Cisco CCNA Lab Kit

Wah007 · 27 Sep 2017 at 01:46

Hi,

I paid for a Cisco CCNA course which was from Open It Training and it included the official CCNA exam. The course is for 1 year and comes with both video, and literature courseware and they included live labs too. I am about 7 months into it and have a few months left, I don't get much time due to work and family commitments.

I want to buy a lab kit for some hands on but don't know what to look for. If anyone can recommend me a good lab kit on ebay? I need it to help me pass my CCNA exam, I've heard it can be really useful.

Thanks

ChrisD. · 27 Sep 2017 at 08:16

Look up CCNA lab kit on eBay, there's loads of examples.

Wah007 · 27 Sep 2017 at 09:40

ChrisD. said:
Look up CCNA lab kit on eBay, there's loads of examples.

I did. The prices range from £150 to £1000. I need to know what's the least I can get away with. There's cheaper kits where there's 2 switches and one router and then there's more expensive kits with more hardware.

ChrisD. · 27 Sep 2017 at 09:50

The cheapest is using GNS3 and/or packet tracer and not buying equipment, you don't need physical kit in order to pass the CCNA exam.

I would however advise a lab if you start going down the voice route or progress onto CCNP but some would argue it is not longer needed.

Woden · 27 Sep 2017 at 09:51

Don't have my CCNA but last time I looked you would need at least 2 routers.

bluebeatle · 27 Sep 2017 at 09:51

ChrisD. said:
The cheapest is using GNS3 and/or packet tracer and not buying equipment, you don't need physical kit in order to pass the CCNA exam.

I would however advise a lab if you start going down the voice route or progress onto CCNP but some would argue it is not longer needed.

Definitely this

Wah007 · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:16

ChrisD. said:
The cheapest is using GNS3 and/or packet tracer and not buying equipment, you don't need physical kit in order to pass the CCNA exam.

I would however advise a lab if you start going down the voice route or progress onto CCNP but some would argue it is not longer needed.

Woden said:
Don't have my CCNA but last time I looked you would need at least 2 routers.

bluebeatle said:
Definitely this

Thanks everyone. I have Packet Tracer, I'll have a go at GNS3 too.

My plan is to work all the way up to CCNP, so if it's a good idea to buy a lab kit (I'll need it in the future anyway), please recommend me one from ebay if you can.

ChrisD. · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:29

Routing and Switching? Security? Voice? There's so many different options depending on what it is that you want.

I would give GNS3 a try and get through your CCNA and see how you feel. Try both voice and security as they are both better paid than R&S these days. I know some people who despise voice and love security and others who are the other way around. Maybe try learning in either path at CCNA level once you get the CCNA and see how you feel, as that would give you a better idea of what kit you want to buy.

Wah007 · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:53

ChrisD. said:
Routing and Switching? Security? Voice? There's so many different options depending on what it is that you want.

I would give GNS3 a try and get through your CCNA and see how you feel. Try both voice and security as they are both better paid than R&S these days. I know some people who despise voice and love security and others who are the other way around. Maybe try learning in either path at CCNA level once you get the CCNA and see how you feel, as that would give you a better idea of what kit you want to buy.

I'm currently learning CCNA R&S and then I'll go on to Security and voice, and then CCNP probably. I only have a few months left until I have to book the exam so I'm feeling the pressure.

I'll go with GNS3 and see how it goes, hopefully good.

Thanks for your advice

Narj · 27 Sep 2017 at 22:44

Definitely go the GNS3 route. It's pointless buying kit for CCNA. The only thing you will need is IOS images.

So many vendors have virtual appliances with trial licences these days, I did checkpoint certification stove time back with virtualbox plumbed into a gns3 environment and still lab a hell of a lot of things in it.

Wah007 · 27 Sep 2017 at 23:59

Narj said:
Definitely go the GNS3 route. It's pointless buying kit for CCNA. The only thing you will need is IOS images.

So many vendors have virtual appliances with trial licences these days, I did checkpoint certification stove time back with virtualbox plumbed into a gns3 environment and still lab a hell of a lot of things in it.

I'll give the GNS3 software a go and see how it goes, I've downloaded it, I'll check the IOS images out too, I was wondering why I couldn't start it up.

Thanks

Narj · 28 Sep 2017 at 09:48

Wah007 said:
I'll give the GNS3 software a go and see how it goes, I've downloaded it, I'll check the IOS images out too, I was wondering why I couldn't start it up.

Thanks

If you're struggling for them, then trust me mate. I can er... "advise".

Wah007 · 28 Sep 2017 at 11:04

Narj said:
If you're struggling for them, then trust me mate. I can er... "advise".

Lol.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks

DJMK4 · 2 Oct 2017 at 20:37

GNS3 i used for CCENT/CCNA R&S. GNS3 for CCNP route exam, physical layer 3 switches for switch exam and GNS3 and packet tracer for TSHOOT exam

Caged · 2 Oct 2017 at 22:18

You don't need physical kit for a CCNA.

r7slayer · 3 Oct 2017 at 10:47

Caged said:
You don't need physical kit for a CCNA.

This is true! I did it at university mostly using packet tracer however we had to use physical hardware too as that was exam based for my course. But packet tracer was exactly the same for me. however using hardware did help my understanding.

Wah007 · 3 Oct 2017 at 13:21

Thanks for the info guys.

Chaos · 3 Oct 2017 at 20:40