Cisco 2821 Integrated Services Router Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

Naming & Variant Breakdown

• CISCO2821/K9: Standard AC-powered base router with IP Base IOS and K9 AES/3DES crypto licensing
• CISCO2821-AC-IP/K9: AC variant with integrated inline PoE power supply for IP phones via switch HWICs
• CISCO2821-DC/K9: 48V negative DC telecom-grade power model for central office rack deployments
• -SEC/K9: Pre-bundled Advanced Security IOS image with zone-based firewall and IOS IPS enabled
• -HSEC/K9: High-security bundle factory-equipped with AIM-VPN/EPII PLUS high-performance encryption module
• -VOICE/K9: Unified Communications bundle preconfigured with PVDM DSP modules and CME/SRST voice licensing

Core Differentiators vs Cisco 2811

1. Two onboard 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet ports(2811 only has dual Fast Ethernet FE ports) for high-speed LAN aggregation
2. Extra expansion slots: 1 dedicated EVM Extension Voice Module slot + 3 internal PVDM DSP slots (2811 has only 2 PVDM slots and no EVM slot) for ultra-high-density VoIP/fax/conferencing
3. Larger memory ceiling: Max 1024MB (1GB) DRAM vs 768MB on the 2811; factory default DRAM upgraded to 512MB from 256MB
4. Higher mixed voice/data/security throughput supporting multiple aggregated T1/E1/xDSL WAN links
5. 2U taller chassis form factor vs 1U for the 2801/2811 to accommodate enhanced expansion hardware
6. Dual USB 1.1 ports (2811 has only one USB port) for offline config storage and security tokens
7. Identical core expansion: 4 rear universal HWIC slots, 1 NME enhanced network module slot, 2 independent internal AIM acceleration slots, RPS redundant power support

2. Hardware Interface & Physical Specifications

Modular Expansion Architecture

1. 1 × NME-X Enhanced Network Module slot
   High-density rear slot supporting enterprise-grade trunk, security, and storage modules unavailable on entry 2800 models:
   • NM-2T1/NM-4E1 channelized T1/E1 PRI voice trunk modules for PBX interconnection
   • NM-CIDS-K9 dedicated inline intrusion detection modules
   • AIM-CUE storage modules for Unity Express voice mail and auto-attendant
2. 1 × EVM Extension Voice Module slot (Exclusive to 2821/2851)
   Dedicated voice expansion slot for additional analog/digital voice cards, terminal server modules, and auxiliary DSP offloading to free up HWIC/NME slotsCisco.
3. 4 × Rear Universal HWIC/WIC/VIC/VWIC slots
   Accept single-wide HWIC, double-wide HWIC-D, legacy WIC, analog VIC, and multi-flex VWIC voice cards; two slots support double-wide high-bandwidth HWIC-D modules:
   • HWIC: ADSL2+, VDSL2, G.SHDSL, synchronous serial, 4-port Fast Ethernet switch HWICs
   • WIC: ISDN BRI, asynchronous serial, analog modem WICs for dial-on-demand backup links
   • VIC/VWIC: FXS/FXO/E&M analog station/trunk cards, multi-port fractional T1/E1 voice trunks
4. 3 × Internal motherboard PVDM DSP slots
   Host Packet Voice Digital Signal Processor modules to handle VoIP codecs, G.168 echo cancellation, T.38 fax relay, and multi-party audio conferencing without occupying external card slots; extra DSP capacity for large IP phone deploymentsCisco.
5. 2 × Internal AIM (Advanced Integration Module) daughtercard slots
   Dual independent slots for parallel multi-workload offloading: AIM-VPN/EPII PLUS high-speed encryption, AIM-ATM SAR processing, AIM-COMPRESS data compression to reduce CPU overhead for heavy VPN and WAN traffic.

Fixed Built-in Rear Panel Ports

1. 2 × Auto-MDI-X 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (GE0/0, GE0/1)
   Auto-negotiates 10/100/1000 Mbps full/half duplex; fully supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, inter-VLAN routing, LACP link aggregation to isolate corporate, finance, guest, and sensitive POS payment subnetsCisco.
2. RJ45 Serial Console port (115.2 kbps max baud) – local out-of-band CLI management
3. RJ45 AUX port – remote emergency access via external PSTN analog modem
4. 2 × USB 1.1 Type-A ports– secure crypto authentication tokens, offline configuration/log backup storage
5. Removable external CompactFlash (CF) slot – primary persistent storage for IOS images, full running configurations, and centralized event logging
6. Power inlet: Standard IEC AC socket (DC variant uses 48V negative terminal block telecom input)
7. RPS redundant power supply connector for high-availability branch deployments
8. Chassis ground lug + Kensington anti-theft lock slot for physical rack chassis security

