Home lab - how does this sound?

oli356

Hi guys, thought I would ask before I purchase.

1* 3620 + wic-1t + nm-1fe2w
1* 1721 + wic-1t (with the latest software 12.4 advanced enterprise services like the 2600xm) 128MB mem/32 flash
1* 2503 router as frame relay switch (don't quite understand this as I haven't learnt about it)

2* 2950 with 12.1-22
1* pix 506e


£120 including delivery (185 usd) for an extra £20 (30usd) I can also get a third 2950.
how does this sound? Price wise it seems OK for the amount of equipment, but how are the routers? Also need db60 cables on top.

Thanks in advance

alxx

It sounds rather pricey.

How much ram and flash in the 3620 ?

Not sure its worth getting the pix 506e.

oli356

Doesnt say in the description.

Think I'm going to look at gns3, if I'm going to need so much equipment for everything and I can do it in a simulation it's better than spending money..

alxx

packet tracer and gsn3 are a good start.

CBT Nuggets

Don't forget the free online labs like freeccnaworkbook.com and packetlife.net
http://packetlife.net/lab/
http://www.freeccnaworkbook.com/lab/schedule-portal/
http://www.freeccnaworkbook.com/lab/faqs/

GSN3 isn't a simulator as it runs real ios images - it only covers routers

gsn3 + a few switches (couple of cheap 2950's to start with) Can get a 2950 from around $20 (have picked a couple up at $10ea).

When getting hardware don't be in a rush, work out a list of what you want and what you want to pay and what your maximum price is
and stick to it.

Having hardware if you don't work with cisco gear is worth it

oli356

Thanks for the links, I will listen to Jeremy talk about it...how hard are the iOS images to get hold of? I guess I would just need 1 or 2 images anyway?

Good how you can plug in hardware as well, very clever. Would you recommend buying a couple of switches then? Seems like they are at least 40 Aussie dollars each.

alxx

find what the latest image is then google a particular image


Yes a couple of switches 2950's or better (2960 or 3550 etc). 2950 or 2950T - avoid the sx and fx versions unless you particularly want them (they use fibre )

see the top pic in https://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/15235-post-your-lab-pics-30.html
(I've added another 1841 to the stack )

oli356

Someone has a lot of equipment! Though if you can for a good price then why not, especially if you want to keep progressing.

Will have a look at the switches, unless there's a good enough reason to buy better switches than the 2950s I won't bother.

Any recommendation on what router images to get?
Thanks

alxx

2950's are fine to start with, unless you can get 3550's cheap


Have a look at which images/routers the gsn3 docs recommend Hardware emulated by GNS3 - GNS3

Then use cisco feature navigator to find out the latest or decent images for that router Cisco Feature Navigator - Cisco Systems
then google

eg for 1760 -> 12.4T -> all releases
Cisco Feature Navigator - Cisco Systems

then work out which ios release is needed.
You usually want one with cyrpto (has k9 in the name)

see ios on Lab Gear
CCNA Router IOS Features


If you prefer linux gsn3 work bench is a good option
http://rednectar.net/gns3-workbench/

oli356

OK will take a look later at the routers. The 3550 on ebay are 156 AUD at least! A lot more expensive.

Found a 2950 WS-C2950 24 port switch ending in 20 minutes, currently only 18 AUD including shipping so will keep an eye on that one.
Thanks

MrBishop

All that gear looks great but it's really not needed and will just cost you money that isn't necessary for studying for setting up a lab. Good ole GNS3 is actually incorporated into much of the workbooks nowadays from each major venders. I know how much you want to purchase equipment but its costly to buy and run for hours. Also there is another well known simulator that is used in Linux vmware that is excellent for all you practice needs.

oli356

Exactly Bishop, the feeling of having a lab would be so much nicer than using emulations but back to reality! The electricity bill is already expensive enough ha. Well I've just purchased 1 WS-C2950 for £23 (35 AUD & 35 USD), a bit cheaper than the others.. Will stil buy a second anyway and that will be it. Going to download GNS3 now, watch the Nugget video about it and get some IOS images

MrBishop

Sounds like a plan

Ltat42a

oli356 wrote: »

Going to download GNS3 now, watch the Nugget video about it and get some IOS images

The images you get for GNS3, are these you can use on real equipment?

oli356

Ltat42a wrote: »

The images you get for GNS3, are these you can use on real equipment?

