Subject: [USR-TC] Cisco AS51 async modem cables

From: Brad Gass <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 04:51:17 +0000

Hello, all.

I've been working with Steve Rivera trying to find some AS51 cables, and
on second thought, the info is valuable to anyone still running (or
needing in my case) to run AS51's, so I'm posting it for the general
masses to absorb.  I apologize if any of this info is 1) old, 2)
redundant, 3) been covered before, or 4) so old nobody really cares :)

Since the AS51 is essentially nothing more than a Cisco 2511 on a card, I
just *assumed* all of the cables are compatible.  Well, most are,
console/aux, ethernet, sync serial all are.  However, async serial is NOT.

I've been occasionally whacking my head against the wall over the last few
days, trying to get this blasted AS51 chassis to work properly.  I'd been
using a standard CAB-OCTAL-ASYNC cable with it, and no joy whatsoever.
Worked like a champ attached to an NT server, as well as an external 2511.

Well, after further digging, I think I have my answer, very unfortunately.

Although Cisco's docs allude to the cables being compatible between AS51
and 2500 series routers, a few USENET posts (via Google) say otherwise.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=cab-as51-8&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

(Not sure if it will work, if it did, the last two hits and their parent
postings are of interest)

Cisco links are:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/acs_fix/cis2500/2509/acsvrug/cables.htm#xtocid402310

and

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/acs_serv/5100_sbd/5100ug/75000.htm#xtocid291522

Now, totally contrary to conventional thinking, a connector's pins are
numbered the same, regardless of application, right?  If you look at the
tables showing the pinouts, and compare them, you'll see that they match
up fine, with the only discrepancy being that the AS51 specific cable has
pins 34 and 35 tied together.

Well, assuming that Cisco would number the pins the same for two
like connectors was the real mistake here.  Notice the pin numbering
looking *into* the connector!

The pinout numbering is a mirror from one to the other.  Not exactly a
great move on Cisco's part, especially seeing that everything else is the
same, IOS and all.  Damn.  And I'd be willing to bet that it was a
PC board layout issue of some form (mirrored connector footprint or
netlist numbering, schematic entry error, whatever) that caused it too.
Rather than correct it so they do interchange, they create a new cable.
Neat.

So, I really *do* need the Cisco HD68 to dual HD50 cables.  Their part
number is CAB-AS51-8, and it appears that this is the only cable they sell
for the AS51.

I'm hoping that the NIC's aren't damaged as one posting hinted could
happen.  I knew better, "assume" something, you're going to get burned.  I
guess I should have turned to Google sooner.  An educated guess tells me
they should be OK, since most serial ports are short-circuit protected,
etc., but at this point, all bets are off.

Steve is looking for me (thanks Steve!), but if he comes up dry, I'm in
the market for 6 (or probably more like 8 so I have spares) cable sets for
the AS51.  I don't want to make them, but have the resources to do so if I
can't find them used or NOS, and I can't get them from Cisco anymore
(reasonably).

Thanks for your help!

Brad

---

From: Charles Sprickman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 07:48:43 +0000

I don't know if this helps at all, but some time ago AOL/ANS had some old
chassis at Telehouse (25 b'way) in NYC that had the as51 cards in them.
They used these for console access in this case.  These "Big Dial" racks
looked to be on the way out about a year or so ago, so *someone* somewhere
should have a whole mess of these cables.  If you can figure out where AOL
dumps old stuff, you should find the cables. :)

Charles

--
Charles Sprickman
[email-masked]

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002, Brad Gass wrote:

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