Tips For Making CCNA Lab

redfrick

Hello. I am looking for some advice on the required hardware for a good CCNA lab. I am also planning on using parts of this lab later to work on a CCVP. Below is the list of stuff I have now, can anyone let me know which parts I would use for CCNA? Also can you tell me what else I would need?

1 3700 with 4 Asynch32a
3 3600 with no modules/WICs (what do I need for these?)
1 AS2511
1 2621XM with no modules.WICs
1 2621 with no modules
4 VG200 with no modules
2 1811
1 3750 switch
1 3500XL switch

Thank you for any help!

rakem

you have more than enough for the CCNA

mikej412

You could read the lab section posts of the CCNA FAQ and CCVP FAQ to get an idea what others have used.

You'd probably want to add a 2960 or 2950 switch. It's easier to understand Switching if you have 3 switches. The 3750 is great, and the 3500XL can probably be your "3rd switch." If you have access to another 3750 (or 3560 or 3550) you could probably "suffer" with using that as your 2nd switch instead of a 2960/2950.

It does look like you're fine with routers.... just need to decide on interfaces.

I've found having at least 1 LAN interface and 2 WAN interfaces is the most useful configuration. Having an extra LAN interface on a router or two is convenient sometimes. And sometimes you can get by on a couple of routers with only 1 WAN interface.

For a Voice Lab you'd want an assortment of analog and digital interfaces to support an HQ and 2 Branch Offices. There should be enough hints in the CCVP FAQ to figure those out.

Kaminsky

For WAN, look for the 2503's with the duel serials and very, very cheep on ebay. 2522's if you can with the 4 serial ports but these are snapped up very quickly.

WIC-1T / WIC-2T go in the little module slots on your routers and provide serial connections that you can connect dte/dce cables to and set up the wan link on both routers. Connectors can be d15/db60/smart serial so it's important to get the cable with the right connectors for dce/dte.