This may be a strange question but I have no clue. I currently have a basic linksys wrt54g router for my home network. I am considering getting a rack/cabinet and running a home server or 2 and hooking up my home network to it. If I were to do this I could pick up a cisco rack mounted router and switch off ebay to use.
So If I were to do this, would I just plugin in the cables for the cisco router from my dsl modem or is there more to it to get these working?
In my experience, not really. I've gone from off-the-shelf routers (Linksys, D-Link, Netgear) to 3rd party firmware's (DD-WRT) and tried a couple Cisco devices (Pix Fw/Router, 800 series router, 1130 WAP) and none of the Cisco's were what I'd call plug and play. In fact, they usually start off with interfaces down, which is more secure but requires some fiddling. I eventually got PDM/SDM working on all of them but it required some CLI work and experimenting. In one cases, I had to downgrade my JVM to work with it as the installed version was not forward compatible (side rant: I really wish Cisco would learn some HTML/Javascript + whatever backend language like everyone else).
The good side is Cisco's documentation is very good, plus there are a lot of good tutorials you can find on the web. The hardware and software is rock solid; I've never had to reboot any of the 3 in months of uptime. Also, I prefer Cisco's IPsec VPN to the SSL VPN's (OpenVPN) on DD-WRT installs.
You will need a broadband connection and a direct connection to your line for sure.
Check out the documentation for more information.
The http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/support/WRT54G and http://www.syngress.com/hacking-and-penetration-testing/Linksys-WRT54G-Ultimate-Hacking/ for support on any issues relating to your home network's router/configuration.
