CCNA Lab

Justin-

Hi everyone,

So I have bought some equipment for a CCNA lab (I plan on studying for it this summer).

I have already purchased 3 cisco 2950c switches. These are all on the iOS 12 image.

Is it required that I have the iOS version 15 for these switches? Are these switches I bought useless for the CCNA exam study now?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

ITsubced

Hello Justin,

Is it required that I have the iOS version 15 for these switches? Are these switches I bought useless for the CCNA exam study now?

No, you don't need IOS version 15 to study CCNA.
Yes, these switches are good for CCNA study.

But, you need to ask yourself this question ->
Will I go forward certification after I get my CCNA? Is my plan to get CCNP?
If the answer is yes, you should start buying equipement that support IOS version 15, because CCNP certification need IOS version 15.


PS: I begin my CCENT certification early this January, if someone notice that i forget something, please correct me

Justin-

Hi thanks for your informative response. I just left some +rep for you

I am planning on ending off at CCNA, so I will not pursue anything further than that. What routers would you recommend I get for the CCNA?

Cheers.

koz24

Justin- wrote: »

Hi thanks for your informative response. I just left some +rep for you

I am planning on ending off at CCNA, so I will not pursue anything further than that. What routers would you recommend I get for the CCNA?

Cheers.

I just want to say another option instead of going all physical is going physical/virtual hybrid. You will save yourself a lot of money this way. Here is a guide on how to connect switches to GNS3 routers. Connect real switches to GNS3 using a Cheap USB NICs - GNS3vault

If you really want to go all physical-I would reccomend the 1841. You can get some real cheap ones on eBay.

Justin-

His koz24, thank you for your response.

I really want to go all physical mainly so I can get as much hands on experience as possible. How many 1841's do you think I should grab? At the moment, I only have 3 2950c's and I also plan on grabbing the digi cm32 as an access server in about a week.

Cheers.

koz24

Justin- wrote: »

His koz24, thank you for your response.

I really want to go all physical mainly so I can get as much hands on experience as possible. How many 1841's do you think I should grab? At the moment, I only have 3 2950c's and I also plan on grabbing the digi cm32 as an access server in about a week.

Cheers.

You probably want 4 1841s to be able to do all the labs. I think 101 Labs for CCNA is the best book for CCNA, and I can double check my lab workbook later, but I'm pretty sure 4 1841s and 1 Frame Relay Router is all you need to do the labs. For Frame Relay you need a router like the 2522 which will have enough connections to support your clients (some of the labs use 4 clients and 1 cloud). So in total, you're looking at like $300 give or take.

Probably won't see it much in the real world anymore, but FR is still heavily tested on the ICND2.

ebohlman

An 1841 with two dual serial cards (I use VWIC-2MFT-T1s) works fine as a Frame Relay switch (reminds me that I still have to lab multipoint subinterfaces).

clarson

for the ccna test you only need 3 routers. They need to be 12.4 or better. Although, it is nice to have at least one router that is running version 15 of the ios. ios version 15 has a few minor differences in the command syntax from 12.4. And, being the test is timed, spending extra time dealing with command syntax that you've never seen could be the difference between barely passing and barely failing.

When you are studying frame relay, one of the 3 routers is used for the frame relay switch. The 2522 isn't used in any hardware labs anymore. You only need 4 serial ports the ccna. and a minimum of 10 for ccnp, but you can get that once you get to it.

cert number of routers running ios 15
ccna 1 is nice to have
ccnas 1
ccnav 2 at least
ccnp 4
ccie 10

fmitawaps

I have 3 2811's and 3 3560 switches for my CCNA practice lab. I'm thinking of getting some dual port serial cards and serial cables for my routers, as I am already seeing labs that use serial instead of Ethernet to connect the routers.