CCNA Home Lab: What else do I need?

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Hi guys, I'm getting ready to start working on my CCNA. I've decided to build a home lab, I have a friend who works in an IT department and he got me the following equipment:

1 Cisco 1841 router with IOS 12.4
1 Cisco 2621XM router with IOS 12.3
1 Cisco 3524XL switch

I have no prior experience with routers or switches, and I was wondering, what else do I need? I was planning on having 3 routers and 3 switches, that should be enough to cover all CCNA topics right? Neither of the routers have serial ports, so I need to buy WIC cards. I read that I need 1 router with 2 serial ports, and the others can just have 1, so I guess that means 4 WIC cards if I have 3 routers.

Also, I read that the CCNA focuses on the 2950 switch, will I run into a problem if I use the 3524XL switch? I think I'll buy 2 2950s off ebay would that be a good idea?

As far as the IOS goes, is it best if all the routers use the same version? I was planning on putting 12.4T on the 1841, and I think the 2621 has enough memory for 12.4T. The 2621 seems like a "clunker" compared to the 1841, but free is free.

Also I only received a console cable from my friend. What other cables do I need and how many of each, assuming I have 3 routers and 3 switches, and 1 router has 2 serial ports and the others have 1? Is there a better place than eBay to get the cables?

Also, I didn't get any rack brackets, so I need to buy some. Again is there a better place than eBay to get them? Here is the rack I'm planning on getting:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000CD1R84

Besides an extra router, 2 more switches, and the WIC serial cards is there anything else that would be useful? Someone mentioned an Access Server, what's the benefit of using one of those? I had planned on spending 300-400 on this lab, and I got this stuff for free, so I'm up for adding anything that people think will be useful. I don't plan on continuing on to a CCNP, but I'll probably do the CCNA security at some point.

Thanks.

alxx

Thsts a good score to get those for free.

Definitely get the 2950 switches , as the 3524 is getting a bit old.

As you aren't planning to go on after ccna, you might want to use gsn3 to provide the additional routers , and just buy a couple of 2950 switches

Don't forget cables for the wics.
wic2t's have two interfaces per serial wic. You will want each router to have two serial interfaces (1 wic2t for each) so you can
interconnect them to each other for some labs (router triangle) and one to have 4.
CCNA Topologiesor could get an nm4as or nm8as for the 2621xm (can be cheaper to get an older router for use as a frame relay switch)

Each router and switch has a console connection , which makes for plenty of serial connections.
Instead of connecting them to your pc, you plug them into an access server (or module) and use that to access the routers and switches.

They can be a bit pricey especially the nm16 or nm32 modules. 2509/2511 are routers that can be used as access servers.
Can also get other brand serial servers , lantronix etc

May want to get a couple of usb2serial adaptors if you don't have a pc with serial ports.
I use the easy sync ones, work on mac , windows and linux USB to Serial Adapter