Cisco Routers? 1

[jimmmaaa]

I am interested in pursuing a CCNA and wanted to get a used Router to work on at home. What is least expensive router that would give me what I need to understand everything. At my company we have a 2900 & 3600 but I have no access to these. I am trying to gear up for the changes in telecom I see coming down the pike due to Voip and other versions of IP Telephony, SIP, Server based PBX's etc. Any advice on what router I could get by with and still learn all I need to learn would be appreciated. I learn best by doing.

Thanks,
James

 

[svermill]

I personally like the 1700 series for starting out. They have lot's of functionality vs. other smaller platforms (VoIP, for one). But be carefull to get one that does 802.1q trunkinig on the ethernet interface (if I recall, the 1720 doesn't do dot1q but the 1721 does - something like that). It's important that trunking be an option because so much of what you need to learn these days relies on it. You'll probably want a small switch at some point in your studies too.

You could also do some research on

http://www.cisco.com.

No shortage of product literature there. Also, look at some of the more popular study guides on the market. It may be in your interest to have the same router that is being used in the examples. It used to be 2500s, but they're EOL, so I suspect the 1700 or perhaps 2600 is more typically used.

 

[networkstudent]

Hi,

It depends on how much you want to spend.

If you wanna get on budget, cisco's 2501 found used on ebay should be a good start, it is cheaper to buy and to have because even the serial cables are cheaper and easier to make if you want to make your owns.

The only handicap is that you'll not be able to practice on inter-vlan routing using trunking, there are other ways to do that on a lab to find out how and why it works.

There's a little detail that must be taken, the switches you'll buy if you're planning to setup your own minilab.

If you're planning to use 1900 series switches you won't be able to do trunking on either of the above routers, because the encapsulation support, but if you're about to buy a 2900 series, there's no doubt that 1721 it's the best option.

Jose Paez
CCNA

 

[speedracer525i]

Hi All,
I have an 806 router.I put in my pass words,and when I wanted to get back into the router the cursor would not move.So I did a Ctrl Break,not the thing to do as I found out after I mess up the Image.I can now get into ROMmon but can not get out.It says that it does not have a magic number.I was told to go to Cisco.com and down load the image 12.2 and do the TFTP thing.I went to the web site and could not find what I needed.Do I need a Beta number or what?Am I looking in the right direction?

 

[svermill]

Speedracer525i,

You'll have better luck starting your own thread rather than highjacking someone else's.

Regards.

 

[wookalar]

The best way to learn about routers without spending a fortune on building a lab is through some software developed by Cisco Systems called "Cisco Interactive Mentor" (CIM). It contains video instruction and software that mimics a router interface. You get all the functionality of a router without buying the hardware, plus the addition of video instruction. Alot of Cisco retailers will sell the product.
Check it out, you will like it.

-wookalar

 

[svermill]

wookalar,

I have a different opinion of CIM. It'll do in a pinch is about as much good as I can say. The labs are scripted. In other words, if the lab calls for entering five different commands, only those five commands are available. One of the greatest learning tools is exploring and being free to break things. You can never break anythying with a CIM - unless its scripted in the lab. And they aren't cheap. You can spend as much on three or four CIMs as you would for a good used router.

In my experience...

 

[wookalar]

Very true, svermill.

Well then as far as hardware routers are concerned The smallest most cost effective router that has a full version of IOS in it is the 1700 series. The basic difference between the 1700 and the larger ones ie:2600 and 3600 is mostly the amount of interfaces they contain. Without a specific application, the 1721 would be the way to go to learn the ropes a bit.