This is the other series routers i have worked with through my CCNA training. The first noted difference between the 2500 series and the 1600 series is that it is rack mountable (1U).

The two routers i have worked with are the 2514, and the 2501. The 2514 has two high speed DB-60 serial ports on the back, supporting clock rates of up to 4,000,000, and two AUI Ports, which we currently have converted to 10BaseTx ethernet. This router does not have the external access flash card that the 1600 series features, however does have two pry points for internal access. Something we have never seen a reason to do, and is mildly disturbing on an expensive peice of equipment. There is also a console and AUX port for external and remote access. The AUX port can be hooked up to a modem for dial-in remote console access to the router. Both of these ports can be configured to require passwords for access.

The 2501 router comes with one serial port and a 12 port hub, plus the console and AUX ports the 2514 comes with. This router i have less experience on, however it does have the options to turn on and off individual ports on the back. The ports that are on though, do act as a hub (hub0, with eth0-11 as members), there is no way to make multiple hub groups. The high speed serial port can run at speeds up to 4,000,000.

The routers main features are it's reliablility and configurability. We have never had this router fail do to hardware problems, it has always been a fault in configuration, due to a typo or some such by one of the students. Each port gets it's own individual configuration. There are ways to setup access lists, IP, IPX, and Appletalk routing, along with an option to set the MAC address per port. The serial lines support multiple forms of encapsulation ranging from HDLC, frame-relay, PPP, and multipoint through the use of subinterfaces. PPP has options for level based authentication and access using PAP or CHAP. The access lists are configured individially per direction per port. As in, i can set a list for filtering inbound packets on my serial line, but not even put one on the outbound packets. Makes for a wonderful firewall. The 2500 series supports both Rip v1 and 2, IGRP, and novell-rip routing.

The console port on the router can be configured, and if need be, can be used to load an emergency configuration file, and even IOS image if need be. However with the image being ~6megabytes in size, i would pity anyone who needed to dump it over the console port. The router supports booting from many sources, ROM, on board flash, and TFPT, with failover options in the configuration. Password recovery is a very easy procedure if you have console access.

Interface configuration is the easiest i have seen. Line by line, interface by interface, the options go live as you type them in. No rebooting, no exiting configuration mode. If you enter a new IP for Serial1 (s1), by the time your new prompt comes up, the port is sending and recieving packets using that IP.

What if something isn't working when it looks like it should? The `debug' command is all powerful. Used properly it can show you everything your router is thinking and doing. Using the `all' parameter can be entertaining, but NOT reccomended on a production machine. The warning message that accompanies it makes me laugh every time. It will print out all routing updates, their contents, packets going through, link state, EVERYTHING. (btw, `# no debug all' turns that off, just keep typing it in, the router will know what you mean even if the console is scrolling past pages of information :)

The router comes with manuals and rack mount brackets. I'm not sure if it comes with the DB-60 serial cables, but if not, they aren't that expensive compared to the router.

Recommended: Yes