CCNA Lab Simulation - I need your advice please!

fmadhoun

Hi CCNA folk,

I am planning to prepare for CCNA exam as self study, I have the "Official Exam Certification Guide, 2nd edition by Wendell Odom" from Cisco Press.
Now I am looking for a free or low price CCNA network simulator that helps with the preparation journey.

Any advice is highly appreciated.

rickinyorkshire

Packet Tracer? Or if you want more detail and configuration you could try GNS3. GNS3 | Graphical Network Simulator

GeeGeez0rz

Packet Tracer is excellent in my opinion. It has a majority of the commands your going to need for the CCNA, whereas GNS3 really suffers with Switching.

For a few things, Router based, GNS3 is excellent.

I personally use both, as I can cover all topics with the required commands.

With GNS3 you will need to get IOS images for your routers

whatthehell

Any thoughts on this?

Cisco Network Simulation Software | IT Practice Exams | IT Training | Boson

asoft

fmadhoun wrote: »

Hi CCNA folk,

I am planning to prepare for CCNA exam as self study, I have the "Official Exam Certification Guide, 2nd edition by Wendell Odom" from Cisco Press.
Now I am looking for a free or low price CCNA network simulator that helps with the preparation journey.

Any advice is highly appreciated.

You can look in to the a few more sources:
CertExams.com Network Simulator Designer
Boson's NetSim NetSim 8.0 Cisco Network Simulator & Router Simulator

As I understand, GNS requires Cisco IOS image to use it. For a beginner, the above sources are good to start with.

Apart from the above, Packet Tracer is available from Cisco for Network Academy students.

Mierdin

Boson NetSim is good, and is almost as close and you can get to the look and feel of the real thing.

GNS3 is in my opinion a bit overkill for CCENT/CCNA, because it requires actual IOS images, and in many cases, the NetSim or PacketTracer products do everything you need, since they are actual educational tools. GNS3 is my environment of choice when I want to build something physical and want to make sure it works before I start purchasing equipment.

Chris_

GNS3 combined with a couple of real switches that's my suggestion. 2950 switches will suffice for the CCNA and they're dirt cheap on ebay. better to spend the cash on some real kit and maybe a couple of NICs for your PC than shell out for the Boson product.

Get packet tracer aswell, it's good for some stuff

whatthehell

Stupid question, and I know it sounds like I am being lazy, but does anyone know a list of Cisco Routers/Switches and their compatible IOS versions?

fmadhoun

Great appreciation for your support.

I haven't tried packet tracer before but it seems to be good one since it is used by CCNA instructors and people recommend it.

GNS is also good for router simulation but the problem is that it is lacking for switching which is critical for me, as well as it overloads the CPU.

Chris_

fmadhoun wrote: »

Great appreciation for your support.

I haven't tried packet tracer before but it seems to be good one since it is used by CCNA instructors and people recommend it.

GNS is also good for router simulation but the problem is that it is lacking for switching which is critical for me, as well as it overloads the CPU.

It doesn't overload your CPU if you follow the set up guides from the GNS3 site properly, especially for the kind of topologies you would be using for CCNA - and as for switches - buy a couple like I said, 2950 - they're really cheap!!!