Advice for a lab

GOZCU

Hello all, I am CCENT and will be CCNA in a month ( i hope so)

I started to take Network classes at my university ( studying Computer science) and now feeling like flying. there is nothing like hands on experience. From now on, I decided to have a real lab at my home and asking for advice to all of you. Looking for a lab which will get me through CCNP. My professor was not so much interested in my question about a real lab, wanted me to continue with GNS3 .

So guys, what do u think about this lab.

Cisco CCNA & CCNP Lab for Cisco Exams 2x 2620XM Router, 2610XM Router,2x WS-2950 | eBay

odysseyelite

Most on the forum will tell you to not to bother with pre-built labs. You will learn much more about the hardware by doing the research and you usually save money in the long run. I was in the same boat as you when I started taking the ccna classes. I wanted to build a lab that I could continue to use for CCNP. I first went out and thought I got a great deal on some 2500's only to find out they were only good for the CCNA.

After some research I started buying 3640's, 2600xm's. The 1760's are also good models. You need to be able to run 12.4T IOS.

For swithes you will need 2950's for CCNA\CCNP and for CCNP you will need a couple of 3550's.

For the CCNP ROUTE exam several people also recommend using GNS3.

I would suggest reading through the forum. There are already several posts and links about building a home lab for CCNA and CCNP.

Greenmet29

what odysseyelite said... and keep an eye out at your local recycle center... i've found stuff there a couple times that really surprised me!