Connecting a USB laptop to a RJ45 serial port

We are about to get our first managed switch at work (Procurve 2520G-24-PoE), and this lowly programmer gets to put on his admin hat and try to configure it. The switch has an RJ45 serial port for console access. My laptop has USB ports but no serial port. In fact, there isn't a single computer in the office with a serial port.

I've seen USB-to-DB9 adapters, but I need to go from USB to RJ45 (serial). How would I go about accomplishing this? Do I need two adapters? Will USB-to-DB9 and then DB9-to-RJ45 work?

Thanks in advance.

Solution 1:

The USB to DB9 serial and DB9 to RJ-45 works perfectly fine. I use just that combination (with a standard Cisco DB9->RJ-45 serial cable) all the time.

Solution 2:

The manual is published on the Internet. Two methods are suitable for connecting to the switch.

The switch should come with a RJ45 to DB9 connector, which you can use any standard DB9 to USB adapter if you only have USB. This is the preferred method.

Also, the switch will acquire an IP address from DHCP or Bootp servers by default. Once a lease is acquired, you can connect to the switch's IP via either telnet or a Web browser.