Picked up a pair of 3550's, starting down the dark path

Paul Boz

The biggest hurdle to the CCIE lab for me has been the ownership of a few L3 switches. At the low low resale price of $375 each I figured I would stop whining and buy a few. Now I really don't have an excuse not to pursue the RS. As soon as I wrap up the DP I'm going to be on the written and at that point there won't be any turning back.

I don't suppose June 15th would be a bad target date for the written. I will keep you guys abreast of my studies.

GT-Rob

bah, L3 switches are over rated.


Are you going to use dynamips for the rest of the hardware? Any thoughts on vendor materials?

networker050184

I'm still trying to put away a few bucks for a couple of those bad boys myself.

My new job is really heavy into certifications which is a good thing. They pay for all training and material which is pretty sweet. Once I finish up the IP I'll be right behind you Paul!

ITdude

Ditto! Let's hope that the 3550s will be okay for the lab for now, I don't want to have to replace/ add to the ones I have with 3560s yet. ouch!

Paul Boz

I got the 3550's because they were a packaged deal. If it really is necessary I'll pick up a 3560 and sell one of the 3550's.

Either way I'll be using Narbik's workbooks which call for two L3 switches and six routers. I'm going to map dynamips interfaces to USB NICs to simulate the routers. I figure I can get two USB hubs with six USB NICs each. That way I can map two ethernet interfaces for each router and have a full lab.

dtlokee

If you are aware of the differences between the 3550 and 3560 you could scrape by without the 3560 but you can be assured that you will see some 3560 specific features (private VLANs, srr, etherchannel losd balancing). Many of these can easily be found in the documentation if needed but you should do your best to know it ahead of time.

Paul Boz

dtlokee wrote: »

If you are aware of the differences between the 3550 and 3560 you could scrape by without the 3560 but you can be assured that you will see some 3560 specific features (private VLANs, srr, etherchannel losd balancing). Many of these can easily be found in the documentation if needed but you should do your best to know it ahead of time.

Good deal, thanks. I don't see a problem with just buying a 3560 prior to the lab. I spend so much money on equipment, books, CBT's, lab guides etc, that saying "I don't want to pay more for a 3560" seems hypocritical

ITdude

Hopefully by then, the prices of the 3560s will drop a bit too!

mgeorge

Paul, if you need some lab time on some 3560's shoot me a message.

CCIEWANNABE

good luck dude! man, there are gonna be some smart peeps up in here real soon! after I get the CCDP knocked out its gonna be 100% CCIE R&S time from there on!! i'm going to do the same with gns3.

ITdude

Paul Boz wrote: »

Good deal, thanks. I don't see a problem with just buying a 3560 prior to the lab. I spend so much money on equipment, books, CBT's, lab guides etc, that saying "I don't want to pay more for a 3560" seems hypocritical

It is only money, right Paul? Just make sure you run it past the CFO first!:)

Ahriakin

ITdude wrote: »

It is only money, right Paul? Just make sure you run it past the CFO first!:)

Chief Female Officer

liquid6

Best of luck in your journey!! While reading Internetworking with TCP/IP I am mapping out a curriculum for the next 2 years. What are your plans for tackling it?

Wish you well.

liquid

Paul Boz

The switches came in the other day and I set up a decent rack with what I have on hand. Two 3550s interconnecting two 3640s and a 2621. I've just been playing around a bit, getting IOS back in my fingers. If you don't do configs on a regular basis you really lapse.

I picked up some Chisco Gig-E gbics on ebay for $30 a pop this afternoon but they're more to play with than to add real value to my lab.

I think that studying for the ARCH is refreshing me on a lot of technologies that I haven't seen in a while. going to do some redistribution labs tomorrow..

APA

networker050184 wrote: »

I'm still trying to put away a few bucks for a couple of those bad boys myself.

My new job is really heavy into certifications which is a good thing. They pay for all training and material which is pretty sweet. Once I finish up the IP I'll be right behind you Paul!

Yeah I spent some cash on 3550's and a 3560 PoE late last year as a xmas pressie to myself Got the 3560 at an awesome price...

+1 for concentrating on CCIE once I've finished the IP....

GT-Rob

I would really love to turn my lab into 1 2800, and 1 PoE 3560. Then a nice quiet server for callmanger, tftp, syslog etc, and I would be set. Obviously not the best for labbing, but my ideal 'home network'. Hang a WAP off somewhere, and maybe just for fun have an ASA as well.

liquid6

GT-Rob - yeah seriously, i had to move all my equipment to a shed in my backyard to avoid the noise and heat... But with electricity being so d@mn expensive in Ireland I have to keep it off most of the time.

triple taxation by the government is awesome.

EdTheLad

In Ireland it costs 34 cents to run a 2600 for 24 hrs.I've just spent today breaking my lab up int two smaller labs to sell on ebay.I'm gonna buy either 2 or 4 3550s to connect to my PC with dynamips.I even got pagent over dynamips running which means i can generate all kinds of traffic,eject routes etc.

LBC90805

EdTheLad wrote: »

In Ireland it costs 34 cents to run a 2600 for 24 hrs.I've just spent today breaking my lab up int two smaller labs to sell on ebay.I'm gonna buy either 2 or 4 3550s to connect to my PC with dynamips.I even got pagent over dynamips running which means i can generate all kinds of traffic,eject routes etc.

Oh bloody hell. How much is a Kilowatt hour there in Ireland?

No wonder my Great, Great Grand folks came to the U.S. back in the 1800s. Though I'm certain it wasn't the cost of energy, but maybe Potato Famine.

liquid6

last time i checked it was like €.17 per kilowatt hour...

really p!sses me off being from Indiana, one of the cheapest places on earth for power!

mgeorge

wow that's crazy!, its .07 cents per KW/H here in Kentucky.

EdTheLad

Just wondering if you have hooked up your usb hub yet?
I bought a cheap hub on ebay along with some eth-usb adapters,unfortunately the hub can only run 2 ubs adapters simultaneously.Most probably a power limitation but i havent bothered troubleshooting,might be just a rubbish hub as its from China.
I plan on going to an electronics shop in the city tomorrow but just wondering if anyone has any recommendations.

I'm gonna bring som adapters with me to hopefully test in the shop.
This is an option, has 2 high powered ports but maybe i need 7.

TARGUS USB 2.0 7 Port Hub (XH9893) - Dick Smith Electronics - Australia.