Overview of Cisco HWIC-4ESW Module
Offering ease of configuration, deployment, and management while using the powerful characteristics of Cisco routing and Cisco Catalyst switching features, the 4-port Cisco EtherSwitch 10/100 high-speed WAN interface cards (HWICs) supported on the Cisco 1800 (modular), Cisco 1941, Cisco 2800/2900, and Cisco 3800/3900 series integrated services routers. Providing line-rate Layer 2 switching across Ethernet ports and using Cisco IOS Catalyst Software with options for inline power support on all four ports, the modular 4-port Cisco HWICs offer small-to-large-size businesses and enterprise branch office customers the option to integrate switching and routing in one device.
Features such as port auto-sensing, quality of service (QoS), VLAN support from 802.1P and 802.1Q standards, and 802.1D spanning tree protocols are standard on the Cisco EtherSwitch HWIC. The Cisco EtherSwitch HWICs are available in standard 4-port 10/100BASE-TX switch HWIC and Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) configurations which consist of a 4-port 10/100BASE-TX switch and a 4-port inline power module daughter card. The inline powered version of the Cisco HWIC can power Cisco IP phones, Cisco wireless access points, or any other IEEE 802.3af-compliant device.
If you need more than two interfaces of the Cisco 2901 router that you have been working with, you can apply a dual-ISP topology like the one below to make up for it. Now, let’s share the steps of adding a HWIC-4ESW module to a Cisco 2901 router.
Here is the part number of the module:
First, I had to add the module into the router. It slides in pretty easy, you just need access.
After you slide this into the slot, you screw the two screws in and it will automatically show up in the config as VLAN 1. You will need to put an IP address on the VLAN and do a ‘no shut’ on the VLAN interface. That is all there is to it.
The material is originally referred from:
Cisco Router: How To Add A HWIC-4ESW= Module To A 2901 Router
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