Cisco 877

Tigerswoody

Hi,
I have an adsl+ line coming into a Cisco 877, through a 10/100 hub (don't ask), then on to a sonicwall box, and finally into LAN. Too many steps I agree and will be changing this.
I'm getting terrible speeds from PC's on the LAN. I would like to eliminate all steps and test the connection from the nearest point in, which is the Cisco Router.
My question is, how can I test this? Stick a lan cable from Cisco to Laptop? Connect to Cisco via console and do some jiggery pokery?

Thanks in advance, and don't scoff at the possible stupid question.

swampgas

Tigerswoody wrote: »

Hi,
I have an adsl+ line coming into a Cisco 877, through a 10/100 hub (don't ask), then on to a sonicwall box, and finally into LAN. Too many steps I agree and will be changing this.
I'm getting terrible speeds from PC's on the LAN. I would like to eliminate all steps and test the connection from the nearest point in, which is the Cisco Router.
My question is, how can I test this? Stick a lan cable from Cisco to Laptop? Connect to Cisco via console and do some jiggery pokery?

Thanks in advance, and don't scoff at the possible stupid question.

The easiest way is probably to connect the laptop directly to the Cisco, maybe with and without the hub connected ...

BTW - is it *really* a hub, or is it a switch?

rolion

I will get an eircom netopia/motorola ADSL router,connect the line and read the line speeds and specs from the built-in web interface !
Then,i will move on to Cisco,"hub" and SWall...

Most ISPs won't talk to you unless they are sure you have their sold / supported equipment !

Goood luck...

Tigerswoody

@swampgas yes it's a dumb hub, doing nothing except supplying extra connections. That's why it's there (I assume).

@rolion I'd rather do it without affecting users. That's why I was looking to get to Internet directly through Cisco router.

I suppose my question should really be:
Should I be able to get to the Internet with a lan cable directly in the back of the Cisco router? If I can't, and I can't, do I need to connect laptop through console cable and check what routing is in place, it may not allow direct connections from other lan ports. Dunno, just guessing here. Next question, how do I connect to Cisco router with console cable? If I do an ipconfig, and type the gateway into a browser, I get nothing.
Anyone?

Alun

It's possible that Internet access via the other LAN ports has been somehow disabled, but the easiest way to tell is quite simply just to try it and see. If you get a DHCP address and can access the Internet then you have your answer.

To connect directly using a console cable (I assume you have one) you'll either have to find a PC with an old fashioned serial COM port, or get hold of a USB-serial converter of some sort, plus a terminal emulation program. Be aware though that if someone else has set this up that it will in all probability be password protected so you won't be able to access it. And even if you can, the possibilities of royally screwing things up if you don't know what you're doing are very high. Do you have any experience of using Cisco kit from the command-line interface?

rolion

Tigerswoody wrote: »

@swampgas yes it's a dumb hub, doing nothing except supplying extra connections. That's why it's there (I assume).

@rolion I'd rather do it without affecting users. That's why I was looking to get to Internet directly through Cisco router.

I suppose my question should really be:
Should I be able to get to the Internet with a lan cable directly in the back of the Cisco router? If I can't, and I can't, do I need to connect laptop through console cable and check what routing is in place, it may not allow direct connections from other lan ports. Dunno, just guessing here. Next question, how do I connect to Cisco router with console cable? If I do an ipconfig, and type the gateway into a browser, I get nothing.
Anyone?

I can be wrong,please correct me if i'm wrong, BUT no Irish ISP will diagnose your problem unless they are talking with you on their supplied equipment !!
What if you schedule one lunch,one hour downtime for internet/email/remote access to check it with another router !? Why stick with this configuration if is not working !??

Also,you have to run tests WITH and WITHOUT your LAN connected to SWall anyway.....you have to isolate the problem to routing/switching devices or it can be a local device (computer,server,printer,network card faulty) that affects your WAN.Also,it can be an external attach against your internal devices (smtp,pop3,http...whatever).

So even if you manage to learn Cisco IOS CLI in a day,you will not be able to do much...

Also,final thought,some of the CISCO ADSL routers are not capable of taking ADSL2 without a software upgrade and they will be connected to max 8M AND if the line is upgraded to ADSL2+ they will start becoming very "sysadmin un-friendly" !
Do you have a service contract in place with Cisco to download latest version !?

swampgas

Tigerswoody wrote: »

@swampgas yes it's a dumb hub, doing nothing except supplying extra connections. That's why it's there (I assume).

@rolion I'd rather do it without affecting users. That's why I was looking to get to Internet directly through Cisco router.

I suppose my question should really be:
Should I be able to get to the Internet with a lan cable directly in the back of the Cisco router? If I can't, and I can't, do I need to connect laptop through console cable and check what routing is in place, it may not allow direct connections from other lan ports. Dunno, just guessing here. Next question, how do I connect to Cisco router with console cable? If I do an ipconfig, and type the gateway into a browser, I get nothing.
Anyone?

Plan to replace the hub with a switch, or just bypass the hub completely. Check if there is a collision LED on the hub and if it's lit up much. A hub can be a real bottleneck.

NullZer0

Do you have a POTS interface on the Cisco box?