Simulator question for ICND2 studies.

I've got a home lab with 3 routers and 2 switches...It seems like I need at least three good switches to really study STP and VLANs. I'm considering a simulator.

What specifically are the shortcomings of Packet Tracer 5.2 or NetSim etc...for studying ICND2 specifically as opposed to buying more 2950's ?

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Comments

techimadhu

I used Boson Netsim. It works pretty well for vlan and stp related configs for your ccna work.

mikej412

More software bugs with the simulators vs fewer software bugs in the IOS on the real hardware.

If you can find a simulator that functions as expected (and you were right with your expectations), the that simulator should be fine.

If you stick to the Boson Labs, then you should be fine. If you're using packet tracer as part of the Cisco Network Academy courses, then your Instructor shouldn't give you any problems that packet tracer couldn't handle.