Cisco n00b with some n00b questions

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six_storm

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 29, 2005
Messages
1,251
Hey gang. Just got all of my equipment for my CCNA/CCNP lab today . . . turns out I don't have a DB-9 port on my mobo!!! Oh well, I can order a $14 USB-to-DB9 adaptor and all will be good. So here come the Cisco noob questions I've been dying to ask.

1. On the 2530, there is an "Aux", "Console" and "BRI" ports on the back. Now in my mind, I want to say that a router would service multiple items like PCs, other switches or other routers. So why no output ports? I figured out that routers can connect to each other through serial ports but how would you connect a switch or a PC to this router? My other router has additional ports for different connections, but that's not the only way is it?

2. I hooked up the router and I can do the "Express Setup" fairly easy. My (Linksys wireless) router's IP is 192.166.4.10, therefore I set the switch to 192.166.4.103. When I saved the configuration, it tries to connect to 192.166.4.103 but fails. I even renew my IP addresses but it keeps on getting 10.0.0.2 back instead (10.0.0.1 is the switches main IP address before you change it). What's going on? I guess I might have to wait until I get that adaptor.

3. Once the switch is setup properly, which port would I plug the uplink into? Does this really matter since the switch should be able to find the gateway automatically?

BTW, I have a 2950 24-port switch, 2503 and 2620 routers. Just wondering about this stuff . . .
 
1) Router should have an AUIDIX port, which takes a transceiver. The transceiver will then have an ethernet port.
 
It's an AUI port. All of the 2500 series should have one. I think some models may have two.
Jeff
 
1)You need the ethernet transceiver. Give the interface an IP, plug it into a switch, and you are connected to all your computers.
2) I'm not sure why you are using a 192.166.x.x IP as that is not an internal private IP. 192.168.x.x is a private IP. You might try setting it to a standard private IP.
3) You should be able to plug into any port on the switch.
 
jeffmoss26 said:
2) I'm not sure why you are using a 192.166.x.x IP as that is not an internal private IP. 192.168.x.x is a private IP. You might try setting it to a standard private IP.
Click to expand...

So if I have a router with the IP address of 192.166.4.10 going to the switch, I shouldn't give the switch an IP address of 192.166.4.1xx? I'm guessing I should give it a completely different set of addresses such as 206.205.xxx.xxx?

I'm just trying to get the switch to provide DHCP and internet access from my router right now. I start working on my routers tomorrow.
 
I'm not sure where you are getting these IP's from. You can't just randomly pick any IP address. You should stick with a private Internal IP which does not get routed on the Internet.
These are 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x, or 192.168.x.x

Jeff
 
jeffmoss26 said:
I'm not sure where you are getting these IP's from. You can't just randomly pick any IP address. You should stick with a private Internal IP which does not get routed on the Internet.
These are 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x, or 192.168.x.x

Jeff
Click to expand...

I'm still living with my parents for the time being, therefore they have their network and I have mine. They live off of the standard default IPs, while I live off of 192.166.4.xxx. You can change and pick what IP addresses you want in your local network through your router, in my situation, my Linksys wireless router.

So, while my parents network have 192.168.x.x, I have 192.166.x.x. Don't see a problem with this. And obviously, Comcast gives our house an IP address, which is not any of the ones I mentioned.
 
Ok I stand corrected...as long as you have those addresses NAT'd through the Linksys...
 
jeffmoss26 said:
Ok I stand corrected...as long as you have those addresses NAT'd through the Linksys...
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah. Actually my parents run through a Linksys, then I run through another Linksys router.

INTERNET -> LINKSYS ROUTER -> LINKSYS ROUTER -> Cisco Switch*

* - Hopefully soon . . .
 
six_storm said:
So, while my parents network have 192.168.x.x, I have 192.166.x.x. Don't see a problem with this. And obviously, Comcast gives our house an IP address, which is not any of the ones I mentioned.
Click to expand...

