Cisco equipment advice needed

Whistlestop

Hi

I'm new to these forums but have been a long time lurker. I have very recently acquired a Cisco 2950 layer 2 switch and a Cisco 2800 router. I am looking to buy another 2950 switch and possibly a 3550 multi layer switch in the near future. I'm a newbie but have done some basic stuff like configuring VLANs, setting up access ports - in Packet tracer. So never any real physical stuff.

I have also bought myself a console cable which I believe is the thing I need to physically connect to the device so that it can be configured. I've also got another type of cable which has a USB plug on one end and 4 serial connectors which I presume I should be able to connect to 4 different roll over cables, giving me access to upto 4 cisco devices at a time? is that right?
I'd like to know whether this method of connectivity is the norm? i.e. do i "console" into each router or switch and set them up basically and also set an IP address for telnet access? I should then be able to dispense with the console cable, connect my PC or laptop to the switch, set up VLANs etc and then if i need to access the router, I can telnet to it? provided the VLAN1 on the 2950 switch is the same as the router's VLAN1?
I believe i'd also need to configure an 802.1Q trunk between the 2950 and the router, set up router on a stick?

joeypants05

There are a lot of ways you can setup access to all your equipment. Usually on my racks I just use IP access because I don't need much else and if I accidentally lock myself out of something I can physically go plug a console into the device. If you are looking for something a little more advanced you can setup a router to act as an access server. Here is a link on how to do so (Cisco Lab How To Configure An Access Server). For a complete overkill solution (like what my company does for remote console access) you can look into a dedicated remote access console device (google MRV console server).

PCHoldmann

Ditto to what joeypants05 said, I usually only use the console cable for initial setup when I am using physical gear (a lot of my work is in GS3 these days.) That said, there are advantages to having console access to everything, since you can reset gear and not have to worry about losing access.

Of the two switches, a 3550 is going to be the better bet, since you can do L2 and L3 stuff on one device.

Yes, you probably want to set up router on a stick for this.