Wendell Odom's CCNP Build List?

Steakuddin

Thinking of getting this gear for CCNP. Go for it or no?

CCNP Build Lists

Thanks for reading.

/Regards

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Slowhand

As someone who owns five 1721 routers and a 2950 switch, I may be a little biased, but I'd say go for it. That's a great core-lab to go with, but I would recommend going for two 3550s and maybe pick up a couple of 2950s to round it out. You can do more with the layer-3 switches, and the 3550s are both affordable enough to pick up a couple of them and versatile enough that you can do almost everything that the SWITCH exam teaches you. (There are a couple of things you may need a 3560 or two for, but I don't know if it's worth the price to buy your own when you could just as easily rent some rack-time.)

alxx

2x3550 , 2x 2950 switches then gsn3 for the routers ? - save money

http://www.cbtnuggets.com/standalone?video=/freevideo/csco_642_902_02.mp4

1721 or 1751 or 1760's (or 2600xm or 3725 or 3745 or if you have the extra cash 1841's )

1721's are the smallest and quietest, 1751's slightly larger in height , 1760's if you want them rackable but don't mind a bit more noise (1841's are almost as quiet as the 1721)
1760's can take more ram.
For all of the 17xx try and find the later models that have a square with 32F in it - means they have 32MB flash
the earlier versions have only 16MB built in -more important for the 1721 and 1751 as the flash isn't upgradable

Other option is to use one of the available free labs.
freeccnaworkbook has pretty low use at the moment - 2 reservations for today and none in the future

vinbuck

Steakuddin wrote: »

Thinking of getting this gear for CCNP. Go for it or no?

CCNP Build Lists

Thanks for reading.

/Regards

2 x 3550 and 2 x 2950 - This is enough to do 90% of the labs in the SWITCH Cisco Net Academy Lab Manual. Use one of the free online labs to fill in the blanks on private VLANs.

ROUTE can be done entirely in GNS3.

Todd Burrell

I'm working on my CCNA and then plan to go on for the CCNP, so I looked at this plan before starting my purchases. The only thing I did different is I chose 3 2620XM routers because I got a good deal on them at the time. But right now I have 3X2620XM routers and 3X2950 for my switches. Once I pass the CCNA I plan on getting a couple of 3550's for the CCNP stuff.

And while you can do all of the routing with GNS3 there's just something about playing around with the actual router hardware that I like. Of course I still like hardcover books and an actual newspaper as well...

Overall the Odom build list for the CCNP lab looks good. Go for it and have fun - and use this forum for any issues. I've learned a great deal from everyone on here with both my Cisco and Microsoft exams...

vinbuck

Todd Burrell wrote: »

I'm working on my CCNA and then plan to go on for the CCNP, so I looked at this plan before starting my purchases. The only thing I did different is I chose 3 2620XM routers because I got a good deal on them at the time. But right now I have 3X2620XM routers and 3X2950 for my switches. Once I pass the CCNA I plan on getting a couple of 3550's for the CCNP stuff.

And while you can do all of the routing with GNS3 there's just something about playing around with the actual router hardware that I like. Of course I still like hardcover books and an actual newspaper as well...

Overall the Odom build list for the CCNP lab looks good. Go for it and have fun - and use this forum for any issues. I've learned a great deal from everyone on here with both my Cisco and Microsoft exams...

I am all for using actual gear but I decided not to for ROUTE for several reasons (i've got a full MPLS capable lab at work with a 32 port console server attached)

1) Flexibility - You can get away with 3 or 4 routers for ROUTE but with some difficulty. To really grasp the advanced routing concepts, it's helpful to build topologies with 5-10 routers or even more in some cases and for me it was a more efficient use of study time to drop routers onto a grid and drag a link between them and spend the time used hooking them up to actually study the concepts. ROUTE (unlike SWITCH) does not re-use topologies very often. If you lab from the FLG, you may spend an entire day re-cabling to lab your way through 5-10 pages.

