Post your CCIE R&S lab pictures

CCIEWANNABE

just trying to get a feel for the different lab setups. All those using GNS3 and tying in real switches for IPExpert, Internetwork Expert or Narbik labs. I'm trying to figure how to go about doing this the right way. I have been to hacki's forum and read some good examples, but I was just wondering how you all are doing it as well. Some are using multiple NIC's, some are using a usb-to-network adapter setup. what do you got?

EdTheLad

I'm going dynamips,never looked at GNS3 as i think dynagen is perfect.I've just bought 4 3550s a usb hub and 7 usb-eth adapters.I'll probably have to buy another hub and more adapters.

CCIEWANNABE

EdTheLad wrote: »

I'm going dynamips,never looked at GNS3 as i think dynagen is perfect.I've just bought 4 3550s a usb hub and 7 usb-eth adapters.I'll probably have to buy another hub and more adapters.

nice. just curious to how you map out each switch-to-router connection with the usb. can u map each incoming connection from the switch to an outgoing virtual connection to a specific router on your pc? i think going from the IE lab setup guide there are currently 12 switch-to-router connections. this being said you would need:

2 (7-port) usb adapters
12 usb to ethernet adapters
12 ethernet cables

CCIEWANNABE

so the connection (using usb to ethernet would look something as follows)

(PC w/virtual routers)----(PC usb port to 7 port usb adapter)

---

(7 usb to ethernet adapters)

---

(ethernet cable to real switch)

mgeorge

Dynamips is great when you use a USB hub with a boatload of USB nic's.

but if you're running it on windows, you're just asking for it to crash. I can never get dynamips to run longer then 4 hours on windows with out crashing with 12 or so devices running.

EdTheLad

mgeorge wrote: »

Dynamips is great when you use a USB hub with a boatload of USB nic's.

but if you're running it on windows, you're just asking for it to crash. I can never get dynamips to run longer then 4 hours on windows with out crashing with 12 or so devices running.

I've never had an issue since i've cleaned all the dust out of the processor fan,
my system spec is:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU
6400@ 2.13Ghz
3.25 GB ogf RAM

EdTheLad

CCIEWANNABE wrote: »

nice. just curious to how you map out each switch-to-router connection with the usb. can u map each incoming connection from the switch to an outgoing virtual connection to a specific router on your pc? i think going from the IE lab setup guide there are currently 12 switch-to-router connections. this being said you would need:

2 (7-port) usb adapters
12 usb to ethernet adapters
12 ethernet cables

The mapping is the same as using a standard ethernet interface, you just use the network device list.


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ASIX AX88172 USB2 to Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 88-17-20-06-4E-2A


NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{1CBEB9B4-E873-450F-B3F7-9365CD3E119D}
Name : Local Area Connection 4
Desciption: HCT172


Anyway this is the easy part, the problem im having is getting the usb-eth adapters recognised by win xp.Max i can see is consistently is four, thats via a hub or directly connected.So now i'm thinking about buying a couple of quad port pci's.
I've done quite a bit of research today and see i'm not the only one who's hit this issue.
With the 2 quad port eth nics and 4 adapters that makes 12 eth port which is enough.The only problem i have is that i only have 1 available pci slot, so i'm going to remove one of my graphics cards and free up a pci express slot,hopefully i can find the two different pci cards at a reasonable price.

CCIEWANNABE

thanks for the help! i'm going to be putting the lab together probably after I get my CCIP. by then i should have some extra money to buy some lab material. good luck with your studies!

EdTheLad

My dynamips lab,work in progress.
The usb bridge has 4 usb/eth adapters,it makes cabling really messy,short term solution to add some routers, i'm not a fan of the usb path, issue with dot1q etc.
Interswitch links ready, i'm waiting to receive 3 quad port eth cards i bought on ebay so i can have links to all virtual routers.
My fingers are sore after crimping 20 cross cables last night, once the nics arrive i've got afew more straight cables to go.

4 x 3550
2 x 2610s running pagent to act as my BB routers
1 x 2511 for console access

I've also recently purchased a 5m dvi-dvi cable so now all equipment is in another room so i dont have to hear the fans while i study.
Yesterday was my last day in work so hopefully i should be able to ramp up study now.

bryantstewart

Looking good Edthelad!

CCIEWANNABE

nice lab you got there ed, i bet when you tell people you are studying for the ccie and then show them a picture of your lab they are like, what??? where is all the routers!! thats great!

mgeorge

Finally got around to taking a new picture;



Actual size;
http://www.lextrain.com/images/ccie_lab.jpg

EdTheLad

mgeorge wrote: »

Finally got around to taking a new picture;

So you're going for your ccie this year too i guess, have you taken the written yet?
Whats your timeline?

mgeorge

I'm aiming to take the lab in July but If I don't feel ready by then, I may postpone it, not sure yet.

I've been so busy lately and I have a hard time concentrating on studying. I feel like I'm losing my mind

EdTheLad

Lab Update, finally got all my nic cards etc for my pc. After experiencing several crashes i'm now going to have to format my machine and install linux. Might be some issue with the nic mappings screwing with dynamip on xp as i never had an issue before.
My advice,forget about running dynamips on windows, gotta go linux i'm afraid.

