Posts Tagged ‘advantage’
June 22nd, 2011 | 
Author: As your CCNA / CCNP home lab expands, an access server such as the Cisco 2509 or 2511 is one of the best investments you can make. In this article, we’ll look at the basic configuration for an access server and discuss how to connect to the other routers and switches in your pod through the AS.
Here’s part of a configuration from one of my access servers:
ip host FRS 2006 100.1.1.1
ip host SW2 2005 100.1.1.1
ip host SW1 2004 100.1.1.1
ip host R2 2002 100.1.1.1
ip host R1 2001 100.1.1.1
ip host R3 2003 100.1.1.1
interface Loopback0
ip address 100.1.1.1 255.255.255.255
no ip directed-broadcast
This is an IP Host table, and this is what makes the entire AS setup work. Your PC will connect to the access server, and the access server is in turn physically connected to your other routers and switches via an octal cable. One end of the octal cable splices off into eight separate cables, each terminated with an Rj-45 connector. That connector will be placed into the console port of one of your home lab devices. In this configuration, I have connector 1 connected to the console port of R1, connector 2 to R2, connector 3 to R3, connector 4 to Sw1, and so forth. (The connectors are physically numbered as well.)
The IP Host table entries here are linked to the loopback address shown. The loopback can be any address, but it must match the address in the IP Host table. This allows you to create reverse telnet sessions to the routers and switches.
To open the reverse telnet sessions upon opening a connection to the AS, type the entire name of the device and press the enter key twice. A connection to that device will now be visible, as shown here:
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A Cisco home lab is an invaluable study tool when you’re preparing for CCNA and CCNP exam success. Once you’ve gotten a couple of routers and switches, you’ll quickly get tired of moving that blue console cable every time you want to configure a different device. The solution to this problem is purchasing and configuring an access server (AS).
For those of you new to access servers, note that these are not white boxes running Microsoft operating systems. These are Cisco routers that allow you to connect to all the routers and switches in your home lab without moving a cable. You can physically or logically connect to the access server and work with all your devices from there.
When you’re pricing access servers, please remember that you do NOT need an expensive AS. Right now on ebay there are access servers costing up to $5000 – this is NOT what you want to buy. What you’re looking for is something like a 2509 or 2511, which is going to run you anywhere from $100 – $200. It’s money well spent, because once you get an AS, you’ll really wonder how you ever did without it.
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A Cisco access server is generally the last item a CCNA or CCNP candidate has on their mind when they’re putting together a home lab. The thinking tends to be that since this router isn’t really doing anything in the production part of your practice lab, it’s not really important.
Once you have more than two devices in your home lab, though, you’ll realize that constantly moving the console cable around from one router to another gets very tiresome. That’s what an access server does for a home lab – it allows you to connect your PC to a single device when working in your home lab, with no need to constantly disconnect and reconnect the console cable. The console cable will be connected directly to the access server, and the access server is connected to all the other devices in your home lab. Once you start working with one, you’ll wonder how you got along without it!
The term “access server” is a little misleading. This is not a server in the traditional sense, it’s a Cisco router with asynchronous serial ports. It is these ports that you’ll use to connect to the other devices in your home lab. Two affordable models of access servers are Cisco 2509s and Cisco 2511s. They can be found on ebay as well as other vendors on the Net.
You will also need an octal cable. On one end, the cable has a large connector that will connect to the access server. The other end is actually eight separate cables, each with RJ-45 connectors. These connectors are numbered 1 – 8 and will be connected to the console port on each router and switch. It is important to note the number on each connector you’re connecting to the other lab devices.
Now that you’ve got the physical equipment, let’s take a look at a typical configuration of an access server:
no service password-encryption
no service udp-small-servers
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Posted in Computer Certification | Tags: access server, advantage, Bryant, ccie, CCNA, ccnp, certification, chris, cisco, exam, free, home lab, nat, pass, study guide | 
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Occasionally, during your CCNA and CCNP studies, you’ll run into a term that just doesn’t quite make sense to you. (Okay, more than occasionally!) One such term is “reverse telnet”. As a Cisco certification candidate, you know that telnet is simply a protocol that allows you to remotely connect to a networking device such as a router or switch. But what is “reverse telnet”, and why is it so important to a Cisco CCNA / CCNP home lab setup?
Where a telnet session is started by a remote user who wants to remotely control a router or switch, a reverse telnet session is started when the host device itself imitates the telnet session.
In a CCNA / CCNP home lab, reverse telnet is configured and used on the access server. The access server isn’t a white box server like most of us are used to; an access server is a Cisco router that allows you to connect to multiple routers and switches with one session without having to move a rollover cable from device to device.
Your access server will use an octal cable to connect to the other routers and switches in your home lab. The octal cable has one large serial connector that will connect to the access server, and eight rj-45 connectors that will connect to your other home lab devices. Your access server then needs an IP Host table in order to perform reverse telnet.
An IP Host table is easy to put together (and you better know how to write one to pass the CCNA!). The IP Host table is used for local name resolution, taking the place of a DNS server. A typical access server IP Host table looks like this:
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