Lab gone crazy

kaiju

My desktop lab at work has grown from a single 3945 for testing configurations and STIG compliance to the monstrosity listed below that was mostly "retrieved" from the "discard" pile:

3945 /w SMX ES3-24P .... Hub for DMVPN, CUCM router

2811 (need to dig up a couple Gigabit HWIC cards) Spoke 1

2801 (need to dig up a couple Gigabit HWIC cards) Spoke 2

898EA (this is a cool little router) Spoke 3

3560 PoE8 - connected to spoke 3

3560 V2 24P - connected to Spoke 1

3750E 48p - connected to Spoke 2 and trunked to 3750G 48p

3750G 24p PoE - Trunked to the NME in the 3945

3750G 48p PoE - connected to Spoke 2 and trunked to 3750E 48p

I have setup DMVPN with multiple gre  tunnels, CUCM, VLAN craziness, and just about anything that pops into my twisted mind....lol. Currently waiting for the ASA5505's to find their way to the shelf. I need to get a couple more 7945 phones to complete my call manager setup and some more RAM for the 2801. Never a boring moment at my desk. Complete overkill but I am having fun!!

Oh yeah, I hate Cisco 3850 switches!! 3 hours to complete IOS upgrade (3.7.5 to 16.6.6) is just silly.

Sorry no pics because no phones allowed in the work space.

Infosec_Sam

I love "retrieving" new equipment from the "discard" pile! I've been able to fill up a 24u rack at home, which is pretty nice. I wish my former employer was a Cisco shop though - it sure would make studying for certs a lot easier! Do you have any future plans for your lab? Maybe some servers, or would you rather stick to networking?

kaiju

There is enough stuff in the backroom to make my own datacenter ....lol. The 3945 was BNIB just wasting space in a corner. The 3750's are being replaced with 3850's and the cute little 898EA was hiding on top of a cabinet.  Gonna add a couple Linux servers, a couple Server 2019's and other work related stuff so I can tinker some more. Definitely need to start tinkering with ESXi and VMware so the jr techs can get more experience. 

I just hate it when I forget to change the config-register back to 0x2102 after purging the configurations.

Fulcrum45

Reminds me when I was working for the DoD in Kabul. Equipment laying everywhere to play on if you needed to verify something- or if you were bored. And no phones allowed there either, lol.