Cisco Kit

I'd avoid the 2500's unless the person selling you them will support you a bit. If you are buying blind, and this is your first cisco stuff, its possible that things will come to bite you. They've been EOL'd for quite some time, and are falling by the wayside for support and usability.

Hopefully the price is pretty cheap, they don't go for very much on eBay.

Ie. there's a 2514 on eBay for $12.50.

Overall, you'd be much better off with the 2514. It has two AUI ethernet interfaces. The 2503 is an ISDN router as well as two synch serial ports, but you'll need a NT1 to hookup a real ISDN line if you can find one of those.

Chris Bryant, CCIE No. 12933 Routing & Switching:

Brad Reese

Doug,

Thank you for your reply and helping decide in which of the two kits I will purchase. The kit consists of two routers (2503, 2514 and two 1912 switches =$340 w/s/h). I know they have been EOL for a while (Cisco site with a lot of research) but I need the equipment to get hands on experience to help me prepare for the CCNA exam. I am a starving student per say, so I can only get what I can afford. I hope that these will be sufficient for me to practice enough on to be prepared for the exam and most importantly prepare me for real life, on the job type experience/training. I am using Todd Lammle's book for guidance and also several Cisco press CCNA books.

Thanks aga> crypto writes:

Brad,

Thanks for the sites! I found them very helpful and have bookmarked them for further use in the future.

Thanks again, Crypto

Brad,

Thanks for the sites! I found them very helpful and have bookmarked them for further use in the future.

Thanks again, Crypto

Drake,

Yeah, both routers have 16/16. From my research, I came to the conclusion that the 16/16 is necessary for usage of Enterprise IOS.

Thanks, crypto

Drake wrote:

Just make sure you have 16mb RAM/16mb flash on the routers. (see the other thread about upgrading 2500 memory)