Purchased Labbing Equipment, want advice for 2 routers?

Linguistics

Hello All,

I have a small number of questions that I am asking for some clarification on.
Keep in mind, I have never worked in the IT field in a corporate or business enviornment but only for myself in my self sustained business. i.e. (setting up SOHOs, virus removal, imaging, data recovery, making my own Ethernet cables, fixit-handyman, etc)

I've been reading for my CCNA R&S over the past 2 weeks, passed my Network+ a few months ago and am looking to secure both my CCNA R&S, CCNA Security, and Windows 7 MSCA within the next 12 months.

I have a friend that got out of the IT business and entered into the real estate business last year (doing very well I might add).

Nevertheless, he sold me his equipment a couple of months ago (due to my father getting sick the past 4 months and passing), I haven't had a chance until this month to tear into the box.

On to the MEAT of the question:

My question:
He sold me
1 x 2590T 48 SMI w/2 Gigabit ports
1 x 2950T 24 SMI w/2 Gigabit ports
1 x 3590 48 port w/2 optional Gigabit ports
2 x 2821 routers

Now, I have been reading and listening to CBTnuggets videos, and looking at Danscourses as well as using the ciscopress cert guides for 100-101/200-101.

Granted, I am only 2 weeks in but I have not seen where 2 routers would benefit me?
Is there a scenario at the CCNA R&S level where powering 2 2821 routers would benefit me at all in terms of labbing and preparing for my exams?

Further, I have about 22 hours per week to lab and study.
Which would I benefit more from?

#1. Creating labs and labbing most of that time
#2. Reading and comprehending definitions, scenarios 50% of time and labbing 50% of the time?

I know, unlike the network+, there will be few definition questions and few "pick one" multiple choice type questions.

From what I gather, WAN tech, ACL, NAT, and STP are quite the hardest parts?

Thanks in advanced for any information you guys/gals can provide...:)

HAMP

I have 4 routers and sometimes I think about buying 1 to 2 more, but for now, what I have is fine.

But your question of,
"Granted, I am only 2 weeks in but I have not seen where 2 routers would benefit me?"

2 or more router will be used with
FHRP labs(and of course real world)
OSPF labs
EIGRP labs
Frame Relay

Those are just off the top of my head, there might be some others as well.

ninjaturtle

I would read up on a topic, watch the related videos then lab it. Research and troubleshoot accordingly during the lab. I use this strategy, as I found that if I read about say STP then I go on to OSPF, EIGRP ect... and I come back to lab STP it's not as clear. The concept don't click the same. For example, when you read how the root bridge is determined, then you lab it and see it in action it just solidifies the concept.

Jon_Cisco

It sounds like your off to a great start. Don't over think it just start studying. You won't use all of the equipment every time.

Welcome and Good Luck!

theodoxa

2 Routers is sufficient for --

1) HDLC
2) PPP
3) Routing Protocols (Basic, Some More Advanced Labs might Require 3 Routers)
4) Basic Management (Banners, Line Configuration, etc...)
5) DHCP
6) NAT
7) ACLs
FHRPs - If the routers support them. I have only tried HSRP, VRRP, and GLBP with Layer 3 switches, but as long as the routers support the protocols, they should work the same.

I would suggest 3-4 ISR (1800 or 2800 series) or better routers for CCNA and 6 for CCNP. That said, one thing you can do is link your physical devices in with GNS3 to create larger topologies. Only caveat is the link between your physical and virtual devices must be Ethernet, so you can't use GNS3 as a Frame Relay switch with Physical DTEs for example.

[EDIT] There is also CSR-1000V which is used by CCIE candidates. It is basically an ISR G2 (IOS 15.5) router that runs on x86 Processors. It is infinitely more stable than GNS3 (and supports some features needed for CCIE, but not available on IOS 15.1), but the Memory requirements are quite high and it only supports Ethernet. I can run about 6 routers on a dedicated server using a bare-metal Hypervisor (VMware ESXi 5.5) with 16 GB of RAM. You can blend CSRs with real equipment by connecting the server to a switch. VMware ESXi supports 802.1Q so that you can place VMs (e.g. CSR-1000V) on a specific VLAN if you want.

Shizuku

I would suggest getting at least minimum 3 routers since you can play around with frame relay, routing protocols like ospf, eigrp, etc. Having 3 routers would also benefit you in doing user-made Labs available on the Internet since most labs are based on 3 routers.

Linguistics

All excellent suggestions. Thanks everyone...theodoxa, i think much of that is quite over my head at this point but maybe for later I will definitely copy past your suggestions into my word-template for CCNA study material...