USB console cable for Cisco Catalyst
Cisco’s new line of equipment now use a mini-USB cable for console configuration. There is no longer a need for a USB to serial adapter or a roll-over cable.
Connecting the USB cable on Linux should give you a new ACM device that looks something like this: “/dev/ttyACM0″.
To verify, you can also look through your dmesg or /var/log/messages :
[265430.720082] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
[265430.914246] cdc_acm 4-1:1.0: This device cannot do calls on its own. It is not a modem.
[265430.914305] cdc_acm 4-1:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
The easiest way to connect to an USB capable Cisco device is to use screen, however you can still use minicom.
Screen command:
screen 9600 /dev/ttyACM0
The USB cable from Cisco is pin for pin the exact USB A to mini-B that you can find at your local electronics store.
When I plug in the USB Micro and hook it up to a switch I don’t get any TTY options that work.
dmesg / grep tty
[ 0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
[ 0.781710] 00:07: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
Neither of these works to connect to a switch. If I hook up a USB to serial adapter that works and shows up as ttyUSB0, but the micro usb just doesn’t seem to do anything.
Normally the cable itself doesn’t register in dmesg (passive device), it is the switch/router/thingy that is the ‘ttyACMX’ device. If you do not see this, then I would check if micro-usb port on the switch is enabled. Other than that, verify that the cable works.
Good luck!