You will not have a problem until the day comes where you type in www.website.com and it resolves to an IP of 192.166.x.x. At that point, you won't be able to connect because your PC will think the website is on the same local network as you and your request will never make it beyond your router. You should be using one of the three ranges of IPs defined for use in private networks. Those are 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, and 172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x.

six_storm said:
2. I hooked up the router and I can do the "Express Setup" fairly easy. My (Linksys wireless) router's IP is 192.166.4.10, therefore I set the switch to 192.166.4.103. When I saved the configuration, it tries to connect to 192.166.4.103 but fails. I even renew my IP addresses but it keeps on getting 10.0.0.2 back instead (10.0.0.1 is the switches main IP address before you change it). What's going on? I guess I might have to wait until I get that adaptor.
Click to expand...
It sounds like the switch is defaulting to Express Setup, which will give you DHCP address assigned by the switch when you plug into it so that you can immediately access the web-based configuration wizard on the switch without having to touch the command line. See this for instructions:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...figuration_example09186a00801cac4c.shtml#pcip

The answer to number 3 is that the switch should be able to find the default gateway on it's own, since your PC's will have the MAC address of the default gateway and the switch will know what port that MAC address is connected to. Your 2950 should have a couple of ports that look detatched from the main group of ports, those are the uplinks. They should be on the right side of the switch if you're looking at it from the front. Not every model of 24-port 2950 has dedicated copper uplinks, so yours may not.
 
Boscoh said:
You will not have a problem until the day comes where you type in www.website.com and it resolves to an IP of 192.166.x.x. At that point, you won't be able to connect because your PC will think the website is on the same local network as you and your request will never make it beyond your router. You should be using one of the three ranges of IPs defined for use in private networks. Those are 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, and 172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x.
Click to expand...

So I should stick with the 192.168.x.x IP addresses for all of my PCs and Cisco switch? That I can do I guess. What IP should I give the switch though?


It sounds like the switch is defaulting to Express Setup, which will give you DHCP address assigned by the switch when you plug into it so that you can immediately access the web-based configuration wizard on the switch without having to touch the command line. See this for instructions:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...figuration_example09186a00801cac4c.shtml#pcip
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I've been trying to do but it won't save the configuration file once I click "Ok". If it were to have saved it correctly, the switch's IP should be 192.166.4.103, I should be able to punch that in to a web browser and I should be able to access the switch's firmware right? I followed those instructions plenty of times but no luck.

The answer to number 3 is that the switch should be able to find the default gateway on it's own, since your PC's will have the MAC address of the default gateway and the switch will know what port that MAC address is connected to. Your 2950 should have a couple of ports that look detatched from the main group of ports, those are the uplinks. They should be on the right side of the switch if you're looking at it from the front. Not every model of 24-port 2950 has dedicated copper uplinks, so yours may not.
Click to expand...

Yeah, mine does not have the seperate uplink ports. But thanks for the answer though, I appreciate it.

I just got my new PSU today and I'm working on setting up a Windows 2000/XP desktop for my Cisco workhorse. ;) I'll have to take pictures sometime.
 
six_storm said:
So I should stick with the 192.168.x.x IP addresses for all of my PCs and Cisco switch? That I can do I guess. What IP should I give the switch though?
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter what IP you give the switch. In a small network, I usually give the gateway .1, and the switch .2, and then start my clients' DHCP scope at .100. That's personal preference though. It really doesn't matter what it is as long as it is in the same subnet as the PC which is going to manage the switch.



Yeah, that's what I've been trying to do but it won't save the configuration file once I click "Ok". If it were to have saved it correctly, the switch's IP should be 192.166.4.103, I should be able to punch that in to a web browser and I should be able to access the switch's firmware right? I followed those instructions plenty of times but no luck.
Click to expand...

It should work as long as your PC has an IP in the 192.166.4.x range. If you still have a 10.x.x.x IP and you're trying to access 192.166.4.x, it wont work. If you still have no luck, you may need to just configure it through command line. Besides, the GUI wasn't on the CCNA/CCNP when I took the tests last year :).
 
Alright, I finally got into the switch and everything is setup properly for that. Turns out cutting off DHCP helped lol. Everything is static, which is ok for right now but I will need to figure out how to re-enable it a little later on. I finally get Internet access to all of my PCs through the switch. Also, my Cisco router can communicate with the switch. :D

Can someone still answer my first question? Much thanks to everyone here.
 
Just so everyone here knows how my network goes:

mynetworkiq7.jpg
 
JTY and jeffmoss26 answered your first question. AUI transceiver. You can find them on eBay.
 
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