IT Leadership: Setting up an Alcatel Switch

Ahhh ... back in Lethbridge, back at the college, back to work! Today marked the first day back with the cohort and the beginning of the last summer courses together. With a team member we began the assembly of a network starting at level one, the physical layer. The first task (the one that took all class and more) was to connect to and assign an IP address to an Alcatel 6648 Omniswitch. Fun stuff!

The major barrier was finding the instructions to do this. Apparently no one has developed a quick and easy guide that can be accessed through a simple internet search. Instead there are at least two guides needed to successfully complete the assigning of an IP address to a switch, it is possible that you actually need three. Many of these are well hidden on the Alcatel website and others can be found. There are rumours that we will need up to eleven such guides to get through the next two weeks of tasks! All of this has provide insight into the personality stereotypes generally given to IT personnel. No doubt they tend to be reclusive!

In the end the steps are such:
- Download and install Coolterm Win (if your computer is using a Windows operating system). This is not as easy as it sounds as you have to find the driver that works for your computer. I am running Windows 7 and my partner is on a Mac. With trial and error we got my computer to install (we used the Vista version)
- Connect your computer to the switch using a cable
- Now find the switch on Coolterm; you may have to restart first; it is also handy to know that the Latitude E5510 has its own serial port, so you will have to choose Com 3 [at least in my case] instead of the Com 1 that comes up
- Check the settings of the switch on Coolterm
- Connect to the switch by clicking the 'Connect' icon
- Type in the default login and password when prompted
- Type in the command "ip interface vlan-1 address 192.168.16.254 vlan 1" *of course the address typed will be the one appropriate for your switch!*
- Type in the command "write memory"
- Type in the command "copy memory certified" [This is important to know: you are working on the 'working' copy - a work in progress - and to actually write your changes permanently on the switch, you have to copy your working changes onto the certified copy - which is the 'hard' copy.]
- Then you can reboot your switch by typing the command "reload"
- Once the switch is operational again, login using the default settings [there is a process to change the default login, which a person would do if this was real life, but today we did not as this is NOT our permanent equipment and someone else will need access when class is over :)]
- Check the IP address assigned to the switch by typing "show IP interface"
- You have done this successfully if you get this screen:

See how the IP address is showing? That is what we wanted!!!

This was a learning day for sure! Essentially I learned that the help of those who have experience or training (and especially BOTH) is truly invaluable in these situations, even if you have an extensive and difficult to navigate user manual (or six). To call on those who can and are willing to help after your feeble attempts have begun to overwhelm is the most important lesson. It is so great that there are several of these kinds of people (so much for stereotypes!) in this cohort.

ps. The references for the vast list of manuals that may come in handy to work with Alcatel 6600 and 6800 series of switches would look like this:
Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2005, March). Alcatel OmniSwitch: CLI Reference Guide (Part No. 060158-10, Rev. G). Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/27892885/Omniswitch-CLI-Refernce-Guide

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2005, March). OmniSwitch 6600 Family: Advanced Routing Configuration Guide (Part No. 060187-10, Rev D) Retrieved from http://wedophones.com/Manuals/Alcatel/OmniSwitch%206600%20Advanced%20Routing%20Configuration%20Guide%20R5-1.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2005, March). OmniSwitch 6600 Family: Getting Started Guide (Part No. 060178-10, Rev. E). Retrieved from http://wedophones.com/Manuals/Alcatel/OmniSwitch%206600%20Getting%20Started%20Guide%20R5-1.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2005, March). OmniSwitch 6600 Family: Switch Management Guide (Part No. 060180-10, Rev. E). Retrieved from https://service.esd.alcatel-lucent.com/search/query/display.jsp?type=file&f_url=new_search_docs%2Ftarget%2Fdocs%2Fomniswitch_6600%2Fmanuals%2FOS66_Switch_Management_Guide_Rev_E.pdf#search="ipv6"

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2007, December). OmniSwitch 6800 Series, OmniSwitch 6850 Series, OmniSwitch 9000 Series: Advanced Routing Configuration Guide (Part No. 060216-10, Rev. E). Retrieved from http://www.alcatel-lucentbusinessportal.com/private/active_docs/os68-90_ar_631r01.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2007, December). OmniSwitch 6800 Series, OmniSwitch 6850 Series, OmniSwitch 9000 Series: Network Configuration Guide (Part No. 060198-10, Rev. B). Retrieved from http://ligf.cn/doc/6800/os68_net.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2007, December). OmniSwitch 6800 Series, OmniSwitch 6850 Series, OmniSwitch 9000 Series: Switch Management Guide (Part No. 060215-10, Rev. E). Retrieved http://dinf.ru/Doc_base/omniswitch_6850_user_guide_SW.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2007, June). OmniSwitch 6800 Series: Getting Started Guide (060195-10, Rev. D). Retrieved from http://wedophones.com/Manuals/Alcatel/OmniSwitch%206800%20Getting%20Started%20Guide%20R6.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2007, June). OmniSwitch 6800 Series: Hardware Users Guide (Part No. 060196-10, Rev. G). Retrieved from http://wedophones.com/Manuals/Alcatel/OmniSwitch%206800%20Hardware%20Users%20Guide%20R6.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2006, April). OmniSwitch 6600 Family: Network Configuration Guide (Part No. 060179-10, Rev. F). Retrieved from http://wedophones.com/Manuals/Alcatel/OmniSwitch%206600%20Network%20Configuration%20Guide%20R5-1.pdf

Alcatel Internetworking Inc. (2006, September). OmniSwitch 6600 Family: Hardware Users Guide (Part No. 060181-10, Rev. G). Retrieved from http://www.alcatelbusinesspartner.com/private/active_docs/os6600_hdw_541.pdf?CFID=122707&CFTOKEN=98828638