14 DAY TRIAL // Some serious design flaws can apparently occur sometimes when technical attributes are tested rigorously and the device surface layout is left aside, sometimes out of pure negligence.
A few years ago Cisco had to issue a warning of a serious design flaw regarding its expensive 48-port 3650 and 3680 switches that were vulnerable to a system reset thanks to a major design oversight. This design issue was able to kill entire networks if a network engineer just plugged an Ethernet cable in the wrong place.
The system factory reset button was placed directly above port 1. Nothing special so far, until you realize that many models of Ethernet cables have a little boot that keeps users from accidentally releasing the braking latching tab.
Watch for that small RESET BUTTON
To make things worse, some cables have quite a long boot that, once they are plugged in port 1 on the 3650 and 3680 models, resets the entire system. Yet, this isn’t really the end of the world since, after the warning issued by Cisco, engineers will now be careful when plugging any Ethernet cable into the infamous plug 1 without breaking the cable boot. Still, the danger lies when inexperienced data center operators are unaware of the problem and make the mistake of plugging a cable with the boot attached in port 1, shutting down the entire switch.
This just shows how easily major network issues can appear for countless of people who depend on these switches, when a small and negligible design flaw makes it all the way to data centers undetected.
Hilarious Cisco design flaw http://t.co/0McVHiQPGD (that button wipes the device when held in) HT @Nank_ pic.twitter.com/m7JM2qrPNR
— Liam (@liamosaur) September 7, 2015