http://www.sidsmokes.com/router.lab.html
'Only the network cards are very specific. I bought 65 of them on ebay. They use the Intel 82559 chip. I have heard that other chipsets will work as well, such as 82557, 82558.
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Originally, I used an old version of Ghost to get the router images duplicated. The process is pretty speedy since the image is only about 1GB. Speedier still is making it from scratch.
Step 1) Install the base OS
Install FreeBSD 4.4 mini from this ISO (176 MB)
Make a single partition, type 165, set it active (bootable) and then slice it like this:
/dev/ad0s1a, 500M, /
/dev/ad0s1b, 500M, swap
/dev/ad0s1e, 100M, /config
/dev/ad0s1f, the rest, /var
Step 2) Make some file system changes
After it reboots, issue these commands:
# rm /dev/wd0c
# ln -s /dev/ad0c /dev/wd0c
# mkdir /var/etc
# touch /var/etc/master.passwd
# touch /var/etc/inetd.conf
# touch /var/etc/group
Step 3) Copy and add the jinstall
(A note about the JUNOS software: I will not send anyone Juniper software. Don't ask. If you don't know how to get it, then you're probably not supposed to have it anyway. You can download it from the Juniper site if you have an account. Don't bug Juniper JTAC about olives either. They are not supported.)
I started with jinstall 7.2R2.4, which I had on CD. A reader from The Netherlands reported problems starting this install with anything later than 7.4R3.3, however had no problems upgrading to later versions from the CLI once the install was complete.
# mount /cdrom
# cp /cdrom/jinstall-7.2R2.4-domestic-signed.tgz /var/tmp
# pkg_add /var/tmp/jinstall-7.2R2.4-domestic-signed.tgz
The pkg_add process does its thing, which takes about 30 seconds. Time to reboot...
# umount /cdrom
(Take out the CD if you want to get it from the drive before you reboot.)
# reboot
Step 4) Don't touch it
The router will start up, install the jinstall package automatically, then reboot itself.
Step 5) Enjoy
The total time elapsed from start to finish should be about 15 minutes.
The routers are designed to be accessible via the serial port. For this I purchased a Xyplex MaxServer 1640, also on ebay. The number of ports (40) was over-kill, but other terminal servers (Cyclades, Cisco) cost too much or were too old. The lesser models of the Xyplex came with a BNC media link - yuck! The 1640 is only 10Mbit but it has an RJ45 media link. Simple topology.
I used the manual to revert to the default configuration and loaded this configuration. Next, I used telnet to connect from my computer. Here is the command:
telnet [IP address] [port] (where [port] = 2000 + port number X 100)
Since I used port # 31 for Router1, my command looks like this:
telnet 192.168.0.100 5100
These are the Xyplex manuals.
MAX ULI
MAX Intro
MAX Basic Config
MAX Command Ref
MAX Hardware Install