Memory & Performance Benchmarks

• Processor: High-performance multi-task RISC core with dedicated onboard crypto FPGA hardware acceleration
• Default DRAM: 512MB; maximum expandable DRAM: 1024MB (1GB) via dual DIMM slots
• Default Flash memory: 64MB CompactFlash; maximum supported Flash: 256MB CF card
• Multi-service mixed voice/data/security throughput: Up to 60 Mbps aggregate wire-speed performance
• Hardware crypto acceleration: Native AES-256, 3DES, DES IPsec and SSL/TLS VPN offloading; scalable via dual AIM-VPN/EPII PLUS modules
• Maximum concurrent site-to-site IPsec tunnels: Up to 300+, expandable with full DRAM and dual AIM encryption hardware
• Supported IOS releases: Cisco IOS 12.3T, 12.4 mainline / 12.4T universal multi-service images; feature sets unlocked via permanent chassis-bound software licenses (IP Base, Advanced Security, Unified Communications)
• Voice capacity: PVDM2/PVDM3 DSP modules support up to 192 concurrent VoIP calls; Cisco CME embedded call processing for up to 250 IP phones, SRST survivable remote branch telephony, Unity Express voice mail for up to 500 mailboxes

Physical & Power Parameters

• Form factor: 2U standard 19-inch rack-mount metal chassis with integrated rack ears
• Standard AC power supply: 100–240V 50/60Hz universal autoranging input
• DC variant (C2821-DC): 48V negative DC telecom input for central office cabinet deployments
• PoE variant (C2821-AC-IP): Integrated inline power distribution to feed IP phones via compatible switch HWIC modules
• Typical chassis power consumption: ~80W under fully loaded NME/EVM/HWIC/PVDM/AIM module configuration
• Front panel status LEDs: System power, fault alarm, CompactFlash activity, dual USB port status, PVDM/AIM health indicators, four HWIC slot link/activity, dual Gigabit Ethernet link/activity
• Operating environment
  • Operating temperature: 0°C to +40°C below 1800m altitude; 0°C to +25°C above 1800m up to 3000m
  • Relative humidity: 10–85% RH non-condensing
• Dimensions (H × W × D): 8.9 × 44.5 × 43.8 cm (3.5 × 17.25 × 16.4 inches)
• Fully loaded weight: ~7.2 kg (15.9 lbs)
• No native chassis PoE output except for dedicated -AC-IP power supply variant.

3. Cisco IOS Universal Image Multiservice Feature Suite

Core Routing & Multi-WAN Connectivity

• Full IPv4 routing stack: Static routes, RIP v1/v2, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP (Advanced IP Services license)
• WAN encapsulation support: PPP, HDLC, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, PPPoE/PPPoA for DSL, Dial-on-Demand Routing (DDR) for automatic backup failover
• HSRP/VRRP for router high availability redundancy; NHRP DMVPN hub-spoke multi-site overlay VPN architecture
• NAT services: Static NAT, dynamic NAT, PAT overloading, multi-address NAT pools, NAT64 IPv4-IPv6 transition support
• IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, inter-VLAN routing, storm control, LACP link aggregation across dual Gigabit Ethernet onboard ports.

Unified Communications Voice & Fax Integration (Key High-Density Voice Differentiator)

1. VoIP signaling protocols: H.323, SIP, MGCP, SCCP native support for large-scale Cisco Unified IP Phone deployments
2. Analog/digital telephony via VIC/VWIC + PVDM DSPs + EVM voice cards: FXS station ports, FXO PSTN trunk lines, E&M PBX tie connections, fractional T1/E1 multi-flex voice trunks
3. T.38 real-time fax relay over IP, fax passthrough, store-and-forward fax routing
4. DSP-accelerated voice codecs: G.711, G.729a, G.726, wideband G.722 high-fidelity audio
5. Enterprise telephony tools: Scalable multi-site dial plans, voice hunt groups, toll bypass to eliminate expensive long-distance PSTN charges
6. CME embedded call manager, SRST survivable remote telephony, Unity Express voice mail/auto-attendant hosted via AIM-CUE storage modules.

Enterprise QoS & WAN Optimization

• Base QoS tools: Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), per-interface traffic shaping
• Advanced QoS (Security/UC license): Low Latency Queuing (LLQ), Frame Relay Traffic Shaping (FRTS), WRED congestion avoidance, DSCP/802.1p traffic marking
• Link Fragmentation and Interleaving (LFI), cRTP VoIP header compression to eliminate voice jitter over low-speed DSL/ISDN backup links
• NBAR2 next-generation deep packet inspection for application-aware traffic prioritization of business-critical software.

