2611xm

Ok so I am under the impression that the 2611xm routers are the best choice and bang for the buck for those looking to get a CCNA, and also go the NP and security routes.

Do I have this right?

I seen them usually for around$150 at the cheapest on ebay and locally. But more money for the serial wic cards of course.

currently I have a 2610(non-xm) 2 2503s a 2520, and a 837 dsl.
And a 2950 switch, and another on the way.

Wile I'm at it, does anyone have one or two for sale? I know I have quite a few routers already, but their quite old, and aren't capable of everything I'd need them to be.

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mikej412

jjbrog wrote: »

Ok so I am under the impression that the 2611xm routers are the best choice and bang for the buck for those looking to get a CCNA, and also go the NP and security routes.

You need to shop.

You do pay a premium for the 2nd Ethernet port in the 2611XM, 2621XM, and 2651XM routers (over the single Ethernet 2610XM, 2620XM, 2651XM). Most of my routers for the CCNA/CCNP had a single Ethernet or Fast Ethernet interface and at least 2 WAN ports.

For some reason people think the 2611XM are the cheapest -- but it depends on availability on eBay. And lots of times people seem to overlook the faster 2620XM or even faster 2650XM and 2621XM or 2651XM versions -- even when they are available in large quantities and cheaper. I think I paid $89 for my 2650XM routers, and $125 for the 2651XM routers (256/32).

Watch some auctions (rather then the Buy it Now prices) and see what they really are selling for -- and then bid or make some offers on the Buy it Now/Best Offer listings.

There is still a bunch of life in the older routers for home labs, for now -- but the 2600XMs are probably the "longest lasting cheap old routers" you can get now. IPv6 and MPLS are two technologies that may eventually force the old 2500/2600 routers into retirement, even from home labs.

But at some point down the road the "best home lab routers" may become the 1841 and 2811 routers as they get retired/upgraded and the 2nd hand market availability increases supply and lowers the prices.

jjbrog

Ook yeah I checked the ones with one FE port and yeah big difference maybe I'll have to go for that. When the CCNA does change, as I'm not sure when I'm going in to take it, do you think it will be based on the new IOS 15? I'm hoping the routers and switches I have, and will have will be good just in case Cisco upgrades the exam, I'm also going for security and eventually, NP.I know NP involves a switch up grade to layer 3.

fonestar1978

I have a 2611 and it is SLOW loading pages with its 10Mb Ethernet ports!! Went back to using the $60 Linksys router.

I have a NM1E module that faces wan so I am keeping that, selling the 2611 and getting a 2621 router. If you're going to drop this kind of money on lab equipment it may as well be functional (as in 2010 functional) as far as I'm concerned!!

Kaminsky

Best bang for the buck through to CCNP, though not asthetically pleasing, would be the desk sitting (not rack mounted) 1721 fully maxed to 12.4t. Lost one for £1.30 .. $0.85c week before last ... < still bitter about missing that one >

Looks like the news is out on ebay with regard to the 26XMs. The price of these is shooting up but the 1721s are still hiding away from the autobots. These are still going for pennies on ebay. Doubt that will be for long though.

26?0XMs have 1 FE whilst 26?1XM have 2 FEs. Difference between 261, 262, 265 and 269XM is mostly increased CPU speed which is pretty irrelevent in a home lab.

fonestar1978 wrote: »

I have a 2611 and it is SLOW loading pages with its 10Mb Ethernet ports!!

Isn't the 2611 FASTEthernet ? The ports should be upto 100mb but the CPU is a dog at 40Mhz with only 20k pps.

MGeorge has a good writeup on stats of these bang for the buck routers on his website. Check out his posts for his web link.

Forsaken_GA

Kaminsky wrote: »

Isn't the 2611 FASTEthernet ? The ports should be upto 100mb but the CPU is a dog at 40Mhz with only 20k pps.

No, 2611's are Ethernet. That was actually the big difference between the 261x's and 262x's, 2610/2611 were ethernet (just differed in # of ports) and 2620/2621 were FastEthernet, just differnet #'s of ports. However, all of the XM series routers use FastEthernet ports. And for the 261x series, depending on the hardware revision, ios version, and boot rom version, it may not support full duplex properly. I have one 2610 sitting in my closet of that variety.

Long story short, avoid the non-XM 2600 series routers, they're not worth fooling with anymore

jjbrog

question regarding csu/dsu ports, we didn't cover them that i remember a whole lot in class, how would those work in a lab? can you connect them(well not with serial cable obviously) and configure like you would serial? Reason I ask is buying the wic is cheaper than than the serial wic and a lot of the routers on ebay come with the csu/dsu at lower prices than the serial as well.

Forsaken_GA

jjbrog wrote: »

question regarding csu/dsu ports, we didn't cover them that i remember a whole lot in class, how would those work in a lab? can you connect them(well not with serial cable obviously) and configure like you would serial? Reason I ask is buying the wic is cheaper than than the serial wic and a lot of the routers on ebay come with the csu/dsu at lower prices than the serial as well.

yup, you just need to buy or create the T1 equivalent of a crossover cable, and you can connect them back to back

jjbrog

oh ok

So some of these 1721s would be my best bet? is there any disadvantages over the 2600mx? What would define max memory? lol sorry for all the questions, I don't know much about the actual equipment models, and all that itself, I know most people are ferm on 2950s being the switch to get but was kinda confused on routers, and wanna make sure im prepared for any changes regarding the CCNA exam when thats updated, and onward

mikej412

The 1721 is a desk mount, and the 1760 is a rackmount (and can be pimped out for the CCVP).

