ICND 1 & 2 home lab

I am planing on putting down Money in a home lab and I wanted to hear your thoughts ?
The CBT nuggests videos I am currently watching are saying I should buy an 851w but I just read on another cisco forum that the 851 was has reached it's end of life cycle and the 861w is it's replacement. I looked on E-bay and the 861 W is $488.00 dollars or more.

Is it still worth getting a cisco 851 w ? And what switch should I have go along with the router ?

Please advise.
Patrick

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Comments

alan2308

My thought is that you don't really need to spend that kind of money on your entire CCNA lab, let alone one router. This is one of the few times I disagree with Jeremy. You don't really need the wireless, and the 851 and 861 don't have any WIC slots.

You can get 1721 and 1760 routers for under $50 each.

For switches, you want 2950's.

binaryhat

Why 1721 and 1760 routers over the 26xxXM series routers?

mikej412

binaryhat wrote: »

Why 1721 and 1760 routers over the 26xxXM series routers?

Because they're cheaper than the 2600XM routers and still do the things you need a "good router" to do for the CCNA (SDM and router on a stick) that the older and cheaper 2500 & 2600 series routers can't.

geek4god

binaryhat wrote: »

Why 1721 and 1760 routers over the 26xxXM series routers?

The other reason to get a 1760 is when you are all bleary eyed from labing (or drink) they can look like a 2801. I call this lab goggles!

Hypntick

I have a quick question, rather than starting my own thread. As far as switches are concerned is there really any difference in a lab setting between a 12 and 24 port 2950? Thanks.

Priston

Hypntick wrote: »

I have a quick question, rather than starting my own thread. As far as switches are concerned is there really any difference in a lab setting between a 12 and 24 port 2950? Thanks.

One has 12 ports and the other has 24 ports

Unless you have a really big lab were you would somehow need more than 12 ports, there isn't a difference.

Hypntick

Priston wrote: »

One has 12 ports and the other has 24 ports

That's what I figured, I notice there isn't much of a price difference either. Just in case I find a nice deal on a 12 port didn't want to be shooting myself in the foot. Thanks!

Jourdsh

See a bunch of these on Ebay:
Cisco 3x 2501 Routers 2x 2924 Switches

Is this a good package for labbing?

alan2308

Jourdsh wrote: »

See a bunch of these on Ebay:
Cisco 3x 2501 Routers 2x 2924 Switches

Is this a good package for labbing?

No. The 2500 routers will do if you're getting them dirt cheap, but with the 1721's and 1760's being so cheap now, I would not recommend the 2500's. The 2900XL switches are not very useful at all. You really want 2950's.

Besides that, pre-built kits on ebay are almost always way overpriced. And piecing together the lab yourself is a great learning opportunity.

cyberguypr

alan2308 wrote: »

No. The 2500 routers will do if you're getting them dirt cheap, but with the 1721's and 1760's being so cheap now, I would not recommend the 2500's. The 2900XL switches are not very useful at all. You really want 2950's.

Besides that, pre-built kits on ebay are almost always way overpriced. And piecing together the lab yourself is a great learning opportunity.

+1. This is gospel. Stay away from kits. Do your research and you will save hundreds of dollars and get just what you need. You can start with the basics and expand later on as your budget allows.

mgmguy1

alan2308 wrote: »

No. The 2500 routers will do if you're getting them dirt cheap, but with the 1721's and 1760's being so cheap now, I would not recommend the 2500's. The 2900XL switches are not very useful at all. You really want 2950's.

Besides that, pre-built kits on ebay are almost always way overpriced. And piecing together the lab yourself is a great learning opportunity.

Thanks, This is good info. I just went on Ebay and found a Cisco Systems Cisco Catalyst WS-C2950C-24 switch for $65.00 dollars. What do you recommend for a router ?

Patrick

alan2308

mgmguy1 wrote: »

Thanks, This is good info. I just went on Ebay and found a Cisco Systems Cisco Catalyst WS-C2950C-24 switch for $65.00 dollars. What do you recommend for a router ?

Patrick

1721 or 1760. The only real difference is that the 1721 is smaller and has 2 WIC slots, and the 1760 is standard rack mount size and has 4 WIC slots. Either of them will do everything you need for the CCNA and then some. So it's just a matter of preference, and whatever you can find the best deal on at the time is a perfectly valid criteria.

If you're patient, you will probably be able to find a better price for that switch too.

Futura

alan2308 wrote: »

1721 or 1760. the 1760 is standard rack mount size and has 4 WIC slots. Either of them will do everything you need .

I'm thinking:

Even though the the 1760 has four slots it will only accept wic 1t's on the first two slots. I tried to populate mine with fours wic 1ts and it would not pick the cards up.

I know that wic 2ts are an option for 4x serial connections

we use our 1760's here as srst back up routers, the slots 2 & 3 are usually populated with vic cards.

I have 1760's, about 8 of them and they look sweet in a rack, good choice imho.:D

alan2308

I stand corrected. And directly from the horses mouth:

Cisco Web Site wrote:

Four slots:

Two slots can be used for either WICs or VICs or a combination of both

Two slots can be used for VICs

Cisco 1760 Modular Access Router [Cisco 1700 Series Modular Access Routers] - Cisco Systems

But 2 WIC slots that can take a WIC-2T or WIC-2A/S will still give you all the serial interfaces you'll really need at this level.

darkerz

I just bidded 96$ for 3 1760's with 1 Wic-T1 card per router at 64/32 memory specs. (71 + 25 shipping)

I saved about 70-80$ from being patient.

Thanks for the solid advice, I can now use this money to bid on an access server. Turning my 2611 into a Frame Relay switch.

solutionsagent

alan2308 wrote: »

My thought is that you don't really need to spend that kind of money on your entire CCNA lab, let alone one router. This is one of the few times I disagree with Jeremy. You don't really need the wireless, and the 851 and 861 don't have any WIC slots.

You can get 1721 and 1760 routers for under $50 each.

For switches, you want 2950's.

Hi, I am building my lab now. I have decided to go with 2 1760's and 2 2950's. My question is does it matter which 2950 Switch I get? When I search on ebay there seems to be many models, for example:

Cisco Catalyst 2950 24 Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950 12 Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950C 24 Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950G 24 EI DC Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950SX 48 SI Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950SX 24 Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950G 48 EI Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950G 24 EI Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950G 12 EI Switch
Cisco Catalyst 2950T 24 Switch

It gets to be confusing... could someone kindly suggest a model, or would they all work almost the same for my CCNA/CCNP study purposes?
Also the 1760 Router seems to only be one model, so that seems much easier to place an order for.

One last question if I may, Can I copy the newer IOS to these devices? I want to practice with up to date Cisco IOS software of course. I'm assuming there should be no problem reformatting one of these with a newer/latest IOS version correct? THANKS SO MUCH.