[c-nsp] Cisco 5814 / 7206 dial shelf interconnect question

[Rich Davies]

Hello

I have a question regarding the Cisco 5814/7206 NAS.   The 5814 dial-shelf
controller (DSC) is connected to the 7206 via a dial-shelf interface
(DSI).  This connection is ethernet-based even though Cisco calls it a
proprietary DSI connection.  When you do a "show dsi" to look at the status
of the DSI interface it shows UP/UP and has various info that you'd expect
an ethernet <http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1488866&page=1#>interface
to have (plus the physical connector IS ethernet-based).   This
being the case, I am trying to determine if the DSI is a generic ethernet
connection (running layer 2 between the 5814 and 7206 for dial shelf to dial
shelf controller communication).

If this is the case and its just an ethernet conn running layer 2, is it
possible to put a switch in between of the 5814 and 7206?  (put the DSI link
in it's own VLAN).  Reason I ask is I have seen a moderate failure rate of
7206's acting as a dial shelf for a 5814, and it usually requires an onsite
visit (trying to get away from that).   If i can put a switch in between and
use VLAN's I could create a layer of redundancy for 5814's (have the ability
to map the port to another VLAN in the event of a 7206 dial shelf outage).

Any thoughts on this?   The DSI interface does indeed seem to be layer 2 and
MAC based was hoping someone else out there has tried this?


Thanks,

Rich Davies
rich.davies at gmail.com