Anyone have experiece with Cisco routers?

[Maerdwyn]

I'm fairly adept at home networking, but our two ffices just had a t1 line put in connecting them - without the contract including any routers, installation, configuration, etc. So, it falls to me, and I'm a bit intimidated. Anyone configure these (we have two 1720 models with t1 CSU/DSU WICs) or somethimg like them before?

 

[GlassJaw]

Yeah, I have. There's really nothing similar to setting up a home network. How complex is the network you want to setup (# PC's, applications, servers, etc)? Honestly, my recommendation would be to hire someone.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Thanks for the reply.

The T1 is a point to point line intended to bridge the two LANs which are already set up properly (but sepeartely). The LAN in the main office has ~35 Windows 2000/xp machines, a few print servers, and a server that's maintained by an outside company. The branch office has three machines and a print server and currently VPN's into the main office and its server. I've been maintaining the PCs and the networks for a while (the most I've had to do was make some changes to the route table of the Firewall/VPN device we've been using, and set up the VPN connections). Things work at this point, but the VPN is too slow - hence the T1.

Hiring someone is, unfortunately, not an option.

 

[GlassJaw]

Thanks for the reply.

Well I wish I had better advice. It's kind of like asking "How do I put a new transmission in my car?" Well maybe not that complicated but you get the idea. If you don't have much experience with trying to do the things you ask, it's not really something you can just pick up.

 

[denthil]

Cisco T1 WICs

It really depends on what you need to do with the routers. If you need to set them up from scratch and build the T1 interfaces, then yes it can be pretty complicated. If they are basically setup and you just need to configure the T1 interface then that isn't too bad. The problem is that T1s come in a number of flavors depending on how it is provisioned, if it is a full T1 or partial, if it is burstable or not, if it is a straight point to point, a FRATM connection, what type of framing, etc. Heck even the wires used to connect from the demark (Smart Jack) to the WIC is a different pin-out than standard ethernet.

Cisco's web site is a good place to start, the technical support, product support (router of choice) and then software configuration will help some (especially to show command information). But as previous people have stated it takes some time to set one up properly. If it is mission critical you probably need someone to come in and set it up.

If you are the only person who does this and really need some help or guidance let me know and I will see if I can find some old configuration files I had for the 2600 series routers, as I have built out fifty plus remote offices on cisco gear. Although it has been a couple years. You can contact me at pjhaydenatgmaildotcom.

 

[NeghVar]

I would also recommend a Google Groups search.

I would also consider contacting your local Cisco Sales Rep to see if you can get some assistance from the local Cisco Sales Engineer...

Hope this helps!

 

[Maerdwyn]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to try to convince people they need to pay someone to do it or to help me do it. If not, I may be contacting you, denthil. All I've been told by the Telcom company is that I need to set one of the routers to line timing, and the other to internal timing, and that they use b8zs. It's a full t1, but I don't know much more about it yet that that.

Thanks again.

 

[Rackhir]

I've had some experience with cisco routers as well. We had to pick one up when we switched services from AT&T. Though I forget the model number at the moment. I'm pretty sure that the Cisco IOS language that they use for programing their routers and firewalls hasn't lost any significant backwards compatability, so if you can find an old config file that does what you need it should still work. Most of the problems in adapting are going to come from finding the right places to plug your information into.

http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/Support/browse/index.pl?i=Products&f=742
this is the link for info on Cisco routers

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...figuration_guide_chapter09186a008007cd1b.html
here's a link to the guide for configuring the 1700 series

Depending on what kind of T1 line you have it could be anyone of a number of the different types of lines.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...figuration_guide_chapter09186a008007cd38.html
This is a link for configuring it with a ISDN connection.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...figuration_guide_chapter09186a008007cd3d.html
This is a link for configuring it with a Leased line.

Hope some of that helps. You can probably pay Cisco for tech support with the routers. It will likely cost several hundred dollars Probably $300 or up.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Thanks for the links Rackhir


I'm working with some information I got from the telcom company today:
Full T1
PPP
Clock source Internal
Channels 1-24
Channel Speed 64k
Framing ESF
Line Code B8ZS

and have plugged it into Cisco's ConfigMaker program, which seemed to like what I fed into it, and delivered the resulting config files to the routers happily enough. I'll be installing the routers themselves at the site in the next couple days, which is, I'm sure, when the real fun begins. At least this is a start, and Until then I'll be doing a lot of reading and a lot of hoping that the hospital's (we're a dr's office) network administrator is willing to help.

 

[Sandain]

Please let me know if you need any help. I am a 15th level Network Engineer with the Cisco Dude prestige class.