CCNP Lab Question Virtual PCs on Harware Lab

sandpipersandpiper Member Posts: 17 ■□□□□□□□□□
I am using physical equipment in my lab. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion on how to simulate pc's on vlans?

To do the labs, will pings be good enough or will I need physical pc's to be members of the vlans?

Would 1 computer with multiple nics be the best route?

Would purchasing 4 small form factor pc's be the bet way to go?

These are the thing I think about in bed...

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks, E

Comments

  • keenonkeenon Member Posts: 1,922 ■■■■□□□□□□
    sandpiper wrote: »
    I am using physical equipment in my lab. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion on how to simulate pc's on vlans?

    To do the labs, will pings be good enough or will I need physical pc's to be members of the vlans?

    Would 1 computer with multiple nics be the best route?

    Thanks, E

    yes, no need in having loads of pcs serving only a couple of functions. VM it all
    Become the stainless steel sharp knife in a drawer full of rusty spoons
  • SysAdmin4066SysAdmin4066 Member Posts: 443
    Virtual with many NICs would be the way to go.
    In Progress: CCIE R&S Written Scheduled July 17th (Tentative)

    Next Up: CCIE R&S Lab
  • sandpipersandpiper Member Posts: 17 ■□□□□□□□□□
    So one PC with many nics?

    Is there a piece of software out there you would use with them?

    Thanks Guys
  • SysAdmin4066SysAdmin4066 Member Posts: 443
    If you can get a machine that will supports it, I would use VMWare's ESXi. Its free, its a bare metal hypervisor and it gives very good performance. You would have to connect to your machines remotely, via like a laptop or something, but that would give you the best performance.

    If you cant go that route, I would use VMWare's other free VM software, VMWare Server. It's very easy to setup, use and it's free again. It's web based, and so that makes for easy access to your VMs as well.

    MS' Hyper-V Server is another bare metal option, it is also a free download now and would theoretically give the same level of performance as ESXi. I cant speak on it too much though, as I have not used it. Its pretty new.

    Hope that helps?
    In Progress: CCIE R&S Written Scheduled July 17th (Tentative)

    Next Up: CCIE R&S Lab
  • kalebkspkalebksp Member Posts: 1,033 ■■■■■□□□□□
    I never had a reason to connect PCs to my lab for CCNP, you can ping between routers to verify connectivity.
  • sandpipersandpiper Member Posts: 17 ■□□□□□□□□□
    that helps alot thanks
  • SysAdmin4066SysAdmin4066 Member Posts: 443
    SDM requires a Windows PC, that's ISCW.
    In Progress: CCIE R&S Written Scheduled July 17th (Tentative)

    Next Up: CCIE R&S Lab
  • Kris SPKris SP Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Hmmm, well you can create loopback interfaces and just pretend they're going to PCs... I have not tried this but maybe those interfaces can be set to access type. give them IPs, etc, ping them, etc
  • billscott92787billscott92787 Member Posts: 933
    Well if you have routers then take one of your IOS images, upload it to your PC, and download dynamips. Use it to bridge between your real equipment, and your machine, which you can create "virtual" routers. I just figured out how to bridge my virtual dynamips networks to my real equipment today and it is awesome. I have 3 routers and a switch in my real stuff, now I can run up to 6 routers or so with my slower computer on top of the real 3. 9-router network. It is awesome :)
  • SysAdmin4066SysAdmin4066 Member Posts: 443
    I had to do the same for ISCW and SDM labs. Worked pretty smoothly for me. I would use GNS3 though, it's easier to build topologies. I already had my hands full with the commands for CCNP, I dont need to learn anymore right now :)
    In Progress: CCIE R&S Written Scheduled July 17th (Tentative)

    Next Up: CCIE R&S Lab
  • billscott92787billscott92787 Member Posts: 933
    I had to do the same for ISCW and SDM labs. Worked pretty smoothly for me. I would use GNS3 though, it's easier to build topologies. I already had my hands full with the commands for CCNP, I dont need to learn anymore right now :)

    I definitely know what you mean! LOL. Definitely a lot to remember!
  • yuriz43yuriz43 Member Posts: 121
    SDM requires a Windows PC, that's ISCW.

    Actually this is not true.

    I'm messing around with the SDM while working on the ISCW, and I wouldn't touch Windows with a 10 foot pole.


    All you need to do is create a tap interface, connect it to your router in dynamips, setup a t.f.t.p server on your *nix box, and then copy the SDM files to your routers flash. If you don't want to have to do this every time you load your topology, make sure to select the "Save nvrams and other disk files". :)




    Another useful tip for those using dynamips/dynagen/gns3: You can build out topologies with gns3, save them, upload them to your server and then use dynagen/dynamips exclusively. You can also setup remote dynamips servers and distribute the load amongst a bunch of boxes (if you have this type of resources.)

    EDIT: Forum is broken and wont let me type t.f.t.p for some reason.!
  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Yea, SDM is Java-based. I'm pretty sure I've used it on *nix machines as well.
  • SysAdmin4066SysAdmin4066 Member Posts: 443
    My bad, I meant it requires a host machine. Not necessarily Windows, but a host nonetheless. The question was whether a host machine was needed for CCNP.
    In Progress: CCIE R&S Written Scheduled July 17th (Tentative)

    Next Up: CCIE R&S Lab
Sign In or Register to comment.