2) Mobility - I saved many many hours by being able to pop my laptop open as I had time and work on a new lab or continue an existing one. Remote access to your lab can solve this problem partially, but you are limited to whatever topology you have cabled.

3) Diversity - Unless you have a wealth of hardware at you disposal, you will be able to work with more advanced technologies than some of the low-end EBAY stuff is capable of.

SWITCH is a whole other deal but the topologies remain pretty consistent so it's not as big of a deal and 4 switches will suffice.

Ltat42a

The other thing to consider if purchasing this particular lab equipment, are those 1721's capable of setting up Frame Relay & OSPF topologies?? The 1721's only have WIC slots in them. Is it possible to set up a "Hub & Spoke" topology on just a WIC?

alxx

I'm not sure

according to cisco it can only do dte frame relay links
"The Cisco 1700 router supports switched virtual circuits (SVCs) for DTE interfaces"
Cisco 1700 Series Router Software Configuration Guide - Networking Concepts for the Cisco 1700 Router* [Cisco 1700 Series Modular Access Routers] - Cisco Systems

you can do a back to back (hybrid) frame relay setup
Cisco: Routers - Problems with frame relay (Lab scenario)
Back-to-Back Frame Relay* [Frame Relay] - Cisco Systems
Back-to-Back Frame Relay Hybrid Switching* [Frame Relay] - Cisco Systems

configuring frame relay on 1700's
Cisco 1700 Series Router Software Configuration Guide - Configuring Frame Relay* [Cisco 1700 Series Modular Access Routers] - Cisco Systems

Cisco IOS Wide-Area Networking Configuration Guide, Release 12.1 - Configuring Frame Relay - Cisco Systems

Roguetadhg

I use the Boson NetSim. It's far from free and it's got quirks (ACLs don't disappear). Actually it's pretty tame, but it got me through CCENT and is working for CCNA. But I've already hit the contraints of what this program can do. It's windows, only.

I checked out GNS3, but it seems you'll need to buy atleast 1 of each type you want to emulate. Correct me if i'm wrong, please.

"As mentioned earlier, you must provide your own Cisco IOS to use with GNS3 due to licensing issues." Quick Start Guide for Windows Users - GNS3

geek4god

Go grab a 2610 none XM for $35 or less and a NM-4A/S and you have your Frame Relay.. Look for routers that already have a WIC-1T to save some money. Also think about the WIC-2T if you want to plug into the Frame Relay but also want a serial connection to another router. Sometimes you can get one WIC-2T for less than two WIC-1Ts.

Thing is you don’t need much to do CCENT/CCNA and as others have said you don’t need real gear. I prefer real gear as I think I have learned a lot trouble shooting upgrading IOSs, memory, etc. Your goal is to pass CCENT/CCNA and move on! Don’t let building a future proof lab get in the way. I have spent way to much time trying to build the perfect lab, time that I should have spent studding, taking and passing the test!

geek4god

I would also advice you to find a lab book that you want to use for your certs and build a lab that matches it. You can build a topology but then find that it does not match the labs you want to do.

I have not found a ton of CCENT labs that are complete but this one is pretty good.
CCNA Guides | Providing tools for your success! it now costs $12 and needs 3 routers and 3 switches.

For CCNA there are a ton of labs I am going to use this topology
Free CCNA Workbook

So you might look at some labs before you commit to a topology. And you can always change it up to meet a different topology requirement you might just have to add gear, cards, cables etc. So don’t feel like you are locked into just one!

alxx

The ccna guides were the ones from subnet192 (no longer free).
They are quite good.

Configuring the network
http://www.techexams.net/attachments..._techexams.pdf

Free ccna work book - they provide a very good free lab (not many people using it)
Free CCNA Workbook

Router Alley - Guides

how to network 101 labs (they spammed this site so their links are blocked)
http://www.************.net/public/department140.cfm

Yet Another Cisco Blog: Free CCNA Resources

Then get putty connection manager or putty session manger (putty with tabbed window for each terminal)
PuTTY: Extreme Makeover Using PuTTY Connection Manager