home lab -- feeback

skaeight

I was browsing ebay today and I found a deal that I thought was too good to pass up. However after doing some research it may not be as good as I thought.

Here it is:

2520 running IOS 12.0
2 High Speed Serial ports
2 Low Speed Serial ports
1 Ethernet interface
1 ISDN interface

2513 running IOS 11
2 High Speed Serial interface
1 Ethernet interface
1 Token ring interface

2 Catalyst 1924s

I paid $150, was this an ok deal? Will all of the components be useful for studying for CCNA? My main concern are the 1924s. Can they perform all of switching functions I need? I know I've read that the 2900s are better, but since ciscokits.com has a package of 2 2501s & a 1924 intended for CCNA, I figured they might be ok. So am I an idiot, or did I find a bargin?

Thanks in advance.

mikej412

skaeight wrote:

So am I an idiot, or did I find a bargin?

If the shipping is reasonable.... if the routers are maxed out on memory... if those aren't the old menu driven 1900s...

Lots of ifs.... now for the but...

But since people regularly bid up the 2520s and 2501s, it looks like you got the routers for what a lot of people are willing to pay -- which means you got the switches for free (I paid $1 for my 1924).

Ignore the token ring port on the 2513 and it's a 2501.

Use the syncronous serial ports for frame-relay (one of the 2520s is configured as the frame-relay switch). And you still have serial2 and serial3 on the 2520s to do multilink ppp -- so you might need a couple extra back to back cables.

skaeight

Shipping was reasonable, only $30 for all 4 items. The 2520 has 8MB Flash / 8MB DRAM, not sure about the 2513. If I bump both of them up to 16/16 I can run IOS 12.3 on them, correct? Is it necessary to have 12.3 for the CCNA? What are the main differences of 12.0 vs 12.3 and 11 vs 12.3?

As far as the switches go, I guess I'll have to see when they come. From what I can see they have to be 1924-EN to run IOS, is that correct? Will they have enough functionality for the CCNA exam? If they are menu driven, will they interact (trunking, VLANs, etc) with a 2900 if I were to buy one of those eventually?

I was hoping this setup could at least be a building block on my way to creating a lab for CCNP, we'll see.

mikej412

oh... only 1 2520? Why was I thinking 2? (maybe I was brainwashed by the 2 serial ports).

But yeah, people still pay that -- but now that you got something to work with, you can start hunting for deals.

The 1924s will let you do STP and OSPF DR/BDR elections. If they are enterprise, then you may have more capabilities, but the commands may be off somewhat. If you do have the enterprise versions -- we'll need a full report on their capabilities.

For the CCNA you should be fine with 8/8. DRAM is cheap -- flash is a little more expensive. Any IP 12.x IOS you can fit in memory should get you through the CCNA (unless its a buggy version missing something, like IGRP). The memory and capabilities will be more important when you get to the CCNP.

skaeight

mikej412 wrote:

oh... only 1 2520? Why was I thinking 2? (maybe I was brainwashed by the 2 serial ports).

But yeah, people still pay that -- but now that you got something to work with, you can start hunting for deals.

The 1924s will let you do STP and OSPF DR/BDR elections. If they are enterprise, then you may have more capabilities, but the commands may be off somewhat. If you do have the enterprise versions -- we'll need a full report on their capabilities.

For the CCNA you should be fine with 8/8. DRAM is cheap -- flash is a little more expensive. Any IP 12.x IOS you can fit in memory should get you through the CCNA (unless its a buggy version missing something, like IGRP). The memory and capabilities will be more important when you get to the CCNP.

Can I still do frame relay between the 2520 and the 2513?

keenon

if at all possible skip the 1900s and go with the 2900xl-en its more inline with what you will need to do and it easliy moves up the the ccnp track

skaeight

keenon wrote:

if at all possible skip the 1900s and go with the 2900xl-en its more inline with what you will need to do and it easliy moves up the the ccnp track

I may do just that. I may just sell the 1900s as soon as I get them. What if any thing can I expect on ebay for them?

mikej412

skaeight wrote:

Can I still do frame relay between the 2520 and the 2513?

