Lab setup

Hello all,
I am new to the forum, been studying for my ccna and have completed a bootcamp recently. I feel that bootcamp was a waste of time because of all the information fed in a short amount of time, so I am going to setup my own lab. The cool thing is that I work for a very large cable company and have access to some equipment for a lab. So here is what I was able to gather. 2821 router, 4507R switch, 3 3550's 1 of them is a 24 the other 2 are the 12g versions with 2 10/100/1000 copper ports. The key here is only one "router" even though the rest of these can become l3 devices. So my question is this: will this be suffecient equipment for a lab to practice on? I know it sounds dumb, but my specialty in my company is all l2 switching, so my l3 routing skills are very limited and that is why I would like to know if this will suit my l3 routing needs. Also, is it possible to connect all of this to a cable modem to gather dhcp requests and so forth, and one more question... can I connect this to the cable modem and use eigrp or ospf to exchange routing info, and if so can someone point me in the direction as to how to set this up correctly. Thank you very much!

Alan

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Comments

mikej412

You've got the hardware covered for the switching part of the CCNA, but you'd have some holes on the routing side. Routing will usually cover both LAN and WAN, and you're short on WAN resources.

The 2821 is GREAT!! When trying to build a CHEAP home lab, 2 topics people have to remember when selecting hardware is that they need a router that support 802.1q trunking and SDM. The 2821 does both.

Where you come up short is serial WAN connections and Frame Relay.

Check out the CCNA FAQ home lab section for some more information.

Here's a link that hasn't made it into the FAQ yet

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/38753-questions-about-different-routers-home-lab.html

Blackroze wrote: »

Also, is it possible to connect all of this to a cable modem to gather dhcp requests

I'm not sure what you mean by "gather dhcp requests." Do you mean you want to prevent your neighbors cable modems from getting valid IP Address from the local cable provider and downloading pron while you're trying to play on-line games?

Blackroze wrote: »

can I connect this to the cable modem and use eigrp or ospf to exchange routing info

Um... I guess -- if you use your valid assigned Internet IP address and your cable provider doesn't filter that traffic out. Exactly who would you be exchanging routing info with?

Blackroze

Thanks much, what would I need to make this more of a WAN plus LAN setup? Another router? I guess I could read the guide. Anyways, I want to be able to setup and run eigrp, acls and so forth, and am unsure what or who to exchange routing information with. I imagine that if I had 2 routers, and 2 switches with a couple of pcs on either side, then I could use eigrp in between the 2 routers to exchange routes... Am I traveling down the right path? I have access to a 7206 router as well, but it may take a bit to actually get it in my grubby little hangs haha.!

Netwurk

Blackroze wrote: »

is it possible to connect all of this to a cable modem to gather dhcp requests and so forth

To get started, you'll want to set static IP addresses on all your interfaces. That way you can get all your equipment "talking" to each other. I'm not sure what the most recent test is all about, but I doubt you'll be asked anything about DHCP configs. Just know what DHCP is.

When you get up to speed on the IOS, you may be able to hook it all up to your ISP. But that can be tricky and won't necessarily help you gain CCNA level knowledge (other than the fact that you'll most likely need to configure NAT to make it all work).

Good luck with it.

Blackroze

Thanks a bunch.

mikej412

At some point during your CCNA studies you'll probably want to setup a hub and spoke frame relay configuration. You'd need one router with at least 3 serial WAN interfaces to act as the frame relay switch. And then you need one hub and two spoke routers with at least 1 serial WAN interface each.

For some of the routing before you hit frame-relay you could use the Layer 3 switches.

You'll usually just keep your routing practice within your lab and just use a default route when you want to connect to the internet (to try your NAT configuration or access your home lab from the internet after applying proper security).

Blackroze

Thank you all. I guess I may be overthinking this. Like I said, I am no l3 guy, and if anyone here has taken a bootcamp, you know it is just 12 hours a day for 5 days of cram cram cram. My problem was that I was not real familiar with the l3 routing side of things so most of that information passed right through me without picking it up. In the bootcamp we had something like 40+ labs where we used offsite cisco devices. We had 2 routers, and 1 switch if I remember right. The class was put on by global knowledge.

mamono

If you received a lab book with the boot camp, then at least you can lab up the exercises with your own equipment. That's one green side of having gone through one.

Blackroze

I do have the lab book, just not all of the devices needed, which is why I was hoping that I could substitute a l3 switch... I am sure if I sit down and diagram it, I could come up with a network design that would work. Like I said, though, if anyone has been through a bootcamp, you can agree with me that it is grueling! I sorta have a problem paying attention when I dont quite understand things, so for all of the higher routing level stuff, I pretty much tuned it out... I dont deal with Frame where I work, but sort of got the jist of dlci's and such. I am going to check out the lab book again, I have not even looked at them since the class, because it makes my brain bleed! I have both icnd 1 and 2, then 2 different lab books, along with the practice tests that they give to you on CD. Anyways, thank you guys for your help!