38xx and 26/36xx network modules

Nov 17, 2006 4 Replies

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Patrick M. Hausen 19 years ago

Hi, all!

Recently we came across the 38xx series of Cisco routers. The CPU and packet switching performance seemed to be on par with 72xx NPE-400, they come with 2 Gbit interfaces already and take 1 GB of DRAM. Great features at a rather low price.

Additionally we already have a big installed base of 26xx and 36xx equipment including spare chassis, network modules, etc.

According to the Cisco marketing literature like

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the systems have

"Support for over 90 existing and new modules"

So we bought a pair of 3825.

Unfortunately with IOS up to 12.4(9)T1 and Service Provider feature set neither of these two modules seemed to work:

NM-1FE-2CE1B NM-1A-OC3SMI

Is this intentional? Is this going to be "fixed" some time in the future with a new IOS release?

Oddly enough, the NM-1FE-2CE1B was recognized at boot time by the smart memory sizing, but the interface FastEthernet 1/0 did not show up. Neither did Controller E1 1/0 or 1/1.

The ATM module was simply flagged "UNKNOWN" by the memory sizing. Documentation says, you need SP feature set for ATM so I tried that (see above) without success.

I can live with that situation for now, but i would really appreciate if our new systems supported all of our existing modules :-/

Thanks,

Patrick M. Hausen Leiter Netzwerke und Sicherheit

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Brian V 19 years ago

Hi Patrick,

I ran it thru the software advisor, neither NM is showing as supported in the 3825.

The NM-1FE-2CE1B= is only supported in:

3620 3640 3640A 3660

The NM-1A-OC3SMI= is only supported in:

2610-2613 2620-2621 3620 3640 3640A 3660

Did you work with a VAR when purchasing the equipment? If you did, they should have taken in to account the modules you were planning on using and brought this up to you PRIOR to your purchase.

-Brian

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Patrick M. Hausen 19 years ago

Do you have a link to that? I searched for a compatibility matrix on cisco.com, but did not find any. Ah - OK, requires login. Got it.

No - we are an ISP and Cisco reseller, so I failed to check in advance. The idea simply did not occur to me. I assumed (mechanic/electric compatibility -> software compatibility) My fault.

But just as the VWIC-MFT were supported in 36xx only some time after their introduction, maybe Cisco will fix this issue, too.

Thanks,

Patrick M. Hausen Leiter Netzwerke und Sicherheit

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Brian V 19 years ago

Hi Patrick,

Perhaps if you're within your 30days you can still RMA it. As long as you didn't already register smartnet on it there shouldn't be too much hassle. Unfortunately where there is such a limited group of routers that it works in, I doubt it will ever be supported in the 3800. The XM series has been out forever now....not supported in those either. My best guess would be a backplane/speed type incompatibility. The tool I use is called "software advisor" it is linked from the main downloads page. Yes, it requires a login.

Have a great weekend.

-Brian

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Bod43 19 years ago

To the OP,

While Cisco often do a good job of taking care of backward compatibility I think I might have tried to check specificially in such a case. In your case you did not know about the tool you needed to use so it was doubly difficult.

Many NMs have been around for years and years and not every one is going to be a commercial success for ever.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, may help to avoid falling into the same one.

Thanks.

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