CCNP lab ideas

hey guys. I have like 7 x 1760 routers with all 12.4(15)T10 on them adv enterprise. and 5 switches 3 x 2950s and 2 x 3550s..I have an ASA 5505 and a soho 831 router....is this good enough for the new SWITCH/Route and tshooot CCNP topics for at least another year? or are these routers and switches too old for it?

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Bl8ckr0uter

What cards? More than likely you have way more than enough. Some might say you might want to pick a 3560 switch but I think you have enough.

MrBrian

I think the main thing is that you have the 12.4T ios. And as long as you have some serial interfaces and what not you should be fine to set up everything. I can't remember the exact features that the new 12.4T has over 12.4, but there's something, lol.

I am jealous though cause I got some 2600xm series routers a few weeks ago when I started getting serious about my home lab, but they came with 12.4, not 12.4T.. but at least they support it.. So now I'm researching and having to order the memory upgraded. Oh well.. I've learned so much about the different series of routers, the different NM's, wic's, and ios's.. so that's pretty cool..

itdaddy

I got lucky like 1 year ago and found 1760s for like 40 bucks a piece so I grabbed 5 of them boosted the memory on them as well.

I was looking at 1841s would love 2800s but no way can I or want to afford 1600.00 2800 routers each...I was looking at 1841s and they were not tooo bad 300 each but still looking yeah 3560s have not gotten lower in price but will keep looking...thanks guys

nel

imo thats enough. You can easily incorporate GNS3 in there for additional devices. you dont really need the asa for route/switch. Theres some good lab guides about such as the CCNP lab manual to help you learn.

BrizoH

I was given a 2811 by an old company I worked for (they wound up)

I'm torn between selling it (as I can do most of my CCNP studies on GNS3) or keeping it just in case...

itdaddy

has gns3 gotten better I use to have problems ajusting my was it PCL setting for the CPU or something like that mine would never stay I would have to always adjust them. I did like it for the cool notation you could do like labeling things that was great...has it improved???

meaing have then added different devices like a 2811 or 1841 type in there? or are the types they have sufficient for 12.4T and 12.5 ???
hasnt 12.5 IOS out already???

BrizoH

I'm not sure about 12.5, although there's definitely a 15 - 12.4 is fine for CCNP as far as I'm aware.

Once you have your Idle PC values configured in GNS3 it's pretty stable - after a while you get used to saving early and often just in case though!

nel

in GNS3 i use the 3700 model. In windows once you find the idle-pc value the performance isnt bad. Although, GNS3 on my mac is way way better than ive ever experienced on the equivalent windows pc.

itdaddy

nel I have to get me a mac damn it hahha I have seen so many people
have better perfromance on the MAC vs Windows.
thanks man!

Bl8ckr0uter

How do you calculate the idle pc values?

nel

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

How do you calculate the idle pc values?

You can put manual values in, but ive never looked into how/if you can calculate them this way. So i just right click the device, select the Idle PC option. GNS3 will then begin calculating and i just select one of the values it calculates until i get the best performance on my laptop (obviously comparing against the performance monitors in each OS). I always find windows runs like a dog using GNS3 compared to my Mac, even though the are the same spec, just different OS's. My mac can run about 12-13 routers, without idle pc tweaks, without even breaking sweat. My PC simply has a heart attack and dies on most occasions

. im putting the latter down to the need for further tweaking tbh.

bermovick

It may just be me, but on a new install of GNS3, usually after finding an 'initial' idle-pc value, if I check back in an hour or so, the cpu will have creeped back up, and I have to do it a second time. Weird I know. So I've gotten into the habit of just taking a peek at cpu usage occasionally to see if I need to re-tweak the value.

There's also the idlemax value that you have to manually put into the net file (or dynamips itself) which is supposed to give even more drastic cpu savings. I've never needed it (yet).