ROUTE lab question

Im looking to purchase a router to route my current switch setup to the internet (1x 3550 and 2x 2950) with the intention of setting up a full router lab for the ROUTE exam after i am finished with SWITCH. Im looking at a 2610xm or a 2621xm, leaning towards the 2621xm since it comes with 2x FE by default. Any suggestions on what a good single router would be to route this stuff out until i can purchase more to setup the route lab? Also, since this is a lab, will the amount of memory installed matter at all?

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johnwest43

2621xm would be a good router. I would recommend 32 mb of flash and at least 128 mb of ram.

cuuloco10

Try to get your hands on 2651XMs and 3640's with max Memory.

mathelize

JZegers wrote: »

Im looking to purchase a router to route my current switch setup to the internet (1x 3550 and 2x 2950) with the intention of setting up a full router lab for the ROUTE exam after i am finished with SWITCH. Im looking at a 2610xm or a 2621xm, leaning towards the 2621xm since it comes with 2x FE by default. Any suggestions on what a good single router would be to route this stuff out until i can purchase more to setup the route lab? Also, since this is a lab, will the amount of memory installed matter at all?

If you don't mind the size of the routers, forget 2600XM, too slow and doesn't support MPLS, though it's not needed in the route exam.
All of them have got pros and cons.
2600XM comes with at least one FE but slower
3640 no FE but faster and supports MPLS
3660 1 FE or 2 FEs, very fast and supports MPLS
3725 and 3745 2 FEs, Fast, supports MPLS and more
Sometimes, the 3700s could be cheaper
I've chosen to go with 3600s and 3700s

JZegers

ANy advantages of going with a 2651xm over a 2621xm?

Also, since they 2600's dont support MPLS, but that isn't on the route exam, i should be ok correct? I pref the smaller ones because of limited space.

mikej412

JZegers wrote: »

ANy advantages of going with a 2651xm over a 2621xm?

Better performance and a bunch of them came maxed out with 256/48 or 256/32 megs of memory.

Usually for a lab any version will do -- so go for the cheapest if you're price conscious.

I went with the 265xXM models because everyone else was bidding up the 261xXM and 262xXM models -- and the better 265xXM models were available cheaper at the time because a couple of eBay sellers had a large quantity on hand to clear out of their warehouses.

JZegers wrote: »

Also, since they 2600's dont support MPLS

There are 2600XM 12.3 IOS versions that support MPLS -- you can find them using the Cisco IOS Feature Navigator.

JZegers

But i won't even need to worry about that since it is not part of the CCNP objectives correct?

mikej412 wrote: »

Better performance and a bunch of them came maxed out with 256/48 or 256/32 megs of memory.

Usually for a lab any version will do -- so go for the cheapest if you're price conscious.

I went with the 265xXM models because everyone else was bidding up the 261xXM and 262xXM models -- and the better 265xXM models were available cheaper at the time because a couple of eBay sellers had a large quantity on hand to clear out of their warehouses.

There are 2600XM 12.3 IOS versions that support MPLS -- you can find them using the Cisco IOS Feature Navigator.

JZegers

Also, would any of these 2600's specifically be useful for the SP or VP track at all?

Netwurk

And don't forget the cool non-XM 2691

Mine came with 256MB RAM and 64MB flash

And the 2691's have 2 built-in FastEth ports plus a variety of expandibility slots.

Because it is non-XM it is often on ebay on the cheap

Shhhh

vinbuck

If space is limited, why not use GNS3 and hook it up to your existing switches? I'm studying for ROUTE now and I've gone through almost all the IPv6 material with only GNS3. I've got a pretty sweet physical lab at work and I prefer to study with GNS3 because I can use it anywhere. It's nice to have the physical stuff for the practical hands-on aspects like cabling and racking, setting up a console server, etc. Having said that, however, I work on carrier grade switching and routing daily so I get touch the real stuff a good bit. If you don't have much hands on experience then you might want the actual routers but you can still pass ROUTE if you choose not to get them.