Best sim for switches / ICND2

Me163

I have been using GNS3 and it's amazing for routing, however it seems like I definately need something else for switching. The http://networksims.com/ simulator seems to be very complete and inexpensive, but I've heard its buggy. Is this true? If so, do the bugs affect the switch portion of the sim very much?

mikej412

All Simulators are buggy.

Networksims.com looks like it's a bunch of scripted exercises, not a real simulator like Boson. But it does at least have exercises for things other products don't even try to cover (like wireless & voice). And the price isn't bad, even considering is has a subscription pricing model.

Boson is fine as long as you stick with it's labs.... but if you know your stuff you can figure out a software bug from a misconfiguration when you try things that aren't from their labs.

Just remember though that when you go for a job interview you're going to be competing against lots of people that have already worked with real Cisco Equipment or at least studied with real Cisco Equipment. If you're in a poor 3rd world country where almost no one has access to real equipment, then you'd be fine using a simulator.