Home Lab question

Hi all,

I'm new to the site and am putting together a home lab to study for my CCNA. I like the Ciscokits for their reputation and warranty, but the vendor on ebay appears to have newer equipment. 2600's vs 2500's, but one less switch. I also ordered the sybex book. I'm open to other options I haven't seen as well.

Thanks for the advice!

Jason

I'm considering two options

Option one
$489 free shipping from a vendor on ebay Horizon Datacom He has 99.9% positive feedback

Two 2610 - 64D/16F
One 2611 - 64D/16F
Two 2912-XL-EN
Two WIC-1T
One DTE/DCE cables (cab-crossover)
Two Crossover cables
Two Straight Through cables
One Console kit

Or

the Cisco CCNA 3 Router & 3 Switch Lab Kit!

from Ciscokits.com
It's about $399 or $540 with shipping and a 1 yr warranty. It includes

Three Cisco Routers
Two 2501 routers with16/16
One 2502 or 2504 router with 16/16 to act as mini frame-relay switch or middle router
Two transceivers(can't use the Ethernet port w/o them)
Two Cisco Back to Back Cables
Six Power Cables
Console cable
Console cable adapter
Three Cisco Switches
One 2924 or 2924-M switch supporting 12.0.05(the 2916 only supports 11.x)
Two 1900 Switches(upgrade to a 2924 for $69 each)
30 Day Warranty!
Additional Items Include:
12.3.24 Router IOS on CD
12.0.05 Enterprise IOS for the 2924 Switch
9.00.07 1900 Series Enterprise Switch IOS
TFTP Server & 8 other programs
50 Advanced Cisco Labs covering:
RIP, OSPF, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP
IP & IPX Routing
Queueing, Multicast, DLSW
Appletalk, IP Firewall, HSRP, NAT
300 Cisco CCNA review questions
List of all Cisco CCNA router commands
List of all Cisco CCNA switch commands
300 Cisco CCNP review questions
100+ articles covering Cisco concepts
IOS Upgrade Instructions
Password Recovery Procedures
CCIE tricks
Cable modem configurations
Connecting thru AUX ports
CCNP PIX Firewall & IDS Tools
CCNP IOS Configuration Editor Trial Tools
CCNP Router & Switch Simulator Trials
CCNP Network Design Trial Tools
CCNP Network Protocol Analyzer Trial Tools
CCNP VOIP Packet Sniffer Trial Tools

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Comments

Supermiguel

i bought from a friend 2 2501, 2 2503, 2 1912 switch for about $100 i looking forward to get the my CCNA certification what should i buy to make this a CCNA valid lab

.... thanks
Edit: Also is a 2500 series frame-switch a normal 2500series router? acting as a frame-swittch?

Netwurk

Supermiguel wrote:

i bought from a friend 2 2501, 2 2503, 2 1912 switch for about $100 i looking forward to get the my CCNA certification what should i buy to make this a CCNA valid lab .... thanks
Edit: Also is a 2500 series frame-switch a normal 2500series router? acting as a frame-swittch?

For starters, you'll want to upgrade your switches. The 1912's will get you up and running, but they're useless for practicing switch commands (they don't use IOS). Getting at least one 2950 is a good idea.

You can make any of those routers a frame relay switch, but you will only have two ports (the serials) to work with. You can still do basic frame labs though.

Supermiguel

so i may want to buy a 2950 just the regular 24 port one?? i see alot of 2950 on ebay... also to make a frame relay out of all my router i need to get one with 4 serial ports right??? which CHEAP router has 4 serial ports to make it a fram relay...???? thanks

mikej412

Internetwork Expert has a Building a Compound Frame Relay Switch article under their CCIE Lab Preparation Resources. It shows how to use two 2500s (a 2501 and 2520) to build a 6 port frame relay "cloud."

While the article uses the AUX ports to connect the router, you can also use a tunnel interface over the Ethernet ports.

If you use 2 2501 routers then you can build a 4 port frame relay cloud. Over Ethernet you can add more tunnels and more routers to build a larger frame relay cloud.

elegua

Hi Guys,

Why buy 2500/3600 serie routers and 2924/2950 switches???, why buy 261X or 262X routers?, if i were you i'll do this (i did this):

Buy 4- 2650 138D/32F, 12.4 IOS - $80.00 each.
Buy 1- 1710 64D/16F, support SDM, 12.4 IOS - less than $25 locally (GTA).
Buy 2- 2950G EI, good for CCNA/CCNP - $50 more than a regular 2950 switch.
Buy 1- 2610 64D/16F and one NM-4A/S or NM-8A/S for Frame-Relay - $100 or less (why pay $200 or more for a 2520 or 2522).
Buy 1- 2509 Access-server --> $100-150 or less if you wait for your shot, if you have short budget you don't need it, this is a extra feature, you won't be test it on this.

For $500-800 you can have a very good CCNA/CCNP lab, the only thing is missing here is 2 3550 L3 switches and you can add them later, i just got 2 for $899.

If you buy 2500 you have to use full memory and in top of that buy transceivers, if you buy 3600 you have to buy NM cards, if you buy 261X you are limited to used 12.3 IOS, it you buy 262X the same unless you upgrade Boot ROM and upgrade memory to 32MB Flash, at the end is better and buy 4-5 2650 routers, come with 138D/32F (see the diference), come with FE port (see the diference), uses 12.4 IOS (see the diference), cost $15-20 more that a 261X router and $100-120 less than a 262X, i saw a 2621 router that was sold on ebay for more than $250 why?, because has 2 FE ports?? i'll buy 3 2650 and have 3 FE ports (see the diference) with that money, why buy a 2600XM serie router or 830/850/870 to practice SDM??, you can buy a 1710 router for $15-30 and run SDM.

This is my point of view, maybe i'm wrong but think about it and you'll see that you can have a CCNA/CCNP cisco lab for few hundreds more than you are spending right now in a only CCNA lab.

Hope this help.

Turgon

ddzierzek wrote:

The more I read these "Home Lab" threads, the more I feel like I may have just wasted 100 dollars.

I was following what I thought was a good "Build a CCNA" home lab guides and I bought 2 2501's and a 1900 switch all together for about $100 including shipping.

Now I am thinking I may have just wasted my money. I haven't even got to the portion of my CCENT material where I would start using these but... is what I bought even going to be of any use?

If I am going to have to purchase more up-to-date routers and switches, can what I already have still be of any use?

Thanks,
Dale

I got a lot of CCIE prep done on 2501's so don't sweat it! Dynamips can save you money on gear but I do think time spent with hardware is time well spent. Not least the upgrading and cabling!