Comparison, 1721 vs 2620XM?

cerberos

If you are having the chance to chose between the 1721 and the 2620XM, both 128MB Memory 32MB Flash each with wic-2t and both have the same price, which one ur going to get and why? What's the best of them that can fit till CCNP or any long term studying? if someone could give me a full comparison i would appreciate it a lot.

blackninja

cerberos wrote: »

If you are having the chance to chose between the 1721 and the 2620XM, both 128MB Memory 32MB Flash each with wic-2t and both have the same price, which one ur going to get and why? What's the best of them that can fit till CCNP or any long term studying? if someone could give me a full comparison i would appreciate it a lot.

2620xm by a long way

cerberos

Thanks blackninja, seems the 2620XM is far better than the 1721... wish somebody will help me in buying my lab. Will the 2620XM need a ROM Upgrade to support 256MB of Memory and 48MB of Flash? To my knowledge, this is the maximum Memory and Flash this Router supports. Thanks In Advance...

mikej412

Check out some of the Cisco Portable Product Sheets
Router Memory
Router Performance
NM/WIC/VWIC Compatibility
IOS Packaging

And also compare the IOS versions and features using the Cisco IOS Feature Navigator to find what is available for each router.

The 2620XM is a rack mount router. The 1721 is a desk mount.

The 2620XM has an internal power supply and uses a standard computer electrical cable. The 1721 has a power brick.

The 2620XM has an NM Slot giving you more upgrade possibilities.

etc...

While I'd rather have a 2650XM than the 2620XM.... I'd definitely take the 2620XM over the 1721 if the price was right.

mikej412

cerberos wrote: »

Will the 2620XM need a ROM Upgrade to support 256MB of Memory and 48MB of Flash?

The note in the Router Memory pdf states

26xxXM's shipped prior to April 2004 had a maximum DRAM capacity of 128MB. This was upped to 256MB through a bootROM which can be ordered separately for older 2600XM's, and requires 12.3(11)T IOS.

Slowhand

mikej412 wrote: »

While I'd rather have a 2650XM than the 2620XM.... I'd definitely take the 2620XM over the 1721 if the price was right.

This was the biggest factor for me, I happened to find a great deal on four 1721 routers for under $100. I spent about the same on RAM, and had four routers capable of running IOS version 12.4 with Advanced Enterprise Services. The way I looked at it, it was a relatively small amount of money for four routers that would do just about everything I needed for CCNP, in addition to getting me well into CCIE studies. Of course, if I find a good deal on some 2600XM series routers, I'll jump on it, but I thought it'd be wiser to spend my money on some layer-3 switches, some less expensive routers, and emulate anything I don't have.

The long and the short of it, go for the 2620XMs if you can find 'em for a good price. Consider 1721 routers as a fall-back if you find 'em cheap with maxed-out RAM. This will be especially important if you're considering moving forward towards the CCIE, which now uses IOS version 12.4T instead of the mainline, which isn't available with Advanced Enterprise Services for the 1721 series, but is available in other variants of the IOS. (I like to use the A.E.S. version; if it's good enough for the CCIE, it's good enough for the CCNP. )

tiersten

Slowhand wrote: »

The way I looked at it, it was a relatively small amount of money for four routers that would do just about everything I needed for CCNP, in addition to getting me well into CCIE studies.

No MPLS on a 1700. No MPLS either on a 2600XM tho.

cerberos

Well, this is a very useful link Mike, good on u mate! I'm gonna try the 2650XM if the price was affordable to me... Thx blackninja, Slowhand, tiersten and everybody who tried and tried not to answer my questions..

Slowhand

tiersten wrote: »

No MPLS on a 1700. No MPLS either on a 2600XM tho.

Well, they're good for most things, anyway.

That's what Dynamips and rack-rentals are for, the stuff your regular lab-equipment just can't do.

tiersten

Slowhand wrote: »

Well, they're good for most things, anyway.

That's what Dynamips and rack-rentals are for, the stuff your regular lab-equipment just can't do.

Yup. Dynamips, rack rentals or become the next Scott Morris with more gear than most ISPs in your basement

seraphus

tiersten wrote: »

No MPLS on a 1700. No MPLS either on a 2600XM tho.

Doesn't an IOS with a telco feature set contain the needed MPLS features (for the 2600XMs)?

tiersten

seraphus wrote: »

Doesn't an IOS with a telco feature set contain the needed MPLS features (for the 2600XMs)?

MPLS PE wasn't ever officially supported for the 2600XM. Some support did appear in some old versions but its long gone now.

tiersten

tiersten wrote: »

MPLS PE wasn't ever officially supported for the 2600XM. Some support did appear in some old versions but its long gone now.

I think the last few versions of 12.3 supported MPLS still if you've got AdvEnt...

kryolla

tiersten wrote: »

I think the last few versions of 12.3 supported MPLS still if you've got AdvEnt...

thats why I like 2600, I can use them to study IE SP track

Rack1SW3#sh ver | i IOS
IOS (tm) C2600 Software (C2600-J1S3-M), Version 12.3(23), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc5)
Rack1SW3#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Rack1SW3(config)#mpl
Rack1SW3(config)#mpls ?
atm Configure ATM options
ip Dynamic MPLS forwarding for IP
ipv6 Dynamic MPLS forwarding for IPv6
label Label properties
ldp Label Distribution Protocol
traffic-eng Configure Traffic Engineering parameters

Rack1SW3(config)#mpls