CCNA Home Lab?

rj1790

Hello guys I was wondering if this will be sufficient Home Lab for obtaining my CCNA? Thanks
Cisco CCNA 2500 2501 2513 2514 Router 2950 Switch Lab | eBay

clarson

that equipment is crap and way overpriced. don't even think about buying it.
There are 3 things a good ccna lab should have:
1 Need a router with 2 Ethernet port to do NAT and PAT
that lab doesn't have any. Cant even tell if they have the ethernet transceiver so the ethernet port is operational.
2 A 10/100 Ethernet port for interVlan routing
those routers are 10mb only
3 3 routers with 4 serial ports for doing frame relay
well they are ok on this point
the test is written to ios version 15. Those routers are running 12.0. you'll need a memory upgrade and even then they will only run 12.3. Your routers should run at least ios version 12.4
I'll sell you a 2 router and 2 switch lab with better equipment for less than that. Send me an private message if your interested.

mikeybinec

I'm a clarson fan and customer so I second anything he says!

ssnyderu2

I also got my lab from clarson. You cant go wrong buying from him.

Deathmage

as long as your rack doesn't turn into mine your golden

I literally just maxxed out my rack, ordered two more 2600's with a 4 port 800-03181-01 JO Serial Board for $21 off ebay together for frame-relay, moving the bottom mounted 3550 to the top and that max's out the 16U rack. I'll have four 2600XM's once I'm done.

I ran out of power cables, U bracket screw mounts and 2ft and 1ft Cat5e's so I can't rack the bottom (2) 3750G's and (2) 2960G's, but here is a picture of my home-lab.








If you need any suggestions: two 2600's, two 2950's and two 3550's and a 16U rack will be plenty for you, of course you'd need Cat5e's, a few cross over cables, and power cable.

I took things to the extreme cause long-term I want the CCIE R&S.

ebohlman

clarson wrote: »

1 Need a router with 2 Ethernet port to do NAT and PAT

Actually as long as you have a switch you can do NAT/PAT with a single FE port, since it works just as well on subinterfaces as physical interfaces. Just put one switchport on, say, VLAN 2 and another on 3, set another as trunk to the router and create subinterfaces for the two VLANs. Voila, you've got a router with two ports.

I agree with everything else you said; 2500-series is really too old to be of any use.

Nafe92014

clarson wrote: »

3 routers with 4 serial ports for doing frame relay

So I guess I need another 2811 to add to this as well?

Also, do you mean 4 serial ports on each router or just a total of 4?

clarson

for the ccna to do frame relay you need one router with two serial wics and 1 serial wic in two other routers. So, for the ccna you need 3 routers and 4 serial wics in total. I put two serial wics in each router, that way you have extras and can do more complicated labs.
For ccnp you will need 2 serial wics in each router and for the frame relay switch/router you will need 4 serial wics. So, for the ccnp you need 4 routers with 10 serial wic ports So,depending if you use wics that have 2 ports, that is 10 serial wics or 5 serial wics that have two ports or a combination.

theodoxa

For Frame Relay, you would want one router with at least 3 Serial Ports and at least 3 routers with 1 serial port.

theodoxa

The old TSHOOT topology, which I used for both ROUTE and SWITCH also, had 10 Serial ports on 6 routers

FRSW -- 4 Serial Ports
R1 -- 2 Serial Ports
R2 -- 1 Serial Port
R3 -- 1 Serial Port
R4 -- 1 Serial Port
ISP -- 1 Serial Port

This was more than adequate to cover Frame Relay and HDLC/PPP for both CCNA and CCNP.

alan2308

Nafe92014 wrote: »

So I guess I need another 2811 to add to this as well?

It doesn't necessarily have to be a 2811, not every router in your rack has to be high end. But another 2811 would definitely maximize the usefulness of that router outside of frame relay.

TallDude7

check your local craiglist ads. you can usually talk down the price

Mooseboost

I will throw another vote in for Clarson.

orlandofl

Send me an private message if your interested

Clarson, I sent you a PM.

-Travis

orlandofl

*Another PM sent Clarson*

clarson

Thank you to all my customers that have given me a recommendation. I do appreciate getting them.

