Equipment Support > Hardware By Brand > Cisco > [HELP] Cisco 2821

[HELP] Cisco 2821

the c2821 has two built-in ge interfaces (though you'll not get full gig-e on the box). it'll handle a 20/20 with no issues, even with light services (firewall, nat, etc).
when you say wifi -- are you looking for a built-in ap, or a wireless controller to handle multiple aps?

q.
--
"...if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt round my head and singing softly to myself..."

built in wifi. dose the 2821 have dhcp functions or what would work best to get one router with dhcp and wireless in one? Im looking for something cheap but works well.

The 2821 (as well with most modern Cisco routers) has capability of being DHCP server though it may only offer basic functionality compared to full-blown dedicated DHCP server. You simply need to verify the IOS image the router runs has such DHCP feature.

reply to robdorre
As Aryoba said, it depends on the image the 2821 is running. As far as all-in-one, you can get such a device, but it introduces a single point of faliure. Getting a seperate access point/controller allows you to go with a vendor other than Cisco if you wanted to. Depending on your needs you could look at Ubiquiti, HP, or Aruba Networks as alternate vendors.

reply to aryoba

reply to sk1939
Even an external access point presents a single point of failure.

Lose your AP and a good chunk of your users will be offline or inconvenienced, just as they would be if the card in the router died.

If the router dies, an external AP doesnt really help you anyway.

Think of it in different terms, its a single point of administration, and easier to install. Ship the box to the site preconfigured, and even the ditzy receptionist can get it up and running.

In the case either device dies, you have more to worry about than any individual component.

If you really want to avoid outages, then you need to invest in a full 1+1 setup, redundant routers with redundant WAN circuits, redundant switches, APs and controllers.

reply to robdorre
Metro will work as standard CPE devices are only required to support 802.3 specs.

The wifi HWIC only supports b/g/a... no N support.

IOS DHCP is RFC compliant and can use any of the RFC 2132 dhcp options.

It will also support 170K PPS with only IP routing enabled (theoretical backplane is 2 gbps with 1500 byte frames). Adding other technologies like filtering, qos, and telephony will reduce the PPS.

reply to TomS_

said by TomS_:

said by aryoba:

(as well with most modern Cisco routers)

Name one that cant.

DHCP is part of IP Base, so it would have to be a router without an IOS or a broken router.

reply to robdorre

reply to robdorre
It's "metro ethernet", so unless the port is gig, it will almost always be a standard copper/RJ45 fast ethernet handoff.

I don't understand the push for the oh-so-damned-expensive HWIC-AP, when any simple, cheap "wireless router" can handle the job. Plus, they're cheap as dirt, and available everywhere; if it breaks, it takes minutes to replace (at $29 each, you can have a box of spares in a drawer.)

But can they do .1x ?

Depends on the model, but for the most part no. Besides, the $50 Ubiquiti or used Cisco AP would do the job for less money than the HWIC anyways.