On Unexpected Junk

Thu, June 1, 2006 - 4:47 PM PST

I bought some gear on eBay to help me finish up my CCNA studies before I take the exam. Spefically, I bought three Cisco 1924 switches for around $10 each - the shipping cost cost more than the hardware did. I also bought a couple of DTE/DCE crossover cables to use between synchronous serial interfaces so that I don't have to screw around with external CSU/DSUs.

So I get home yesterday and see a big box on the front porch. Since these switches are small - 19" wide, less than 2" tall, and at the most 8" deep, I couldn't imagine what was in this huge box. Even if I had bought the switches together (which I didn't), I wouldn't expect a box anywhere near this large. So I go to pick it up, and notice that not only is it big, but it's heavy too. A quick glance at the shipping label showed that it weighed 70 pounds.

So I cracked it open right there on the front porch and was greeted with a plethora of really old switches and hubs. I figured the guy sent me the wrong order and that somebody else got my switch, except in the middle of the stack, there was the switch I ordered with a packing slip stuck to it (which had just that one switch on it). It seems this guy just shipped me 65+ pounds of extra gear for no good reason.

So if you have use for a managed switch or hub that's fairly old, let me know. I've got a couple of HP Procurves, another HP that's not a Procurve but that has a couple of copper 10/100 ports as well as two FX interfaces, a humongous Bay Networks unit, and two 10/100 switches from Alcatel. It's all managed, though I haven't booted it up to see if it works.

Aside from the Cisco that I actually wanted, the gem of the bunch is an old 16 port serial console server from Chase Research (now Perle). It sends out gratuitous ARPs for an IP that belongs to an ISP in Missouri. I haven't succeeded to break into it yet, but I'm fairly confident that I have the wrong cables and need to make some new ones (it takes RJ45 serial cables like a Cisco, but not the rolled variety) and that once I have a working console I can factory-default it. It's 1U and doesn't have a fan, so it won't make any noise, take up any space, or make any heat - plus it'll be useful. Sweet!

Again, aside from the Cisco (for now at least) and the terminal server, I'll be throwing most of this junk away, so speak up if you want any of it.