Cisco 2501 -- Hooking it up to my network.

[khanza]

alright, so -- I found this cisco 2501 router, and I've decided to try to play with it.

This is my problem -
The back of this puppy has an AUX and a console port (for configging right?)
2 Serial ports (to communicate to other routers right?)
1 AUI Port (to transceive to an RJ-45 eth connection right?)

Assuming my above statements are true -- how would this router, route packets at all. 1 eth port means it can sniff the network but can't do much else correct?

I'm confused.

I also talked to some guys on another forum I am a member of, and they told me that I could hook one of the serials up to a modem (yay! 44.4k! -.-' doesn't help me much)
Could I maybe port the serial off to a eth connection?

Thanks guys,
khan

 

[jneiberger]

A better question for you is this: what exactly do you want to accomplish with this router? The 2501 has four interfaces capable of routing, but what exactly do you want to route?

Do you have any other routers? If not, what do you expect to be able to accomplish? What else do you have in your network? Do you have multiple IP devices, perhaps a couple of PCs? Do you have a switch or a hub? Anything?

 

[lgarner]

What do you want to accomplish? The most common use for routers is at the edge, handling LAN-WAN connections.

Plug the ethernet port into your LAN after configuring a unique IP address on it. The serial ports typically connect to a CSU/DSU, which connects to a T1 or something. If you really want to connect two ethernet LANs, you need two ethernet ports.

You could also use secondary IP addressing on the single ethernet port.

 

[khanza]

Well -- in the end I want this router to replace my NAT -- It's really just something to occupy my spare time, and it isn't imperitive that I put it up...

I want my router to have a WAN ip and a LAN ip, and do NAT type work for my other computers.

The only other routers I have are linksys and airlink NAT routers....

Is there anyway to accomplish this with my current tools?

 

[ReadRight]

I believe you can hook up one of the serials to a PC with a Cisco Serial <> RS232 cable, but that wouldn't give you the speed to do anything useful. Might work just for tinkering. If you have a serial port on your cable or DSL modem you might be able to do something there, but I doubt it.

I don't think there's much you can do in the way of serial to ethernet other than another 2501 which could be worthwhile, they're cheap on ebay and two routers are always better than one for spare time play.

 

[squarefolkdancer]

Two options:

1. Look for a 2514 router which has two ethernet ports.

2. If you get a second 2501, you will also need a DB60-DB60 DCE/DTE crossover cable.