opinion

[cisco steps]

hi

I just order a 2511 router and got good price on it, now there is an other 2501 and 2514 and I do not know If I need them, the price is right, this is for building ccna and ccnp lab. I will be very thankfulll if you give me your opinion.

Thanks

[IWAN HOOGENDOORN]

Hi,

If they are cheap I would buy them ... to build a CCNA/CCNP lab you need more then 1 Router.

The 2511 is normally used for a Terminal Server console line connector to connect to other routers (16 console lines)

But can also act as a router.

I would also check the memmory of the boxes ... for future IOS upgrade possebillities

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[cisco steps]

Thanks iwan

the 2 router are about $45 each so do you think this a good price ? future ios upgrade ? how do I know that .. Thanks

[IWAN HOOGENDOORN]

$45 each is not much ...

I would not bother wit future IOS upgrades ...

You are going for CCNA/CCNP ... so most of the stuff will be basic routing & switching anyway.

It may become a problem when you want to test specific topics that need specific features ... and if those features are not supported by the current IOS in the box then you need to upgrade to an other IOS version ... IOS versions can be put on your 2500's and the versions are based on the amount of DRAM/FLASH there is in your 2500

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[cisco steps]

Thanks Iwan. I realy do not know what I am doing as far as wich one will be a router, switch or access server . I do not even know what type of cables I need and how the hole thing should come out to become a true functioning lab . but @ least I am trying, will get hang of it thanks to you and this forum .

[IWAN HOOGENDOORN]

If you have any questions feel free to ask ...

Be specific with your questions :-)

For ethernet connections you need ethernet CAT5 cables

For 2500 serial interfaces you need DTE/DCE crosscables

An accessserver is the same as a Terminal Server where you can connect from that router to all the consoleports of the other routers ...

Google will also help allot in combination with this forum

[cisco steps]

iwan as you know I am new, so I have lot of questions and I going to try to be specific as I can :-)

since I will be working with 2500 series.

2501

2511

2514

wich one is going to be the access server ? wich one going to the be a switch ? and wich one going to be a router.?

my other question is , what should I do for ISDN and FRAME RELAY ?

Thanks and I hope I am asking the right questions

Thanks

[IWAN HOOGENDOORN]

Hi,

Information about the Cisco 2500 Series Access Server:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/iad/ps492/products_installation_and_configuration_guide_chapter09186a008007e11e.html

Usually the 2511 or 2509 are used as an Access Server in the 2500 series.

For an overvieuw of the 2500 series routers to see what type of interfaces/how many interfaces the 25xx series has look here:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/acs_fix/cis2500/2501/2500ug/ovr.htm

An example of an router with a BRI interface (ISDN) is a 2503

A 2501 router only has 1 ethernet interface and 2 serial interfaces is you will see on the link I provided above.

If you want to simulate ISDN you can either use a ISDN simulator (google for that) of you can use an old PBX system.

If a routers has enough Serial interfaces it can act as a Frame Relay Switch ... te 2514 is nog good enough because this only has 2 serial interfaces. I would use a Cisco 4000 of 4500 for that.

There is no switch in the 2500 series there you will have to look in the 1900 series or 2900 series ...

Offcourse there are much more models bit these 2 model ranges a just names falls in the same class of the 2500 router models

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Thanks,

Iwan