Cisco Catalyst 6509-E – Questions on Replacing Line-Card

ciscocisco-6500cisco-catalystline-card

I have been handed a ticket to work an RMA for a failed line card in a Cat6509-E. Not ever having worked with these devices before I had a few questions:

  • The config that applies to the ports on the failed line card, do those persist via the Supervisory modules?? Meaning, if we simply rip/replace with the RMA'd linecard the ports will reconfigure themselves as they were?

  • Are any commands required after swapping out the failed line card to bring the new card online to the system / restore configuration to those ports? If so, what are those?

Any other best practices when swapping line cards on the 6509-E you may have please feel free to share via comments. Finally – if the community feels this should be broken into separate Q's let me know and I will take care of it.

Best Answer

A line card swap is exceedingly simple. You'll need to make sure that the replacement card is the exact same model as the old one. You can certainly bring TAC on the call with you to do the swap if you want help.

  • the configuration is saved in the running-config/startup-config, and will be applied to the new line card after your insert it and it boots up okay
  • no commands required after swapping the card. I would recommend a "copy run start" before starting.

A couple of caveats I've picked up through experience:

  • leave room in your management's mind for a whole switch reset. It's unlikely, but I've seen it happen.
  • if a tech is doing this for you remotely, log in via console to watch the proceedings. You'll also get to see all the log messages as the blade boots up.
  • never ever ever ever EVER leave a line card partially inserted*. Pull the old one completely out, put the new one completely in.

Of course, all of this will need to be done in a maintenance window. You should only expect traffic interruption on the line card in question, but leave yourself a "the switch might reset" clause in your maintenance window description.

Best of luck!

Related Topic