Functional Overview - Cisco Catalyst 5000 Series Installation And Configuration Note

Functional Overview

The RSFC is a router feature card for the Catalyst 5000 series Supervisor Engine II G and
Supervisor Engine III G modules. The RSFC runs Cisco IOS router software and directly interfaces
to the Catalyst switch backplane to provide interVLAN routing.
VLAN Interfaces
The RSFC contains no physical interfaces. InterVLAN routing is accomplished using virtual
interfaces that correspond one-to-one with the VLANs configured on the switch. For example, if you
configure VLAN 100 on the switch, you can configure an RSFC interface in that VLAN by creating
interface vlan100. All interface configuration on the RSFC is performed on these VLAN interfaces.
Note
MAC Addresses
VLAN interfaces on the RSFC are assigned the base MAC address from a MAC address serial
EEPROM on the RSFC that contains 64 MAC addresses. All user-configurable routing interfaces
use the base MAC address by default. If desired, you can override the default MAC address
assignment for an interface. For more information, see the "Assigning a Nondefault MAC Address
to an Interface" section on page 22. Normally, there is no need to override the default MAC address.
System Memory Description
The RSFC system memory configuration is as follows:
•
Boot ROM—The ROM monitor image is stored in an EPROM located on the RSFC.
•
Flash memory—Flash memory allows you to store multiple Cisco IOS system software images
and configuration files on the RSFC. You can boot the RSFC from the images and configuration
files stored in Flash memory. The Flash memory on the RSFC consists of a single Flash device,
bootflash:, a Flash SIMM located on the feature card.
•
NVRAM—The system configuration information and software configuration register settings
are stored in nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM).
•
DRAM—DRAM stores routing tables, protocols, and network accounting applications. The
standard RSFC configuration is 64-MB DRAM, with support for up to 128-MB DRAM available
through SIMM upgrades.
System Software Description
The RSFC uses these system software images:
•
ROM monitor—This software image runs from ROM at power up, in the event of a reload
request, or after a nonrecoverable event (such as a bus error). This image can access files on the
bootflash: device but does not have any network interface code.
•
Boot helper image—This software image is a limited function system image that has network
interface code and end-host protocol code. This image is used as a backup in case a problem
occurs when the RSFC is programming Flash for the system image. This image is run from
RAM.
The RSFC supports interVLAN routing for up to 256 VLANs.
Catalyst 5000 Series Route Switch Feature Card Installation and Configuration Note
Functional Overview
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