Swapping a Switch with no Interface Cards?

[ckernan125]

Hey guys, I have a question. If I could get any input on this I'd be grateful.

I work at a hospital and we have two Core Switches that are about 10-15 years old - 4506 Series (EOL) they each have 2 fiber interface cards that serve as trunks to other floors, and they both have 1 gbit interface 48 card, and 1 mbit 48 card.. I have 2 new Core Switches (4506-E Series with Hypervisor WS-X45-SUP7L-E). I have downloaded the proper IOS Versions, I have all my documentation and have my old cores' configurations, and I somewhat have a plan of attack.

However, I wasn't given any new Interface Cards to work with. I'm instructed to use the old Cards from the old Switches. All of these cards are in use by the Prod network. It's not possible to configure interfaces on a Switch that aren't physically on the Switch. So I'm trying to come up with ideas on how to keep my Prod network up while configuring and implementing these new Switches. I realize that I will probably have to come in late at night and make the physical implementation and my Prod network will be unreliable for that short period. But up until that point I would like to be able to configure my Switch as best I can until I actually need to add my cards.

First idea I thought - is there a sort of Batch File I can create and design for a quick (but new) configuration of my Interfaces? If I could do this, my down time would be removing the cards, placing them in new switch, then running a program that would basically type in everything I wanted but in a matter of seconds rather than one interface at a time. After that, I'd be able to test my network and see if I made a successful swap. Does anyone know such a program I could use for this?

Second thought - I have some other switches I can use to temporarily replace the cores' interface cards (these are 2960-X series Switches). Put my Cards into the first switch, then make my configurations, then implement the first switch. From there, do the same with the second switch.

I am also new to VSS and was going to implement this. Right now we just have a fiber link from one switch to the other for failover redundancy, but no auto load balancing exists. The old cores don't have VSS capabilities so any information on that would be helpful too!

Thank you in advance!

[Dan Lukes]

Sorry, Feedback Forum is dedicated to other topics. See description for details.

I moved your question to LAN, Switching and Routing

[ckernan125]

Oh cool, thank you for that.

[pwwiddicombe]

You can "save" all or portions of your existing configuration; and then repaste that file through your terminal emulator later.  It's easier if the old line cards go into matching slots on the new chassis.

So the file(s) would contain something like

Interface Gi 3/1

desc Server 1

speed auto

switchport

switchport access vlan 100

no shutdown

Interface Gi 3/2

...

Interface Gi 3/3

...

When you go into config mode / enable, you should then be able to copy portions of that config from the text file you saved, into your Putty session (or whatever emulator).

Caveats:

1.  Make sure your vlans exist ahead of time

2.  Check your terminal session  to make sure all commands "were taken" and not skipped due to potential syntax changes between the old/new switch IOS levels

3.  Don't necessarily paste as one huge chunk.  Sometimes the command buffers overrun. paste, say:

- first interface only.

- blocks of about 40 lines of text after that.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

Depending on your topology, as you mention having two existing cores, and downstream trunks, you might be able to migrate one switch as a time keeping your network up.

If you're planning to have everything with a connection to each new core, especially if doing L2, VSS might be a nice option, but you don't need it for redundancy or failover (for L2 or L3).  It can improve performance capacity.