Cisco Switch supervisor modules

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shade91

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Can someone give me the run-down as to what the Cisco supervisor modules are for on their larger (6xxx and 4xxx series) switches? I see supervisor modules and backplane modules which add bandwidth to the supervisor modules.
 
The Supervisor module is the "brains" of the switch. It's what holds the config and manages VLANs and other options. Without it the switch doesn't work.
 
Why do some of the engines have these 'uplink' ports on them? Are these just basic switch ports?
 
Originally posted by shade91
Why do some of the engines have these 'uplink' ports on them? Are these just basic switch ports?
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I believe you are refering to the GBIC slots. Those are used for fiber trunks.
 
A more simpler explanation is that you have a chassis and that you install cards into said chassis. Some of these cards are for providing access and some of them are for actually running the switch. The supervisor module is one of the cards that runs the switch. Its sorta like a computer's motherboard that all the PCI cards would connect to. All the other cards you see in the big switches (that are alalogous to the PCI card in a computer) are for providing the actual services for the network (ATM, Ethernet, Fiber, GigE, etc). .

Its a crude analogy but it did help me out when I was learning the jist of it.
 
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