Make my own lab...

MAC_Addy

...Hello;

I am wanting to make my own lab for testing purposes.

I want to study the CCNA and I will need some routers, switches and hubs etc. Where'd I be able to purchase that stuff at a reasonable price?

I am also wanting to have at least 4 computers to mess around with; I am also starting to study MCSA and MCSE. I will need these 4 computers to install and manage server and XP.

Where would I be able to pick up 4 - 6 computers at a cheap rate?

Any suggestions?
Cheers,
Jamie

mikey_b

You can buy tons of used gear off of eBay, but for best quality I'd check out CiscoKits.com - the people there are friendly and helpful and offer nice packages to get you started.

As for MCSE - Virtual PC works great. My advise is to buy one badass system with lots of RAM and fast disk and use it to host a virtual domain. An AMD64x2 or Intel Core Duo with 2GB RAM is plenty for 4 or 5 virtual servers, and it's still a nice gaming rig when you need to unwind! Make sure it has a serial port for connecting up into the Cisco test lab stuff then just configure telnet on those interfaces, you can do it all from one box. Then to get a better idea of how things work, put the Cisco stuff between your VPC test lab and the Internet, and start logging and learning.

MAC_Addy

Thanks for the advice.

I will price up a nice "Bad Ass" system.

Ricka182

I like Tiger Direct for buying parts and systems. They have some good deals on those, plus some good barebones to put together yourself. I would also get at least two boxes with Virtual PC. If you have only one, and it goes down, you lose everything. Either way, bad-ass will will do the trick.....

goforthbmerry

If you are just using the computers to set up a lab, where I live I can usually find someone selling PIII computers for about $100 bucks internet ready. Not wow systems but good enough to practice networking a router. A couple of those and a KVM might suit just as well.

candycorn

Yeah, I actually built brand new, a couple PIII systems for about 200 dollars. The motherboard/CPU combo was $50 dollars, then another $50-100 depending on your hard drive size. Another $30-70 for a dvd burner (but not necessary). RAM should be cheap and plentiful, so go for brands like Rosewill. I guess that was about another $40. The case was $20.

I got everything off newegg.com, their prices are really good.

Yeah, here's my invoice:

APEX SK337-A Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811154048 $24.99

PC CHIPS M789CG(V3.0A) VIA C3 Samual 2 2000+(800MHz/133) VIA CLE266 Flex ATX Motherboard/CPU Set - Retail
Item #: N82E16813185043 $57.00

LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SHW160P6S05 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106014 $35.99

Rosewill 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 266 (PC 2100)
Desktop Memory Model RW266/512 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820223003 $31.99

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P80 Series SP0822N 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822152021 $49.99

---

Subtotal: $199.96




---I probably went way too far with this post. And sometimes, cheap parts arent the way to go. I'm sorta expecting it to fail sometime within the next year or so.

Sorry guys!

keenon

jamie.english wrote:

...Hello;

I am wanting to make my own lab for testing purposes.

I want to study the CCNA and I will need some routers, switches and hubs etc. Where'd I be able to purchase that stuff at a reasonable price?

Where would I be able to pick up 4 - 6 computers at a cheap rate?

Any suggestions?
Cheers,
Jamie

for your cisco lab i would suggest getting 2 2500s if possible 2 2620s ( or even 1700s closer to 1750 or 1760) , then 1 or 2 2900xls if you have the money 2950s i would look on ebay

candycorn wrote:

Yeah, I actually built brand new, a couple PIII systems for about 200 dollars. The motherboard/CPU combo was $50 dollars, then another $50-100 depending on your hard drive size. Another $30-70 for a dvd burner (but not necessary). RAM should be cheap and plentiful, so go for brands like Rosewill. I guess that was about another $40. The case was $20.

i think i may check that out i have been looking for a PC to use as a server in my voice studies

thealpha

You may want to check out local colleges/schools in your area for "salvage" sales. Where I attend college they have a sale at the end of every month where they sell tons of PIII/PII/Mac G3's/etc for $10-20 a piece. Monitors go for about 15. Get yourself a KVM and your ready to go. The machines aren't top notch, but they can run 9x/XP/linux/2003 if need be...