Need help with routers

I recently bought a 2610, and 2620 router along with 4 2900 switches.

I got a good deal on them, but they did not come with any WIC cards they just have Aux, Console, and one Ethernet port. No serial.

My goal was have both routers connected to each other ethernet so I can run routing protocols, and one router have 4 switches connected to it via one ethernet cord from the router to switch, and the rest of the switches connected to each other for redunancy mainly to learn STP, Load balancing, Vlans.

However with only one ethernet per router is the only way have this setup is to buy Wic-cards? I am going to when I get some extra cash, but I wanted to make sure there was any other way to do it. Maybe with my internet router?

I have another question my friend just bought a cisco 2505 router and 2900 switch. The 2505 comes with an 8 port hub. Will he be able to use that HUB to connect the 2900 or another router using Ethernet?

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Comments

GT-Rob

don't buy WIC cards.

The routers do not need to be connected directly (they rarely are). Simply just connect them to a switch. For routing protocols, all you need is end-to-end layer 3, in other words, put their interfaces in the same subnet and on the same vlan, and you will have no problems. You can even span it across multiple switches (thats what switch trunks are for). For extra networks, just create some loop backs on the routers, and you can then play with routing protocols more.

Since the 2610s only have 1 ethernet port, you can also look into configuring router-on-a-stick to allow you to do more things.

krazymofo24

Thanks a lot I will definitely work on getting that setup.

citinerd

If you decide not to get the serial wic interfaces make sure to study the setup of serial interfaces. There will be DCE/DTE related questions and maybe even a sim or 2.

beef1218

GT-Rob wrote: »

Since the 2610s only have 1 ethernet port, you can also look into configuring router-on-a-stick to allow you to do more things.

You need a FE port to do router-on-a-stick, but someone in this forum said 2610 is an exception.

To do frame-relay, you will need router with serial ports.