Justin-

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I am also about to setup my CCNA lab. I have 3 2950 switches, and will be grabbing 3 2611xm routers. Is it essential to have 4 WIC's for the routers? I was thinking of just getting 1 WIC per router. Thanks.

clarson

for the ccna you will need one router with two serial ports. that could be two single port wics or one dual port wic. you just the cables that can connect from wic to wic. The rest of your routers can have just one wic.
it is for the ccnp that you will need more wics.

theodoxa

Justin- wrote: »

Is it essential to have 4 WIC's for the routers? I was thinking of just getting 1 WIC per router. Thanks.

1 WIC per router is all you need except for the one you intend to use as a frame relay switch. The frame relay switch needs as many serial ports as routers you intend to connect to the frame relay switch. Typically, this would be 3-4. If it has an NM slot, you can use an NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S, which provides 4 or 8 Serial ports in a single module.

omahalunker

Clarson,
I am in the process of picking up a couple 3 WS-C3750G-24T-E to start building out my home lab for the new CCNA. What I need now is at least one router with the right WIC's. I was looking at picking up a 2621xm with a WIC-2T. I know I will need more down the line but I can only get so much gear at one time. Do you have any recommendations other than what i have mapped out. Also, if you have routers for sale it would be helpful

Thanks!

clarson

Looks like your getting 3 switches and 1 router.

Those are some nice switches to purchase. I hope you are getting a good price on them.

In my opinion, I think you'd better off having 3 routers and 1 switch. When I was studying from my ccna, most of my labbing was with routing protocols. Most of the switch specific things can be down with 1 switch and vlans.

What your learning isn't so much cisco hardware, but learning how the ios software works. So, what is more important than what hardware you have is what the ios version it is running and which feature sets it has. and of course the latest and greatest is better than old and limited. Such as for the switches above, the "E" at the end of the model name says that when it was sold it came with the enhanced version of the ios. It is a layer 3 switch which can do routing. The enhanced version of the ios includes most of the routing protocols and their support. But, the standard version of the ios limits what routing can be done. for the ccna, your not going to do any layer 3 routing. So, it isn't necessary. but, you will be doing layer 3 routing at the ccnp and ccie, which means you will want those routing features. So, be sure they are.

The same goes for routers. at the ccna level you can get by with just a basic license. but, if you want to do a bit more, like studying for the ccna:security exam, your going to want at least the advanced security feature set. and if you want to do ipv6, you will need the advanced ip services feature set. and if you want to do voice someday, your going to want the advanced enterprise feature set that can do everything. So, if the equipment doesn't come with the ios you want, you need to know how your going to get it.

And, the latest is preferred, ios version 15 is the latest and is what your going to find on the test. Those 3750G switches will run version 15 of the ios if it is loaded. and you'd prefer to have routers that do also. The big thing with routers is you need enough memory to run the version and feature set of the ios that your wanting to run. not enough flash, you cant load it. not enough ram, you cant run it. and, most don't have the version of the ios that you want and not enough memory either.

The 2621xm is a good router for the ccna. it can't run version 15 of the ios. But, if you have 12.4 that is good enough for the ccna. But, if you want to do the ccna security or voice, you need version 15 of the ios. The features that you will tested for on those exams requires version 15. Also, you need enough memory to run the ios feature set that you want to use. pretty much 128mb ram and 32mb flash will run anything but the latest 12.4T version of the advanced enterprise feature set on a 2600xm

There are many different serial wics that you can use. the wic2t is good. But, with the new ccna exam not including frame relay, you don't need the port density. i'd get 2 single port wics. Then, you could move a wic to the next router you purchase. The wic 2t also uses a proprietary cable. which means you will probably have to purchase cables to connect your devices. I prefer to use the wic 1dsu t1 or the wic 1dsu t1 v2 where the plain ole version isn't supported. With these you can make your own cables for a lot less and have a working cable a lot faster than having it shipped to you.

Yes I do sell routers and switches too. With cables and the version and feature set of the ios your looking for. Probably for less than what your going to pay. send me a private message (when you are able to) and we will discuss what you need.

clarson

f you would like to email me about lab equipment, view my profile for an email address