CCNP Lab Build

nothimagain

Im currently building a CCNP lab for future studies . I was wondering if I get some of you guy's opinions. Im planning on getting the following: 2x 3750G Catalyst running IOS 12.x 2x 3560 IOS 12.x 4x 2811 ISR Routers IOS 15.x 4x WIC-2T ports 4x Smart Serial Cables Im still iffy on if I should get the WIC ports and serial cable. If I did, wouldn't I need an external csu/dsu since the WIC-2T doesn't come with it built internal ? Also I've seen other people recommend getting the WIC 1DSU - T1. How would clocking be configured with this WIC ? It seems to use RJ45 connectors instead of serial. Thanks in advance.

clarson

Sounds like a good lab.

Don't have much experience with wic 2t with smart serial cables. I've seen lots of labs connecting them together with just a cable. I would guess it is the right cable as in it is a back to back cable.

The wic 1dsu t1 cards work on the msr routers and don't work on isr routers, such as your 2800's. For the isr routers you need the wic 1dsu t1 V2 cards. Be sure to get the right ones. They use a rj-48 connector. it is the virtual the same as a rj45. I've used rj45 connectors in them all the time.

for the wic 1dsu t1 v2, the clock is set to internal on one side and default (or line) on the other. Something like:
service module t1 clock source internal and
service module t1 clock source line

Is there a reason your using 3750G switches? everything else is 10/100. So, everything is going to be running at 10/100. Looks like your paying extra for gig switches that you won't use other than fast trunks between the switches

fredrikjj

Depends on how much money you have/want to spend. Getting the switches is a good idea, but you can run virtual routers fairly easily.

ande0255

Yeah like he said ^, unless you can obtain the equipment free, I'd just use GNS3.

Had I not early pieced together a lab years ago that I still have today (which is fairly dated but added some 15.x routers into the mix for CCNP), I would not buy a lab today, this thing is a pain in the ass to move.

Once my CCNP is done, I plan to retire the physical lab, it looks cool and people think your a genius when they see it but its just not necessary in this day and age.

nothimagain

Thanks for the replies guys. Money isn't a concern at the moment so I rather use physical equipment. I feel like im able to learn better doing so as I might run into other issues that you wouldn't use a virtualized environment.

Legacy User

In my opinion getting the physical equipment is only helpful to learn if you don't touch it at work. But if you are exposed to it at work you realize how identical the virtual routers/switches respond in comparison to the physical equipment and have an aha! moment that you shouldn't have spent over a $1300 on physical equipment because you could've achieved the same thing on a high powered laptop and could've skipped out on the sweaty nights labbing from the hot ass equipment. At least that was my experience lol

dontstop

I agree with the other comments. I only purchased my physical lab for the CCNP to give me some decent hands on experience and not end up totally a book CCNP. My plans would be to retire as much of it as I can after the CCNP or at least reduce it to as little equipment as possible.

Now that I've done the lab and got that out of my system, I'll be turning my attention to GNS3 and using a mixture of both during my CCNP (possibly GNS3 more for route than the physical lab)

Nearly finished build: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
Parts: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet (Price are in $AUD)

@ande0255 I've throw mine on a dolly so I can move it around my room. Makes it much more flexible!

@nothimagain For the WIC-2T I just use back-to-back cables and they work fine.

I'd recommend skipping the 3750G's as they'll just add a boat load of cost for no real benefit apart from maybe say stacking (which is virtually plug and play).

From my readings, the 2800's are ideal if you're also looking at going down the Voice/Collab tracks but you could skip these for something like the 1841's to save on price.

tunerX

The 3750Gs will be alright. But I would rather have 3560G that can run 15 IOS.

My physical routers don't get much use. At one point I used to have about 20 physical routers and 6 switches. But have winnowed down my lab to 4x switches and 3x routers with voice modules since those cannot be emulated. Stick with 2800 and 3800 since those have onboard PVDM slots if you want to go down the voice route.

I mainly use servers and my desktop/workstation to run virtual cisco/juniper/brocade routing devices along with VMs of Server 2012/2016, windows 10 enterprise, OS X, Linux, and nested ESXi.

NOC-Ninja

Id suggest to do it virtually so you can lab in your laptop, anywhere.
Hardware is good if you want experience on the devices. Furthermore, you can use the hardware's as a 1st step to build up your CCIE lab.