1. Firstly, I want to learn to configure Cisco routers properly, with the goal of some day in the distant future getting a CCNA qualification.
2. Secondly, I needed to fill some more space in my rack.
3. I wanted a modem/router near my server. At the moment my server is connected to the Internet via a wireless connection to a modem at the other end of the house.

I received the router in the mail yesterday, and I was a bit dissapointed. Unfortunately the front bezel had come off, which was a bit annoying. I can glue it back on though, and it’s only a cosmetic thing anyway. Far more important is that they hadn’t shipped it with rack ears, which is one of three reasons I bought it. I sent an email off, and a set of rack ears is on its way.

To make the router useful, you can add any number of different cards (such as for ISDN, ADSL, T1, and so on). Cisco calls these things WICs, for WAN Interface Card. I had to buy an ADSL one. It cost twice as much as the router did, because the ADSL WIC is still used in production, where the router is end-of-life. I also bought an external 56k dialup modem, so that I can set up a backup Internet service (which hopefully will autotomatically switch over) in case my ADSL line drops out (which it does once every three years, for about an hour).

At the moment I’m still waiting on a console cable to connect the router to my PC for the initial configuration. Once I’ve got that, I’ll get stuck into the configuration, and hopefully not blow anything up too badly…