2610 and a 4000 series router?

cambei

Hi guys, this is my first post here.

I am self-studying for the CCNA and am setting up a very basic lab to practise with (as well as using th BOSON sim).

My question is what type of cable(s) to purchase to connect the two routers.

The 2610 has 2 Smart serial ports and the 4000 router has a very lage port, with 3 rows of pin holes and looks like it takes around 50-60 pins.

Also, is a 4000 series router too old to be useful to learn from. It has version 10.x of IOS iirc (I am currently at work so cannot check).

I have a 24port 1900 series switch too. Is all this useless apart from my 2600??

Cheers.

TheShadow

Well assuming that you miscounted and it is really 4 rows of pins You need the following Cisco WIC-2T Smart Serial DB60 DCE Back to Back Cable . You can find them on ebay for about $15 U.S. or www.anthonypanda.com ships world wide should cost about the same and $5-6 shipping. The IOS in your 4000 is very old so unless you have a smartnet account or access to one it may not be that useful if you can get a 12.x version of the IOS then the 4000 should be very useful.

If the 1900 does not have enterprise IOS then it is useless. If it does then it is OK for ccna except for vlans. The command set for vlan is different from what you will see on the test. All current cisco press and sybex books have the differences in the appendix, so it is still useful for vlan concepts if you memory is good enough for both creation methods.

cambei

Thanks a lot for the reply. As I say, I can't check the port at the moment so I cannot check if it is 4 rows or 3 rows of pins. Looks like I kinda screwed myself with my choice of equipment.

I am tempted to put the switch and maybe the 4000 series router on ebay and buy more appropriate equipment. Only thing is that Royal Mail are now charging based on weight or something, and that 4000 series router weighs a tonne

wildfire

is it a 4000 or 4500, 4700? these can still be very usefull despite its age, it can take lots of modules, and they are cheap, the memory is the same as used in the 3600s so it also cheap.

Load it with NP-4T (4 port serials) and you could make it a frame-relay switch.

Considering the postage issues, Im with you on that one its messed me up to, I sell stuff on ebay and now not only weight but dimension also cost money!! so I switched to parcel force for anything over about 2Kg!

The 1900 could be usefull if you dont have any sort of switch, but they dont use the same command set as CCNA and are outdated now.

My 2 pence, keep the 4000 sell the 1900

I sold a 1924 for about £40 no so long ago.

cambei

Thanks for the reply Wildifre.

I am a little lost as to how to check whether or not it is a 4500 or 4700 etc. Is it a case of checking the modules it has already?

Good idea on the Parcel Force. I mgiht have to put the 1900 on and put a good reserve on it.

Trying to get these two routers connected witha serial link is my main concern, haha.

The switches that are suitable, will finding one for < £80 be possible?

Edit: is this the type of cable connector that should work with the 4000? Obviously it won't connect to the 2600 though.

Just thought! If the 4000 series router has a RS232 AUX port, could I use that as serial link?

cambei

Ok. Finally been able to goto my second home where the routers currently are,

The 4000 is definately just a 4000 with 4mb/4mb. Lol. So I think I will upgrade that first. Is it best to just max it out? (32mb is max for DRAM on this model). Bearing in mind that lab is the only purpose, not efficiency. I think 16mb is what you need for newer versions of IOS, is this correct?

I am going to buy a dual 2503 kit off cisco kits, so I will have a newer IOS with that. Then my lab will consist of 2x2503s, 1x2610, 1x4000, 1x2924 and maybe 1x1900 (I have auctioned this off for £45 but the buyer hasn't paid me still).

Shouldn't be a bad setup then. I feel like I have learnt much more about the routers (such as how they are classified, spec etc) since the last time I posted

Edit: Although I think I have just learnt that IOS is dependant oin the router series? Balls, this I did not know. LOL

netstat

For the Cisco4000 u need an NP-2T V2 DB50 to DB60 Back to Back Cable for the serial ports (if u are going to use a cisco 25xx as your frame-relay switch)

I have 2 running here, one an a 24/7 basis. Cables weren't easy to find. I will not past a link here but just search for "DB50 DB60" on ebay and see for yourself.

They are big, old and noisey, but they are good machines! Ah one last thing, remember they run on a 10Mbit half duplex and also if u intend on using it to manage you downloads be careful not to flood your NAT table! Happened to me several times poor things! More Ram should fix the problem, but i respected their age and found another solution since i didn't want to mess around them. They are running on ver 12.1 so not all that bad!

Enjoy your new toys!

cambei

The 4000's you are running, how much memory you got in them? I am having trouble finding a newer version of IOS for mine. IOSHunter can find some, but I can't download any of the 4000 images unless I register it, I don't have the money to do that!! Just spent £240 at cisco kits.

Is there anywhere to buy IOS images cheaply or for free preferably.

Cheers.

netstat

4Mb Flash and 16 Ram since mine is a 4500 and the other 4000 was upgrade before i had got it. The 4500 are slightly more modern than the 4000. Even the mainboard and processor architecture are different. Rergading the IOS, if u don't have access to the cisco site it will be difficult. If i remember correctly the 12.1xxxx is the most recent IOS version for the 4000.