Is this a good lab and deal for CCENT-CCNP

Hi guys. I was just wondering if this would be a good lab to purchase for CCENT-CCNP or should I purchase it piece by piece?
ThanksCisco 3620 2950 CCENT CCNA CCNP Lab with 10U Rack | eBay

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

marho

Hello, I think that, it is not good lab for CCNP. Primary reason is that routers don't have IOS version 12.4. Secondary reason is, I think you will need one layer 3 switch (unfortunatelly it is most expensive part of lab) for example C3550.

I don't now what you want study, but if CCENT or CCNA you really don't need real lab.

Best Regards, Martin

cyberguypr

OP clearly stated his goal is CCENT-CCNP. Marho is right that you don't need a real lab for CCNA but for some people it makes a big difference. If the money is there to purchase it, I say go for it.

marho

I think from beginning is better study without real lab, reason is that everyone can stop with study (don't like it, very hard, ...). Next reason is, during studying he can change him specialization. That means that, he may want different lab. For example if I know that I will be study Voice specialization I will be choose lab with this requirement.

For CCNA GNS3 is really at high-level.

mgeorge

marho wrote: »

I think from beginning is better study without real lab, reason is that everyone can stop with study (don't like it, very hard, ...). Next reason is, during studying he can change him specialization. That means that, he may want different lab. For example if I know that I will be study Voice specialization I will be choose lab with this requirement.

For CCNA GNS3 is really at high-level.

If an individual is preparing for the CCNA and they dont understand the fundemental functionality of GNS3 or any other virtualization technology than they are clearly in the wrong field. As a network engineer you want to have some exeperience with virtualization as it is becoming the defacto standard among datacenters and large corporations.

Among other things, building a topology in GNS3 is easier than building a topology in Microsoft Visio. I've seen great engineers get fired because they cannot use visio well enough to document their work for other team members. An example being, a co worker who got shown the door after a major outage and he was on vacation and he did created no documentation whatsoever of his work. The company lost thousands during the down time.

I personally would NEVER hire a CCNA who has never touched a real Cisco device or could not tell me exactly what command would make a Cisco switch the root bridge for vlan 20.

I always tell my students before spending money on Cisco equipment to give GNS3 a try to see if they'll even like working with Cisco or if its "too hard" for them. No sense in spending hundreds of dollars only to find out its too hard and quit a week later with $500 dollars in stuff you'll never use and have a hard time getting your money back out of.

marho

to mgeorge:

of course that I agree with you

. It is my bad English

. With "high-level" I thought, that it is maximum for CCNA level, he don't need more for now.

Martin

beach5563

Thanks so much. I just wanted to get feedback. I have taken quite a few hands on cisco classes years ago and have been in IT on the telecom side for years. Its just that I know its good for some people to have the real thing. Personally either way is cool with me. I was thinking using Packet Tracer for CCENT and maybe if I get working in the cisco atmosphere maybe building a lab or get GNS3 since I will probably be around the real stuff at work anyway, hopefully : ).

alxx

To expensive for what it is.

3620's aren't the best as you can't load the more recent ios versions (lack of ram and flash)

If you are going to buy routers
at a minimum you are looking for 1721 ,1751 , 1760 and 2600xm's
see http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/72553-lab-equipment-recommendations-2012-lab-equipment-recommendations-2012-la.html

schmalz2

mgeorge wrote: »

Among other things, building a topology in GNS3 is easier than building a topology in Microsoft Visio. I've seen great engineers get fired because they cannot use visio well enough to document their work for other team members. An example being, a co worker who got shown the door after a major outage and he was on vacation and he did created no documentation whatsoever of his work. The company lost thousands during the down time.

Do you have any resources to suggest to learn how to use Visio for network diagrams? I've been playing around with it but can't find many tutorials.

effekted

Stay away from buying prebuilt labs on ebay or other sites. Instead do your research, search these forums as it's been discussed many times. Wendell Odom has a blog where he even gets tips on building a lab. When you have a good idea of what you need then start monitoring those models on ebay, if you're patient you can snag some stuff at cheap prices. Even if you aren't patient and just go with the Buy it Now price. CCNA you will want atleast 2-3 switches and 2-3 routers if you can (switches for sure, worst case you can use GNS3 for your routers), so look at what people are using for a CCNP lab and then just get a couple of those switches and routers, not all of what they have but enough to get you through CCNA and as you progress you can continue picking up additional equipment.