Official CCIE Build Your Home Lab Thread
Greetings folks, I'm making this thread in hopes that it can be a one stop shop for reference to build the home lab successfully, any modifications discussion etc. I myself am in the process of building the lab but would like some advice.
Is it wise to just emulate the routers on gns 3 and then add the 4 physical switches via card?
If the lab is fully built, what order would be best to buy? I was thinking 1 router, 1 switch and repeat until I am able to build out.
Below are the ine specs being used: Copyright INE
R1 2610XM 128 MB 32 MB 32 KB two WIC-1T
R2 2610XM 128 MB 32 MB 32 KB two WIC-1T
R3 2611XM 128 MB 32 MB 32 KB one NM-4A/S
R4 1841 256 MB 64 MB 191 KB two WIC-1T
R5 1841 256 MB 64 MB 191 KB two WIC-1T
R6 1841 256 MB 64 MB 191 KB two WIC-1T
SW1 3560-24TS-E
SW2 3560-24TS-E
SW3 3550-24-EMI
SW4 3550-24-EMI
3 bb routers
Thanks
Useful links for different options:
How to build hybrid ccie lab with GNS3 - IEOC - INE's Online Community
CCIE Lab using GNS3 and Quad NICs for Switches - YouTube
Useful discussion links:
Dynamips to real switches with QinQ support « Bridging the gap between CCIE RS and SP
7200emu.hacki.at :: View topic - What's more efficient:1 NIC--> QinQ or multiply NICs?
* Will update with progress of lab
Is it wise to just emulate the routers on gns 3 and then add the 4 physical switches via card?
If the lab is fully built, what order would be best to buy? I was thinking 1 router, 1 switch and repeat until I am able to build out.
Below are the ine specs being used: Copyright INE
R1 2610XM 128 MB 32 MB 32 KB two WIC-1T
R2 2610XM 128 MB 32 MB 32 KB two WIC-1T
R3 2611XM 128 MB 32 MB 32 KB one NM-4A/S
R4 1841 256 MB 64 MB 191 KB two WIC-1T
R5 1841 256 MB 64 MB 191 KB two WIC-1T
R6 1841 256 MB 64 MB 191 KB two WIC-1T
SW1 3560-24TS-E
SW2 3560-24TS-E
SW3 3550-24-EMI
SW4 3550-24-EMI
3 bb routers
Thanks
Useful links for different options:
How to build hybrid ccie lab with GNS3 - IEOC - INE's Online Community
CCIE Lab using GNS3 and Quad NICs for Switches - YouTube
Useful discussion links:
Dynamips to real switches with QinQ support « Bridging the gap between CCIE RS and SP
7200emu.hacki.at :: View topic - What's more efficient:1 NIC--> QinQ or multiply NICs?
* Will update with progress of lab
Comments
I have since replaced the 3640's with 1841's, and my pair of 3560's to make my lab entirely INE compliant should be arriving this week. I find it alot less hassle to just turn on the rack and drop in the pre-configs without having to edit interface names. It may end up being cheaper to go the GNS3 route, but given the time investment of the CCIE, I prefer to work on real equipment. No one ever said this crap would be cheap, but the potential ROI is *very* good given the CCIE's upside.... as long as you can finish.
For full lab/ how hot does it get with all that power? My concern would be is it just too much power consumption for a home.
Thanks!
Back to studying
CCIE Lab using GNS3 and Quad NICs for Switches - YouTube
Keenon,
You used 4 usb nics?
james,
thanks for links! will update first post
also don't use 2500's for BB routers like they say. 2600 non xm's are dirt cheap and do the job better and don't need transceivers etc
no problem. let us know how it goes.
4 lol, not even close the box has 2 per router = 12 and then 3 for the backbone routers
I don't use any usb hubs in my setup. I helped a friend build one that had usb hubs but they were also using a laptop with their setup. Usb hubs need to be the external powered type as each nic draws power.
if you want specific hardware I can recommend what i'm using in my setup.
My box (the box is a custom build but you can get them anywhere these days)
quad core, 4gb ram, hard drive size doesn't matter but the box needs to have at least 3 pci slots for 3 4 port usb cards(use the same cards).
option B:
if your using a laptop make sure its a quad core with 4gb ram and at least 4 usb slots. you will need to purchase 2 7 port usb powered hubs. that will provide 14 connections
usb nics: I recommend exclusively using the rocketfish wii lan adapters, you can get these from anywhere from $3-8 each the chipset in the card is the same used in cisco's usb nic and many other vendors (one of the last nic's i added was a cisco usb nic)
OS: i know one person using vista and it works. As for me being this box not being used for anything else except this i run w2k3 enterprise edition (it is super stable for this type of setup)
switches well can't get you much help on the costs of those but as of late the resellers are selling 3560s for about 400
[edit] I guess it's called a breakout switch - found some information after a quick google: Dynamips to real switches with QinQ support « Bridging the gap between CCIE RS and SP
Current goal: Dunno
And stuff like this is another reason why I prefer working on real equipment. Having to work on your equipment occasionally is cool and provides some learning experiences, except that fiddling with an emulation environment doesn't provide a whole lot of benefit if you want to be a network engineer (different ball game for sysadmins, though)
Oh, I'm certainly not disputing that there's more than one way to do something, but I respectfully disagree that all experience is of equal value, especially if some of those experiences end up distracting from the end goal, and are only applicable to your learning environment. Being able to be a dynamips ninja is not exactly a marketable skill.
Current goal: Dunno
I understand where you're coming from since nothing beats the real deal. It just saves some cash to get the gns working. How much is your power bill with all those physical routers? Cost is not the only factor. I am still leaning towards the gns solution at the moment but it might not be the best if there is stability problems and other strange quirks. I don't want to waste too much time with configuration woes, hence this thread to be of some help!
What rack mounting solution are you using? I have seen a cheap 19" rack on ebay
skeletek These are the best racks for the price.
It's actually not that much. My pair of ESXi servers are a bigger draw on the power than the CCIE rack (they're Proliant DL360's with redundant power supplies, so yeah, they use some juice). Heat generation is an issue, however, the lab room gets a tad bit uncomfortable during summer.
For a rack, I'm using a 48U two post rack that I, ah.... liberated from a former employer when we moved the data center.
What I would sincerely recommend is this - go over to INE's IEOC site, and pay attention to the workbook 2 forums, since INE released a dynamips version of the workbook. Take a look at all the strange problems folk run into when trying to work through the labs, and decide whether or not that the cost savings is worth that to you.
This is where part of my contention comes from. It's not. Dealing with dynamips emulation issues is not a prime skill for a network engy. I used to use it for quick and dirty proof of concept labs, but IOU has replaced it for that role. When you've got to work on gns3/dynamips instead of studying, you're sacrificing the opportunity to learn something relevant to something that will ultimately be negligible in your career. I have never once in my life resolved an actual operational problem because I knew how to work around issues with gns3/dynamips. Real networks aren't emulated.
The only benefit to gns3/dynamips is cost and space. Anything else is just a rationalization. I personally prefer to go ahead and invest in real gear, since I feel that's important to my career development, but I'd like to stress that is *my* preference, and I do not think that people who choose the emulation route are incorrect for doing so.
the one thing i do love about it is that you can build custom lab topo. I have one that is 17 routers purely for testing on 1 pc.
here is one of the many i have built