Post Your Lab (PICS)

alxx

Couldn't look worse than my stack of stuff sitting on top of a bookcase

Oscedumir

vanquish23 wrote: »

Sorry will get some pics up soon. Dont have a rack so it looks like crap. Also, just ordered another 3550 EMI PoE switch with another ASync Octal cable because I ran out of console ports.

May I ask where you ordered your 3550 EMI PoE switch from? I want one of those for my lab setup without having to break the bank to get one

vanquish23

I got it from Cisco Certification: CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, used Cisco router, Cisco switch, Cisco routers. for 169.99. They beat ebay prices as well, and every time I have ordered from them its only a scratch or two and never had any problems. When I first bought my switches I forgot the 3550 switches were layer 3 routing so now I have 9 routers. Oopps :P

vanquish23

Added pictures to my first reply. Sorry about that. Excuse the mess, its under a fold out table for now until I can afford the shipping cost of a rack.

Edit: Just made a offer on ebay for a 3745 router and two 3550 switches with EMI image 48 ports. They wanted 450 for all three. Dang my Cisco fetish.

alxx

Finally got all the optic fiber "cables" needed for the switches.
Still mostly sitting on top of the bookcase

2950c
2950c
3550fx
1841
1760
2950sx
2950G
3550
1760
1760
3640

on the right
4x 2600xm's
3x 2950T




the bedroom lab (mostly to be sold , just going to keep the 1751's).
Good example of what you can get for cheap ebay if you aren't in a hurry.
Cost of this pile of 1700's and 2600's was $268 including p&h and fuel for pickup



Not shown
3745 ,3640 ,3660 , 3x 2950, 2x 2950g

chappys4life

Here is my humble setup
2x 2950
3524
2950 12port
cyclades ts200 access server
2620 with NM-4A/S
2x 2610xm each with a wic-2t & t1 card

I still plan on getting another router prob a 2650xm. If I go for my ccnp I will scrap the 3524 and 12 port 2950 for 3550's. Also need to upgrade the routers have 48mb/256mb memory kits just haven't installed them yet.

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5_HrbvmX7TA/Txt0sQR-g7I/AAAAAAAAAqQ/vK2fuk50bYM/s640/Network Rack.JPG[/IMG]

alxx

Nice!

don't need to upgrade the boot rom as well ?
My 2600xm's won't recognise more than 128MB without getting an upgraded bootloader(bootrom).
Can run a few versions of 12.4t with 128MB ram(k9 if you want ssh)

Could mount the brackets on the other end if you want the routers to be easily accessible.

chappys4life

I have the upgraded bootroms too

veritas_libertas

alxx wrote: »

the bedroom lab (mostly to be sold , just going to keep the 1751's).
Good example of what you can get for cheap ebay if you aren't in a hurry.
Cost of this pile of 1700's and 2600's was $268 including p&h and fuel for pickup

I don't understand the popularity of the 1700 series of routers for labs. Could could someone please explain?

Ltat42a

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I don't understand the popularity of the 1700 series of routers for labs. Could could someone please explain?

I have a 1751 & a 1721, got em real cheap. I'm using them in my topologies for the LAN segments and basic routing configurations. I have 2-2620XM's to do things like EIGRP, OPSF, & Frame relay. The 1721 & 1751 will be used for my spokes. They were quite a bit cheaper than putting out more for 2620's.

angel.oa

They can be dirt cheap and the 1721 with the right ios can be a decent ccnp router

alan2308

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I don't understand the popularity of the 1700 series of routers for labs. Could could someone please explain?

They're dirt cheap as already mentioned, and the dirt cheap 1721's and 1760's can run 12.4T.

veritas_libertas

Thanks for the information guys

alxx

cheap, can upgrade the ram and flash, can run recent ios - 12.4t(1721 and 1751 and 1760 - only)
can easily stack them (see picture above)

the 1751 and 1760 can take pdvm's and vic's (voice interface cards) to do voip

They are also very quiet , don't take up much space and 1760's are rackable.
You can't use them as a frame relay switch but they can do back to back hybrid frame relay

Back-to-Back Frame Relay Hybrid Switching  [Frame Relay] - Cisco Systems
Cisco: Routers - Problems with frame relay (Lab scenario)
Back-to-Back Frame Relay* [Frame Relay] - Cisco Systems
Back-to-Back Frame Relay Hybrid Switching* [Frame Relay] - Cisco Systems



configuring frame relay on 1700's
Cisco 1700 Series Router Software Configuration Guide - Configuring Frame Relay* [Cisco 1700 Series Modular Access Routers] - Cisco Systems

Cisco IOS Wide-Area Networking Configuration Guide, Release 12.1 - Configuring Frame Relay - Cisco Systems

SubnetZero

Wow this is an old thread, lot's of routers with actual serial cables! Here was the hardware we used to build our Cisco 360 rack.

Equipment:
4x3750G
3x3825
1x3845
2x2811
1x2620 (FRS)
1x1841 (Console router)
1xSentry power switch
3xRack power strips
10xWIC2T serial cards
10xSmart serial cables
16xEthernet cables
Rack Rail ears
1xChatsworth Rack
16xconsole Octopus cables
2xPanduit wire management

It wasn't racked yet in this picture but I will post a few others once it was along with the IPexpert racks as well

SubnetZero

This was my main rack which was cabled up for the IPexpert topology and workbooks (Frame Relay switch not shown)

4x 3560G
3x 2600 backbone routers
7x 2800 routers
1x 3845 router
1x 3725 Frame-relay switch
16x T1 V2 WIC's
2x Copper GB SFP's
1x Fiber GB SFP
Sentry commander
Terminal Server for console access

vanquish23

SubnetZero wrote: »

This was my main rack which was cabled up for the IPexpert topology and workbooks (Frame Relay switch not shown)

4x 3560G
3x 2600 backbone routers
7x 2800 routers
1x 3845 router
1x 3725 Frame-relay switch
16x T1 V2 WIC's
2x Copper GB SFP's
1x Fiber GB SFP
Sentry commander
Terminal Server for console access

Very nice! I like the cable management as well. Wish I could afford 7 2800 routers.

