Access to your switch or router through serial cable

To access to your switch or router through a serial cable you can use tools like kermit or minicom.

To access with kermit in a debian machine you can simple install it with:

# apt-get install ckermit

To run kermit I use this config file in my home directory

$ cat .kermrc
set carrier-watch off
set handshake none
set flow-control none
set line /dev/ttyS0

Once you have connected the serial cable on ttyS0 you can run kermit command:

$ kermit
C-Kermit 8.0.211, 10 Apr 2004, for Linux
 Copyright (C) 1985, 2004,
  Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
Type ? or HELP for help.
(/user/) C-Kermit>

Now, simple type connect kermit command to access to your router:

(/user/) C-Kermit>connect
Connecting to /dev/ttyS0, speed 9600
 Escape character: Ctrl-\ (ASCII 28, FS): enabled
Type the escape character followed by C to get back,
or followed by ? to see other options.
----------------------------------------------------

Router>

This is simple way to access to your router or switch and configure it.