Introduction

Updated 7/13/2011 Corrected multiple subnet error

Doug Reid recently did a very complete review of the RV042 four-port member of Cisco's revamped RV0XX "v3" line. So this review of its eight and 16 port siblings will focus on the differences and run through performance.

As you can see in the beauty shots above, the 082 and 016 are designed with rack mounting in mind. All ports, indicators and recessed reset button are on the front and Cisco even throws in a pair of rack mount ears with each. The only thing on the rear panel is the serial number label and AC power port.

Figure 1: RV016 / 082 v3 ports and LEDS

Speaking of serial number label, it's the only place where you know for sure you have a "v3". There is no indication on the product box itself. The box exterior does show serial number and MAC address, though.

Figure 2: Serial number label with v3 notation

Note that the beauty shots above are misleading in that they make the products look like they come in all-black cabinets. That must be a lighting effect, because in-person, the only thing black is the front and rear plastic panels. The top, bottom and side sheet metal is still silvery gray.

As with the RV042, the 082 and 016 have no cooling fans. They also have rubber feet for placing on a desk, and holes on the bottom for wall mounting.

Inside

I didn't open up either box to take a shot of its board. But Cisco was kind enough to provide a summary of the key components in the three RV0XX's, shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Cisco RV0XX v3 series component summary

Like the RV042, the original 016 and 082 used an Intel IXP425-266 processor with 16 MB of flash and 64 and 32 MB of RAM, respectively. The V3's double the amount of flash and increase RAM by 8X for the 082 and 4X for the 016.

IPv6

Doug covered the IPv6 features pretty well in the RV042 v3 review, but I'll summarize them here:

• Switchable between IPv4 only (default) and dual-stack mode, without rebooting
• Provides IPv6 addresses to devices on its LAN via DHCP or stateless auto-configuration
• WAN interfaces support IPv6 addressing via static or DHCP
• DMZ interface supports IPv6
• DHCP server can set IPv6 range and DNS servers
• 6to4 tunnel enable
• Static and dynamic (RIPng) routing

There are some shots of various IPv6 and other screens in the gallery with additional detail.

Figure 3: Main IPv6 screen for WAN and LAN

Note: IPv6 requires v4.0.3.03-tm firmware or higher. So upgrade if your unit is below that level.