CCENT/CCNA Lab setup question

bradl3yC

Good morning,

I am currently studying for the CCENT and moving forward to CCNA R&S / Sec after that. I am wanting to put a small home lab together for studying and what not.

Assuming cost isn't a factor, which of these routers would be best suited for this? Or other recommendations are welcome too.

CISCO2610 32DRAM/8MB Flash or
CISCO1841 128MB Dram w/ 64MB Flash

Thanks!

Jon_Cisco

I always recommend the 1841 routers.

Don't be in a rush to buy the gear until you understand what you need. If you buy to early you will probably just change your mind once you know what it is.

Good Luck!

theodoxa

The 1841 will run IOS 15.1 and should cover all the topics on the current CCNA. The newest Advanced IP Services image requires 256 MB of DRAM. DRAM is cheap (< $8.00 per router) and if you can install RAM in a Desktop PC, you should have no problem installing it in a router. I buy all my DRAM from the seller in South Carolina (closer than the California seller).

MEM1841-256D (Will Upgrade you to 384 MB DRAM)
MEM1841-128D (Will Upgrade you to 256 MB DRAM)

[EDIT] I would suggest adding either a router with an NM slot (Support for 1 x NM-4A/S or 1 x NM-8A/S) or 4 WIC or HWIC (Support for 4 x WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 or 4 x WIC-1T) slots to use as a Frame Relay Switch. It doesn't have to have the latest IOS since it will only be doing Frame Relay switching. You could use 2 x WIC-2T in a router with 2 WIC or HWIC slots, but the Smart Serial connector they use feels a bit too small and fragile for my liking.

bradl3yC

If I am not studying using actual equipment, what are your suggestions?

The lab setup would serve useful for other certs I hope to pursue after CCENT or CCNA

Jon_Cisco

There are a lot of posts about lab equipment. There is also a lot of debate about the need to buy equipment or use simulators.

Let me put it this way. What have you found you are unable to do without the lab right now? Figure out what you would like to fill that need. As you pass the CCENT and CCNA you might find you hate this stuff.

I personally purchased a full lab. I like working with real equipment and seeing it work. However most of my work was done in packet tracer. I then used GNS3 to test any commands not supported in packet tracer. Finally I played with my actual equipment. You see working with the real equipment take more time then working on a simulator.

I think I have two layer 3 switches two layer 2 switches three routers and an access server. I set up a rack server running esxi so I can spin up lots of different hosts and work with a domain controller. I don't need any of this but we all learn in different ways and having the equipment felt right for me.

Good Luck!