Hello from a new member!! (plus some q's on lab kit)

Hi all. I bought the ICND1 book yesterday and am going to be following the two exam route to CCNA. I did attempt the CCNA a good 3-4 years ago but unfortunately failed the exam twice (my study methods weren't right) but this time I'm going to stick at it until I pass.

I want to set up a home lab with some Cisco kit. I've got routersim from before but I only want to practice with real Cisco hardware this time.

I've had a look at the lab hardware section sticky and this refers to the 2501 series of router. I basically want a couple of routers and a switch.

Are the 2501's the best ones to go for? Could you recommend which switch I should go for as well (presumably 2900?)??

Would I be able to load the latest IOS version on to all of this hardware??

cheers.

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Comments

tiersten

BadBoy House wrote: »

Are the 2501's the best ones to go for?

In order of decreasing preference for routers:

Anything currently being sold -> 2600XM/3600 -> 1700 -> 2600 -> 2500.

The price will affect what you buy.

BadBoy House wrote: »

Could you recommend which switch I should go for as well (presumably 2900?)??

2950 or newer. 2900XL or 3500XL are old and aren't ideal because of some IOS changes that were made.

BadBoy House wrote: »

Would I be able to load the latest IOS version on to all of this hardware??

1700 and better will run 12.4 which is the latest mainline release of IOS.

If you want the latest technology release then you will need to get currently being sold routers.

mikej412

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

If you go through the entire thread you'll find the links to the Cisco Portable Product Data Sheets. That should give you an idea on the routers, modules, memory, etc...

If you want cheap -- the 2500s still have some life in them for lab use, but you'll need to make sure you have something like a 1721 for SDM and 802.1q trunking.

If you're already looking ahead to the CCNP, then you'd probably want to upgrade some of your initial router purchases (like for MPLS).

If you've got the money and want to spend it -- look at the 2600XM routers (or the 1760 routers if you're thinking about the CCVP in the future).

Get a couple of 2950 switches for the CCNA, and toss in an old CHEAP 2924-XL-EN as a 3rd switch. If you're looking ahead to the CCNP, you may want to see how much more the 3550s drop in price, but you can get a 3550 now if you want to spend some money (I've seen 3550s go for less than what I paid for a 2950 a couple of years ago).

tiersten wrote: »

The price will affect what you buy.

That pretty much sums it up.

Prices vary by what's available on eBay (and where you're located).

Some people are happy with "cheap" while others want to get the best they can that fits their budget. Other people may not have a problem spending $1K on a CCNA Lab -- just hopefully not on an overpriced lab kit from eBay.

BadBoy House

cheers fellas