native versus hybrid Catalyst 6500

[tmesbah]

We have 2 Catalsyt 6509 on Core Switch running Hubrid mode. All Distribution "Catalyst 2970", Access "Catalyst 2950" And Server Farm "Catalyst 4500" are running native mode IOS.

On Catlyst 6500, we have only Gigabit modules are installed "no Firewall, IDS,... modules are installed on it".

My Question:

1)What I am gaining if I change from Hybrid to native.

2)What I need to be carefull if doing the transition from hybrid to native

Thanks

[glen.grant]

To be honest I don't think you gain a whole lot . Native is the way they are pushing though to get everything under 1 OS . For layer 2 type stuff I always found catos much easier to use . If you decide to go native give yourself about 2 hours it's a pretty involved time consuming process .

[thisisshanky]

The OS conversion is an easy process, if you are familiar with it. I have done 100s of these that the last one I did took less than 20-25 minutes. You have to carefully follow each step in this link.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/products_tech_note09186a008015bfa6.shtml

Now there is a tool available on Cisco website that converst CATOS command to IOS.

http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/Support/CatCfgConversion/catcfg_xlat.pl

Also here is a link that describes equivalent commands in CATOS and IOS.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps700/products_tech_note09186a008010e9d5.shtml

The OS and configuration conversion asks for downtime, so plan the migration very well in advance.

Good luck.

[thisisshanky]

I agree with Glen, that if you are doing this for the first time, it can be very time consuming. Just remember one rule of thumb. Move sequentially from Step 1->20 while converting the OS. Do not skip any steps, unless mentioned in the document.