[c-nsp] c4000

[Lamar Owen]

From: Gert Doering gert at greenie.muc.de

>On the cat4000 (as far as I know), you have no choice - it depends on the
>Supervisor version in use.  Older ones are catos-only, newer ones are
>IOS-only.

>Only on the cat6500, you can choose.

Another pointer:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps663/products_tech_note09186a0080094713.shtml
 
This is the best practices document for CatOS switches.
 
Incidentally, even non-fabric Cat6K's can do native IOS mode, as it's a Supervisor/MSFC combo deal that goes back all the way to Sup1 and MSFC1.  Sup2/MSFC2 without the fabric cards work well in Cat6K non-fabric chassis.
 
Which begs the point: there should have been no technical reason Native IOS mode could not have been done with Catalyst 5500 with SupIIIG/RSFC or SupIII/RSM (although the RSM/Supervisor coupling is looser); or am I missing something the MSFC/ Cat6K supervisor has in the way of linkage?  RSM of course being based on 7500 RSP technology, and RSFC based on 7200 NPE200 technology, may have been part of the difference (RSFC has more features, even with an older IOS, at least per feature navigator and it's wildly accurate assessments (no feature lists yet for 12.0(32)S11 on 12000 GRP...)).  
 
I know, moot point as RSFC/RSM and the whole Cat5K series is EOL'ed, but a guy can dream.
--
Lamar Owen
Chief Information Officer
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC 28772
828-862-5554
www.pari.edu