Pros and cons of upgrading a 6506 to native IOS

[GRANT GATHAGAN]

I have a 6506 with a SUP1A-2GE, a PFC and an MSCF2.

The 6506 has 64MB RAM and the MFSC2 has 128MB ram and a 24MB flashcard.

The chassis also hold four WS-X6348-RJ-45/WS-F6K-VPWR modules.

My CatOS is 6.2.2

The IOS on the MFSC2 is 12.1(8a)E5.

The System Bootstrap is 12.1(4r)

The BOOTFLASH: 12.1(8a)EX

I'm considering an upgrade of the CatOS/IOS on the switch to either a newer version of the hybrid mode or moving to native IOS.

I've read through the documentation comparing the layer 2 operation of CatOS and IOS, as well as the documentation outlining the process:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/products/hw/switches/ps700/products_tech_note09186a008010e9d5.shtml

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps700/products_configuration_example09186a0080116ff0.shtml

I'm also aware that Cisco is phasing out support for CatOS.

My setup is not complex, I don't need layer 3 capabilities beyond what the MSFC2 utilizes, But I figure that if I'm going to bring the switch down to update the firmware, I might want to go ahead and make the transition to native IOS

So.... any thoughts ?

[glen.grant]

My input is if it is working satisfactory then I would leave it alone . Sup1 is EOL anyway and no further work is being done on it . The last native version looks like it was released about a year ago so it looks like no further releases will be coming for that platform . Other than having the box on a single platform if you are comfortable with catos and using it (I always liked it ,seemed easier doing group commands) then I see no advantage as the card is eol and software maintenance ended in march of 2006 .