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Home > Archive > CCNA > December 2003 > Using a Cisco 1601-R to study / play with for CCNA prep?
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Using a Cisco 1601-R to study / play with for CCNA prep?
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| ccna_dude 2003-12-23, 11:51 pm |
| Hi guys, have a question for you router experts! I'm thinking about going for my CCNA, and found today that we have a spare (old) Cisco 1601-R laying around the office not being used. I thought I'd set it up in a spare cube and use it to play around with as I learn Cisco router stuff.
The issue I have though, is that this box was designed strictly for connection WAN -> LAN. That is, it has one Ethernet interface, and one serial interface only (plus a slot for an optional WAN interface card).
So, given that, is there anyway I can do anything useful with this? Can I connect the WAN side to anything (without a CSU/DSU and a bunch of other crap I'm not going to have)? Could I possibly do a straight serial -> serial connection to a Linux box setup to simulate the upstream router at an ISP? Or can it be connected to another switch or other device that would let me put some machines on the other (WAN interface) side?
If so, I'd appreciate any pointers on how to proceed... | |
| Axel_D 2003-12-24, 6:09 am |
| Hi,
you can Upgrade your memory to 16MB or 18MB with a simple 16MB DRAM 72pin, so you can use the latest IOS (of course via tftp , because the flash memory isn't huge enough)
You can setup a linux box with routing protocols (connected via the rj45 interface an your router) and use show commands.
With only one Serial interface there's no possibility to emulate a WAN connection (I think so). You need a second one and a DCE/DTE cable so you don't need no CSU/DSU.
If you spend a little money, you can buy a 2504 (this one are much cheaper than the 2501 or 2503) and a DTE/DCE cable. So you can have your WAN connection. Second advantage: you can test ISDN with these two routers. Ebay may help.
Greetings | |
| ccna_dude 2003-12-24, 9:04 am |
| Oh, I should probably add that I'm willing to purchase either another WAN interface for the Cisco, and/or additional interface boards for my PC, if needed, assuming the price isn't outrageous.
Some Google searching indicates that it's not easy (if possible) to connect the Cisco serial port to a PC serial port, due to the Cisco being synchronous only, and the PC asynchronous only. However, I understand that you can buy a synchronous serial interface board for a PC... so if something like this would be an option, I'd go that route (no pun intended).
More info is still appreciated though.. for example, if what I'm describing is even possible, I'd need to know what kind of board to buy for the PC and maybe some pointers on how to configure this setup...
Or if it's just plain not possible, somebody please tell me so I won't waste time on this.
I did learn that (apparently) you can connect two Ciscos to each other using the serial ports, so buying another Cisco from somebody on E-bay and doing something like that might be an option as well...
Thanks, all! |
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