The CCNA/Cisco Certifications Thread

kalvindeane · 13 Feb 2014 at 19:57

I would assume so.

I haven't taken the new CCENT and I'm not familiar with the scope of it. I think it'll be fine, probably overkill. If need be you could always add in another router or PC though? It's not like it's difficult with GNS3.

DJMK4 · 14 Feb 2014 at 10:21

Cool cheers

yep and your right, easy to move about and change.

kalvindeane · 18 Feb 2014 at 20:51

Hey guys. Has anybody tried a 1801 router using adsl in their home?

I've been considering buying one since they're so cheap but I'm not sure how well Cisco kit plays with consumer ISPs. Has anybody tried it and seen any performance increases or decreases on the butWAN link? For lan access I think I'd be perfect for my current setup but I'm concerned that I'll lose WAN performance. Cheers

Jimbo.UK · 18 Feb 2014 at 23:22

kalvindeane said:
Hey guys. Has anybody tried a 1801 router using adsl in their home?

I've been considering buying one since they're so cheap but I'm not sure how well Cisco kit plays with consumer ISPs. Has anybody tried it and seen any performance increases or decreases on the butWAN link? For lan access I think I'd be perfect for my current setup but I'm concerned that I'll lose WAN performance. Cheers

They work okay but it can be a bit more of an arduous process. On ADSL2 we found the line stats were similar, maybe a little less with the correct info from our ISP (KC don't tend to be awkward with this stuff if you sound like you know what your on about). It did reveal a couple of issues along the way. I'm talking a few years ago now. We did it with 1800's, 2810XM's and a 36xx.

Can probably find something relating to that lab/project in my old files if required... However, if you want it for home lab stuff, i wouldn't use it as your gateway.

When I was at uni we did setup 2 wans from two locations with virtual (over gns) and real hardware creating fairly big networks and linking together ipsec gre tunnels and BGP. It caused a bit of a stir.

martin5454 · 7 Mar 2014 at 08:47

DRZ · 7 Mar 2014 at 11:32

oli356 said:
FYI, I haven't personally seen VIRL in use or read much about It, but my colleagues use it.. It's very memory intensive, need a few hundreds of GB of memory. At least that's what I've been told from people using it before they get their hands on ASR9ks (pre-testing). I think I heard 50GB of ram per router.

Possibly for normal small IOS type devices is fine to run on a normal PC.

50Gb per router? Calling BS on that. I created a pretty complicated setup on it in Milan at the same time as about 10 other people were labbing on the same setup and it was fine. I really doubt those figures. I've got 192GB RAM in my GNS box and that is loads.

If that's accurate I'll just order a box with 768GB RAM and be done with it.

V-Spec · 7 Mar 2014 at 21:05

DRZ said:
50Gb per router? Calling BS on that. I created a pretty complicated setup on it in Milan at the same time as about 10 other people were labbing on the same setup and it was fine. I really doubt those figures. I've got 192GB RAM in my GNS box and that is loads.

If that's accurate I'll just order a box with 768GB RAM and be done with it.

3GB of ram per IOS-XRv instance, which is p-much the same as the CSR1kv,

I've got 20x IOS-XRv VMs spun up in my devlab at the moment, using around 25GB of ram,

I'm doing a ton of E-VPN stuff at work at the moment on 9010s and 9922s, and whilst the IOS-XRv stuff is good to cross-check the control-plane against a live box, it doesn't currently forward any packets for layer-2 stuff, so control-plane only.

The dudes at cisco live say it'll be working with layer-2 shortly, for now you have to make do with the CSR1kv for any layer-2 stuff, it works a treat though.

APM · 1 Apr 2014 at 15:29

Hello gents,

I'm looking for some advice regarding Cisco access servers,models 2509 and 2511.

I'm thinking of getting one or the other but I am unsure about how important the IOS that runs on these types of machines is,the ones I see on ebay run version 11 something and I'm thinking if I get one that's too old then I won't be able to flash an image over for 12.4 or whatever from a newer router.

