Advice on buying a router

kadshah

I currently have a 2501 router and a 1900 switch. I'm thinking of buying 1 more router for my test environment. Not sure is I should get another 2500 router or a 2600. Someone is selling a 2620 series WIC DSU T1 router for $240. I'm not sure if the router is overpriced there's no warranty. For the exam which of the 2 should i buy?

kAj

porengo

kadshah wrote:

I currently have a 2501 router and a 1900 switch. I'm thinking of buying 1 more router for my test environment. Not sure is I should get another 2500 router or a 2600. Someone is selling a 2620 series WIC DSU T1 router for $240. I'm not sure if the router is overpriced there's no warranty. For the exam which of the 2 should i buy?

kAj

Personally, I would use the $240 to purchase more 2500 series routers. With that amount of money you can purchase two or three more 2500 series routers (depending on what kind you get), which would allow you to do different types of lab setups.

The 2620 you mentioned only has one ethernet connection. You'd have to purchase an additional NM-1E (single ethernet port), NM-4E (four ethernet ports), NM-4A/S (four Asynchronous/Synchronous ports) or a WIC-1T (single serial) to even communicate with another router or network.

When selecting used routers, you need to make sure it has a decent System Bootstrap (version 11 or above on a 2500, version 11.3 on a 2600), maximum memory (16Mb DRAM/16Mb Flash for a 2500), and Enterprise IOS version 12.0 and above (2500 routers). Most good sellers on eBay will have a "sh ver" printout displayed which will show you all of these things.

After you get your basics down with those routers, I would then recommend getting a 2600 series router with fast ethernet, and another 1900 switch. This way you can work on your trunking labs (ISL only).

Good luck router shopping!

kadshah

thanks for the tip buddy.

kadshah

i'm not sure if i'm interpreting the info correctly in sh version it reads;

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 5.2(8a), RELEASE SOFTWARE
BOOTFLASH: 3000 Bootstrap Software (IGS-RXBOOT), Version 10.2(8a), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
is the bootstrap you were referring to 10.2(8a) or 5.2(8a)? what's the difference between both output?

kadshah

can i upgrade the bootstrap?

porengo

kadshah wrote:

i'm not sure if i'm interpreting the info correctly in sh version it reads;

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 5.2(8a), RELEASE SOFTWARE
BOOTFLASH: 3000 Bootstrap Software (IGS-RXBOOT), Version 10.2(8a), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
is the bootstrap you were referring to 10.2(8a) or 5.2(8a)? what's the difference between both output?

The system bootstrap in your example is the 5.2(8a). The system bootstrap image allows you to boot the router when Flash memory doesn't contain a valid system image. A system bootstrap of 5.2 is pretty old, and in the event of an IOS failure, it will not support 16MB of DRAM. You would have to partition your DRAM into two 8MB segments.

However, there are sellers on eBay that sell Boot ROM upgrades (ver. 11.0) for about $7.00.

kadshah

does the upgrade come on a cd or do i need to download it from a website?

porengo

kadshah wrote:

does the upgrade come on a cd or do i need to download it from a website?

It's a physical chip. Here's one of eBay's links:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67317&item=5759005631&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

kadshah

i just did a search for cisco boot rom upgrade on ebay nothing came up
can i buy this somewhere else maybe on cisco site if they still support this?

kadshah

Nice! Is the chip embedded onto the router motherboard or does it pop out easily like a CPU?

thanks again

kAj

porengo

kadshah wrote:

Nice! Is the chip embedded onto the router motherboard or does it pop out easily like a CPU?

thanks again

kAj

The chip is removable like a CPU chip.

kadshah

Kool! thanks.