Can I use a octal async cable to connect my router to switches?

[Lewisthenoob]

Hi All,

Forgive me if this is a stupid question. I am very new to networking and in the beginning stages of setting up my home lab for learning the CCNA. I have acquired 3 2811 routers and 4 catalyst 3550 switches. I am trying to set them up in the same topology as Jeremy Cioara in the cbt nuggets videos. Only issue is one of his routers has a separate WIC card with extra ethernet ports that gives him the ability to connect to 2 switches. I do not have one but I do have a HWIC-16A and a high density to octal ethernet cable. 

Can I use this to connect to multiple switches from the router? if so what do I need to configure on the router and switch to get it to work. So far its plugged in, the Async 0/1/0-16 show up on the router but the corresponding ports on the switch show down with no activity.

[Richard Burts · Accepted solution]

In the title you describe the octal cable as async and that sounds right. In the post you describe the octal cable as Ethernet. I wonder if that is the case. Certainly the HWIC-16A is async and not Ethernet.

Assuming that the octal cable is async then you could use the cable to connect to the console port of your other devices and have a convenient way to manage all of your devices. But you can not use it for Ethernet connections to pass data between your devices.

[Lewisthenoob]

Hi Rick, I am not sure the difference between async and ethernet. The cable is described as CISCO 1P CAB-ASYNC-8= Serial Cable for NIM-16A/ NIM-24A 72-101029-01 REV A0. I said ethernet as there are 8 RJ45 connectors on one end the same as a standard ethernet cable. 

However it sounds like you have answered my question if theses cables cannot be used to pass data between multiple switches and routers. Thank you

[Richard Burts]

Thank you for the additional information. The key thing is the identification of the cable as ASYNC-8= Serial Cable which confirms that this is not for Ethernet. It is visually confusing because the plug physically looks like Ethernet RJ45. But the pin out of this cable is different from Ethernet. This cable is most often used to have the router act as a terminal server and to connect to the console ports of other devices. Thank you for marking this question as solved. This will help other participants in the community to identify discussions which have helpful information. This community is an excellent place to ask questions and to learn about networking. I hope to see you continue to be active in the community.