Gearing Up For CCNP R & S

shanknik

Hey all,

New to the forum and i've heard / read a few contradictory statements regarding gear and iOS versioning.

My current lab is;

- 2950 x2
- 1841 x1
- 2611xm x1
- 2811 x1

I am looking to get 2 more L3 switches and a router. However none of these devices have the latest iOS, works support contract doesn't include the 1841, and i can't seem to find the 2611 in the downloads section, and we don't have a contract for the 2800 series.

Any ideas / tips?

Thanks

negru_tudor

Router-wise you're fine. Try using what routers you have and mix them with GNS3 or just use GNS3 for ROUTE - easier to manage & cuts down on the electricity bill :P For switch, we fortunately now have 2 options: either go for 3 x 3650 switches (which support IOS 15) or use GNS3 with IOU-L2 (IOS on Unix Layer 2) images - 15.2d is supported in GNS3 and can do almost all topics in CCNP Switch (aside from Stackwise :P).

Best of luck!

shanknik

Hey

Thanks for the response! So you don't think i need to upgrade my routers to iOS 15?

When you say mix them up with GNS3, do you mean somehow integrate them or just use both when there is something lacking?
I had a little play with GNS today, but couldn't find a decent guide to help me set it up, are you able to point me in the direction of a good guide?

I started with trying to get it going through virtual box and find the linux files and GNS IOU for virtual box (found an older guide so not the most recent one for Vbox).

Gave up on that shortly after and used some existing iOS files that i had, which unfortunately were not compatible with GNS!
Only one i had that worked was 7200.

Just quickly ebayed 3650 (daaaamn!) I would love to get hardware, is there an alternative to the 3650?
As i understand GNS3 doesn't do switching natively and you need to add in a module? Do you happen to have a guide for the switching image setup as well ? :P

I know i am a pain!

Thanks!

negru_tudor

Hi,

I'd say this is a good starting point to get you an idea of GNS3 with IOU. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/setting-up-cisco-l2-l3-devices-gns3-152-ccnaccnp-preparations-yee?trk=hp-feed-article-title-comment

Make sure you use VMware Workstation Player though (for hosting the GNS3 VM) as it works seamlessly with GNS3 AAAND install the VMWare VIX API from their site (otherwise GNS3 won't be able to automatically start the GNS3 VM when you fire GNS3 up).

Once you get GNS3 working and the GNS3 VM installed, you can use these for your labs:

- Layer 2 (Switching): i86bi-linux-l2-adventerprisek9-15.2d.bin
- Layer 3 (Routing): i86bi-linux-l3-adventerprisek9-15.5.2T.bin

How you get these images is entirely up to you The beauty about IOU is that you can now do native switching in GNS3 without having to workaround routers and etherswitch modules etc.

Just take your time with getting it working - there are several useful clips on YouTube as well as resources/guides on the GNS3 forums. I'm telling you, once you get it running, you won't be able to take that smile off your face for the rest of the day. You can even study if you're away just by running these things on your laptop.

EDIT: yes, you can integrate GNS3 with your physical routers or switches even. There's a CLOUD device in GNS3 which you can actually configure to use a REAL network adapter to send/receive traffic so you can link the GNS3 devices to whatever you have your laptop connected to..that's what i did for CCNP voice to get my physical phones working, ISDN etc.

shanknik

Awesome response with good info, thanks a tonne!

I'll be sure to hit you up if i have any issues :P

negru_tudor

Setting this up takes a bit on the first go but once you've done it once, 2nd time's easy I'm actually also getting ready to start CCNP studies, just doing a major CCNA review and then jumping head into ROUTE myself.

The community here's great so any questions, fire them away; you'll learn a lot of cool stuff

shanknik

Yea just smashed through ccna myself and keen to get right into ccnp stuff!

I've read that going into switch first is easy as its relatively fresh In The brain after ccna?

negru_tudor

Congrats! Then full steam ahead. It's been a while since I did my CCNA - some topics I know better (ACLs, NAT, Routing, SVIs, VLSM etc) some I haven't used that much and forgot a lot of the specifics (STP, switch security etc.) so it's all the same to me However, I do agree that coming fresh out of CCNA, doing SWITCH first would be a better idea - this way you'd have the ROUTE topics fresh by the time you hit TSHOOT. Either way will work I'm sure as long as the commitment's there

shanknik

Thanks and good luck to you too!

shanknik

Just got it working, you bloody legend!

Took a bit of fiddling but w00t!

