there to have some visual.
Older Sups go in 1 and 2, 720s go in 5 and 6.
about 1 year ago
nice post colby. I am going to bookmark this for reference. I have two of these bad boys at work, and I actually just led a project where we deployed them in a vss config. Greatest project ever. Oddly though, i dont know a great deal on their inter-workings, so cheers for the post.
about 1 year ago
How do you like VSS? I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet.
about 1 year ago
I really like it. The config is super easy, and the technology is solid. I actually powered off the primary core switch after the changeover (to test), and the network saw no interruption! I got 2 6509′s though to thoroughly test for about a month and to help develop a deployment plan…so that always helps. But I do really like it, i have seen a few bugs in the ios version for it, but nothing major.