Yup, that what seems to make it such a good emulator. So if you had a router you could do a "copy flash ftp" (I think I've got that the right way around. I presume you have to type the flash file name, it goes to the ftp server. Then you could use this in GNS3.

Ltat42a

Kewl. Where can I get the router images from?

Thanx...

oli356

alxx wrote: »

find what the latest image is then google a particular image

Going to look myself after my lunch

oli356

I'm still so tempted to buy a physical lab! Ahhh.. but it's like I can do everything I need to within GNS3/packet tracer.

I've bought 2 physcial switches, I just watched a video on how to use them within GNS3. It requires plugging them into the ethernet port on the back of my PC. Well this means I will only be able to use 1 switch within GNS3, unless I buy USB > Ethernet adaptors but these are like half the price of a switch each.

I guess if I didn't have the switches, packet tracer could be used for learning about VLANs and stuff like that..

Also I can't get the terminal program to change in GNS3, not sure why.

astrogeek

I definitely know what you mean about having a physical lab, I think that is just the inner geek in us screaming "get the real thing!!" haha

If you plan on continuing up through CCNP after CCNA then you can definitely start building a lab. 2950s are good and you should be able to resell them later on, but if you can afford a 3550 or two then you'll have those ready for when you start getting into layer 3 stuff for CCNP. You can definitely connect a physical switch to a computer running GNS3, the main thing is just having enough connections. I ended up going quite a bit overboard for what I really need, but just to give you an idea of what is possible here is what I've got at home:

I have 4 3550 switches all with an EMI image providing full layer 3 capabilities connected to a Dell 2850 PowerEdge server. You could just use a regular PC if you wanted, but the server was $250, the PC I would have built would have cost at least twice that. On the picture in the back you'll see I have 3 quad NIC cards (Adaptec) giving me 12 connections from the switches to the server where I run GNS3. Most of the time I don't need that many, but this design is based on a CCIE lab (not that I'm even close to starting that headache lol)

At the very top I have an APC PDU that lets me remotely turn everything on and off so I'm not wasting power, and the whole thing is bridged wirelessly to a router inside the house so this can stay in the garage and not scare the crap out of my cat when I turn it on from work. It's also nice on those hot summer days to be able to access it from inside an air conditioned room!

That's just to give you an idea of what is possible, right now I console into the switches from the Dell server, but that's a bit of a pain so I'm considering getting a console server to make things easier. But even with all that stuff if I'm only testing out routing then I just stick with GNS3 on my work laptop - I never use either of the two 2600xm routers in the rack, I might use one for voice when I get around to it, but for now I mostly just use the switches and the Dell server.

oli356

Looking neat! Thanks for the reply. Well hopefuly by the time I have completed my CCNA and if I want to do the CCNP instead of doing security or voice I will have finished college and have a job/apprenticeship. Fingers crossed my interview with Cisco next month for a apprenticeship.

I gave in...!

3 2950s and 3 1760 routers (4 WIC-1Ts)..... spent more than I wanted to but oh well. The inner geek is screaming for sure! Now I need to buy an 8 slot power strip as my 4 won't have enough sockets, along with the 6 I use for my computer! Going to have to **** all of it on the floor out of line of sight =( but no where else to put them.. only if I had space and money for one of those racks hehe.

sratakhin

2 astrogeek: your setup looks really impressive.

astrogeek

If you can get into an apprenticeship with Cisco that would be an incredible opportunity. You'd probably learn more in 2 months than what I've learned in 2 years at my current job! Also, if money is an issue don't discredit Packet Tracer, it's not perfect but its free and works just fine for learning CCNA material. Hell, I had a co-worker doing some voice stuff I didn't know it was capable of!

Thanks sratakhin, when I get bored of reading the Cisco books I start buying more equipment to keep me interested (and poor) lol

oli356

Indeed, 3 years with them and after that I would hope a job! They've asked everyone to revise certain topics as engineers will ask us questions in the interview, the point being to see how much you can learn by self-study. I should know most of it, but there were a few things I don't know about! Well some of the routing protocols, I've heard of like OSPF and can configure RIP, heard of EIGRP, IGRP but the Netware, IBM one etc I will need to research.