Integrated Self-Defending Network Security Suite

1. Zone-Based Stateful Firewall (ZBFW): Deep application-layer inspection for HTTP, FTP, SIP, H.323 and all mainstream enterprise business protocols
2. IOS IPS inline signature-based intrusion prevention with real-time threat detection and automated connection blocking
3. Dual AIM hardware-accelerated VPN stack:
   • AES-256/3DES/DES IPsec site-to-site branch tunnels
   • Cisco Easy VPN Remote centralized security policy provisioning for remote branch locations
   • DMVPN scalable hub-spoke multi-site overlay networks
   • SSL VPN for browser-only remote worker access without client software
4. AAA security framework: PAP/CHAP authentication, RADIUS/TACACS+ centralized access control and complete audit logging
5. Standard/extended ACLs, dynamic ACLs, anti-DDoS traffic policing, security zone segmentation to isolate sensitive POS payment and finance subnets.

Management, Automation & Operations

• Dual out-of-band management interfaces: Serial Console and AUX modem port for emergency offline IT maintenance
• Secure remote management: SSHv2, HTTPS, SNMP v3 (backward compatible with SNMP v1/v2c)
• Graphical configuration utility: Cisco Configuration Professional (CCP) for simplified zero-touch mass branch deployment
• AutoInstall automated remote IOS image and configuration download over WAN links for nationwide branch rollouts
• Removable CompactFlash storage for easy IOS upgrades, configuration backup, and centralized log archiving
• Persistent syslog event logging, NTP time synchronization for consistent audit log timestamps
• Dual USB ports for offline config storage and two-factor authentication security tokens.

4. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Large regional enterprise multi-service edge gateway: Dual fiber Metro Ethernet primary/secondary WAN uplinks, VDSL2 HWIC copper backup link, NME T1/E1 PRI voice trunk module connected to corporate PBX, EVM analog voice expansion card for dozens of analog fax/desk phones, three PVDM DSP modules supporting over 150 concurrent VoIP calls, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports to segregate finance, engineering, staff, and guest VLANs, high-volume DMVPN IPsec tunnels to corporate headquarters, integrated ZBFW/IPS security stack for enterprise compliance.
2. Flagship multi-store retail voice gateway: ADSL2+ HWIC primary broadband WAN, ISDN BRI WIC dial backup, CME embedded call processing for 100–200 on-site IP phones, NME-CIDS intrusion detection module for PCI DSS payment security, dual AIM slots for parallel VPN encryption and data compression for multi-store site-to-site VPN connectivity.
3. Global carrier managed high-capacity business CPE: Universal dual-standard DSL HWIC copper broadband access, NME storage module for local log retention, dual AIM acceleration modules for mass customer VPN offloading, DMVPN overlay to carrier central service hub, integrated firewall/IPS for tenant threat isolation and network segmentation.
4. Advanced enterprise networking training lab core router: Universal NME/EVM/HWIC/WIC/VIC modularity to teach high-density T1/E1 PRI voice trunking, dual Gigabit multi-VLAN inter-routing, hardware-accelerated high-volume IPsec VPN, and full unified communications gateway labs; expanded 1GB DRAM and large CF capacity fully supports feature-rich IOS 12.4T images unavailable on lower-tier 2801/2811 routers.

5. Standard Package Contents of CISCO2821 / 2821-DC / 2821-AC-IP

Separately Sold Optional Accessories

• HWIC/WIC/VIC/VWIC WAN and analog/digital voice interface cards
• NME enhanced network modules (T1/E1 trunk, IDS, Unity Express storage)
• EVM Extension Voice Modules for additional voice/terminal server ports
• PVDM2/PVDM3 DSP voice compression modules for VoIP and T.38 fax relay
• AIM daughtercards: AIM-VPN/EPII PLUS encryption, AIM-ATM SAR processing, AIM-COMPRESS data compression, AIM-CUE voice mail storage
• DRAM memory expansion DIMMs (512MB / 768MB / 1024MB)
• CompactFlash memory upgrades (64MB / 128MB / 256MB)
• CAT5e/CAT6 Gigabit Ethernet patch cords, RJ11 DSL/ISDN telephone line cables
• External PoE injectors for non-PoE IP cameras and wireless access points
• External redundant power supply units (RPS) for high-availability branch deployments

Software Licensing Information

Short Commercial Catalog Summary