Cheapest Router for IOS-XE

Hey guys,

I put together a lab and want to see if you all knew of an expensive router that uses the IOS-XE. I already got a couple J-Series routers that run JUNOS and they weren't too expensive. Does Cisco have anything like a J-Series Router?

Thanks,

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Comments

Mstavridis

Well GNS3 is how most people study using cisco routers, but its not exactly legal unless you own the router to use the IOS image in gns3

networker050184

I don't think GNS3 has any plans to support XR or XE. No idea what the cheapest router will be, but I doubt it will be practical for a home lab.

Cisco does have products similar to the J series, but they run normal IOS.

warriorfan808

Not buying it for a home lab. Actually got my boss to sign off on buying us a lab at work. I pretty much took all the devices off the CCIE and CCNP curriculum, then threw in a couple J-Series Routers. I don't think we'll be getting the lab until maybe November or so. Well, that's if we do get it. Bean counters could easily shoot the idea down. If we do, I could spend an hour or two a day after work, working on my lab. The bad thing is that I'm going to need to share the equipment.

networker050184

If work is paying an ASR 1k is probably the cheapest for XE but I don't think they support XR. Probably could get a used GSR for that. Neither are 'cheap' depending on your budget.

deth1k

Ain't worth buying one if you don't use XR on daily basis. But if you wish so, your best bet is GSR 12k series and make sure you get correct line cards though.

warriorfan808

You guys weren't kidding! Those things are expensive. The reason I'm looking into this IOS is because we'll be getting a few ASR's for work and it would be nice to have one in the Lab. I hope we some how get some education credits with the purchase.

Do any of you guys have any experience with the IOS-XE or XR and if so, how close does it resemble JUNOS? JUNOS was actually pretty easy for me to pick up and it became much more intuitive after they sent us to class.

I really hope that GNS3 will support these IOS's. I won't have any issues with licenses because I should be able to just use a copy of one of our IOS's for the emulator.

deth1k

ASRs run XE which is exactly the same as standard IOS apart from being ported onto Linux so router actually runs linux kernel with IOS bolted on top. XR is different ball game altogether, Junos like (modular).

warriorfan808

deth1k wrote: »

ASRs run XE which is exactly the same as standard IOS apart from being ported onto Linux so router actually runs linux kernel with IOS bolted on top. XR is different ball game altogether, Junos like (modular).

Oh ok. That makes things easier. I'm not worried about XR then. We won't be using it.

networker050184

Not all of the ASRs run XE so just because you are getting ASR doesn't mean you won't have to learn XR.

I've messed a bit with XR, but not enough to give much useful info. Never touched XE.

warriorfan808

I checked the documentation for our proposed ASRs and they run IOS-XE. This is why I was trying to learn it. So if we just learned with the same old Cisco equipment, we should be fine when learning the IOS-XE? I would imagine that there would be a few changes at least.

ColbyG

Good read:

Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers [Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers] - Cisco Systems