Im going to study for my CCNA

Pea0n said:
Depends on your budge mate. My lab consisted of:


2 x Cisco Catalyst 2900 XL Switches
2 x Cisco 2503 Series Routers (One has a dent on the site but works perfectly)
1 x Cisco 2520 Series Router (One of the four serial ports does not work, other than that in perfect condition)
1 x Cisco 2516 Series Router (Will not save anything to Startup-Config, other than that works fine)
3 x Ethernet 10Base-T Transceivers (Fit onto the AUI ports on the routers)
3 x Short lab-style DCE/DTE serial cables
6 x Kettle leads
2 x Official Cisco console cables
Various patch cables and cross over cables (home made)

Total from the bay cost under £250

Only change I would have made would be getting hold of some 1700s or 1800 routers as they have Fast Ethernet ports on, mineare all old and only have 10bT so I couldnt do trunking or virtual interfaces etc. When I upgrade my kit I'll be looking at either 2 2600s or some 1800s

- Pea0n
Click to expand...

Is it essential to have a lab this size or could you build a slightly smaller version of the above?

I should be able to get my mits on:

For Free
Cisco 1700's
Kettle Leads
Ethernet Cables
Console Cables

Will have to buy the rest off the bay I think. How many routers will I need (minimum) and how many catalyst switches (minimum).

Im going to be on abit of a budget however the more I get from work the better!
 
Right ok, I have a Cisco 1603R at home with a serial WIC, flash PC Card, could this be used in my lab? im guessing no
 
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Wow, ive just started studing CCNA as well at the same time as my A-levels. Finding it pretty difficult though, luckily school has a whole cisco lab with about 6 routers and 3 switches and 6 pcs but some of the info on here might help me a bit. Good luck DJMK
 
DJMK4 said:
Is it essential to have a lab this size or could you build a slightly smaller version of the above?

I should be able to get my mits on:

For Free
Cisco 1700's
Kettle Leads
Ethernet Cables
Console Cables

Will have to buy the rest off the bay I think. How many routers will I need (minimum) and how many catalyst switches (minimum).

Im going to be on abit of a budget however the more I get from work the better!
Click to expand...

Don't need anything of that size, just more the better. Personally i would say ideally you want 2 switches for VTP and 2 routers with serial and fast Ethernet interfaces

- Pea0n
 
On my CCNA course with the OU that I did earlier this year, the vast majority of stuff can be done using packet tracer. If you still want a hands on lab, then 3 routers and 2 switches will be sufficient for everything you will need.
 
Iv just fired off an e-mail to my boss, I recon I could swindle a 1700 series or two :) might have to buy the switches myself tho unless there is some down the lockup we got one in stores but I think its going to be used.
 
Dist said:
On my CCNA course with the OU that I did earlier this year, the vast majority of stuff can be done using packet tracer. If you still want a hands on lab, then 3 routers and 2 switches will be sufficient for everything you will need.
Click to expand...

Most stuff can be done on packet tracer BUT packet tracer does some stuff totally differently to a normal router and is no substitute to the real thing. VLANS etc. are basically wrong on PT for example

- Pea0n
 
Whats wrong with VLANs on packet tracer?

Also if you can get hold of the Cisco IOS it is possible to emulate the routers, which will make them perform no different from the real things.
 
The VLANs are created and modified differently in PT to a normal switch. Plus Frame Relay is done differently (not that it matters too much irl). To be honest, Packet tracer = fantastic bit of software but stick somebody in front of a router who has just used that and they will come stuck in 10 minutes.

What software do you use to emulate them? That would be pretty awesome as I can get the IOSs

- Pea0n
 
GNS3 can be used to emulate them. I'm sure there are others out there also. Not sure if they all work the same, but some of them allow the emulated cisco kit to interact with your real LAN, as if was really connected to your home network. If you wanted to you could emulate a PIX firewall and actually route home internet traffic through it, although it wont be anywhere near as fast as an actual PIX firewall, and it will put some extra load on the host machine.

It's nice to have hands on experience and learn what each type of port and cable looks like, but after you have played around for 10 min and crimped a few of your own ethernet cables, a simulator or emulator can be just as goo.
 
Yeah I know what you mean, not disagreeing :) Everything has itsp lace and PT is certainly up there. Ill have a look at GNS3 too ty

- Pea0n
 
Another vote for GNS3 here. I currently run it in Ubuntu and it's great for setting up test labs. As long as you can get hold of IOS then your good to go and as GNS3 is an emulator rather than a simulator, it is running REAL IOS and so you have full functionality & feature sets.

You can also integrate something called PEMU to do PIX emulation if you can get hold of PIX software too.

I currently use GNS3 for CCNP practice labs, I'm going for ISCW at the moment (well, when I get some time to study!)
 
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Dist said:
Also if you can get hold of the Cisco IOS it is possible to emulate the routers, which will make them perform no different from the real things.
Click to expand...

Ill look into these emulators, think this what I need to get me started off :) I should have a source for the IOS aswel.

Will let you know weather im successful or not tomorrow :)

G'Night all and thanks for the info
 
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On a similar note, does anybody know of any software that will replicate VOIP, I believe that packet tracer doesn't simulate Call manager express etc.
Thanks
 
Well, best of look to the OP with studying for ya CCNA - I'm 6 months in and just about finished up with learning and revision for ICND1 exam.

If you have any questions, drop me a line.

Oh, I've used the Official Wendell Odom books (barely) and the CBT Nuggets videos - the videos are great for the concepts and theory, but DEFINITLY get yourself some hardware to practice on.

4010709019_49517bee62.jpg


Thats 4x 2610 Routers and a 2950 switch sat on top. Since that photo my lab setup has expanded a fair bit, I've been very lucky with redundant kit from work.

Sim Software is ok, I've used the Boson software and find it good when travelling to/from work on the train as I can just whip out my laptop and dream up some convuluted switching./routing scenario that helps me practice my commands.

A TOP website I found for practicing subnetting is www.subnettingquestions.com

If you or anyone else have any questions, drop me a line.
 
http://www.techexams.net/cisco.shtml

Pretty good source of info for all your exam needs, the forums in particular are a very good. You can also get practice exams at http://www.testking.com/ , a colleague at work gave them a try and he found that they had virtually identical questions to what you'll see in the exam.

The Cisco exams themselves can be a little unforgiving if you don't do your revision as once you finish each question and hit continue you won't be able to go back and review them later, you'll also have to do all your subnet calculations by hand but they do start to become 2nd nature if you do enough of the bloody things. ;)
 
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