Possibly an overkill for the labs?

craigaaron

Hi All,

I am going to be finishing my ICND 2 soon, and wondered if my lab is good enough to get me through my CCNP and CCIP?

It consists off

4x2950-t
3x3550-emi

4x2620XMs with 2wic-t and 1wict and nm-1fe2w with 256ram and 48meg flash

2522 for frame relay
2511 for remote access

2x2811s which i have just got both contain 2wic-t and one contains fxo and fxs

also i have laying around E1 cards for my routers 1st gen and 2nd gens

what you guys think? do i need anymore? or do i need less?

thanks

ps its a pain when you get the cisco bug for getting hardware :P

NetworkVeteran

For CCNP, the routers are just about right. 4 routers + an access server + a frame relay switch can do most topologies. The switches, on the other hand, are simultaneusly "overkill" and "miss some objectives".

For CCNP, the switches are poorly aligned. All the CCNP SWITCH topologies I've run across require two distribution switches and two access switches. 2x3550 and 2x2950 can fill that role, leaving those extra three switches a waste. Furthermore, private VLANs requires 3560s, so you'd have been better off with 2x3560 + 2x2950 instead of those three extra switches.

For CCNP TSHOOT, you need 2x2950, 2x3550, 5xrouter, 1xframe-relay switch, 2xserver, and 2xclient to match the lab topoogy. If you sub the 3550 for one router, you'll only need to scrounge up four PC-like devices. I only spent a few hours learning this topology. It's doable, but you'll have lots of overhead compared to GNS, which hopefully you'll find enjoyable / educational.

For CCIP::MPLS, to run a basic (CE1/CE2)-PE-P-PE-(CE1/CE2) setup, you'd want at least 7 devices. On the plus side, if you could recruit those 3550s as LSRs/BGP-speakers, you'd be okay. The MPLS labs I'm doing are more complex, one requiring 8 devices and another requiring 15 devices. But you should be only at a slight disadvantage compared to GNS users.

blindrox

Careful with the 2620xm and the nm-1fe2w. I bought 4 of them to go in my 4 2620XM only to discover they weren't supported in the 2620 specifically. Other 2600 models can use them - but I think the 2620xm doesn't like em.

This really bummed me out - because I was then stuck with 1 FastE port on each of my routers.

JeanM

What about using a 3640 instead, can run 12.4 as well?

craigaaron

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

For CCNP, the routers are just about right. 4 routers + an access server + a frame relay switch can do most topologies. The switches, on the other hand, are simultaneusly "overkill" and "miss some objectives".

For CCNP, the switches are poorly aligned. All the CCNP SWITCH topologies I've run across require two distribution switches and two access switches. 2x3550 and 2x2950 can fill that role, leaving those extra three switches a waste. Furthermore, private VLANs requires 3560s, so you'd have been better off with 2x3560 + 2x2950 instead of those three extra switches.

For CCNP TSHOOT, you need 2x2950, 2x3550, 5xrouter, 1xframe-relay switch, 2xserver, and 2xclient to match the lab topoogy. If you sub the 3550 for one router, you'll only need to scrounge up four PC-like devices. I only spent a few hours learning this topology. It's doable, but you'll have lots of overhead compared to GNS, which hopefully you'll find enjoyable / educational.

For CCIP::MPLS, to run a basic (CE1/CE2)-PE-P-PE-(CE1/CE2) setup, you'd want at least 7 devices. On the plus side, if you could recruit those 3550s as LSRs/BGP-speakers, you'd be okay. The MPLS labs I'm doing are more complex, one requiring 8 devices and another requiring 15 devices. But you should be only at a slight disadvantage compared to GNS users.

Thanks i will get rid of 2x2950's and 1x3550

I have 2 servers a 1850 and 2950 also i have 2 laptops for clients

craigaaron

blindrox wrote: »

Careful with the 2620xm and the nm-1fe2w. I bought 4 of them to go in my 4 2620XM only to discover they weren't supported in the 2620 specifically. Other 2600 models can use them - but I think the 2620xm doesn't like em.

This really bummed me out - because I was then stuck with 1 FastE port on each of my routers.

They work for me i can use them fine, maybe the IOS version i am using is different?