Cisco Equipement...

metrazouki

Hello,

I am currently in my senior year of high school and I have been studying networking through the Cisco program. I've even had my CCENT since last June. Since I plan to continue in this field in college I wish to buy Cisco equipment (something like 2 routers and 2 switches and wires of course :P) so I am able to practice at home were I can experiment a lot more and work at a slow pace to make sure I understand everything. I have 3 questions regarding this.

I was simply wondering if this is the right thing to do and if its worth the money?

And if yes how much will 2 old routers and 2 switches cost me? (I will probably buy old equipment anyways does not matter as long as it has at lease a 12.x IOS.)

Finally, I know this is extremely stupid but I've read of people having equipment in their house to practice and I was wondering what they used as hosts (PCs) in their practice networks. As it is a testing lab, I rather not use my everyday computer as a testing device but I cant exactly go out and buy two computer either.

Thanks so much for your time and help with this matter

Slowhand

I just made another rant in a different thread about this same question, so I won't be quite as long-winded here as I was there.

I've been posting a little bit about my lab lately, and I've found that the best bang for your buck for routers is going to be either 1721s, 3640s, or 2600XM series. They all support version 12.4 of the IOS, and can do just about anything you need for studying and practice. The only things you might spend some extra money on are additional memory and expansion cards.

As for switches, your best bet for layer 2 stuff is going to be 2950s. They're cheap ($50 - $100 a pop), they do what you need for the cert(s), and they're readily available all over eBay. For layer 3 switching, you're looking at anywhere from $200 - $400 apiece for 3550 series switches.

My recommendation would be the following. Two of any kind of router I mentioned above, and two 2950s. If you need more, get more, and save getting a Catalyst 3550 (or two) until you actually need it.

phantasm

This is what I have. The 3550 is overkill for CCNA but I plan on going farther. YMMV.

mamono

Investing in yourself is very wise and that makes you way ahead of the game at your level. Keep it up! I'll have to second on the 2600XM series routers, I have a few and they are awesome!

As for the hosts, you could pickup old computers from relatives and use them. As long as they have an ethernet adapter, then you can load any OS you want. If you happen to have a more powerful computer, I recommend considering to use VMWare to simulate hosts.

If your really tight on a budget, consider learning GNS3 and dynamips. You can map emulated device interfaces to physical ethernet ports on the computers even if they are USB.