[iBud]

I have a quick question for everyone. I have a 15" MacBook Pro, console cable, and USB to Serial adapter cable. I would like to be able to console into a Cisco router, but don't know which app to use. On the Windows side, I either used Hyperterminal or TeraTerm Pro. I know that I can use Terminal to telnet into the router, but I need to console in first to set up the basic configuration. Any assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

[d00d]

You might try ZTerm.

[Tom_Diola]

Why can't you just use a browser to get into your router?

[d00d]

Generally Cisco routers are rather high end, corporate class devices that have typically never had web interfaces (which were made for consumers).

[Genesis]

Hi guys,
I also have the same immediate requirement to console into Cisco routers with my new Mac, and apparently ZTerm does not yet have a binary version for my 17' Intel Dual-CPU Macbook Pro! This weekend, my 3 year old little girl trashed the older Dell XP notebook I normally use for work (Installing CISCO routers, switches, cabling, etc.,), and I would rather use my new APPLE than ever have to buy another Microsoft-based pc in my life. I originally bought the Powerbook to run Digitech's Protools HD recording software - which it does AWESOMELY, but for Cisco's console configuration, I just need to talk to a serial port, not a program or server...(actually a USB-to-RS232 dongle thingamajig) That's why the BSD Terminal program in Tiger OS won't cut it...
...somebody please help me.......I have a router install on Monday... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[d00d]

While ZTerm may not be Intel native, it should run quite fine in Rosetta and as it's such a tiny app, having to run it in Rosetta should not impose on the system.

[Damien]

If there's and X-serve somewhere in your rack, you can use the console serial port on the back of it. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
I've had mixed results with the USB-->serial cables. On some switches it works just fine, and on others it doesn't. It's not the cable, or the iBook I'm using; it's always related to the switch/router itself. I use ZTerm to create the session. If you have the router's manual, check to see what console settings it wants to use; occassioally, I'll run into a device (typical UPS's) that have non-standard console settings and have to adust ZTerm's preferences.
For those times when I just can't get the USB-->Serial cable to work with a device, and there's no X-Serve in the rack, I have a backup 4-year-old piece-o-crap HP laptop that I can use.

[wevmio]

there is at least minicom: http://minicom.darwinports.com/

general info: http://docwiki.gumstix.org/ConnectingviaSerial-MacOSX

[relativitydrive]

Hi,

I'm hoping you have everything sorted by now but to help you and others who dial up the same query here's how it works:

When you move from PCs (yes I know they're shite) to a Mac you don't get any help with consoling into your Cisco gear so, download Zterm from

http://homepage.mac....alverson/zterm/

Then buy a USB2.0 to RS232 convertor, install the software, plug in the serial cable to the converter and it into the USB port and once that's in run Zterm. Set it up as you would any other Cisco console access i.e. 9600/8/None/1 and off you go!

Once you have Telnet access configured and an IP to manage the device with going through the Ethernet port is easy. System Preferences/Network/Ethernet then set it to manual and then turn off the Airport or you won't get a response and use Terminal (already installed in the Applications/Utility Folder).

Some useful settings and keys for Terminal are

Columns = 100 and Rows = 64 for clear use
Ctrl + C is your break
Telnet and Ping are the same

Hope this helps.

[BellZhu]

iBud, on 19 February 2007 - 12:38 AM, said:

I have a quick question for everyone. I have a 15" MacBook Pro, console cable, and USB to Serial adapter cable. I would like to be able to console into a Cisco router, but don't know which app to use. On the Windows side, I either used Hyperterminal or TeraTerm Pro. I know that I can use Terminal to telnet into the router, but I need to console in first to set up the basic configuration. Any assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

hahaha what a old post

you need to download and install the driver for the usb to sr cable, after that, you should see a device like /dev/tty.usbblabla, you can do "ls /dev/tty.*" to see the change after you install the driver.

When you have the device listed, you can just input the command "screen /dev/tty.usbblabalblblbl 9600"
Done, you don't need any third party terminal apps, the Terminal.app is the best one

Hope this would help most of the network/macbook guys.

[jellychen]

I also had the same problem, I hope I can find the right answer.
thank you!

[macnewbpro]

BellZhu, on 02 August 2010 - 09:47 PM, said:

iBud, on 19 February 2007 - 12:38 AM, said:

I have a quick question for everyone. I have a 15" MacBook Pro, console cable, and USB to Serial adapter cable. I would like to be able to console into a Cisco router, but don't know which app to use. On the Windows side, I either used Hyperterminal or TeraTerm Pro. I know that I can use Terminal to telnet into the router, but I need to console in first to set up the basic configuration. Any assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

hahaha what a old post

you need to download and install the driver for the usb to sr cable, after that, you should see a device like /dev/tty.usbblabla, you can do "ls /dev/tty.*" to see the change after you install the driver.

When you have the device listed, you can just input the command "screen /dev/tty.usbblabalblblbl 9600"
Done, you don't need any third party terminal apps, the Terminal.app is the best one

Hope this would help most of the network/macbook guys.

Might be an old post, but very relevant to what I needed to get done (console to Cisco gear).

Great response BellZhu. I acquired a CP-US-03 USB adapter from cptechusa.com, downloaded the driver from their support page, install/reboot, and (in my case) opened the terminal and typed "screen /dev/tty.usbserial 9600", just as you directed. Works great!

Thank you very much!

[mondy]

BellZhu, on 02 August 2010 - 09:47 PM, said:

iBud, on 19 February 2007 - 12:38 AM, said:

I have a quick question for everyone. I have a 15" MacBook Pro, console cable, and USB to Serial adapter cable. I would like to be able to console into a Cisco router, but don't know which app to use. On the Windows side, I either used Hyperterminal or TeraTerm Pro. I know that I can use Terminal to telnet into the router, but I need to console in first to set up the basic configuration. Any assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

hahaha what a old post

you need to download and install the driver for the usb to sr cable, after that, you should see a device like /dev/tty.usbblabla, you can do "ls /dev/tty.*" to see the change after you install the driver.

When you have the device listed, you can just input the command "screen /dev/tty.usbblabalblblbl 9600"
Done, you don't need any third party terminal apps, the Terminal.app is the best one

Hope this would help most of the network/macbook guys.

Worked great on 10.6.6 with Keyspan USA-19QW

Thanks,
Mondy

This post has been edited by mondy: 17 February 2011 - 05:16 PM

[moose_n_squirrel]

Genesis, on 08 March 2007 - 04:22 PM, said:

...trashed the older Dell XP notebook I normally use for work (Installing CISCO routers, switches, cabling, etc.,), and I would rather use my new APPLE...

I dont know if this advice is too late, but before I decommissioned my ThinkPad I used Parallels Transporter (comes with Parallels Desktop) to basically suck the brain out of the PC laptop's hard drive and make a nice virtual machine out of it that I can run in Mac OS X, for the rare cases where I have to run Windows-only software. It's an exact duplicate of my complete Windows setup, down to the apps and prefs, now in convenient virtual form.