12U Rack for home lab?

ElvisG

Is a 12U rack what I need for my home lab which will consist of 2x 25xx and 1x 2950? I was just looking at ciscokits and the 12U is what they offer as a rack so I assume I need a 12U. Also, anyone heard of cablesandkits.com? They have the 2950 switch at only $50.

meadIT

ElvisG wrote: »

Is a 12U rack what I need for my home lab which will consist of 2x 25xx and 1x 2950? I was just looking at ciscokits and the 12U is what they offer as a rack so I assume I need a 12U. Also, anyone heard of cablesandkits.com? They have the 2950 switch at only $50.

I don't have first hand experience, but I've seen people on here say they like their Skeletek racks. They have 12U, 16U, and 20U racks.

I looked at cablesandkits.com and the cheapest 2950 I saw was $75 for a 12 port. Are you sure you weren't looking at the 2924s?

ElvisG

Sorry, it is early. Do I really need a 2950 switch or can I just use a 29xx? The reason of why I'm asking is, I finally have the money to purchase the routers and switches for the home lab. People say you can use this router or that router and the same goes with the switches. I'm just trying to pass the CCNA. Sorry, but I get confused when there is no set requirement for purchasing a home lab.

meadIT

I'm a Cisco noob, but the consensus is that you should have at least one 2950 to learn the commands for the current exams. The 2924 can be used as secondary switches just for connectivity.

tiersten wrote:

The 2924XL has a slightly different commandset than the 2950 which is what you should be aiming for. You can use it as a 3rd switch but ideally you'd want another 2950 or better.

meadIT

And for just three devices, you don't really need a rack. Just stack them on top of each other.

dynamik

2950. And +1 for Skeletek.

ElvisG

Ok, cool didn't know if I could do that or purchase a rack. I didn't really know how much heat these devices produced.

yanks4everontop

I bought this and it's great. Desktop Rack - RM372A - Shop now - Black Box

tiersten

ElvisG wrote: »

Ok, cool didn't know if I could do that or purchase a rack. I didn't really know how much heat these devices produced.

Some of the older Cisco routers had the fan vent actually on the bottom of the device with a small channel leading to the side. For maximum ventilation you would put a 1U gap between each router.

For a home lab, it doesn't really matter to be honest.

Kaminsky

Switches and routers are designed to be on all the time but that's very unlikely for your home lab so heat isn't really an issue for just three or four devices. You could also leave out the rack and just stack em and put the rack money toward slightly better equipment.

The main thing will be if you want to study past the ccna. Where you could get by with really cheap gear for the ccna, if you go on you would have to scrap all the cheap gear and buy the minimum for the higher cert. If you plan for that now, you can go for two or three of those slighly higher devices now. ie basic 2950 rather than a 2900/2500 for example.

Have a look through the faq on this forum for discussions on lab equipment. Also, wendell odum has a blog on network world about ccna / ccnp equipment for home labs for various budgets which is quite interesting. Especially, if like me, you didn't have a clue about the various models of routers/switches/add ons.

CCNA Lab Main Post Summary | NetworkWorld.com Community

Be carefull with this link though... It can give you the ebay bug really bad as my full 16u skeletec shows.... A basic ccna home lab can be incredibly cheap on ebay.