Cisco WS-C2950G-48-EI 48-Port Switch layer 3 switch?

[isaiasperez77]

I recently bought a Cisco WS-C2950G-48-EI 48-Port Switch from ebay. I thought it was supposed to be a layer 3 swtich. Its weird though because i do not see the IP Routing command in global config. I also do not see the IP SSH command to activate ssh v 2. DO i have to update the IOS image or is it just a layer 2 device? Can someone help me?

 

[afamousguy]

Maybe a dumb question, but you're running the enhanced software image, right?

 

[sg4rb0]

It's a layer 2 switch. Cisco label their switches with the layer it operates at, as the first digit in the model. So look at this switches below:

2900 = Layer 2 switch
3500 = Layer 3 switch
4500 = Layer 4 switch
6500 = Layer 6 switch
7200 = Layer 7 switch

For clarity on that image the guy above is referring to, this simply enables more advanced features on the switch. It has nothing to do with the layer the switch operates at.

 

[bill001g]

It would be nice if the numbering system in cisco really means that. But cisco is not that simple.

There are 2960-x models that are layer3 they can't run all the routing protocols but they can do most layer 3 functions. There are also switches in the 3xxx series that are only layer 2 if you buy them that way. It is sometime software and sometimes it is a different part number in the same line.

What is really bad is they have now started to reuse numbers so a brand new device may have the same number as some 10yr old boat anchor


A 2950 was a sorta strange switch. It was designed for what they call the metro market. Pretty much the difference is it has some very advanced traffic limiting configurations. It can only do layer 2 switching even though it can filter traffic on ip addresses.