CCIE R&S GNS3 home lab complete

CCIEWANNABE

well, finally got it cabled up, although all cable management is not complete yet.

Lab Details:

1x1900 (Breakout Switch)
1x2509 (Term Server)
4x3550 (Layer 3 switches w/EMI image)
1x GNS3/Dynamips Server (running 9 router instances) with following specs:
Intel Q9550 Quad Core, 4 gig ddr3 RAM, MSI X48C Platinum Mobo, 3x Adaptec Quad port NIC's


Shooting to schedule the lab exam sometime in May. Every time I think of scheduling the exam I get psyched out and motivated to where I want to study 24x7. Can't get enough of this stuff, I need MOAR!!

I'll keep you all posted...

jason_lunde

Nice dynamips lab man. Good luck in May.

gorebrush

Good luck!

Would love to know what Quad NIC's your using

I'm having a VERY hard time sourcing any that work :-/

Paul Boz

gorebrush wrote: »

Good luck!

Would love to know what Quad NIC's your using

I'm having a VERY hard time sourcing any that work :-/

I'm pretty sure the intel quad gig cards work.

gorebrush

Under Windows 7 ?

I bought a DLink one and got burned, only Win2K support.

Suppose I could try Linux, but who knows what variant supports it.

CCIEWANNABE

gorebrush wrote: »

Good luck!

Would love to know what Quad NIC's your using

I'm having a VERY hard time sourcing any that work :-/

For anyone who wants to know, I am running Adaptec ANA62044 Quad port NIC's. Found them on ebay for about 15 dollars a piece. Just keep looking, they are out there.

I am running XP-64bit as my OS. When I installed my quad port nic's xp auto installed them with no problems. I have been running this setup for over 1/2 a year now with no problems.

keenon

I'm using compaq quad nics, windows loaded them without a problem and I also have usb nics in the mix as well. I have considered going to linux and/or 64bit but i want to get another drive to play with that one on.

Paul Boz

gorebrush wrote: »

Under Windows 7 ?

I bought a DLink one and got burned, only Win2K support.

Suppose I could try Linux, but who knows what variant supports it.

Man you should be using Linux for Dynamips anyway. It runs much more efficiently and you can put granular control over system resources much easier.

gorebrush

Paul Boz wrote: »

Man you should be using Linux for Dynamips anyway. It runs much more efficiently and you can put granular control over system resources much easier.

I know, but I know very nothing, nay nothing about Linux...

Though, I recently played with ubuntu in a VM and I was MIGHTLY impressed.

Enough to at least give it a go on a dual boot. However, I will save this project for when I am done with the CCNP. For what I need, my current setup (purely GNS in Windows) has been enough, alongside some real world ADSL/IPSec VPN work i've been doing has been great for ISCW.

sides14

Sweet setup. Are you referencing your lab off of any vendor materials?

ColbyG

Paul Boz wrote: »

Man you should be using Linux for Dynamips anyway. It runs much more efficiently.

True story.

CCIEWANNABE

sides14 wrote: »

Sweet setup. Are you referencing your lab off of any vendor materials?

Right now I am finishing up on Narbiks Version 2 Advanced CCIE R&S Workbook switching labs. I have done almost all of Narbiks Version 2 Advanced CCIE R&S Workbook's. They are incredible and I would recommend them to all.

After I finish up with Narbiks Switching labs I am going straight into Internetwork Experts Vol 2 Labs. I looked some over earlier today and they look like a lot of fun. I am hoping to get all INE Vol 2 labs done before the end of April and then brush up on Core Knowledge and Troubleshooting in May.

Also, for all the Windows haters, XP-64bit has be running incredible with GNS3/Dynamips and with my computer specs I can have 10 routers running EBGP/OSPF and CPU utilization is about 10-15%, which is incredible and good enough for any CCIE track you may consider. No need for learning another OS like linux, I think there is enough CCIE R&S material to be studying :]

keenon

CCIEWANNABE wrote: »

Right now I am finishing up on Narbiks Version 2 Advanced CCIE R&S Workbook switching labs. I have done almost all of Narbiks Version 2 Advanced CCIE R&S Workbook's. They are incredible and I would recommend them to all.