Any advice that can be given to help me spend right the first time would be appreciated,

thanks.

V-Spec · 1 Apr 2014 at 16:20

APM said:
Hello gents,

I'm looking for some advice regarding Cisco access servers,models 2509 and 2511.

I'm thinking of getting one or the other but I am unsure about how important the IOS that runs on these types of machines is,the ones I see on ebay run version 11 something and I'm thinking if I get one that's too old then I won't be able to flash an image over for 12.4 or whatever from a newer router.

Any advice that can be given to help me spend right the first time would be appreciated,

thanks.

The old 2500s are still good access servers provided you have an octal cable which isn't wrecked,

IOS wise, I used to have an old 2509 - I can't remember what IOS it used but it was old, I think Cisco deferred everything except the old 12.2 images, you can still get them on CCO if you have an account.

Either way, the only difference between the 2509 and 2511 is the amount of console ports you can connect, (8 on the 2509 and 16 on the 2511 AFAIK) they're both the same device, use the same software etc.

APM · 1 Apr 2014 at 16:52

How about this one,

Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software
IOS (tm) 2500 Software (C2500-IS56I-L), Version 11.3(9)T, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1
)
Copyright (c) 1986-1999 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Wed 07-Apr-99 19:03 by pwade
Image text-base: 0x0303F14C, data-base: 0x00001000
ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 11.0(10c)XB2, PLATFORM SPECIFIC RELEASE SOFTWARE
(fc1)
BOOTFLASH: 3000 Bootstrap Software (IGS-BOOT-R), Version 11.0(10c)XB2, PLATFORM
SPECIFIC RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Router uptime is 2 minutes
System restarted by power-on
System image file is "flash:aaa0515.bin", booted via flash
cisco 2511 (68030) processor (revision C) with 16384K/2048K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID 01760812, with hardware revision 00000000
Bridging software.
X.25 software, Version 3.0.0.
1 Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)
2 Serial network interface(s)
16 terminal line(s)
32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.
8192K bytes of processor board System flash (Read ONLY)
Configuration register is 0x2102

Will that support EIGRP or MPLS do you think?
It looks as old as the hills to me but it's being offered for £100 so I don't know wether to get it or add a few £'s and get a newer one.

Or could I flash a newer IOS over from a router on to that?

Cheers.

V-Spec · 1 Apr 2014 at 17:02

To be perfectly honest, the only real use for that device is as a terminal server - it's not really a router for connecting into topologies, it's for providing console connectivity to lots of other devices - great if you have a lab, but not much use for anything else.

It will run EIGRP, definitely not MPLS, you'll need a 2621XM with a specific version of IOS to do MPLS, (I'd argue looking at virtualised platforms for learning this stuff) the latest version of IOS you can put on that is 12.2 I *think*

If you need a terminal server, then £100 isn't too bad - but it's not much use for anything else.

May I ask what you plan to use it for?

APM · 1 Apr 2014 at 17:53

V-Spec said:
To be perfectly honest, the only real use for that device is as a terminal server - it's not really a router for connecting into topologies, it's for providing console connectivity to lots of other devices - great if you have a lab, but not much use for anything else.

It will run EIGRP, definitely not MPLS, you'll need a 2621XM with a specific version of IOS to do MPLS, (I'd argue looking at virtualised platforms for learning this stuff) the latest version of IOS you can put on that is 12.2 I *think*

If you need a terminal server, then £100 isn't too bad - but it's not much use for anything else.

May I ask what you plan to use it for?

A terminal server,exactly that.

I have 2x2950 switches and I have 3x 2621xm routers on their way to me now and I was looking for a terminal server that could hook them all up at once so I could get a set up established that I can lab on with the minimal of fuss.
That and maybe something that could carry me past a ccna if that ever happens.

Thanks for your help,I was concerned that the IOS on the terminal server may impact the functionality of any attached equipment but it doesn't look like that is the case.