Um, yeah...... but you'll be all networked up with no place to go....

I never tried having the router acting as the frame-relay switch connect to itself and also act as a router using the frame-relay cloud.....

Could work. Okay -- that's your 2nd homework assignment.

And I think you could always go back-to-back and disable keepalives (and skip the router acting as a frame-relay switch) -- but then that's just silly and not really any fun.

skaeight wrote:

I may just sell the 1900s as soon as I get them. What if any thing can I expect on ebay for them?

After you check them for the enterprise version and do your first homework assignment, right?

Mine was $1 plus the shipping.

skaeight

mikej412 wrote:

skaeight wrote:

Can I still do frame relay between the 2520 and the 2513?

Um, yeah...... but you'll be all networked up with no place to go....

I never tried having the router acting as the frame-relay switch connect to itself and also act as a router using the frame-relay cloud.....

Could work. Okay -- that's your 2nd homework assignment.

Ok, forgive my ignorance, I'm just starting out on the CCNA journey. If I setup a serial crossover cable between two routers, what is that called? I take it that is different from frame relay.

In otherwords, what is the typical configuration for two routers, each with only one ethernet jack and a couple of serial connections?

I was thinking of doing something like this:

ethernet network ---- router A ---(serial)---router B----ethernet network.

What will I have accomplished with that? Would one additional router be sufficient to setup framerelay, or would i need two more?

Thanks.


----EDIT

---

I've looked into this a bit and I think i understand what I'll need for frame relay. Am I correct that I'll need an additional router to act as the frame relay cloud?

Humper

It's not even worth while selling you 1924's...

skaeight

ModemHumper wrote:

It's not even worth while selling you 1924's...

Ha, great. Oh well, live and learn. While I'm at it, what is a good price for a 2900 so I know what to look for?

Humper

well i bought mine from ciscokits at 150 I think each but i think you can find them for around $100USD

skaeight

I think the 2900 is going to have to wait until I start CCNP study. I've already used up more money than I should have on this equipment. Hopefully I'll be able to get by for the CCNA.

Trailerisf

skaeight wrote:

I think the 2900 is going to have to wait until I start CCNP study. I've already used up more money than I should have on this equipment. Hopefully I'll be able to get by for the CCNA.

alot of people just use sims for the CCNA... Don't sweat it.

You will be fine with what you have. I'm in the same boat you basically are... A bunch of mish-mash cisco equipt and no clue what you exactly need.

Cauthon

skaeight wrote:

Ok, forgive my ignorance, I'm just starting out on the CCNA journey. If I setup a serial crossover cable between two routers, what is that called? I take it that is different from frame relay.

Frame Relay and Ethernet are both Layer 2 protocols (encapsulations). (Technically Ethernet is L1 and L2) The default Layer 2 protocol for Serial interfaces in Cisco gear is HDLC. X.25 and SDLC are two others you may have heard of. Layer 2 encapsulation is the format for data between Packets at Layer 3 and Bits at Layer 1.

In your home lab, if you set up two Cisco routers with a serial link for point-to-point communication, you'll typically use HDLC as the Layer 2 protocol. For example:
[switch] > (10BaseT/Ethernet) > [router] > (DTE-DCE/HDLC) > [router] > (10BaseT/Ethernet) > [switch]

You can choose to set up Frame Relay as the encapsulation between those two routers if you want, but a more real-world scenario uses a seperate router with as many serial ports as you can afford (one per connected Frame Relay site) that acts as a Frame Relay switch and relays frames between multiple remote routers (over DTE-DCE serial links). Frame Relay is a very common WAN encapsulation, so you can think of the Frame Relay switch router as playing the role of your Telco or ISP.

Mike

skaeight

Cauthon wrote:

skaeight wrote:

Ok, forgive my ignorance, I'm just starting out on the CCNA journey. If I setup a serial crossover cable between two routers, what is that called? I take it that is different from frame relay.

