I'm not familiar with Summit switches (I have tried Cisco switches)

So if your switch has Console port (usually they need either serial cable or RJ45)

Im gonna assume it's RJ45. Your RJ45 cable ends with serial end just like in this picture:

You plug the RJ45 into the switch. The other end needs to go to your computer. If you're computer has serial port input, great.. If not, then you will need a good quality serial to USB cable.

Go to your device manager on your computer and find out what COM number you have.

Take a look at my attachment.

In my computer it's COM9, open putty and follow the attachment picture.

I am attempting to control a device with RS232 commands.

The device has a control box that accepts RJ45 cable.

I am sending my commands via a Global Cache iTach WF2SL device which has a DB9 serial port.

I am attempting to connect the two devices using a Cat-6 T-568B cable, and a RJ45 to DB9 adapter.

The WF2SL pinout uses 2 - RX, 3 - TX, and 5 - Ground.

The control box expects what is in the image below:

The adapter has the following pinout definitions:

I’ve been trying to research this to determine the correct pinout but have become pretty much completely confused at this point.

I have ensured that the WF2SL is configured with the correct baud rate and additional settings.

I have tried quite a few different combinations of pinouts with no success.

Would anyone be able to dumb this down for me, and help me get the right pinout on the adapter, using the Cat-6 cable I have, to work with what the device is expecting?

Thanks in advance.

While using a classical RJ45 jack, the connection on your Cisco router really is a RS232 serial connections.

This means that, independently from the physical connector, your PC need to speek the same RS232 protocol. This is why do you need a DB9 (classic serial port connector) to RJ45 converter. The converter does not change the underlying protocol, rather it only provided the correct wirings for the right pins.

On the other hand, your PC's RJ45 connector is not internally connected to a serial port; rather, it is a direct extension of your network card, which speak a completely different protocol (even at the basic electrical layer).

No. Ethernet ports can't transmit or receive RS-232 signals.

If your laptop has a traditional DB9 RS-232 serial port, use that with the appropriate serial cable. If it doesn't, use a USB to RS-232 serial adapter.

Update

As I originally predicted, the wiring is proprietary and the flow control signals are a mess. @SofaKng has reversed engineered the official cable and produced this table (reproduced here):

RJ45 pin,   DB9 pin (female)
----------------------------
  1           1
  2           6 + 8
  3           2
  4           5
  5           5
  6           3
  7           4
  8           7

Original

You missed a key detail. Their RJ-45 patch cable is null modem wired. That means it is reversed. You got all of your pairs backwards (you connected TX to TX, RX to RX, etc...)

Assuming you are using a straight-through patch cable...

• as you indicated that you are with your comment "standard TIA-568B"
• you must use TIA-568B ordering on both ends of your patch cable

...it goes this way:

Device Signal, RJ-45 Pin#, DB9 Pin#, PC Signal
----------------------------------------------
> DTR 1 --- 6 DSR   
> GND 2 --- 5 GND
> RTS 3 --- 8 CTS
> TxD 4 --- 2 RXD
> RxD 5 --- 3 TXD
> DSR 6 --- 4 DTR
> GND 7 --- 5 GND <-- note: repeats, bussed to device #2
> CTS 8 --- 7 RTS
> RI  9 --- 9 RI  <-- doesn't actually fit in an RJ-45 (only 8 signals), probably safe to ignore if I read their diagram correctly

The DB9 on a PC is pinned out this way (see figure). Note how it is null-modem reversed from the table listing you provided. That's because their RJ-45 cable is null-modem reversed to cancel it out. Tricky and silly, but that's how they chose to implement it.

Some other thoughts...

Actually, I noticed from tracing in the diagram that they do some very strange stuff with the flow-control signals. For example, they short CTS and DSR on the PC side, but not on the other side. They route RTS on the PC side to DSR on the device side. And other weirdness.

This may be bad documentation, but I suspect they have implemented custom firmware/software that makes use of the flow-control signals in non-standard ways as a means of ensuring that you only buy and use their cables and adapters.

I would suggest that you make two half cables. On one end go RJ-45 to unterminated wire and the other go DB9F to unterminated wire. Then you can twist your way through all of these weird configurations until you get it right. I would start with my suggested mapping. If that doesn't work, report back and I'll give you my mapping for all of their weirdness in the flow-control lines.

Good luck! =)