On the 200-120 CCNA exam topics page it says identify MPLS so this particular bit of kit may not be the one for me if it can't handle that task and maybe I'll look for a slightly newer one that could do that.

Any pointers as to exactly what a terminal server would require in order to perform MPLS tasks please or would I be able to run MPLS on one of the 2621xm's as you mentioned even if they were hooked up to this terminal server?

Thanks again,

Andrew

V-Spec · 1 Apr 2014 at 19:54

APM said:
Any pointers as to exactly what a terminal server would require in order to perform MPLS tasks please or would I be able to run MPLS on one of the 2621xm's as you mentioned even if they were hooked up to this terminal server?

Thanks again,

Andrew

Normally a terminal server is just a terminal server - it has "out of band" connectivity so you can manage your rack, you certainly wouldn't run MPLS on it.

You don't really need a terminal server anyway - you can just console directly into the back of each of the devices, or telnet to them from a host you use to manage them, but a terminal server adds convenience.

The 2621XM routers will be fine for the CCNA, but AFAIK you need to have them with full flash memory and RAM for an MPLS feature set, you'll need an SP services image minimum, (c2600-spservicesk9-mz) under 12.3T

If you're doing the CCNA, I wouldn't worry too much about MPLS, it'll mostly be concerned with the basics of label switch theory - rather than configuration, but if you chose to progress onto the CCxP level certs - then the ability to lab the technology would be greatly helpful.

APM · 1 Apr 2014 at 22:29

I believe the 2621xm's that are coming have 12.4 advanced enterprise IOS and hopefully they'll see me through the CCNA.

Maybe I will put an offer on this access server then,I know it's a convenience piece and nothing else and I have no problem with that if it means not having to plug and unplug kit all the time,still £100 for such an old bit kit seems expensive though.

Thanks again.

V-Spec · 1 Apr 2014 at 22:49

APM said:
I believe the 2621xm's that are coming have 12.4 advanced enterprise IOS and hopefully they'll see me through the CCNA.

Maybe I will put an offer on this access server then,I know it's a convenience piece and nothing else and I have no problem with that if it means not having to plug and unplug kit all the time,still £100 for such an old bit kit seems expensive though.

Thanks again.

Np,

You could still use it as a router, but the 2500s are so old now.. (15 years old) you'd be better off getting £100 for it, then using that money to buy a copy of Cisco CML when it comes out for $99, (virtualised lab environment)

http://www.mostlynetworks.com/2014/02/cisco-modeling-labs-overview/

APM · 2 Apr 2014 at 20:32

The routers arrived,3x2620XM's so only one fast ethernet port instead of the two I was expecting on a 2621XM but such is life. I think I got them at a good price so I won't grumble especially as I have them booted up and asking for command prompts.
A simple beginning and just the way I like it too.

DJMK4 · 2 Apr 2014 at 22:02

Better get buying some FastEthernet cards

enjoy

Nymins · 24 May 2014 at 18:11

Hi guys,

Apologies for the thread bump, but I was wondering if you's could give me some guidance on purchasing a CCNA lab kit?

I've spotted this on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111351901284

Seems to have some of the routers and switches talked about here, but was wondering if this is decent enough for practicing for a CCNA?

Just started reading the ICND1 book, so apologies for the lack of experience.

V-Spec · 24 May 2014 at 22:45

Nymins said:
Hi guys,

Apologies for the thread bump, but I was wondering if you's could give me some guidance on purchasing a CCNA lab kit?

I've spotted this on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111351901284

Seems to have some of the routers and switches talked about here, but was wondering if this is decent enough for practicing for a CCNA?

Just started reading the ICND1 book, so apologies for the lack of experience.

Yeah that should be plenty, although I'd say you could probably save a bit of cash if you bought them as separates, but the bundle adds convenience.

Should be more than enough to get you going there,

kalvindeane · 25 May 2014 at 01:19

It'll do the job pretty well.

There will be a couple of things in the curriculum that you won't be able to cover but the main stuff will work just fine.