My Cisco Lab, so far

I've been slowly piecing together a lab to get my CCENT and CCNA certifications. After quite a bit of reading and searching, I got some pretty good deals on these on ebay, (or so I thought):

-2620XM: First router I bought, came with 64MB of SDRAM, and no flash SIMM (just the 16MB onboard). IOS 12.2(28a), and the early bootROM. In order to install more RAM, you have to swap out the bootROM chip on the board with an updated one. Found one for $10, should be here any day now. Also ordered a new 32MB Flash SIMM

-2620XM: Second one, came with a 128MB SDRAM installed, the new bootROM chip, and 16MB Flash SIMM. IOS 12.2(16c). Ordered two 128MB SDRAM and a 32MB Flash SIMM to max it out, moving one 128MB SDRAM to the other 2620XM. THIS one came with a nasty little suprise that freaked me out at first, logging into in the console, I got a username and password screen. Found the Cisco document on reseting a password, and used that to turn it back to factory defaults.

-Three C2950T-24 switches: One was good, another had a loud fan, and the third had a non-operational fan, which resulted in an amber system light on the front panel. Swapped out the fans, and all 3 are working fine.

So I've figured out how to get into them with HyperTerminal and the console cable, use simple commands like enable, show version, write erase, etc. and I'm looking to start upgrading the routers.

QUESTIONS:

1.) I upgraded the SDRAM on the one with the newer bootROM, and it shows all 256MB at start up, before it loads the IOS image. Once in, and I use the show version command, it only says it has 128MB. Do I need a newer IOS than 12.2(16c) to use all 256, or what's going on?

2.) On the one with no Flash SIMM, do I delete the IOS image (after backing it up using tftp server), power off the router, install the SIMM, and reboot into Rommon mode to copy the IOS image back to the new Flash SIMM?

3.) Do I need a third router to do CCNA labs, and if so, should I look for another 2620XM, or something better, like a 2691?

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Comments

Corndork2

Check out this link: New Memory Capacity on the Cisco 2600XM Series Multiservice Router [Cisco 2600 Series Multiservice Platforms] - Cisco Systems

You will need IOS 12.3(11)T or later to use 256MB of RAM

You will have to do a rommon TFTP transfer to your new flash SIMM. You do not have to wipe the old one -- unless you want to.

Two routers for the CCNA is fine for things like RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, however a third router can be very helpful when working with frame relay. Two routers would be your CPE devices, and one router would be configured as a Frame Relay switch which is what the ISP would have you connect to in the "real world"

rwdplz

Excellent, thank you!

jdballinger

Sounds like you're getting a lot of good experience on your new equipment!

As far as additional routers, if you are looking to pick up more equipment I would recommend something simple like another 2620xm and perhaps something like a 2610 with an NM 8A/S in order to have as frame relay switch.

rwdplz

I got another 2620XM, there's a guy on ebay selling a dozen of them for $35 shipped. It came with IOS 12.2, the older bootrom, a 64MB and a 32MB SDRAM cards, and suprisingly, a 32MB Flash SIMM. The ebay ad shows some kind of WIC, but mine didn't come with one.

I installed the 32MB SIMM in the 2620XM without a SIMM, and it booted right up, with the IOS already in memory, and showed 48MB total Flash RAM.

jdballinger

Awesome find! Here is the link for anyone who needs it. He also seems to be selling a bunch of 1750 routers as well if you want to go that route (pun intended.)

Cisco C2620 XM 2620 Catalyst 10 100 Ethernet Voice Wired Router Free SHIP 0746320687728 | eBay

JeanM

Thanks for the link! That is SUPER cheap for 2620XM's! Purchased two