Cisco 2811 manual/commands

Question

I've got a small problem regarding a 2811 Cisco router.

First of all, I can't a full manual. I found a couple of support pages on the Cisco webpage which is not bad, but I get redirects everywhere. (Like I click here, please go here and here and here. Its like a labyrinth).

I need information about the following information: - A full command sheet/cheat sheet - VPN functions - Failover/load balance - Firewall setup - FIX ip for given addresses (At least Packet Tracer knows this one IIRC so I can conf this up from scratch.. but a recent manual would be good)

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Like most other Cisco routers and equipment the 2811 uses Cisco IOS. A large majority of the IOS commands and configuration syntax is similar across all Cisco hardware. Instead of looking for these bits of information in a manual specifically about the 2811 router, you should be looking for a general IOS references like this, or this. You may need to confine your searching to the specific version and feature set of IOS that your router is running.

The Cisco web site is somewhat difficult to navigate but almost everything you need is going to be there, if you know the right way to look. The site is easier to navigate if you focus your searches on the task you want to accomplish instead of trying to find information about a particular model of hardware, or a specific version of the IOS.

Answer 2

I like Cisco IOS in a Nutshell by O'Reilly as my command reference (2005). You also might want to read a basic CCNA book if you haven't already, I liked this Sybex book. Even if you are fimilar with all the network concepts, CCNA stuff should place the commands in the context of the concepts, and might make it easier in the long run.

28xx routers are good, so I don't think you are going to need to worry about the model of the router to much, just which IOS feature set you install.

Lastly, you might want an emulator that you can practice on. I use Dynagen with the dynamips backend on Linux and it works pretty well. Its free, but you will need your own copy of the IOS for the router you are emulating. You can get that with a valid Cisco account and router registered with that account.

Answer 3

Fujishiro,

Cisco routers aren't like your netgear and dlink. A full command reference printed would be thousands of pages. And that's just for one version and one branch of code. And there isn't a manual perse. You have command references, sample configurations, etc.

Some of the setup you talk about is a big PITA, and if you haven't done it before you're in for a steep learning curve.

HTH

Keith