WS-SUP720-3B does not fit into WS-C6509

[dennis.u]

I bought a WS-C6509 chassis for a trainee and test lab, it was manufactured in 1999.

I already purchased a FAN tray, two power units and 3 line cards (2x mini GBICs, 1x RJ54 ports).

Now I bought a supervisor engine (WS-SUP720-3B). However, during the careful installation I noticed that the thorn does not fit into the counterpart in the SUP (marked in the picture). The flattened side on the chassis shows to 4 o'clock, on the SUP to 11 o'clock.

All documents I've read so far do not mentioned any compatibilty issues between C6509 and SUP720. Are there any different hardware revisions? How do I find the right supervisor card? 

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

it is difficult to see on the picture what and where the problem is. Do you have another picture from further away that shows where the supervisor gets stuck ?

Obviously, on the 9 slot chassis, the supervisors go into slot 5 and 6.

[dennis.u]

Hello @Georg Pauwen 

This is a picture from the chassis (I was aiming to slot 5, of course). On the left side of the massive connector, you can see two sticks. The upper one is solid, the lower is half-round. The angle of the half-round does not match to the hole of the SUP.

If my spatial thinking doesn't completely fail, then the lower pin of the backplane must be turned 90 degrees counterclockwise.

By the way: on slots 1 and 2, the flat side of these pins points in the direction of 6 o'clock.

I hope, I could explain it more understandable, now.

[Scott Hodgdon]

@dennis.u ,

Can you please provide a picture of the whole chassis ? and then just a picture so slots 5 and / or 6 without the super closeup ?

Cheers,
Scott Hodgdon

Senior Technical Marketing Engineer

Enterprise Networking and Cloud Group

[dennis.u]

Hello @Scott Hodgdon,

Here you go. I attached the total view as well as an inside view of slot 5 and 6.

Thank you.

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

it is probably me, but I still do not see anything on these pictures. Do you have a picture of you holding the supervisor in front of slot 5 (so we can see how far it goes in ? Either way, if you compare the card you have with the one in the picture attached, can you see a difference ? I honestly have never heard of a card physically not fitting. Does it look like somebody has altered the chassis and/or the card ?

[mlund]

Hi

I have a vague memory of 6509 comes in an 6509-e chassie that has extra backplane for xbar to support the sup-720.

And that the 6509 without -e was for older sup

/Mikael

[dennis.u]

It's true, there are 6509 and 6509-E. The FAN tray of the E-version is wider, the power connector is placed differently.

But there are no differences in the Cisco official "Catalyst 6500 Series Switch Installation Guide" (as of Feb 03, 2012) regarding the SUPs and the supported linecards.

But, if I look to 6509 eBay pictures, I can see that the backplanes has connectors on the left side as well. It seems like they changed the hardware at some point, but didn't rename either the chassis or the card. And that doesn't look like Cisco.

[Scott Hodgdon · Accepted solution]

@dennis.u ,

I believe what you purchased is a Catalyst 6009 and and not a 6509. A 6509 has two connecters on the backplane: one for the backplane bus and one for switch fabric. This matches the two connectors you should see on the back of the Sup720-3B.

This chassis just has a single connector on the backplane as can be seen from the two pictures you sent. Also notice that the chassis says "Catalyst 6000 Series" and not "Catalyst 6500 Series".

Cheers,
Scott Hodgdon

Senior Technical Marketing Engineer

Enterprise Networking and Cloud Group

[dennis.u]

@Scott Hodgdon 

Thanks for pointing this out. I was able to find a 6000 Series Guide in the archives of the internet. That seems to be the reason.

But, I'm wondering that the tag on the device claims to be a C6509 while the chassis says "6000 Series" as you said. I attached another picture. Look next to the fan tray near the power socket.

However, I will reach out for a WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE, this should work?

[Scott Hodgdon]

@dennis.u ,

A Sup2 will not work as it looks like you have WS-X6724-SFP modules in the chassis, and those were never supported with Sup2. You would be better off to get a 6509-E chassis. It will probably be cheaper than a Sup2.

Cheers,
Scott Hodgdon

Senior Technical Marketing Engineer

Enterprise Networking and Cloud Group