Studying for CCNA - need router recommendations.

[fibroptikl]

Yes; I'm in the phase of studying for my CCNA. In addition from the lab time at school - I'd like to have a router for my own use.

Anyone here have any Cisco model numbers I should take a look at?

 

[Blitzrommel]

Hmm, I'd imagine any of the 25xx/26xx routers would deserve a look.

 

[BobSutan]

Check out the 2500 series, particularly the 2501 and the 2505. The old 4000's are nice too. Cheap and modular. The only gotcha with those is they don't exactly have the most current IOS. I think the highest they went up to was the 12.2 series (come to think of it, they're not all that old after all). For a lab environment I love the 4000's--they've got loads of flexibility if you've got the right cards for them.

 

[Blitzrommel]

Originally posted by BobSutan
Check out the 2500 series, particularly the 2501 and the 2505. The old 4000's are nice too. Cheap and modular. The only gotcha with those is they don't exactly have the most current IOS. I think the highest they went up to was the 12.2 series (come to think of it, they're not all that old after all). For a lab environment I love the 4000's--they've got loads of flexibility if you've got the right cards for them.

And if anyone's lookin for rack rails for a 4000 series router... I have four sets!

 

[animeguru]

Depends on what you want to spend. If you want to play with everything, a pair of cheap 25xx routers and a 19xx switch wouldn't be too expensive.

You could chain the 25xx together with a DCE/DTE (??) cable and simulate various connection types (frame relay, ATM, etc) depending on the encapsulation you set.

Of course you could probably buy one router with two serial ports and just loop it back onto itself, but I'm not 100% about that.

 

[BobSutan]

Nope. Can't loop the ports like that. The router will bitch if it sees two interfaces on the same subnet or network, especially when running routing protocols. This occured once about a year ago to me when someone was extending the network in an office by adding a hub to a series of daisy-chained switches. Turns out they were running secondary interfaces on the core router because the managment was afraid of using VLANs (go figure). When they added that hub all hell broke loose. Needless to say I don't like secondary interfaces all that much.

 

[Blitzrommel]

Originally posted by BobSutan
Nope. Can't loop the ports like that. The router will bitch if it sees two interfaces on the same subnet or network, especially when running routing protocols. This occured once about a year ago to me when someone was extending the network in an office by adding a hub to a series of daisy-chained switches. Turns out they were running secondary interfaces on the core router because the managment was afraid of using VLANs (go figure). When they added that hub all hell broke loose. Needless to say I don't like secondary interfaces all that much.

Ouch, that's harsh. What happened to the person in question?

 

[Nybbles]

I'm also studying for the CCNA. I've already set up a 2514 to route my home network. I've got the Fravo guide for the CCNA and am noticing a lot of questions on things like frame-relay and such.

I was thinking about picking up another 2500 series router, perhaps something like a 2503 or something. One of the single ethernet ones nonetheless. Basically, i'd like to set up a second non-routable network and route it to the first using some of the more obscure protocols (i.e. ATM and Frame-relay) and then out to the net.

Anyway, to make a long story short, with 2 routers connected over a serial interface, are there any other cool, weird things i can practice?

EDIT: I think this is the cable I need. Am I correct?

 

[Boscoh]

You'd do yourself a favor by getting 3 routers. You cant get a feel for how routing protocols work with two routers, and setting up routing between two routers is insanely easy. Get 3 of em, and a 1900 switch and you're good to go. 25/2600's, doesn't really matter. Either of them will prepare you for the test.