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Too New to Cisco Routing

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heresahandle

Technical User
May 6, 2003
89
US
I'm totally new to Cisco router configuration, so be prepared for some dumb questions. The only experience I've had with routers is with your standard $100 linksys or belkin routers for my home. I know what I'm supposed to do for configuring those routers, but I think that I'm missing something that is obviously more advanced in the Cisco hardware.

For beginners, exactly how do I go about entering it's configuration mode? I see all this code and configuration date on tek-tips.com, but is there a GUI that I can use? Please read on and tell me if this is even the procedure I would use.

Here's my problem...I'm trying to configure a PDA/cell phone (with it's own internet access) to connect from outside the office with this software that is kind of like pcAnywhere. It uses an ip address, rather than dialing in. I'm assuming that I'd have to enable port forwarding/NAT, but all the posts I've found contain programing that I don't know what to do with. I know what ports and protocols it uses, but don't know where to get started.

The end result:
I need an IP address that I can use from the pda to connect to an internal IP address. I know enough about routing/IP to realize 192.168.x.x isn't going to get me through the firewall. I'm assuming that I need to configure NAT to get through.


Any help and patience is appreciated. Thanks.
 
I think need to configure a VPN to get inside. Not sure. Which router is it?
 
To use nat (non vpn) you will need another valid internet address so that the router can nat it through to an internal address.
For a VPN option you will need to get the ip firewall/vpn feature pack for your router.
 
Also make sure that your router is running Cisco IOS version 12.0 and above in order to do NAT

MCP NT Server 4.0, CCNA
 
"Also make sure that your router is running Cisco IOS version 12.0 and above in order to do NAT "

I don't even know how to get into IOS, or what it is. I feel like a lot of the articles on Cisco.com assume you already know half of this stuff.

Where do I begin?
 
IOS is the acronym for their router operating system software.
To connect to a Cisco, you need to have a PC or laptop with a hyperterm session created on a serial(com) port set to 9600/8/n/1. Connect the console cable that came with the router to the DB9(com port) connector on you PC and the the other end(rj45) into the console port on the Cisco. Start hyperterm and hopefully you will see(regular cisco users help me on this) router> type "enable" and if there is not a password set you should get a router# At that point type "config terminal" and you can start using "?" to see all the configuration commands that are available. The Cisco web site has lots of documentation available that I think is very helpful. They do assume some basic knowledge, so you may want to find some local help if you don't have time to plod through the learning curve.

good luck!
 
Awesome, I can follow you...but unfortunately the people who set up the router in the first place are nowhere to be found. For about two months now they've been saying that they'd come in and show me, but I don't see that happening anyway.

Nonetheless, your input is very helpful. I'm glad I at least have some sort of foundation to work with. Honestly, I'm learning more about my network from this site alone than I am relying on it's creators to show me.

Thanks a ton for your input. I'm sure it will be very useful when I get a few steps further than I am now.
 
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