2500 Series for CCNA Lab?

I'm checking out 2500 routers on ebay and I'm curious which model of 2500 is best to set up a small three-router lab? I'm also curious if I should skip the 2500 and go straight to 2600's or 3600's? Any experts?

I don't plan on working on any advanced cisco certs after the CCNA for a couple of years.

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Comments

mgeorge

2500's are great if you are limited by price.

But i would suggest to go with the 2610's or 2611's if possible

keep in mind you need to buy WIC's as well (WIC-1T's) Which run about 40 a peice roughtly.

Or if you like, you can take the alternative way out and use Dynamips. Lately ive heard many
great things about it.

hope this helps

beezee

nlabelle wrote:

I don't plan on working on any advanced cisco certs after the CCNA for a couple of years.

Stick with the 2520s then. They are quite versatile and you could load up to IOS version 12.3(maxed out) on them. A 2520 with maxed out memory(16mb flash/16mb DRAM) will cost you a lil more compared to the non maxed out ones, OR just buy them and upgrade the memory and load 12.3 on it.

I hope this helps.

hypnotoad

So if I buy 2500's I don't get to run the newest software, plus I have to buy AUI-RJ45 Transceivers.

But if I buy 2600's, I spend more money plus I have to buy WIC's -- the WIC cards have RJ45 ports but what cable do they use? How is DCE/DTE done on WICs?

Sorry I'm being such a noobie. I'm venturing in to new territory here -- we don't use any serial connections at work.

beezee

There are about 2 types of WIC cards you can get for the 2600 series,

a)WIC-1T (uses a DB-60 back to back cable which is the same serial interface like the 2500s)
b)WIC-2T (uses a smart serial cable, a bit more costly than the DB-60s)

Look on ebay for "WIC-1T" and "WIC2-T" to see the differences in size, shape and cost.

I have a few 2600s with WIC-1T installed.

phantasm

My home lab consists of 2 2501's and a 2514. They work fine for home lab use. Yes you will ned AUI Transceivers for ethernet though.

Darthn3ss

2500s will work fine for most things from what i've seen. when it comes to doing router on a stick stuff you'll need a 2600. You can get 2650's on ebay for around $100 shipped right now, come with 1 fast ethernet int. and 128/32mb memory. not too bad.

elementour

i have 3 2503's for my labs which could do pretty much everything i needed to do apart from inter vlan routing. as stated above the 2600's are the cheapest routers to do ISL trunking. I would suggest getting 2 2500's and 1 2600 to cover all bases. just make sure the 2600 has the WIC1T with the DB90 connection.

dtlokee

If you get a 2505, 2507, 2516, 2520... they don't need the AUI transceivers, they have RJ-45 ethernet ineterfaces and 2 serial interfaces so no need to buy anything extra.