Building a home lab

Gregoryb1130

Hello everyone. I'm excited to become a member of the forum. I am studying for my CCENT and am looking to put together a home lab to practice with. I have found 4 catalyst 3560 switches (2 - 24port 2- 48 port) on Craig's list for for $200. I am curious to know if this is a good deal for this equipment and if all 4 of them would be suitable for a home lab.

Thanks for any information.

clarson

the important part is weather they are "ts" or "ps" models. that is high for "ps" models and low for "ts" models. and, of course, you'd prefer to get the "ts" models as they can run version 15 of the ios.
http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/115556-ccna-lab.html

Gregoryb1130

Aw poo. I was thinking I was getting a smoking deal. They are the PS models. Should I keep looking?

clarson

if you need poe a 3550 is cheaper. if you need a bunch of 10/100 ports, 2950's are even cheaper. if your are looking for a switch that can run version 15 of the ios, it cant.

So, your getting overcharged for switches that can't do what you want. Still want to buy them?

I bought 2x 3560 "ts" models with free shipping for $100 ($50 each) off ebay just last month. Good deals don't show up everyday, keep your eye out maybe you will find them like I did.

Gregoryb1130

Ok after an entire days worth of research I have decided in this for my home lab: 1-2611 2-2811 routers, 1-3550 and 2-3650 ts's. My budget is around $200 and I already have a desktop stand which I bought today for $30. I figure these will be the dominant class of routers I would see in the real world. Am I wrong?

clarson

make sure the 2611 is a 2611xm. a 2611 only supports 12.3 (won't see many of these if ever). means it doesn't do things like ipv6 or ssh, etc. And, it only has one 10mb ethernet port. So, no nat/pat or intervlan routing. Better to get a 2600xm (or even a 1721 or 1760) that is running at least 12.4. shouldn't cost you much more than a 2611 does.

You certainly can do all the things a 2611 won't with the 2811 routers. But, you want a 3rd router to see how routes propagate. it will be fine for ipv4 routing protocols, but not for any that use ipv6. For a few dollars more, get one that can.

Make sure your 2811s have enough memory. 256mb is good. you will need 512mb if you want to do voice. and a 128 compact flash if you want to install version 15 of the ios someday.

Of course, they will be hard to mount in your rack if they don't have rack mount brackets.

It is prefered to have compact flash ejectors that work.

And, you will need serial wics for your routers also (to do frame relay)

GDaines

clarson wrote: »

I bought 2x 3560 "ts" models with free shipping for $100 ($50 each) off ebay just last month. Good deals don't show up everyday, keep your eye out maybe you will find them like I did.

Good deal! I can't find them for less than £60 ($85) in the UK.

Personally, and unless the prices are MUCH lower, I wouldn't buy a router older than the 1841 or better the 2811's, or a switch that isn't at least a 60-series (2960, 3560), but then that's just me. Admittedly if someone was offering a whole bunch of 2600-series routers and 50-series switches for a stupidly low price (say 5-6 devices all in with cables, brackets, expansion cards etc for let's say $100) then of course I'd have considered buying them, who wouldn't. But if you're going to pay more then do your homework, make sure you check prices on eBay for a few weeks so you don't end up paying the same money for old kit that you could pay for newer kit.

My setup started with 1x1841 and 2x2811 routers plus 1x2960 and 2x 3560 PoE switches. Since then I've added 2x2811 routers plus an NM-8A/S serial card, and my plan is to try to drop on a non-PoE 3560 (WS-C3560-24TS-S or WS-C3560-24TS-E) running IOS 15. I also got a PIX 515E firewall as a bundle with the last two 2811's and am contemplating whether to go for "Security" after "Routing & Switching" in which case I'll be looking to add an ASA 5505/5510, but they're expensive.

clarson

posted by a fellow member (archon) on a security thread:
Due to Cisco's recent ASA Software IKEv1 and IKEv2 Buffer Overflow Vulnerability a lot of companies have been buying newer model ASA's so there might be a flood of them on eBay soon

steelodon

What about using GNS3 with the 3560/3550 switches?