WAN equipment for ICND2 and CCNP

I am starting my studying for the ICND2 tonight and am curious what to buy for the WAN portion as far as wic cards, cables and whatever else I'll need, as well as the quantity of each item. I know there are wic-1t and wic-2t cards, is either one recommended over the other? How many would I need? I was told by someone to have six serial ports and six dte/dce cables, but just wanted to ask you guys to double check. My setup right now is three 1841s and planning to get a fourth for the CCNP, if that helps.

Thanks!

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networker050184

Learning and figuring that stuff out is the most important part of actually having a hardware lab. You'll get much more out of doing it yourself than someone just telling you here. Of course people can spot check you so you don't waste money though.

mikeybinec

quickman007 wrote: »

I am starting my studying for the ICND2 tonight and am curious what to buy for the WAN portion as far as wic cards, cables and whatever else I'll need, as well as the quantity of each item. I know there are wic-1t and wic-2t cards, is either one recommended over the other? How many would I need? I was told by someone to have six serial ports and six dte/dce cables, but just wanted to ask you guys to double check. My setup right now is three 1841s and planning to get a fourth for the CCNP, if that helps.

Thanks!

Pretty happy with my two 26XXs that have NM 4 a/s (four WAN ports) and they are cabled by DB60s. But whatever route you take, you're doing the right thing.. Learning how to plug things in is a heck of a lot better than just using packet tracer.. Build a patch panel also and get a serial card to plug into your desktop to give you two extra com ports

theodoxa

I prefer the WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 (T1). They're cheaper, you can make your own cables, and T1 is still used in the real world. That said, the WIC-1T is good in combination with an NM-4T, NM-4A/S, or NM-8A/S if your Frame Relay switch doesn't have at least 4 WIC/HWIC slots, since Multi-port T1 HWICs are much more expensive. Personally, the Smart Serial connector on the WIC-2T feels a bit flimsy to me (like it would break way too easily) compared to the DB60 connector on the WIC-1T and NM Modules.

quickman007

theodoxa wrote: »

I prefer the WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 (T1). They're cheaper, you can make your own cables, and T1 is still used in the real world. That said, the WIC-1T is good in combination with an NM-4T, NM-4A/S, or NM-8A/S if your Frame Relay switch doesn't have at least 4 WIC/HWIC slots, since Multi-port T1 HWICs are much more expensive. Personally, the Smart Serial connector on the WIC-2T feels a bit flimsy to me (like it would break way too easily) compared to the DB60 connector on the WIC-1T and NM Modules.

Are you saying to have the Frame Relay switch with a NM-4T, NM-4A/S, or NM-8A/S and then a Wic-1T on the routers connecting to it? I haven't learned anything about Frame Relay outside of the ICND1 (which was minimal), so excuse the ignorance.

HAMP

I had planned to fill all of the slots with some Wic-1T cards and then I read using an NM-4A/S would be great to simulate the Frame Relay. Mine just came in today, and I couldn't believe it was only $10 brand new(off of ebay). I had my doubts of it being new, but to my surprise it was packaged like a brand new piece from Cisco(manual/disposable wrist strap... lol).

mikeybinec

Interesting issue that happened to me a couple of days ago. I wired up a basic OSPF lab to look at LSAs using Wireshark. One of my WAN ports was flapping.. WTF was this I'm thinking. I check the encapsulation, and the subnet and it's still flapping. Next I change the cable still no go. Then this: I try pinging it's own interface and no reply. The port went bad..So the S1/0 of the NM 4 A/S on my 26XXs is bad.. It's a nice tshooting episode

theodoxa

quickman007 wrote: »

Are you saying to have the Frame Relay switch with a NM-4T, NM-4A/S, or NM-8A/S and then a Wic-1T on the routers connecting to it? I haven't learned anything about Frame Relay outside of the ICND1 (which was minimal), so excuse the ignorance.

That depends on how many sites (DTEs) you want and how many WIC or HWIC slots the router has. I personally used a 2811 which has 4 HWIC slots, so I was able to just place a WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 in each HWIC slot. You could do the same thing with WIC-1Ts, but an NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S would probably be slightly cheaper than 4 x WIC-1T. The old (642 Series) TSHOOT exam had 4 Routers (R1, R2, R3, R4) which were connected via Frame Relay (Point-to-Point Subinterfaces).

shakajumbo

I would say wic-2t cards are what you want for CCNA. 1 in each 1841 router, and 2 WIC's in 1 of them, for your hub. Most modern frame relay ccna labs are built with 1841's and wic-t's so you shouldn't have a problem following along with the material using your lab.

Just plug one of the fastethernet interfaces into your ISP modem, configure it for DHCP, and go from there.

quickman007

A lot to consider, but I'm going with the Wic-2T cards. Someone I know just mentioned he had a few from his studies and he'll sell them cheap. The 1841s can't fit a NM-4A/S, so that'll come when I get a 2811. Thanks for the advice!

theodoxa

quickman007 wrote: »

A lot to consider, but I'm going with the Wic-2T cards. Someone I know just mentioned he had a few from his studies and he'll sell them cheap. The 1841s can't fit a NM-4A/S, so that'll come when I get a 2811. Thanks for the advice!

You only need 1 router with 3 or more Serial/T1 connections. The rest only need 1 or 2 Serial/T1 connections. The 2811 has 4 HWIC slots and an NM Slot so you could go either way (Multiple WICs or an NM).