CCENT/CCNA equipment

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Hello,

I am looking for some recommendations for hardware to buy to be able to carry out some practical stuff for these accreditations. Is it possible to simulate a WAN using some sort of crossover cable?

Thanks,

Dave.
 
erm, no, not really. you need some routers and switches really. you get can some decent deals for 2600 routers and 2950 switches from the bay.
 
Yep for CCNA you will only need 2600 Series Routers and 2950 Switches. Some of the WAN stuff in CCNA 4 will need some special hardware (£££)

Packet Tracer 4.1 will give you all the hardware you need for the CCNA and emulates all of the required protocols/labs needed.

Free from the Cisco site (cisco.netacad.net)

Laser402
 
In all the CCNA labs a WAN is simulated via a serial link between two routers - setting one interface to DCE.
 
Not for some of the stuff in CCNA 4 where you need to do ATM etc

Did my CCNA last year and didn't need to do anything for ATM (although i may have changed since then)

I had 3 2500 series routers and 2 2950 switches for everything i needed.

Now i have a fair few more bits though (going for CCNP and CCSP)
 
My mistake one of the labs was describing the Frame relay cloud and said:

'An Adtran Atlas550 Frame Relay emulator is used to simulate the Frame Relay switch/cloud'

Which was going to cost the academy I go to a lot of money for something that can be done for free on Packet Tracer

But this can be emulated using a 2600 with some more interfaces accoring to google.

Laser402
 
to be fair, the packet tracer you get on the cnap course is a *lot* better now than it was when i started the course 18 months ago. i was going to buy some kit, but to be honest i've found that i don't really need to now. if i progress beyond the ccna then i will definately buy some, however.
 
I did CCNA with the Open university last year, packet tracer 4.1 is excellent and I also used Boson netsim. Both are very good packages and will help you no-end, also check out the Cisco forums for great help and hints as well.

Rob H
 
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