Is a Cisco Cat 5505 a layer 3 switch?

[ifoam]

It has the following modules:

# (2) WSC5008B: Power Supply
# (1) WS-X5530-E3A: Supervisor Engine III-NFFCII
# (1) WS-U5531-FETX: 10/100 Fast Etherchannel
# (3) WS-X5224: 24 Port 10/100 BaseTX Switching Module

I can't find out if it does. If it isn't, can I upgrade the supervisor engine to make is a layer 3 switch?

 

[ADB100]

No. The catalyst 5000 series is layer-2 only and runs CatOS. You can add (if you can find one?) an RSM (Route Switch Module) which adds Layer-3 functionality in a 'Router-on-a-Stick' fashion. This takes up one slot in the chassis and is about as powerful as a 2500 series router:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products..._and_configuration_guide09186a008007e7b2.html

There is also an add-on card for the Supervisor II and III called an RSFC (Route Switch Feature Card). This bolts onto the Supervisor and adds similar functionality to the RSM:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps679/prod_release_note09186a00800e4702.html

I would look at getting shot of the 5500 and getting something more recent (Catalyst 3550 or later?)

HTH

Andy

 

[burtsbees]

Andy---won't he be limited in layer 3 functionality, like no access-lists, VPN configs, etc? I would think in this case the 2500 would be more powerful (and a lot cheaper!). I don't know that much about layer 3 switches, but I do know they can be very limited, like the main function would be for inter-vlan routing.
This is why I ask. Thanks.

Burt

 

[ADB100]

Burt, the RSM & RSFC are full routers so pretty much what you can configure on a 2500 you can configure on the RSM or RSFC. They both operate in router-on-a-stick fashion - ISL trunk between the backplane and the RSM/RSFC and then Layer-3 VLAN interfaces on the RSM/RSFC.

I think some of the Supervisors for the Catalyst 5500 had MLS support so you could cache the flows on the NFFC and not punt all traffic to the RSM/RSFC, the NFFC did the MAC re-write. I could be wrong though.....

Still, the catalyst 5500 is quite old and I would look at replacing it with a 3550 or later. If it's being used for training then it is a good piece of kit in my opinion (with a Layer-3 RSM/RSFC).

Andy

 

[vipergg]

The 5500's were a great layer2/3 switch if you had the RSM card . We used them as distribution boxes in a major corp network . Never had any problems with them . We had the nffc cards along with the RSM cards we did do mls switching with these , worked great and they could pass a lot of data for its day . They had all the same functionality as a higher end router , it was certainly stronger than a meager old 2500 router . They named ACL's etc . When using the mls function the first packet in a flow would go to the RSM and all other packets in that flow would then get switched at layer 2 after that by the supervisor card . We literally ran dozens of vlans off these as distribution. It was configured exactly the same as a hybrid 6509 except you had to configure the mls functions if you wanted to use that whereas in the 6500's you did not have to configure anything for mls . We never had any problems with those boxes more than I can say for the newer sup 720's where we are already seeing failures in some of the line cards . These will handle more traffic than you would think but they are EOL so you won't be able to get parts from cisco you would have to go reseller for parts ....In answer to the initial poster , there is no RSM card in your listing so it will not route the way it is , you have a nice layer 2 switch with what you have , which is catos .