Frame Relay - Hardware

control

Hi,

Been looking through previous posts regarding Frame Relay and I'm still unsure as to what exactly I need to practise with this at home.

I'm slowly getting kit together for a lab and have the following.

3640 Router (128/32) - with the following
1 FastEthernet
4 ISDN BRI
1 ATM network interface
1 WIC 1T
________________________

1751V Router - (64/32) - with the following.
1 F/E
1 WIC 1T
_________________________

Catalyst 2950C-24 EI.



What hardware do you suggest ontop of this to let me carry out FR etc..?

Are these interfaces below any good for the CCNA. Can I do much with them? They came with the 3640 anyways which is why I have them.
4 ISDN BRI
1 ATM network interface

Thanks

PhildoBaggins

You could probably ditch the ISDN stuff for right now.

Get a cheap 2600 router (2611-2620-2610-2621 etc)
get a NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S this will get you 4-8 serial ports. This is the groundwork for a frame switch.

You should get a least 3 other routers, again cheap 2600's will do just fine. If they do not come with Serial interfaces you can get good deals on WIC-1T cards. You will also need however many DB60 cables (DCE-DTE cross over cables) you need to connect your routers to the frame switch.

Older 2500 series routers usually have 1-2 slow serial ports built in and retail for about 20-25 bucks. These will work just fine.

Short list (what I would buy)

2621 w/ NM-8A/S or NM-4A/S
2621 w/ WIC-1T
2621 w/ WIC-1T
2621 w/ WIC-1T

If you want to add ISDN links later you can.

control

PhildoBaggins wrote: »

You could probably ditch the ISDN stuff for right now.

Get a cheap 2600 router (2611-2620-2610-2621 etc)
get a NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S this will get you 4-8 serial ports. This is the groundwork for a frame switch.

You should get a least 3 other routers, again cheap 2600's will do just fine. If they do not come with Serial interfaces you can get good deals on WIC-1T cards. You will also need however many DB60 cables (DCE-DTE cross over cables) you need to connect your routers to the frame switch.

Older 2500 series routers usually have 1-2 slow serial ports built in and retail for about 20-25 bucks. These will work just fine.

Short list (what I would buy)

2621 w/ NM-8A/S or NM-4A/S
2621 w/ WIC-1T
2621 w/ WIC-1T
2621 w/ WIC-1T

If you want to add ISDN links later you can.

For the frame relay to work do I need the latest IOS on these older routers or will the older ones be suffice? I'm looking at some 2501's and 2611s. A mix of these be ok?

I notice that 2610 and 2611 routers have no FE port. Am I able to add a FE Network module in these routers also, or are they restricted to 10baseT?