EdTheLad

Finally have dynamips running on Ubuntu with securecrt,what a battle, luckily i've worked with unix in the past.I just installed ubuntu over winxp as a test, now i have it all down i'm gonna reformat my machine.These things really eat into study time.

rossonieri#1

@ mgeorge,

nice rack!!! how much did you spend for that?

@ edtheLad,

dont forget to raise up your virtual ram
this is mine under fedora - should work under ubuntu i think :

#!/bin/sh
echo Adding more Virtual RAM ...
/bin/umount /dev/shm
/bin/mount -t tmpfs -o size=512m none /dev/shm/
echo done. Added 512MB VRAM ...

tiersten

rossonieri#1 wrote: »

dont forget to raise up your virtual ram
this is mine under fedora - should work under ubuntu i think :

#!/bin/sh
echo Adding more Virtual RAM ...
/bin/umount /dev/shm
/bin/mount -t tmpfs -o size=512m none /dev/shm/
echo done. Added 512MB VRAM ...

/dev/shm isn't "Virtual RAM". It is for POSIX shared memory support.

rossonieri#1

hi tiersten,

ya, you were right, /dev/shm is not the real "virtual RAM" like swapfs - but, what we should call it then?

jrs91

I just started playing with dynamips/dynagen and have to admit that it's pretty damned cool. It's interesting that you would go that route at the CCIE level, but then i guess there's no reason not to.

The USB hub with nic cards is a good idea. Quad-port NICs are sweet, but I bought some for a few of my servers and at $500/ea., they're not cheap. I'd be interested to know what you think of your setup in a couple of months time, and whether you wish you had gotten real routers instead.

EdTheLad

jrs91 wrote: »

I'd be interested to know what you think of your setup in a couple of months time, and whether you wish you had gotten real routers instead.

I sold my real equipment to go the dynamips route. I dont need hands on as i've got plenty, all i need now is to work on the ios. I will not be buying any more routers, hopefully everything will run smooth on ubuntu, if not rack rental will be the way forward.

Eventually ubuntu is up and running, i dont even need to worry about securecrt as i can tab and rename terminal windows.
Took me 2 days to get everything working smoothly, now happy days.Good luck to anyone that plans running dynamips on ubuntu, im glad its over.

rossonieri#1

@ edthelad,

Good luck to anyone that plans running dynamips on ubuntu, im glad its over.

what do you mean by that "glad its over"?
do you mean you have done your IE lab exam?
how was the result?

EdTheLad

rossonieri#1 wrote: »

@ edthelad,



what do you mean by that "glad its over"?
do you mean you have done your IE lab exam?
how was the result?

No, i'm glad the installation and customization of ubuntu is over, i like ubuntu but this just burnt afew days of study time.Lab exam for me wont be till after June.

jrs91

any reason why you'd need 4x3550 instead of 2x3550 and 2x2950-EI? I need to start watching ebay. I will probably go with real routers and stick them in a closet.

rossonieri#1

EdTheLad wrote: »

No, i'm glad the installation and customization of ubuntu is over, i like ubuntu but this just burnt afew days of study time.Lab exam for me wont be till after June.

oooo ok,
good luck then

you'll go RS way or service provider way?

mgeorge

rossonieri#1 wrote: »

@ mgeorge,

nice rack!!! how much did you spend for that?

Too much, and the value has dropped over 1/2 since I bought it, go figure... almost as bad as AIG huh?

rossonieri#1

@ mgeorge,

ouch. did you mean you put brand new boxed routers+switches on that rack?
and - how about your IE lab plan? when will you take it? or do you really take a long break now? an advice : dont take it too long or else our engine gets frozen - like i did, its hard enough for me now after entering my 30-something age to start after a long break - even its only a 1 time written exam like my current goal JNCIS-ER

EdTheLad

rossonieri#1 wrote: »

oooo ok,
good luck then

you'll go RS way or service provider way?

R&S even though i would prefer to study SP, maybe next if the R&S goes well.

APA

EdTheLad wrote: »

R&S even though i would prefer to study SP, maybe next if the R&S goes well.

I think the R&S will give us a good grounding for SP track.... well that's my thoughts.... ;p

I too would like to hit the SP straight up as well.... but R&S CCIE experience will definitely be an advantage when going for your second CCIE!!!

mgeorge

rossonieri#1 wrote: »

@ mgeorge,

ouch. did you mean you put brand new boxed routers+switches on that rack?
and - how about your IE lab plan? when will you take it? or do you really take a long break now? an advice : dont take it too long or else our engine gets frozen - like i did, its hard enough for me now after entering my 30-something age to start after a long break - even its only a 1 time written exam like my current goal JNCIS-ER

Nah they were not brand new, I bought all the gear in october of 2007 so thats when 3550's were 875 bucks and 2651xm's were about 380ish.

Of course the only thing in that rack that has kept its value are my 3560-24PS-S switches but I imagine they'll drop within the next year or so when Cisco announces them eol with the replacement of the 3560E

Lately I've had to put my studies on hold as I have so much going on in my life at the moment

jrs91

Don't hate me. I just bought 4 3550s for $235ea. :P Doing the rest with dynamips for now.