Is a Lab Necessary?

I am currently a Help Desk Support Tech for about 250 users. I do minor Cisco tasks right now (backups, configuring ports, etc.) and I enjoy it, so this is the route I have decided to take. I have no other certs and have been racking my brain back and forth for weeks as to what to start with. I have finally decided to take the CCNA route.

I plan to purchase CCNA Routing and Switching Study Guide by Todd Lammie, utilize YouTube, Udemy, and this website for my studies. However my concerns with lab equipment are as follows...

With the cost of study materials and cost of exams studying for CCENT/CCNA can be pricey. I don't want to half a** my studying, but is a physical lab really necessary with all of the virtual tools out there (GNS3, Cisco VIRL, etc)?

Is a physical lab something all of you who have taken this route have invested in from the very beginning? Or did you pass your CCNA without it and purchase later on for other purposes?

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your CISCO Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View CISCO Boot Camps

Comments

NOC-Ninja

Lab is not necessary if you already have hardware experience. I guessing you do.

You can pass using packettracer or gns3.. Virl will cost you.

Mooseboost

If you have some hands-on experience, I think GNS3 will be enough for you.

jws86

That is great to hear! Thanks for the info. Save me some bucks to get this process started.

OctalDump

For CCNA R+S, and good chunks of most the other tracks, physical equipment is not necessary.

However, having hands on with real gear is useful since ultimately it is real gear that you work with. Learning some of the tricks of real gear (reset passwords, upgrade flash, RAM, install WICs etc, update IOS or feature sets, hook up cables) can be useful for the real world. Also, if it's your own gear, you can experiment with it a lot more than you would in years of actual working.

For you, probably you do get enough hands on with your work to cover this aspect reasonably.

If you are using Udemy, it's a mixed bag. I've done a couple of the Chris Bryant courses, and they're pretty good. The other resources I'd recommend are the Foundation Learning Guides and official Lab Manuals. They're go a bit beyond the bare necessities to pass, but if you go through them all, you do get a very solid foundation that sets you up well to tackle CCNP. The lab manuals can all (I think) be done in Packet Tracer - which is a free download.

kohr-ah

As others said the benefit to a lab is physically seeing issues and understanding hardware.

When I hire a lower level engineer who tells me they have a CCNA working on CCPN but can't even put a switch in ROMMON mode I get annoyed. You should know that.

If you understand basic hardware and looks, when something is messed up what to see (A switch loses all VLANs you should know what all orange means) etc then GNS3 (IOU), VIRL, or Packet Tracer should be fine

jws86

Great responses. Thank you!

I think I will still look into getting some lab equipment, but I won't stress over it. I'll watch ebay, craigslist etc. for deals and jump on them if they come up.

GDaines

jws86 wrote: »

Great responses. Thank you!

I think I will still look into getting some lab equipment, but I won't stress over it. I'll watch ebay, craigslist etc. for deals and jump on them if they come up.

Wait for newer kit - 60-series switches and 800-series ISRs (newer if you can stretch to them). I have 2960/3560 switches along with mostly 2811 routers (and an 1841 I started out with). I see so many people paying virtually the same for older kit and can never understand why. Of course if it's a bargain buy it, but if it's just a few pounds/bucks cheaper then don't waste your money as you'll want newer kit later on.

Another tip I'll offer - look for kit that includes rack-mount ears, expansion cards and cables. Why pay 30 for a router on it's own if 40 gets you one with rack mounts, 3 expansion cards and some cables that alone will probably cost you 20-30 meaning you're paying 60 for parts that you could have got for 40 in a single purchase. But make sure you can use the cards otherwise it's money for nothing. Two of my 2811's included 8-port ISDN NM modules which are no use to me as I don't have ISDN, but I got the routers cheap so they're a bonus and I can see how they appear using show commands such as show ip int brief.