PC509

Great cable management. Very nice rack. Do you have a somewhat side view? It looks like it is built into the wall next to a window. Very clean install, though.

I have to say that has got to be one of the best looking racks I've seen, cable management wise. I've seen some great ones, too.

I have to put mine all back together and I'll take some updated pics. Cable management isn't one of my strong points, though. But, I think I'll use some of these as examples and improve mine!

SubnetZero wrote: »

This was my main rack which was cabled up for the IPexpert topology and workbooks (Frame Relay switch not shown)

4x 3560G
3x 2600 backbone routers
7x 2800 routers
1x 3845 router
1x 3725 Frame-relay switch
16x T1 V2 WIC's
2x Copper GB SFP's
1x Fiber GB SFP
Sentry commander
Terminal Server for console access

DB Cooper

You wouldn't need much more if any for a CCNA Cert

Corndork2

Nice looking labs everyone! Now I cant wait to get home and post pictures of mine

ciscoman2012

Can't wait for a few more days until I can post some pictures up of mine. I really want to now but it would spoil the fun!

ciscoman2012

ciscoman2012 wrote: »

Can't wait for a few more days until I can post some pictures up of mine. I really want to now but it would spoil the fun!

Finally ready to show it off.

20U Skeletek C20U-HD
3x 2950
2511RJ
3x 2620XM w/ WIC 2T & WIC T1
2610XM w/ WIC 2T & 1T
3725 w/ NM 4 A/S

Roguetadhg

^ Adult-material not suited for minors. That's a lonely Power strip below the rack. What is the logical topology of the lab?

Get a wide-angel shot, showing your desktop too. Sorry, I love seeing what my peers have to work with, computer wise. I don't know why either *shrugs*

ciscoman2012

Roguetadhg wrote: »

^ Adult-material not suited for minors. That's a lonely Power strip below the rack. What is the logical topology of the lab?

Get a wide-angel shot, showing your desktop too. Sorry, I love seeing what my peers have to work with, computer wise. I don't know why either *shrugs*

Let me try and clean up the desk a bit and I'll get a wide angle picture for you guys.

The lonely power strip on the floor is if I want to plug a laptop charger or cell phone charger etc. in and don't want to fool around behind the rack. I just have a switch I flip on for just that power strip.

Still working on the topology. Here is how I pictured setting it up in my head. This was literally a 5 minute rendition so I'm sure it will change. Right now I just have all the FastEthernet from the Routers plugged into SW3 to ensure they're working LOL.

The 3 Routers currently sitting ontop of the rack are not part of my setup. They're on eBay at the moment with about 8 hours left.

alxx

That desk looks way to clean.

Nice lab!

dustinmurphy

While it's not as nice as most I've seen here... here's my basic, "Lights Out" Lab...




I know it's probably not quite robust enough for every lab for CCNA, but it should do for most of it (since I already have quite a bit of real-world experience). The best part... it was all free. I got the equipment from my last 2 companies... and from other "crap" I had laying around the house...

So, here's how it's setup (without the network diagram)
WAP-54G - configured as a wireless bridge to enable management from outside the lab and access to the internet.
1721 - ROAST (with 2 VLANs) and T1WIC to T1 crossover
1720 - single interface and T1WIC to T1 crossover
Netgear FSM-726 - managed switch connecting all of it together
2nd Netgear FSM726 - not used (had plans to use it as second switch, but just decided to use VLAN's to segregate all LAN's
Linksys VoIP router (T-mobile @home service) - used ONLY as a wireless AP.
ESXi 5 server
-Dual Xeon 3.0ghz
-16GB RAM
-500G SATA drive
-Dual 10/100/1000 NICs
-Serial port for Cisco rollover cable (able to send to different VM's when needed)

I have several VM's that provide different services, i.e. imaging, DHCP, FreeNas, etc. I had 2 domain controllers (1 for simulated Datacenter and 1 for simulated Office), but decided to delete them and use DHCP services on the 1700 routers instead.

I admin it from my laptop in the family room. I use WoL so that I don't waste electricity when the server is on and not being used. It's housed in my "office" which ended up turning into a storage/junk room... that's why there's crap all over. I have a nice network rack in my garage, but I don't know if I can fit it in this room... not to mention, it would be a PITA to carry it upstairs.

fsanyee

nice rack

dustinmurphy

fsanyee wrote: »

nice rack

LOL... I'm guessing that's a sarcastic remark about mine... but... THANKS! LOL... I just used what I could get my hands on. Like I said.. I have a nice network rack in the garage (42u, I think)... but I don't have the energy to cart it upstairs and buying shelves, etc. This worked in a pinch... LOL

Edit: you can see in the pictures where I drilled holes in it to mount the switch. I had to move it to be able to sit my server in there. LOL

If you're talking about the post above me... I agree 100%... I WISH I had a rack like that. LOL

getitngo

Quick lab update


2509 - Access Server
2x 2610 - 1 WIC-2T
1760 - 1 WIC-2T
2610 -NM-4A/S

Dell Poweredge 1950 w ESXi

MAC_Addy

Nice setup!