Another lab question...

joshmadakor

A little background... I'm currently an IT Analyst working for my state in higher education. I work primarily with Windows Server products and I don't have a lot of real, in depth network experience; I'm relatively new to Cisco.

That being said, I'm looking into building a home lab soon to begin my CCNA studies. I'm not sure how far I want to go with my Cisco studies, so I want to purchase equipment that will take me as far as possible. In other words, I want to avoid having my equipment I purchase for CCNA become obsolete as my studies progress through CCNP etc.

What I want to ask is this: Is it possible to procure routers/switches that will serve me well for CCNA but have the potential to carry me through CCIE? (Hypothetically speaking)

If it's possible, are there any real cons besides the price?
If it's not possible, why?

Thanks in advance, I searched but I didn't quite find an exact answer to my question--I didn't really know how to word it to produce valid results.

alxx

look at gsn3 first CBT Nuggets Player
gsn3 + a few switches 2950 for ccna, 3550's for ccnp.
gsn3 is an emulator that runs the real ios images.

You can buy hardware that will take your through to CCIE but I wouldn't buy any hardware until you are really sure you want to keep going with cisco networking.

I've built myself a lab that currently covers ccnp and covers the routers for ccie,
need a couple of better switches to cover the switch part of ccie(r&s).

To get a lab for ccna and ccnp you can get away with speeding as little as $300 or as much as $3000.

For icnd1 - packet tracer, gsn3, free labs (freeccna work book lab) maybe a couple of routers and switches.

If money is no object go for 2900 or 3900 routers and 3560 switches but 3 routers and 3 switches would cost you at least around $4000 to 10000
but its not going to benefit you much over older routers and switches .

If not
1721/1751/1760 / 2600xm / 1841
Can get 1721/1751 for as little as $10. 1760's are around $50(they are rackable).
With pdvm's the 1751 and 1760 are voice capable.
The 2600xm's can have a network module installed along with 2 wics(wan interface cards).
1841 are a bit more expensive and seen them going for around $150 - 220 the last couple of months(can't do voice but are very quiet,small and power efficient)
1900's are more expensive, 2900 even more.

Old equipment is quite power hungry.

For ccna 2950 switches and at least one 3550(L3).
For ccnp 3550's or better(at least two 3550's)
For ccie 3550's and at least 2 3560's - a lot of people buy/hire rack time just to cover this part.

Can get 2950's from $10 , 3550 from $150.

have a look at
CertSkills, LLC > Home
and
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/27576

Also look at the free labs
http://www.freeccnaworkbook.com/lab/
http://packetlife.net/lab/

Freeccna lab is down for a week as they are upgrading to 3725's from 2651xm's

joshmadakor

Thanks for all the wonderful information. (Rep'd++).
I really appreciate the time you took.. I will minimize my costs for CCNA with these suggestions and spend more if I decide to move on from that.