You can check out the Cisco Feature Navigator -- search by platform -- to find out the IOS Versions and Feature Sets that are available for a given Router: Cisco Feature Navigator

Just poking around the Feature Navigator, it looks like the 1760 supports the 12.4T Advanced Enterprise Feature Set with IOS 12.4(15)T1. And it looks like the 1721 only supports the Advanced Security and Enterprise Services (and Enterprise Base) with with IOS 12.4(15)T11.

The 1721's have been available in the past (with power brick) for around $50. It's easiest to get ones that already have MAX Memory -- and the latest, greatest, biggest & baddest IOS Version/Feature Set.

You can find some PDFs that show router (and switch) performance, module compatibility, router memory, and more on the Partner Central Portable Product Sheet web page.

If you want more in depth reading on the recent Routers & Switches:

Cisco Catalyst Switch Guide PDF

Cisco Router Guide PDF

I actually spend the money and buy the paper copies of the Router/Switch Guides from the Cisco Documentation Store -- I think they're under $10 each..... but what ever they cost I think they're worth it (unless they jacked up the prices since I got my last copies

Paul Boz

Buy a few 2621's with two FE ports then buy 32mb flash chips to max them out. You can get the 2621's for anywhere from $50-$85 buy it now on Ebay and 32mb flash is $25 shipped. This will net you a router with two 10/100 ports and enough flash memory to run 12.4 advanced featureset IOS. They are also modular so you can purchase WIC T1 cards as needed. I don't even mess with frame relay any more though so you can probably get by without.

jjbrog

So you don't really need xm routers? that will work with np and security?

dstock7337

I think if I remember correctly, the XMs can get more memory and support beyond 12.3 IOS. My current lab gear has 3 2610XMs with 1 x WIC-2T each and a 2620 (non xm) with 1 WIC-2T. This way I can setup the 2620 as a frame relay switch, play with the 12.4 IOS mainline, have smart serial interface cards that can be re-used in newer models later on, and all of which have fast ethernet ports. Although some of this may be overkill to an extent for CCNA, I have plans to move beyond this but didn't want to shell out the extra cash just for the ISR levels for SDM purposes and MLPS (beyond the scope of CCNA). Later, I might shell out the cash and repurpose these guys, but I just couldn't justify spending a heck of a lot more for little or no extra benefit for my current goal.

In addition to the resources on this site, Mr. Odom put a great series of articles on Network World's website about buying gear for your lab with their advantages/disadvantages, etc. Really great tool to use when making that buying decision.

mikej412

Some of the 12.4T IOS version require 48meg flash -- so even the ROM upgrade and 32 meg flash in a 2620 or 2621 won't let you store the latest/greatest 2600XM IOS Feature Sets. There is still the net boot trick -- but again, the max 64 Meg DRAM in the 2620/21 may have let you run some of the 2600XM 12.4 IOS Features sets that wanted 96Meg (with some instability and an occasional reboot), but probably won't work with the more advanced 2600XM feature sets that won't get out of bed for less than 128Meg of DRAM.

If you wanted to try a 2620/21 with a 12.4(9)T or 12.4(11)T for the Zone Firewall Feature -- the 2600XM Advanced Security Feature Set requires 128/32 -- you may want to find someone who has one of those routers and that IOS and see if the 2620/21 can boot and run it in 64/32.

265x Routers can maxed out to 128/48 and probably stand a better chance of running the 12.4T images -- but you won't know for sure until someone tries it. I think I'm only running 12.4 Advanced Enterprise on my 2650s..... can't remember if I tried the 12.4T versions.

jjbrog

I'm gonna try and nab up some 1721s and 26*0xm on ebay, I suppose if I "need" a router with 2 fast ethernet(our schools lab consists of 26*1xms with two fe kinda wanna mimic that) I could just vlan a couple of the switch ports and direct it to the routers fe correct? since I have two 24 port switches which is more then enough ports anyway...

jjbrog

I see the prices are much cheaper for the 1721s vs the 2621mx is there any advantages choosing one over the other?

tiersten

jjbrog wrote: »

I see the prices are much cheaper for the 1721s vs the 2621mx is there any advantages choosing one over the other?

The 1700 is smaller. Thats about it really unless you want to get a 1760 for voice. 2600XM models can have more RAM, more Flash, can run 12.4T but cost more and are bigger.

jjbrog

****, I just found a local store here that sells used routers and I can go in and they can do a sh ver for me and everything so I can say screw ebay. Plus cheaper too their selling 2620XMs $60 a pop. She said sell em that price no matter the memory so she said she can just look through em and give me the ones with the most memory! sweet. No more playing around with ebay bidding bullshit!

SysAdmin4066

jjbrog wrote: »

****, I just found a local store here that sells used routers and I can go in and they can do a sh ver for me and everything so I can say screw ebay. Plus cheaper too their selling 2620XMs $60 a pop. She said sell em that price no matter the memory so she said she can just look through em and give me the ones with the most memory! sweet. No more playing around with ebay bidding bullshit!

They gotta have a website, cmon man hook a brotha up?

jjbrog

Used Cisco Equipment | Sell Refurbished Cisco;Used Juniper,Fortinet,Used Cisco Router and Switches I just went there, they don't have single unit prices on the site, and I think their lab prices are out of date price wise, their long lake location is only 15 minutes from me so it was convenient. I did end up paying for extra modules which were priced pretty average, but the routers in itself were pretty good priced since I seen them for 100+ on ebay quite often enough. They had literally tons of routers/switches stacked up to the ceiling, they seemed pretty professional and friendly as well. And unlike ebayers who often know nothing of cisco, and when they claim to "test" the stuff, only to turn them on and see if the fan starts, they turned em on ran a sh ver, tested the modules, and everything so I knew they worked.