Building A Lab @ Work for CCENT Studies...Give Me Your Opinion

coreyb80

Morning everyone,

Ready to dive in to my CCENT studies and one of the networking guys here blessed me with some equipment to lab with. So far I have 3 Cisco 2600 routers along with 2 2960G switches. I have a small pc dedicated for the lab as well as the console cable. I'm also using putty to remote in to the router itself. Am I missing anything?

clarson

2960g switches are great to have. Hopefully, they were nice enough to get you the XM version of the 2600 router. the 2600 non-XM version can only run IOS version 12.3 which isn't so good. The XM versions with enough memory can run IOS version 12.4 which is good enough. And, it would be nice if one of those routers had two ethernet interfaces. and, the routers will need serial interface cards.

coreyb80

Looks like they're non-xm.

TechGuru80

A layer 3 switch (3550, 3650, 3750) would be good...also 2600xm routers should be fairly inexpensive on eBay.

theodoxa

TechGuru80 wrote: »

A layer 3 switch (3550, 3650, 3750) would be good...also 2600xm routers should be fairly inexpensive on eBay.

The 1841 has come down substantially in price in the last year or so and will run IOS 15.1. If you can afford it, 3 x 1841s + 1 x 2600/2600XM (You can install an NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S and use it as a Frame Relay Switch) should be good for routing. For switches, a Layer 3 switch (3550, 3560, 3750) would be nice to play with. If you go on to CCNP, you'll want at least 2 x 3560 or 3750 (3560 can do everything but Stackwise). Unfortunately, these are still quite expensive, but prices are decreasing (The 3560 has dropped about 50-60% in the last year or so).

clarson

For your ccent and ccna, you don't need a level 3 switch. Those 2960g's will do you just fine for getting started. Don't go spending your money on level 3 switches. But, you can keep your eye out. You never know when a cheap one can be had.
Those 2600's routers aren't so good. They are better than nothing. But, you really need routers that run at least ios 12.4. These would be the 2600xm's, 1721, 1760, 3640 with enough memory. Even better would be routers that run ios 15. these would be 1841, 2811, 2821, 2851. Even a 871 with enough memory can run ios 15.
putty is good for a teminal emulator. you might look at getting an emulator that supports xmodem. Such as teraterm. you will need to use xmodem to install an ios on a switch that has the ios missing or corrupted.
while your installing software, get a tftp server loaded onto your pc.
Don't know what OS your pc is running, but if the OS is compatible with cisco configuration profession, install that too.
it would be nice if your pc had two ethernet nics. That way you can connect to the real world (you won't need to sneaker net files) and also be able to telnet/ssh into your cisco equipment.

TechGuru80

theodoxa wrote: »

The 1841 has come down substantially in price in the last year or so and will run IOS 15.1. If you can afford it, 3 x 1841s + 1 x 2600/2600XM (You can install an NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S and use it as a Frame Relay Switch) should be good for routing. For switches, a Layer 3 switch (3550, 3560, 3750) would be nice to play with. If you go on to CCNP, you'll want at least 2 x 3560 or 3750 (3560 can do everything but Stackwise). Unfortunately, these are still quite expensive, but prices are decreasing (The 3560 has dropped about 50-60% in the last year or so).

Agreed...1841's are a great option but for CCENT to CCNA and for a lot of the CCNP (at least the old version being retired) 2611xm should technically get you through. I personally picked up 3 1841's specifically for IOS 15 and for security. All depends how far you want to go, budget etc.

coreyb80

Excuse my ignorance, but how would I install the ios on the router itself? I've been using putty to remote in to the router. Also, would using Packet Tracer be a better option?

Jon_Cisco

I would suggest starting with packet tracer until you get the basics down.

CCENT does not go into installing an IOS but you can find instructions online easy enough. As long as your current routers and switches are booting up don't stress over it. Your not going to need the upgraded IOS to get started. Once your more comfortable with packet tracer and the equipment you can go and upgrade.

Good Luck!

coreyb80

Thanks Jon_Cisco. I just downloaded Packet Tracer and I'm about to work with it on a daily basis.

Johns007

Yes. Looks good. You are going well with your plan.

theodoxa

coreyb80 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but how would I install the ios on the router itself? I've been using putty to remote in to the router. Also, would using Packet Tracer be a better option?

If you already have a functioning IOS, you can install a TFTP server on a PC and connect the PC to an Ethernet port on the router (required Crossover cable, unless the router supports Auto-MDIX), then use the "copy tftp flash" command to copy the IOS from the TFTP Server to your router.

Alternatively, most ISRs (1841, 2801, 2811, etc...) use a CF Card to store the IOS. I have had success simply plugging the CF card into a PC's card reader and copying the IOS to the card. If the card is brand new (unformatted with no IOS on it yet), you might have trouble.