Advocating real hardware

HP_Guy

I'm using various solutions for labbing. GNS seems to be the most authentic for software based although I seem to spend more time getting it set up than learning Cisco! Packet tracer seems very straightforward to use.

I've had a few sessions on the stub lab at freeccnaworkbook which is a great resource, but today I've been playing on my own hardware which I've had for some time. I spent about 20 minutes troubleshooting why my serial interface wouldn't come up before figuring it out...

What I learned today: serial cables are really easy to plug in upside down on WIC1Ts!

clarson

Yes, you sure can. You'd think those d connectors would go on only one way. But, as you know it is pretty easy to put it on upside down.
And, of course, you have to get the dte/dce ends correct also. The wics with the rj45 connectors are a lot easier to use in that regard.

Jon_Cisco

A lot of people down play the physical connections and the learning process that goes with real gear. If you have never worked with the equipment you might find yourself lost the first time you walk into work and they ask you rack something. Most people will figure it out but it is certainly nice to have some experience with it ahead of time.

With that said I have a full CCNA lab and I used packet tracer for 90% of my study because it was so fast and easy to play it configurations. I also used GNS3 mostly for concepts that were not supported in packet tracer. It's worth spending the time to get GNS3 working because it offers so much more and it's free.

davenull

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

A lot of people down play the physical connections and the learning process that goes with real gear. If you have never worked with the equipment you might find yourself lost the first time you walk into work and they ask you rack something.

Yep, it took me more than I care to admit to figure out how to remove an SFP and I don't even want to talk about the various fiber connectors and patch panels.

pevangel

I would still limit myself to just hardware that I absolutely need such as switches. I haven't seen WIC-1Ts in any production gear. Even my first IT job that had 2600s didn't use WIC-1T or WIC-2T. GNS3 and/or CSR1000V should be enough for your routing needs.

MTciscoguy

I still have customers who have 1841's and 2600's in a business environment with WIC's in them. People where I live, don't upgrade until it dies and has smoke coming out the vents!

Params7

Packet tracer covers most concepts in CCNA, really. Its a great thing to test with ACL's too, with those cute web/email servers you can setup. Though getting some hands on with real gear can back you up nicely when pushed into a real network closet.