Switch Advice

I have an opportunity to purchase a Catalyst 2912, wondering if this will be beneficial for my studies since i don't have the cash for a 2950 at the moment. Please advise and thanks in advance

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markzab

shednik wrote:

I have an opportunity to purchase a Catalyst 2912, wondering if this will be beneficial for my studies since i don't have the cash for a 2950 at the moment. Please advise and thanks in advance

I see that you're studying for your NA. You probably wouldn't need a switch for that test but you'll need one for the NP if you decide to move further.

markzab

Ed Rooney mentioned to me earlier though that I'd want a 2950 for the NP exams because they could run dot1q. Not smart enough yet to tell you exactly what that is,

, but I'm not sure if the 2912 has that capability.

Deadmaster200

Hey Mark,

It seems you have a suddenly renewed enthusiasm, and that's great! But I think you should hold off on giving advice until you know a little more what you are doing.

To the OP,

I would say buy the switch if this will be your only opportunity to do so before you take your test. If you can save your money and buy a 2950 before your test, do that.

With any 2900 series, you can at least practice the IOS and get familiar with the commands. If you do not have good hands with the switch like you do with the routers, or have every ICND command memorized, you will get burned on the test. There ARE switch simulations.

markzab

Deadmaster200 wrote:

Hey Mark,

It seems you have a suddenly renewed enthusiasm, and that's great! But I think you should hold off on giving advice until you know a little more what you are doing.

To the OP,

I would say buy the switch if this will be your only opportunity to do so before you take your test. If you can save your money and buy a 2950 before your test, do that.

With any 2900 series, you can at least practice the IOS and get familiar with the commands. If you do not have good hands with the switch like you do with the routers, or have every ICND command memorized, you will get burned on the test. There ARE switch simulations.

Just trying to help. But I hear what you're saying.

emsrescue

I have a 2912 and its fine for what I want. I have been studying with a college to do my CCNA and a lot of their labs use 2912. The only thing that I have come accross is that on a 2900 you can use the interface range command when adding interfaces to vlan's. You have to do it individually.

2912's support isl & dot1q trunking so I can trunk it to my 1900xl switch using isl or a 1721 router using dot1q. 2950's dont support isl.

If you buy the 2912 it will do for the CCNA and then if you go on to CCNP etc then buy a 2950 to go with it!

Jon