Home Lab Suggestions

mogul1221

I am looking for some suggestions on a home lab setup.

I have access to a pile of 2620 and a few 2620XM routers. I also have a few 3550 switches. WIC cards (WIC-1T, WIC-2T, and WIC-1DSU-T1) are also available.

The issue i am having is this setup is ok for basic OSPF, BGP, Multicast setups but as soon as you hit IPv6 and MPLS the 2620s and XM dont have support.

I should correct that. The 2620s and XM do have support for IPv6 with a memory upgrade and IOS upgrade however i dont believe there is any support for MPLS Switching on any of the IOS versions for these routers.

Mrock4

I would see if you could get your hands on a couple of 3640's. The only caveat is that you need to get (if possible) max memory on them, and they basically come as empty shells, so any modules you'll need in them you need to get separately, unless of course they come with them. These are the most cost effective solution IMO. Alternatively, you could get 1841's like most of the major vendors (and actual lab, presumably) use, although they're a considerable amount more.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk436/tk428/technologies_q_and_a_item09186a00800949e5.shtml#qa10

mogul1221

Great suggestion. I browsed over the features set on the 3620 and didnt see what i needed. Just assumed that 3640 was the same. Looks like you can run 12 Enterprise Pluse and get all featues.

SysAdmin4066

Your first place of focuse really should be what vendor you are going with. All of the vendors have a lab equipment list available and you can go from that when building your home lab. It would suck to just buy a bunch of equipment, then buy a lab workbook or 4 from a vendor for quite a bit of money, then find out the equipment you have is either inadequate, or is way more than you needed. I went with Internetwork Expert's workbooks, and so I researched their recommended lab equipment list. While I couldnt exactly mirror their list, I got it as close as possible still retaining about 95% of the features i'll need to complete their labs.

A 3620 is a watered down 3600 router. It is closer to the 2600 non XMs than the 3640. It would be good for a frame relay switch, as I am using it for, but nothing more. I found the most cost effective option was the 2600xm models, either 2610xm, 2620xm, 2611xm, or 2621xm. The 1 at the end of the model number denotes a second fastethernet link, which you'll need for at least 4 of your routers if you're following the INE workbooks. I already had a lot of them for my CCNP lab, so I just modified them to suit my needs. The final answer though is figure out what labs you're going to be following first.

Also, what you're looking for most likely as far as IOS is 12.4 enterprise or IP Plus features for your core routers. 2600xms can run up to 12.4-25a at least, which is what i'm running currently.

mogul1221

I think i have decided on IPExperts. Any comments on this choice would be welcomed as i didnt purchase anything yet.

I started setting up my lab and gathering some equipment. Here is what i have so far

1 x 3660
3 x 3640
2 x 2620XM
2 x 2620
4 x 3524XL

I have all the WIC cards to make all the connections required. However i am a little worried about features. I know that the 2620 does not have MPLS switching support and i believe the same is true for the 2620XM from lookin at some lab samples this apears to be a big part. It would make scense to me to replace these with 3640s. Any thoughts?

I know that the 2620 and 3524 are not ideal but they are just place holders for the moment until i can budget for some addtional gear.