Which virtual lab is best for CCNA?

Starster

I am currently studying for my CCNA. i am little short on money to built a real lab so i want to buy a virtual lab to sub it. can anyone suggest a good virtual lab program for me? The syntex lab costs only 118 on amazon but users gives only two stars on it. any other suggestions would be appreacite, thanks.

bermovick

for CCNA, get GNS3. It'll take a bit to figure it out but not too long if you're technically savvy. Getting an IOS image to run I'll leave up to you (don't ask, don't tell). That and a pair of 2950 switches would get you through CCNA.

It wouldn't hurt getting a 2600 or 2600XM series router or two, but if you can't afford it, GNS3 will cover router things.

alan2308

GNS3 and Free CCNA Workbook along with a good book.

Though I would suggest you pick up at least a $15 router and get some kind of hands on.

tiersten

As bermovick hinted at, running GNS3 which is a GUI for the Dynamips emulator requires IOS images which aren't freely or legally available. Cisco only license IOS for real hardware and only for that specific piece of hardware when you get a maintenance contract. The other issues is that it doesn't emulate Cisco switches. There are workarounds where you pretend a router with a switching module is actually a Cisco Catalyst switch but that isn't ideal.

There is another product which isn't legally available to the general public which I'm sure somebody will bring up at some point. This product is Packet Tracer which is a simulator that is only for current students or alumni of the Cisco Networking Academy.

I'm just informing you of the legal situation anyway. Neither are legal. Some people are bothered by this whilst others don't care. It is up to you at the end of the day but you should know about the legality issues before going off and finding/using it.

If you do want a legal simulator then the Cisco Press CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator is an official Cisco product and apparently pretty good from reviews. It comes with lots of lab exercises for you to practice on as well.

All simulators and emulators have flaws and limitations. If you want the best possible learning experience then you're going to have to buy real hardware which will be a couple routers and a couple switches. There are plenty of other threads about what hardware to buy or look for.

Starster

Thanks for all the suggestions. I downloaded the GNS3 Router and will spend time on it this week. i am kindly new to this forum (registered 2 weeks ago). can someone link me a website where i can learn how to build a cheap lab?(tried to google but no luck) i have about 800-1k to spent on hardware. hopefully this is enough for me to build a basic lab. i am relatively new to the IT field. thanks all for putting the time to answer my question.

earweed

You got plenty to build a basic lab. Cruise through the forums here to find out which switches/routers to buy and you should be able to get all you need off ebay

bermovick

WOW! you can get a NICE lab for 1k.

Off the top of my head, (and assuming you're going to go beyond CCNA), I'd look at:

1-2x 2600XM series routers (and use GNS3 for anything requiring more routers). 1 gives you hands-on with real hardware (and SDM if you go CCNA:Security afterwards). 2 gives you hands-on connecting them together with a DCE-DTE cable and whatnot. You could go a bit cheaper and get 1 2600(non-xm) and 1 2600xm which is what I did but it's not much saved.

3-4 switches; one of which is a 3550 from the following list:
2950, 2960, 3550.

The 2950's (or 2960's which don't seem to be too much more anymore) let you check out STP and VTP. I'd say you could probably get away with 2 2950's until CCNP.

Add in modules and cables and you're really only looking at maybe $500 if you can get decent deals (and I could be high cause I don't usually get decent deals). The 3550 is the only painful one in the list at ~$200 I believe.

alan2308

bermovick wrote: »

The 3550 is the only painful one in the list at ~$200 I believe.

Only if you need it right away. There's always deals to be had if you're willing to wait and watch. My 3550 was $40 shipped because the guy thought it was broken.

Amco

Whats a good router to get that will handle the journey from CCNA, CCNP and possibly CCIE?

tiersten

Amco wrote: »

Whats a good router to get that will handle the journey from CCNA, CCNP and possibly CCIE?

Why does everybody ask this question and want something that'll take them to CCIE? :P

I'm going to suggest that you invest in multiple Cisco 12000s. That'd take you all the way past CCIE if you desire. Throw in a Nexus 1000 or two as well since they're pretty fun to play with.

As a more serious answer, what you want depends on what you're going to do. You either pay a vast sum of money for multiple routers thats are rammed full of cards and the advanced enterprise services IOS or you buy as you go when you work out what you need. You've not even started the CCNA yet and don't have any idea of what is available or what you want to do. The various tracks for CCNA alone cover a vast selection of hardware.

As a reasonable router which will do most of what you want and won't completely break your bank then a 2611XM with 256MB memory and 48MB flash with 12.4.15T advanced enterprise services IOS. Its an EOL/EOS router so there aren't going to be any newer versions of IOS for it. It is lacking in support for combo NMs. Its a rackmount unit and heavy even though it is 1U.

zeratul

GNS3 is a good start. You can simulate various scenarios at the convenience of a single laptop. you can even integrate it with your host system especially Linux (bridged networking) and it can even talk to the outside world.

you can also throw in some Windows xp-Virtualbox VMs and use that in SDM. you can even use VPCS (which uses very little resources) which simulate basic PC functions. It can ping and traceroute which is basically what we want from a PC. I think the possibility is quite enormous.

bermovick

One of these days I need to get qemu working. I hate having to plug in another router at the end of each line where I need an IP address assigned.

jaykoolzboy

Benson, 500 can u get a great entry level lab.

2x2600xm
1-2 3550 (can get some great deal on ebay if you are luckY)
some cheap cisco switch for STP (could be old ones)