Source
r/sysadmin•
adblockthrowaway

Acquired a Cisco 800 Series router (C891F), is there anything I can do to use this at home? Is it even worth it?

So I have a 4g antenna a netgear switch and this router. Among other things. A friend works in a corporate environment and they were going to throw them away.

If I remember right you have to subscribe to Ciscos services to use their routers. Am I correct? Should I bother keeping it?

I know this sub is usually for system admins to complain about life, I figured I could sneak this in.

Posted Jul 11, 2016, 6:51 PM UTC

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highlord_foxBlinkenlights Administrator•

You'll probably find better usage/information about using it at home at r/homelab. That said, IIRC, you can use the router without the Cisco service, you would just have to sign up and purchase some sort of support agreement to legally get software/firmware updates.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that, it's been a while since I've dealt with Cisco licensing.

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theonlyringoJack of All Trades•

Yes, I believe the Cisco gear can be used without any type of service. You just won't be able to get any firmware updates for it. You could try this, although I never have. Here is a nice little spec sheet on it. Obviously features with most likely vary depending on the currently installed firmware version.

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highlord_foxBlinkenlights Administrator•

The last time I tried to order Cisco gear, I was given the run around when I asked Cisco and the reseller (it was refurb/used gear) about this, so I put it off. (Plus, other expenses cropped up.)

I'll keep this in mind, thanks.

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adblockthrowawayOP•

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

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Tsunamiii•

You can sure. I run a Cisco 3750 for my home core. I also have a wired network throughout my house that connects up to it. Mine meets my needs for a core but its also pulling more power then a small dumb switch would. Pros and Cons..

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adblockthrowawayOP•

How do you configure these things? I can't seem to find a way to connect to it. It's not assigning a default gateway to connect to.

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Digitaljanitors•

You need a console cable.

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adblockthrowawayOP•

Thanks.

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dicknuckleMSP Sysadmin/Network Engineer•

It probably came from an environment that ran the DHCP server on a Windows domain controller. DHCP would have been disabled on this device.

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demonlag•

No licensing is required to use an 891, however whether or not you can do something with it is another story. The 891 is going to max out at under 25mbit/sec of traffic if it is just being a router, and probably around 60% of that if you have it acting as a firewall.

Unless you already have something in mind for this thing, or are going to use it as part of a CCN(A,P) lab or something, there isn't much you can do with it.

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islaon•

You might be thinking of an ASA or PIX which can be deployed in transparent mode which means that it doesn't do routing. IOS routers are always routers, and the firewall rules are pretty straight forward.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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