Now just need to get vmware workstation to auto start with it

negru_tudor

Great stuff! yeah, you just need that VMware API installed and you're set to go

Enjoy your new lab!

ImYourOnlyDJ

shanknik wrote: »

Hey

Just quickly ebayed 3650 (daaaamn!) I would love to get hardware, is there an alternative to the 3650?

Thanks!

Was that 3650 recommendation a typo (3560)? Why would you need those for a CCNP switch lab? I'd say either a 3560 or 3750 since they both can run IOS 15 (which I don't think is absolutely needed). I'm using 3560's for my lab and have been able to do everything but stackwise and VSS so far and we have a bunch laying around since we're refreshing them with 3650's for production.

negru_tudor

Yes, it was a typo on my behalf. As long as you can run IOS 15 for Layer 2 you're good to go.

Simrid

I would honestly say it's worth using something like GNS3, VIRL or UNetLabs. You save time, power and and effort when having to strip down the configuration etc.

shanknik

Sorry back to this again, i have GNS but would also like to use my existing equipment.

I currently have 2 options;

WS-3560-TS running iOS 15.0(1)SE - 2 for $225, a little expensive for me but doable.

OR

WS-3750-24ts running iOS 12.2 - 2 for $150 - much more doable.

I have read a few threads and some say 12.2 is fine for ccnp switch and some say it misses a bit and 15 would be better. On the other hand, some recommend 15.4 as well!!

clarson

shanknik,
Don't know where you are located but that is pretty pricey for the United States.

shanknik

Yea, i'm in Aus unfortunately most things are expensive!

That's why i am trying to see what i can get away with!

clarson

I'm not a ccnp but i'm studying ccnp switch. And, I really didn't see anything that needed 3560 or 3750 is pvlans and ipv6.
I bet you could get by with 3750's running 12.2, but if you progress to ccie, that version of the ios might not have the QoS support that you need.
And you might be able to get by with 2960's or even 3550 for access switches
with that being said i'm using all 3560's with version 15 ios.

shanknik

It is very tempting as they are soo much cheaper. But i really want to be certain before buying 2 glorified access layer switches, because they don't hold up to the task!

fredrikjj

1x3560 (ideally a model that will run version 15, but I'm not sure how much that really matters).
3x3550

That is the most cost effective lab in my opinion that also support workbooks that assumes 4 layer 3 capable switches, like INE's CCIE workbook. From what I've seen, 3550s are very cheap right now.

shanknik

So would the 3350's in your setup be used for access or do you have additional for access layer?

I ended up ordering 2 x3560's

fredrikjj

I wouldn't say that you need to have dedicated access layer and distribution layer switches in a lab. It seems more flexible to me if all switches can assume any role so I don't see a point in getting switches with very limited routing ("access layer"). My logic was basically that you don't really need 4x3560 to lab the features that 3550 don't have. One or maybe two is enough, and since 3550s are like half the cost of 3560s, the obvious thing to do if you want to save money is to get those.

shanknik

ah cheers,

So my complete setup now is:
- 3560 x2 (ios)
- 2950 x2
- 1841 x1
- 2611xm x1
- 2811 x1

I think i am pretty much set with this, would you agree?

Cheers

fredrikjj

For CCNP switch, I think so. My 3x3550 1x3560 recommendation was made assuming that you didn't have anything to begin with (my fault for not reading your original post properly). Three routers is probably not enough though but that's easy to solve using a virtual solution.

shanknik

How many do you think would be needed ?

fredrikjj

If you want to stick with physical routers, I would get a couple more, but you'll figure out on your own how many you need once you start studying for the Route exam. I'm not exactly sure what models have the best price relative to what IOS version you can run.

clarson

Well, the TSHOOT topology has 4 switches and 4 routers. 5 if you use a frame relay switch. 6 if you use a terminal server. etc. etc.
Of course, you can learn the technology without having that much equipment. But, if your labing with the same topology as the TSHOOT exam, when you get there, you will have a leg up. It is a timed exam, but you will have the experience of knowing how things are suppose to work. You will know the equipment names, the interface addresses, how they are suppose to be connected together, and probably have done some troubleshooting with the same setup already. It is suppose to be the easiest of the ccnp exams, but why make it harder.

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/52366-8599/TSHOOT%20Exam%20Topology.pdf

clarson

I think you have enough to get started. Use what you have till you get to something you cant do. then evaluate weather you need more equipment or make some notes that you have to re read that stuff before the exam so it is fresh in your memory.