Frame Relay and Ethernet are both Layer 2 protocols (encapsulations). (Technically Ethernet is L1 and L2) The default Layer 2 protocol for Serial interfaces in Cisco gear is HDLC. X.25 and SDLC are two others you may have heard of. Layer 2 encapsulation is the format for data between Packets at Layer 3 and Bits at Layer 1.

In your home lab, if you set up two Cisco routers with a serial link for point-to-point communication, you'll typically use HDLC as the Layer 2 protocol. For example:
[switch] > (10BaseT/Ethernet) > [router] > (DTE-DCE/HDLC) > [router] > (10BaseT/Ethernet) > [switch]

You can choose to set up Frame Relay as the encapsulation between those two routers if you want, but a more real-world scenario uses a seperate router with as many serial ports as you can afford (one per connected Frame Relay site) that acts as a Frame Relay switch and relays frames between multiple remote routers (over DTE-DCE serial links). Frame Relay is a very common WAN encapsulation, so you can think of the Frame Relay switch router as playing the role of your Telco or ISP.

Mike

Thank you for the excellent explanation. I definitely have a better grasp of it now. There's so much stuff to learn

skaeight

I got the equipment I ordered today. So far I'm actually very pleased with everything. The 1900's ended up being the enterprise version, so while they aren't perfect, they will give me a chance to mess around with some of the different switching functions.

Is it correct I won't be able to run router on a stick without a 2600?

I'll let everyone know how things go once I get everything setup. This is pretty exciting, I have real cisco gear in my house!

Rebel1330

Routers
1-1720
2-1721's
2-1760's
1-3620

Switches
1-1924
1-2912XL
1-2924XL
1-2950 24
1-2950 48
1-3560 24

jason_lunde

Your better off than alot of people! Don't sweat the price and just remember what $$$ the skills and knowledge it will earn you down the road! I would ditch the 1924 and grab yourself some 2950's. I picked up 2 2950T's for about $80 a piece, and have been extremely happy with them. Dont worry man, youll enjoy this lab equipment so much youll forget about the price.
Cheers!

By the way Mike.....I am going to try and make my frame relay switch participate as the hub router on Weds. night...I will let you know how that goes, and post a config if I get any good information from it!

mikej412

Toss in the correct interface cards and cables and you have a nice CCNA/CCNP Lab with enough left over for the CCNA Voice & CCNA Security exams and the start of a good CCVP lab.

Routers
1-1720 -- not bad, but doesn't do 802.1Q trunking
2-1721's -- sweet, CAN do 802.1q trunking and SDM
2-1760's -- sweet, can upgrade for voice for CCNA Voice & CCVP
1-3620 -- I use one in my CCIE Lab as my Frame Relay switch with an NM-8A/S. You can toss in an NM-4A/S for a CCNA Frame Relay switch. Maxes out at 12.3 IOS.

Switches
1-1924 -- nice coffee coaster
1-2912XL -- not a 2924-XL-EN
1-2924XL -- not a 2924-XL-EN? Does it have the memory to load the Enterprise software?
1-2950 24 -- nice
1-2950 48 -- nice
1-3560 24 -- sweet!

runssh

jason_lunde wrote: »

Your better off than alot of people! Don't sweat the price and just remember what $$$ the skills and knowledge it will earn you down the road! I would ditch the 1924 and grab yourself some 2950's. I picked up 2 2950T's for about $80 a piece, and have been extremely happy with them. Dont worry man, youll enjoy this lab equipment so much youll forget about the price.
Cheers!

By the way Mike.....I am going to try and make my frame relay switch participate as the hub router on Weds. night...I will let you know how that goes, and post a config if I get any good information from it!

Hi Jason,

Just curious as to what modules are installed on your xm routers? I picked up 3 2610xm last night but it did not have any modules installed. I'll need to purchase soon so I wanted to get your input on the matter before I make the plunge?

