About to Fail?

[iolair]

I have a small campus lan, with eight routers. I was doing my routine monthly maintenance yesterday when I found I couldn't access an older router via the console port. It's an old 2600, running IOS 12.3. It was supposed to be decommissioned back in October, but due to the economy, it's still in use. It will be replaced in August 2010. I can telnet to the router, packets are being passed, and I can even access the router via the aux port. Should I be concerned? Since we're small, we don't have much redundancy, and if this router fails, that segment goes offline. Everything is fine except being able to access the console port. Thanks.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer

 

[burtsbees]

Post a sh proc cpu when trying to console, i.e. try and console in with a telnet session open, then sh proc cpu.

Are you sure it's not the emulator settings? Like, you can console in with settings, leave the laptop on and the emulator open, and no luck with the 2600?

/

tim@tim-laptop ~ $ sudo apt-get install windows
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package windows...Thank Goodness!

 

[North323]

concerned about what? has the router been compromised via the console port? if that segment does go offline, is that a big deal?

 

[iolair]

No, the router hasn't been compromised, just can't access it via the console port. AUX and telnet work - which is a little weird, because I never use the AUX port, don't even have a login for it, which I'll set and see if it makes a difference. If the segment goes offline, no, it's not a huge deal, as it's a student segment, not a staff segment.

Burtsbees, I'll try the sh proc cpu in a little while and see what's going on there. When I open the emulator and try to console in, I get nothing except a blinking cursor. Pressing enter, or ctrl-c, or any key gets no response at all. Using the emulator with the AUX port works fine, and I can config t, do all show commands, etc. It's like the solder on the console port has come loose or the port is no longer connected to the router internally.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer

 

[burtsbees]

Myself, I would take the thing apart and resolder any cold joints, and all pins. The common (ground) is a likely suspect...

/

tim@tim-laptop ~ $ sudo apt-get install windows
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package windows...Thank Goodness!

 

[iolair]

Well, the thing is working, I can access it via telnet or aux, so I'm going to leave it alone and hope it lasts until August. In the meantime, I'll build a backup.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer