Cisco 857 On the way.

Anyone have any opinions? Correct me if I am wrong, but is has a full featured Cisco IOS right?

Looking forward to the setup.

Depends on what you mean by full featured. It isn't the same level as with say the 2600 series Enterprise IOS, but it is fully configurable through the IOS. It also has a web interface as a simple GUI setup option.

It has a GUI? The 2600s and 2500s I work with don't have that...

IT should be a full IOS, yeah, as far as I've been told. Tell me how it is and good luck! I want one

Yea, I use a PIX, and 2600, 3600 series routers at work myself. That’s the main reason I wanted to go with a Cisco at home with a fairly full featured IOS. When I do things here at work it is usually a setup from scratch and ends up being a mission critical router so I can never really “play around” so to speak. I wanted to get more familiar with the access lists, Vlans, Etc etc … on my own time for the experience.

I figured this is the most cost effective way to do that, and it should work like a charm with the built in DSL interface.

As for the GUI, it leaves a bit to be disired from what I have seen. It is just a web interface to the most basic commands. I won’t be using it. .. since it’s the IOS commands I really want the everyday practice with anyway.

how much does one of these cost? I have been needing to get a cisco router with an IOS because I haven't even touched one of those since I took the ccna classes two years ago I've forgotten almost everything...


Is the PIX gui only? Or does it have an IOS as well? What exactly is the difference between a PIX and a cisco router? Is the PIX just a dedicated NAT box, while the routers can do NAT and other stuff? When I worked with cisco routers I didn't remember hearing about a PIX series, and I also remember seeing a command for setting up NAT, but I never did that in any of my exercises.

The 857 is more for home office and small business uses so it is made to be a bit more user friendly. You can get the most basic of setups running through the GUI, but will need to go into IOS world to take full advantage of all features. Actually a lot of Cisco stuff offers a GUI of some sort that gives a little bit of configurability. Really though most of us with a CCNA who work on it just skip over that.

As far as the features go it s a full featureed IOS for what that model of router can do. I just meant that some of the more advanced features that you would find in say a 2600 series (which has just reached EOL bby the way) won't be available. Remember that it is a small office/home router You will have ACLs and NAT, but probably not trunking or subinterfaces for example. Think of it like with thePIX series, the 501 has a full CLI interface that can fuklly configure all of the features it has. It just doesn't offer as rich a set of abilities and feautres as say the 515E.

The PIX series is dedicated firewalls, they are purpose designed for security. They do much more than NAT, they are sateful firewalls and offer reat control over how traffic flows through your network when properly configured. They offer ACLs, multiple security contexts, packet inspection, protection from SYN floods and other DOS attacks, ad more. A router can be used to implement some of the security features and as a good first line of defense, but the PIX is much better for this.

I was suprised by the cost, the 857 is the the $300 range. The 870 series (couple more features, reccomended for more users) is in the $450 range.

The 857 is ADSL only though, while I think it's the 851 has an ethernet WAN so you can bring your own connection, I.E, cable, DSL etc. I like the idea of the built in ADSL wan, since I have used nothing but DSL for years, and it's one less point of failure and eliminates the static route.

I am very familiar with PIX commands, and some are quite similir at ACL router setups etc.. also exec mode, and saving etc is the same. We have a 525 PIX at work and I need to make changes and do things with it at least weekly, it's the routers I don't get to work with very often, thus why I bought this. Also, the Cisco IOS just has SOOOO much more to offer as far as configuration options and security compared to say a $100 Linksys or Netgear type pure GUI simple router that is really a modem with a switch IMO.

Here is a link to what the 850 series has to offer, and what the different models consist of.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps380/products_data_sheet0900aecd8028a9a9.html

P.S. They also have wireless versions in the same price range, with the same features. I just prefered wired myself.

One word of caution, this can be a bit of an addiction.

My home network is now a PIX 501, Catalyst 2950-24 and 1721 router. The only component that I haven't upgraded to Cisco yet is the WAP, but have been looking at Aironet 1100 or 1200 series access points.

ErikD said:

One word of caution, this can be a bit of an addiction.

Click to expand...

LOL, your not even kidding, I'm already thinking about a little PIX BUt from what I am told I can right alot of this equipment off as trianing expenses, or work expenses etc ..

ErikD said:

One word of caution, this can be a bit of an addiction.

My home network is now a PIX 501, Catalyst 2950-24 and 1721 router. The only component that I haven't upgraded to Cisco yet is the WAP, but have been looking at Aironet 1100 or 1200 series access points.

Click to expand...

holy crap, talk about an expensive addiction!


So what does your network layout look like?

almstsobur said:

LOL, your not even kidding, I'm already thinking about a little PIX BUt from what I am told I can right alot of this equipment off as trianing expenses, or work expenses etc ..

Click to expand...

What good would that do? I'm not trying to be smart, I really don't understand what righting stuff off means, or how it does any good.

soundfx4 said:

holy crap, talk about an expensive addiction!
So what does your network layout look like?

Click to expand...

As for writting the stuf off it is for taxes. You need this for your job, assuming you work in IT, to keep up with the current devices, technologies, etc. Basically you can claim it against whatever Uncle Sam takes in taxes and hope to see some money back at tax time.

ErikD said:

As for writting the stuf off it is for taxes. You need this for your job, assuming you work in IT, to keep up with the current devices, technologies, etc. Basically you can claim it against whatever Uncle Sam takes in taxes and hope to see some money back at tax time.

Click to expand...

Ah, I C. I do have one more question though (and VERY sorry for thread jacking)

what are you using the router for exactly? Are you using it for NAT? If so, then why not use the PIX for NAT, it does have NAT capabilities doesn't it?


oh wait, never mind, it isn't for NAT...grrr...this is aggravating, I'm just gonna have to read the books again, I don't even remember what a VLAN is, it's virtual LAN, right? But I still dont' know what it is

VLAN = Virtual LAN, you got it. Basic idea is that it allows you to run multiple independent netowrks off of one switch. Put ports into a VLAN and the traffic will never cross VLAN, except on a trunking port. Even then with the 2950 you can specify what traffic is allowed on which trunks.

Basically the router is because I don't want to buy two internet connections. I have the VLANs in seperate address space, but want them both to share the same internet connection at the PIX. The router, with appropriate ACLs applied, allows me to do this. Basically it just forwards any internet bound traffic from VLAN2 to the PIX. Anything else gets denied.

This way I can plug a machine that is infected with anythign and everything into the VLAN2 switch ports. It will have internet access, but be impossible to infect my machines with anything as access is denied.

ErikD said:

VLAN = Virtual LAN, you got it. Basic idea is that it allows you to run multiple independent netowrks off of one switch. Put ports into a VLAN and the traffic will never cross VLAN, except on a trunking port. Even then with the 2950 you can specify what traffic is allowed on which trunks.

Basically the router is because I don't want to buy two internet connections. I have the VLANs in seperate address space, but want them both to share the same internet connection at the PIX. The router, with appropriate ACLs applied, allows me to do this. Basically it just forwards any internet bound traffic from VLAN2 to the PIX. Anything else gets denied.

This way I can plug a machine that is infected with anythign and everything into the VLAN2 switch ports. It will have internet access, but be impossible to infect my machines with anything as access is denied.

Click to expand...

hmmm...ok, I think I understand...well not fully, but I get the basic idea.


Well that settles it, my next pieces of equipment I purchase will be a cisco router, and a cisco managed switch (does cisco even make unmanaged switches?) I REALLY have to brush up...no scratch that, I pretty much have to learn everything again. Well at least it will be easier as I learned it once before.