No serial Connections

[thomas.green]

I have 2  2911 routers that will be connected via fiber with an ethernet Gig handoff to each router. Each router will then be connected to local networks on a second ethernet interface on the router. I have always connected routers via serial connections so this is new to me. Outside of the usual ethernet interface addressing configuration, is there anything else that would need to be configured on the 2 routers?

Thanks

[Peter Paluch]

Hello Thomas,

There is absolutely nothing that would need to be configured specially. You just configure the interfaces in a totally common way (IP addresses, descriptions, "no shutdown"), set up the routing and you're ready to go.

Best regards,

Peter

[thomas.green]

Peter,

Thanks for the quick reply. What specific routing would need to be configured? Dynamic is the default on the routers. Are you implying any kind of static routes that need to be set up or rip, igrp, etc?

Thanks

[Peter Paluch]

Hello Thomas,

I apologize for responding late.

What specific routing would need to be configured? Dynamic is the  default on the routers. Are you implying any kind of static routes that  need to be set up or rip, igrp, etc?

Well, Cisco routers do not have any routing protocol enabled by default. Without explicitly configuring either static routes or a particular dynamic routing protocol, your routers will not discover remote networks and will not be able to route packets towards them. Whether you decide to go just with static routes or with a particular dynamic routing protocol is up to you but once again, the default on routers is no routing protocols, no static routes, just directly connected networks.

So, basically, yes, I am implying that some kind of routing has to be set up How large is the network? How many routes are there? Do you expect redundant connections or frequent additions/disconnections of networks? If the network is rather simple and you do not foresee frequent changes once it is connected and configured, you may very well be fine with simple static routing. Otherwise, a routing protocol should be run - its choice depends, again, on the nature of your network and your requirements.

Best regards,

Peter

[thomas.green]

Peter,

This is a small network with less than 20 sites as part of the WAN. The number of routes would be less than 5 at this site, no redundant connections needed, and additions and disconnections are very infrequent. I would perfer to not use static routes. I'm thinking that BGP wmay be the best choice but would like your opinion.

Thanks

[Peter Paluch · Accepted solution]

Hello Thomas,

BGP is fine as long as you are familiar and comfortable with it. However, running BGP in most cases assumes that your internal routing (i.e. IGP routing) is already handled by an IGP protocol. Does this prerequisite hold in your network?

Best regards,

Peter