For Cisco 1841 router - I need to add another ethernet card

[nsimov]

Hello everyone,

 

I need to add another Ethernet line to our router (leased line to another office). I was looking at my options and I found that cisco have 2:

 

HWIC-4ESW = 4-port 10/100 BaseT Ethernet switch HWIC

HWIC-1FE = 1-port 10/100 Routed Port HWIC

 

The switch (4 ports) is 1/2 of the price of the routed port.... I think I'm confused... can't that switch be used also as a 4 routed ports or....

 

which one do I need?

 

Please advise, cisco people...

 

Thank you in advance,

Nick

[FN-GM]

Not sure if the switch can support it but you could trunk the port. Putting a switch on the existing port wont work.

 

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation]Link aggregation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

In computer networking, trunking refers to the use of multiple network cables or ports in parallel to increase the link speed beyond the limits of any one single cable or port. This is called port trunking or link aggregation. Trunks may be used to interconnect switches, such as major, minor, public and private switches, to form networks.

VLANs

 

In the context of VLANs, Cisco uses the term "trunking" to denote a network link carrying multiple VLANs between two switches or between a switch and a router, through the use of a "trunking protocol." To allow for multiple VLANs on one link, frames from individual VLANs must be identified. The most common and preferred method, IEEE 802.1Q adds a tag to the Ethernet frame header, labeling it as belonging to a certain VLAN. Since 802.1Q is an open standard, it is the only option in an environment with multiple vendor equipment. Cisco also has a proprietary trunking protocol called Inter Switch Link which encapsulates the Ethernet frame with its own container, which labels the frame as belonging to a specific VLAN.

[nsimov]

I don't need to trunk the port, I just need another interface that will be routed differently, Based on what I've found so far I think I'm gonna have to stick with the single routed ports vs the 4-switch. Thank you, though, I appreciate it. :-)