After I finish up with Narbiks Switching labs I am going straight into Internetwork Experts Vol 2 Labs. I looked some over earlier today and they look like a lot of fun. I am hoping to get all INE Vol 2 labs done before the end of April and then brush up on Core Knowledge and Troubleshooting in May.

Also, for all the Windows haters, XP-64bit has be running incredible with GNS3/Dynamips and with my computer specs I can have 10 routers running EBGP/OSPF and CPU utilization is about 10-15%, which is incredible and good enough for any CCIE track you may consider. No need for learning another OS like linux, I think there is enough CCIE R&S material to be studying :]

did you attend Narbik's class? Are you planning on retaking it before the lab? i'm doing his labs including the 360 as no additional cabling required

CCIEWANNABE

keenon wrote: »

did you attend Narbik's class? Are you planning on retaking it before the lab? i'm doing his labs including the 360 as no additional cabling required

nope, i have attended zero classes. Just need to break it down, schedule the lab for late may and hope for the best.

A big part of my motivation is that I have about $15,000 left in my GI Bill. So I figure I'm good for about 15 lab attempts (hopefully it won't take near that many attempts to pass). The GI Bill will reimburse me whether I pass or fail, so it's no skin off my back.

I just go to my bank,
ask for a small loan,
take the test,
send the test results to the VA,
get the lab fee back from the VA (about 1 month on average for most of my previous certs)
and then go pay off the small loan.

Repeat until pass....

Then serve

sides14

Ahh....the GI Bill days. It was always a great feeling to know that you got your money back whether you passed or failed.

mikej412

CCIEWANNABE wrote: »

A big part of my motivation is that I have about $15,000 left in my GI Bill. So I figure I'm good for about 15 lab attempts (hopefully it won't take near that many attempts to pass).

The Lab is $1400 -- and don't forget the travel costs (unless you're near a Vue Professional Exam Center and Cisco makes the 450-001 Lab a regular Vue thing).

CCIEWANNABE

mikej412 wrote: »

The Lab is $1400 -- and don't forget the travel costs (unless you're near a Vue Professional Exam Center and Cisco makes the 450-001 Lab a regular Vue thing).

yeah, the GI Bill can be used for Certification tests equal to or less than 2,000 dollars so I am good on that front. Also, I have family in Raleigh that will let me stay with them, so that saves me the cost of staying at a hotel. So all in all, rental car and flight will be my only out of pocket expenses.

derevko

hi, I'm really interested in your home lab here.
Can you provide me the topology that shows how you use all the devices?
I want to build my own lab, but in my country, those devices are quite expensive. So, I need to think about this carefully.
and for the switches, is it enough to use 2x L3 3560 and 2x L2 2960 ?

reaper81

I don't want to hijack this thread but if you are looking at switches I would look at 2x 3560 and 2x 3550 or 4x 3550 depending on your budget. You want all switches to be l3 capable. The Cat 3550 will give you about 90% of what you need. Then there is always rack rentals.

DPG

How did you use the 1900 as a breakout switch? Does it support QinQ?

ehnde

I'm using Intel dual port NICs. They're 64 bit PCI (it's tough figuring out if your MOBO supports them or not). I got lucky and had two ports in my mobo that would support them. Way cheaper than quad port NICs.

I really like your lab and I'm hoping to model mine closely to what you have. I have a GNS3 server, everything similar to your setup - just not nearly as many switches, no terminal server, and no breakout switch. Do you have videos/labs detailing how you configured all of this? I've had trouble getting it all set up right and if you have videos documenting how all of this is done it would be a goldmine of information. (I'll probably be buying your video set after I get a job).

garytriv

Hi,

Can some one share the connection details ( cabling ) to connect S/W's (3560/3550) to Quad Nic's on Dym server ?

I am trying to prepare Narbik's V 2 workbook topology in GNS3 with 4 real s/w's, Any support will be appreciated, Thanks Gary