Anyone passed CCENT without home lab?

Nisseki

Hey guys,

I personally don't have my own home lab yet but I really enjoy the hands on experience at college.

Anyone here passed the CCENT without a home lab but used an alternative such as packet tracer etc?

Many thanks,

Queue

Yes, I took a course where I made switch-ports access ports, put ports in vlans, ROAS, etc. Know how to make that happen and use the show commands to prove what's right or wrong.

Afterwards, I used packet tracer to finish up my studying which took me about 6 months. Learning to use a simulator has a steep learning if using GNS3, but it's essential to have. I use it now studying for CCNA:S.

TL;DR Yes

p@r0tuXus

I wouldn't say it's great practice, in fact it took me longer to commit things to memory (and I failed the exam the first time), but I took the CCENT without even using a simulator. Most of the knowledge isn't too deep, just different concepts than what most people are used to. Now the 2nd exam, you better be killing those configurations in full with something and attacking labs. When I did that, it stepped my game up considerably.

Glyphic83

You don't need to spend any money on hardware for CCENT. Packet Tracer and/or GNS3 are more than sufficient for both CCENT and CCNA R&S.

That said, if you plan on continuing down the Cisco track, it may be worth it to invest in some lab hardware. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive. Start off with the simulators. As you learn more and continue advancing you'll eventually start to come up against some of the limitations of simulators but by then will have a very solid idea of what you want/need for hardware.

OfWolfAndMan

Packet tracer is more than enough for the CCENT.

If you want some advanced features for routing, download GNS3 and get some router images. Switching is something you'll need either:

-IOU images (Not true switching, but all features for CCNA available)
-uNetlab (Need images, not provided)
-VIRL (Expensive, and no longer offering academic version )
-Physical equipment (L2 switches from Ebay. Can get a couple 2950s for super cheap).

Node Man

I love labbing, but hardware can send you down some rabbit holes. If i was to do it again, I would probably focus on Packet Tracer, GNS3 and the official objective list.

Nisseki

Thanks guys. Excellent advise as always.