From: Shane Edelman (shane@e-shane.com)
Date: Tue Feb 18 2003 - 13:35:15 GMT-3
While the supported features in the 2900XL line can be confusing (I will
elaborate more in a moment), the 3500XL line is much more
straight-forward: The only IOSs currently available for the 3500XL is
what's referred to as the "enhanced or enterprise" version in the 2900XL
line. The Catalyst 3500XL documentation is usually grouped together
with the 2900XL line when searching at Cisco.com, which adds to
potential confusion... bottom line in answering your question: Yes,
802.1Q + ISL trunking is supported in the '
c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin' IOS as well as any current 3500XL IOS.
If you look at the 3500XL archived IOSs, you will find that there were
"standard" and "enterprise" versions, which supported different
features.
Since the 3500XL is more of an "enterprise class" swith, its IOS
currently comes in 1 variety (it used to come in 2 levels) which
supports all enterprise features. It gets confusing when dealing with
the 2900XL line, because there are a variety of switches that have 4MB
of DRAM (2900XL + 2916M to name 2) and several that come with 8MB DRAM
(2924-XL-A, 2924-XL-EN, 2924M-XL-A, etc) and their memory capacity
dictates which of the Catalyst 2900XL IOS they support: the Standard or
Enhanced/Enterprise IOS. The standard version supports VLANs but not
trunking and the enhanced IOS permits the use of all of the enterprise
features, including trunking. So you have to be careful when purchasing
a used 2900XL switch in order to make sure how much memory it has, what
IOS it is capable of supporting, and what features can be used with the
device.
I guess since we are discussing switches, I might as well go into the
2950 switch line... There are several 2950 switches that differ by
ports, switching speeds and software capabilities: 2950-12, 2950-24,
2950C-24, 2950T-24, 2950G-12, etc... Initially, there were 2 IOS: SI +
EI which could only be installed on their respectful capable platforms
(you couldnt install the EI on a plain base 2950-24). Now, Cisco has
put both the EI + SI in a single IOS file that will install either the
SI or EI based on the 2950-type you are installing the IOS on. For
exactly which IOS is compatible with which version of the 2950, of
course check out Cisco.com.
I am only stating observations from my experiences with these different
devices in my home lab and from what I have read in numerous PDFs at
Cisco.com... So if I am incorrect in my wording, explanation, or any
facts I have stated, please correct me!
A last note that isn't directly relevant to this switch discussion: My
"favorite" tool for determining features and capabilities of IOS can be
found at:
www.cisco.com/go/fn
You're going to need CCO access to use it and it only works for router
IOSs... but, you can "decode" any router IOS file name for its
capabilities and features as well as locate a particular IOS for a
particular platform that supports the feature you are looking for.
Cisco's Packet periodical had an article on determining IOS features
that listed this quick + short link to their feature navigator...
Thank you for your time!
Shane
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Jorge Epifbnio
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 10:07 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: trunking ISL/802.1Q
Do you know if c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin supports trunking
ISL/802.1Q?
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