cisco stuff

hellarda

hellarda

hellarda

Soldato
Joined
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Guildford
hi guys,

i am really starting to get into networking and servers etc. I was thinking about trying to have a play around with some cisco gear, i would do a course but i am in the middle of my gcse's (yes i am only 16) so I donit really have time for it.

could anyone recommend me some bits of equipment to start with? and also online guides tutorials etc. I have a fairly low budget, so nothing too expensive.

atm I currently have

a managed gigabit switch which connects my 3 servers and computers together, currently running server 2008 r2, setup with dhcp, domain controllers, wins etc etc

cheers

ali
 
I have a Cisco 1700 at home with a few WIC1-Ethernet cards for the 2 WIC slots and also a F/E built in port, and Cisco K9 recent IOS loaded perfect for my needs
 
hellarda said:
hi guys,

i am really starting to get into networking and servers etc. I was thinking about trying to have a play around with some cisco gear, i would do a course but i am in the middle of my gcse's (yes i am only 16) so I donit really have time for it.

could anyone recommend me some bits of equipment to start with? and also online guides tutorials etc. I have a fairly low budget, so nothing too expensive.

atm I currently have

a managed gigabit switch which connects my 3 servers and computers together, currently running server 2008 r2, setup with dhcp, domain controllers, wins etc etc

cheers

ali
Click to expand...

http://dynagen.org/

Provides with dynamips a virtual cisco hardware platform to run IOS images (you'll have to find those yourself). You can run some sophisticated configurations on it.

What it won't help you with is the physical layout, and it is low throughput. But it is functionally.
 
Might as well get a full Cisco CCNA lab given the hardware is cheap enough.

3 routers (800 series, 1700 series or 2600 series are fine for this, 2611's are dirt cheap)
2 switches (2950's are cheap, as are 3500's)
 
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yeh i have been looking at the ccna stuff, however i would have no idea how to set it all up :( any good websites for tutorials?

ta
 
The best way to "learn" to set it all up is to work through the CCNA using study books or similar. SemSim or CBT nuggets would be a good start.
 
ok, so if i decided to do the course, i would have to do it after my exams, how long does it take roughly? and the best companies to do the course with?

oh and do you also need any background experience with programming/coding etc?

thanks
 
Nah you don't need any programming or coding experience, just the ability to not get overwhelmed by a command line interface.

You can comfortably learn the CCNA in a month or so, I've never actually recommended a course as such, just home-study and take the exam with your nearest exam centre.
 
good, hmm do you need to know command line stuff in advance? or do you learn it all with the course?

ok, sounds like a summer holiday project then! ]

would you recommend anywhere to get the books and labs cheaply and easily?

thanks again
 
The command-line commands aren't really something you'll be using outside of the Cisco environment, so pre-learning them isn't really worthwhile.

A little background info on the basics of Cisco IOS wouldn't be detremental though, for example knowing about enable, configure terminal, and being able to view and manipulate interfaces would be a basic starting point.

The IOS itself is very intuitive, for example typing ? will show you a list of all possible commands for the level at which you are at, whilst pressing [TAB] will complete a half-typed command.
 
ok thanks, i will look into it, are there any websites that would help with this?

would you recommend anywhere to get the books and labs cheaply and easily?

cheers
 
Book wise i have

Cisco Routers for the Desperate - while it skimps on the detail it was useful as a crash intro. (Currently about £10 from the rainforest)

CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide: Exam 640-802 (Sybex) (< £20) - covered a lot of the basics, but in my case annoyingly so (i mean how many pages do you need to explain subnetting?)

Although i read both and they covered a lot of ground, i had already learnt the hard way by having to crash learn complex VPN and multicast configurations due to fast deadlines at work...

From then on i moved onto
Cisco IOS Cookbook (very useful, explains a lot of advanced stuff i wanted to know)
Complete Cisco VPN Configuration Guide (spent too long explaining how to use the web interface of the VPN 3000 Concentrator and not enough time explaining what i wanted to know)

I'd recommend the Sybex book to beginner.
 
Have you considered Packet Tracer? Similar to gns3, a program that is designed by Cisco I used when doing the CCNA course. Its a free tool and gives you a virtual environment to set up routers/switches etc and you can use CLI to configure them. Really helpful before performing the practical exams.

Screenshot:

arx1218502504t.PNG
 
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Cr416 said:
Have you considered Packet Tracer? Similar to gns3, a program that is designed by Cisco I used when doing the CCNA course. Its a free tool and gives you a virtual environment to set up routers/switches etc and you can use CLI to configure them. Really helpful before performing the practical exams.

Screenshot:
snip
Click to expand...

that looks good so does gns3

how do i get hold of ios images thought? because everytime i try to add a router, i get 'please add at least one ios image' etc

ideas?

ta

EDIT: it appears you have to have a log in to download packe tracer? and the only way i can see to obtain one is to joing an academy, are there any other ways?
 
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hellarda said:
that looks good so does gns3

how do i get hold of ios images thought? because everytime i try to add a router, i get 'please add at least one ios image' etc

ideas?

ta

EDIT: it appears you have to have a log in to download packe tracer? and the only way i can see to obtain one is to joing an academy, are there any other ways?
Click to expand...

Get your school involved for Packet Tracer. We can't advise you to go look on torrent or Usenet here.

Its a very good piece of software for learning or labing up networks and you don't need any images for it to work. It just has a limited number of devices - all the essentials though such as switch, srouter (layer3 switch), routers... even emulates a PC to ping from or run a FTP server.

I would suggest you look at running at least one Linux server on your test home network. It will help you in the long run. As you are 16 getting heavily involved in a good Linux distro now will pay dividends at Uni/Work life. I suggest a proper distro rather than a cheezy student one - my recommendation is Debian or ArchLinux.
 
JBod said:
Get your school involved for Packet Tracer. We can't advise you to go look on torrent or Usenet here.

Its a very good piece of software for learning or labing up networks and you don't need any images for it to work. It just has a limited number of devices - all the essentials though such as switch, srouter (layer3 switch), routers... even emulates a PC to ping from or run a FTP server.

I would suggest you look at running at least one Linux server on your test home network. It will help you in the long run. As you are 16 getting heavily involved in a good Linux distro now will pay dividends at Uni/Work life. I suggest a proper distro rather than a cheezy student one - my recommendation is Debian or ArchLinux.
Click to expand...

ok thanks, i will talk to the school, however i dont think they will be very helpful....my IT A level teacher is shocking and we are all getting D's atm :/ but i will have a look around too.

are there are any good tutorials for packet tracer around?

I have no experience with linus whatsoever.... again any good tutorials/guides for the distros you listed?

would you recommend setting them up as a VM?

again I am only just getting in to this stuff (well the cisco command line stuff anyway) so i don't really know much at all, but really want to learn :)

cheers
 
Have a look at http://packetlife.net. They've got a really good forum and cheat sheets, and a lab you can book and access over the net.

Also, depending on what you want to do post 16, a lot of sixth-forms and colleges offer Cisco either by itself or part of a larger course (I did my CCNA as part of a Foundation Degree).
 
ok thanks will have a look at that. Yeh ive been having a look around, but i'm still stuck between networking and sound engineering/live events engineer :(
 
I studied for my CCNA in just over a month. The CCNA is really enjoyable and if you need any extra help then try and aquire Jeremy Cioara's CBT Nuggets videos, he is incredible.
 
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