TIA
Renato

runssh

Is this sufficient for CCNA/CCENT?
Slowhand, I failed to secure the 1721s from an earlier auction.

2620 - 32/8 c2600-i-mz.123-21.bin
2612 - 64/16 c2600-j1s3-mz.123-21.bin
2610 - 64/16 c2600-j1s3-mz.123-21.bin
2501(2x) - 16/16 c2500-is-l.123-20.bin
2509 - 16/16 c2500-is-l.123.20.bin
2521 - 16/16 lol (don't know how to upgrade IOS w/ token ring interface)
2924xl-en - c2900xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC8.bin and c2900XL-h2s-mz-120.5.1-XP.bin

Should I go ahead and try to secure 2610xms and 2950ts?

Thanks,
Renato

mikej412

runssh wrote: »

Should I go ahead and try to secure 2610xms and 2950ts?

A 2610XM would let you run SDM -- which you need to do for the CCNA.

And adding 1 2950 (and preferably 2 if you don't mind spending the money) would be a good idea.

You'd probably want to upgrade the Flash and DRAM on the 2620.

I think the 2612 is also Token Ring, so it might be worth spending a few bucks (plus the shipping) for a Token Ring switch. I bought a couple Cisco 3920 switches for $5 each, but I don't see any listed on eBay right now. You could upgrade the IOS on the 2521 via Trivial File Transfer Protocol over the Serial ports.

runssh

I see a 2610xm for $100 with shipping. I thought I read somewhere that GNS3 provides SDM support unless I'm mistaken.

I've been missing out on some 2950Ts on eBay. Can't seem to find one in my price range (75-80). With that said, are the 2924xl-en's doable for now?

Upgrading the to 64/16 on the 2620 today.

What's the advantage on the Token Ring switch? Are these convered on CCNA/CCNP?

Finally, should I connect a 2501 to the 2521. Run ripv2 and get connectivity that way?

Thanks again Mike!

runssh

Upgraded 2521 via Serial as you suggested. Also purchased 2610xm(128/34) with 12.4

Need memory for 2620 and wic1/2t for the new (used) router.

Thanks again.

mikej412

Token Ring isn't covered anymore -- that's why you don't want to spend too much on a Token Ring Switch just to be able to use a couple of extra ports. You can always use loopback interfaces to pretend you have additional networks attached to the router -- or you can try the no keepalive command on the Token Ring ports and see if they come up.

The 2924-XL-EN will get you started in the CCENT -- but you'll want to be persistent in your bidding on the 2950s and get some asap. Check for the 12 port versions of the 2950 -- I've seen a couple go for around $50.

The 2600XM are nice since they're going to be useful for the CCNP -- and when you backup your IOS image to your PC you'll have an IOS image that Dynamips (and Dynamips or GNS3) can use.

Talic

How does the 1721 fair against a 2600XM router? The price of the 1721 seems a lot more cheaper then the XM routers, but is there a advantage in getting a 2610XM-20XM or the like?

runssh

Mike, any 2950 models will suffice or does it need to be the 2950t?

runssh

Bought two 2950T(s) for $100/each and two more 2610xm(s). Not sure why the 2950c(s) are priced more than the T models?

Should I keep the 2924xl-en(s) still?

Talic

runssh wrote: »

Bought two 2950T(s) for $100/each and two more 2610xm(s). Not sure why the 2950c(s) are priced more than the T models?

Should I keep the 2924xl-en(s) still?

Yeah keep them, you need at least 3 routers to mess with the layer 2 stuff.

As for if it matters if it's a 2950T or not, I don't believe so but I'm not exactly sure whats special about the T version.

Some good reading: CCNA Lab Main Post Summary | NetworkWorld.com Community

luke_bibby

The 2950C series have 2 100BaseFX ports
The 2950T series have 2 100BaseT ports

2950T and 2950C switches support EI (enhanced image) IOSs which support a few extra features including RSTP