Router Lab

Blang008

Okay, I'm studying for the CCENT and then the CCNA. I just bought a couple of routers so that I could do some hands on labs and they came in this week. I have two 2501 and one 2620 with CSU/DSU card and ISDN/BRI card. I am watching CBT Nuggets and reading Sybex CCENT. I plan on doing the labs in the book and with the Nuggets, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me the best way to hook this lab up. Thanks in advance for all your input.

hypnotoad

Get some DCE/DTE serial cables as seen here (http://www.digitalhoop.com/images/product_images/cab-dte-dce_m.jpg). You can get them on ebay for about $5-8 with shipping in the states.

Put the 2501's in the back of the 2620's with the serial cables. I'd put the DCE side on the 2620 (which end you use where matters).

2501 -------\
             2620 (DCE side provides clock rate)
2501 -------/

This will allow you to set up serial connections, set up routing (static, rip, eigrp, etc), set up DLCI's and use the 2620 as a service provider router -- pretending you have 2 sites with 2500's.

ISDN is not convered in the exam objectives anymore.

Hope this helps,
NL[/code]

Blang008

Is this a good lab to have for CCENT/CCNA studies? Is that all I need the DCE/DTE cables? Also, do i need a switch. I am currently watching the nugget where he configures a switch. I have been following along when I can using Packet Tracer. I really appreciate your help. Thanks again nl for responding.

gojericho0

For the routing part this is very good for a CCNA lab. You may also want to pick up 1 or 2 2950 Switches. If you can get the 12 port ones off of ebay since they are relatively inexpensive

astorrs

You'll need either 2x WIC-1T's or 1x WIC-2T's (and appropriate cables as only the WIC-2T uses a SmartSerial connector) for the 2620. The T1 CSU/DSU is useless without another one in a router that supports it (which you don't have) and the BRI card is no longer needed for the exam.

Looks like the WIC-1T's run <$20 and the WIC-2T's run <$50 on eBay.

Blang008

Thanks for the reply gojericho0. I was thinking of adding a switch anyways. Right now Im just trying to watch the videos and read through the book. But at some point I am going to have to try and set up each of these devices. I'm just worried that I will not know exactly how to connect each one. Is there a lab guide or something that helps?

astorrs

The 2501's look like this from the back:



You want to connect one end of the serial cable into the Serial0 port.

On the 2620 you will need either 2x WIC-1T modules which look like this:



and you would use this kind of cable since both routers will have the same connector types



If you use 1x WIC-2T in the 2620 it will look like this:



and you would use this kind of cable since the WIC-2T has the Smart Serial connector which is smaller:



So 2501A Serial0 goes to one of the WIC serial ports on the 2620. Then 2501B Serial0 goes to the other WIC serial port. Make sense?

dynamik

What's the difference between the WIC 2T and the WIC 2 A/S

astorrs

Speed.

The WIC-2A/S is a two port SYNC/ASYNC card with a max rate of 128kbps.

The WIC-1 & WIC-2T supports the same ASYNC speed but also supports a SYNC rate of up to 8 Mbps per port. The 2600 series is limited to 1 port at 8 Mbps or 2 at 4 Mbps and all the other slots (including the NM) have to be empty (more powerful/recent routers don't have this limitation).

dynamik

I ask because one of my routers came with one.

Would I use the same cable as the 2T? And would that be sufficient for working with a couple of 1Ts? I'm not sure if any of the routing protocols or something else requires more speed than that.

I also have a WIC 1DSU 56k (again, came with it). Can I do anything interesting with that?

Sorry to the OP for sort of hijacking your thread. At least you get to learn a little about WIC cards

astorrs

dynamik wrote:

Would I use the same cable as the 2T? And would that be sufficient for working with a couple of 1Ts? I'm not sure if any of the routing protocols or something else requires more speed than that.

For a lab it would work fine since speed isn't an issue. I've seen lots of people us an NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S as a frame relay switch.

dynamik wrote:

I also have a WIC 1DSU 56k (again, came with it). Can I do anything interesting with that?

If you come across another DDS card like this (or one of those 2500's - don't remember the exact model - with the internal CSU/DSU) you can make up a cross over cable like this:



Is it really worth it? Probably not, unless you come across one for dirt cheap. It only supports a single 56K channel and can't do timing/channelization, etc that the WIC T1-DSU cards can and that you would use in a T1/T3 configuration.

Edit: Oh and yes it uses the same cable as the WIC-2T (Smart Serial connector)

Blang008

Thanks for all the replies guys. This fourm is a great resource.