• Fiber Distributed Data Interface
• IBM Systems Network Architecture Routing
• NetWare Link-Services Protocol
• Open System Interconnection Routing Protocol
• Open Shortest Path First
• Routing Information Protocol
• Border Gateway Protocol
• Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
• Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
• Xerox Network Systems

"Difference between a routed and routing protocol." I also have no idea what a routed protocol even is...?

Year 1 of apprenticeship: undertake a foundation in technology (eg.PC support, Lan design and configuration, business studies, CCNA ect).
2+3: 6 to 9 month rotations within the business. In addition to the Higher Apprenticeship qualification, they will also undertaken Project Management, ITIL, CCNP courses and Kepner Tregoe (KT) training internally.

spd3432

astrogeek wrote: »

At the very top I have an APC PDU that lets me remotely turn everything on and off so I'm not wasting power, and the whole thing is bridged wirelessly to a router inside the house so this can stay in the garage and not scare the crap out of my cat when I turn it on from work. It's also nice on those hot summer days to be able to access it from inside an air conditioned room!

Astrogeek --
What are you using for the wireless bridge? I've got most of my kit (switches & 2620s) in the garage (wife kicked me out of the house due to the noise) and two 1721s in my 'office' (much quieter). When I'm working on switch setups I'll drag the laptop down and plug headphones in so I don't have to listen to the noise from the fans. It would be nice to be able to run everything in the garage remotely.

astrogeek

On top of the Skeletek rack I have an old Linksys router that I'm using as a wireless bridge connected to my main wireless router inside the house. It's running DD-WRT software, but most wireless routers should be able to be setup as a wireless bridge. Once you have it setup as a wireless bridge then any of the RJ-45 ports on the back will be on your home network so it's just a matter of picking IPs for each device and you should be able to connect from inside your house.

On my lab I only need the Dell server and APC connected to the Linksys, the switches have USB-to-console cable converters connected to the Dell server which also acts as an access server.....however, I just bought an access server because sometimes I just want to use the switches so turning on the Dell server just for that is a bit of a pain - plus I get a lot of delay so I'm hoping the access server will be more responsive.

This video might help if you don't know how to setup a wireless bridge, it's specific for DD-WRT software though

oli356

Got my first switch in the post today... god its louder than I thought it would be. Though on bootup it sounds like its dying, it got better after a few minutes but still sounds quite unhealthy

Wonder how loud it will be once all 3 switches and 3 routers are on! On top of my already loud computer haha.

oli356

This is ridiculous. I bought a cheap serial to USB adaptor from ebay as my PC has no serial port. I've spent the last 3 hours reinstalling different drivers trying to get it to work.. No luck, I managed on my parents computer though (not useful)... the same driver won't work on mine though.

Also one of the routers has a username and password, need to try and figure out how to reset the config so it's gone!

prtech

Unfortunately, you've already bought it. I was in your shoes and bought a kit as well. Two 2950s and three 2620XMs. Once I started using GNS3, I haven't touched my home lab. If I knew then what I know now, I would have just bought a couple of 3550s.

spd3432

Fortunately, I've got a computer store only an hour out of my way when commuting to/from work That said, I'm using this usb->serial adapter. I don't know if they will ship to the UK or if it's available locally to you. However, there is a driver disk (mini-cd) included in the package and I haven't had any problems with those drivers on any of the computers I use.

And lots of info is available about how to recover the password on Cisco routers.

oli356

Yup need to look into password recovery, but because it's a username and password isn't this not considered a normal 'enable password'? The switch could use a iOS update anyway, which I'm not sure how to do either.

I've ordered a PCI serial card so will use that instead. I presume I'll be connecting over console for each initial setup and then just be plugged into any bit of equipment and telnet around the place? No need for my desktop to be connected to the switch really is there...?

astrogeek

I'd be willing to bet the USB-serial adapters you got are the same crappy ones I bought, (mine are blue, with silver, glittery cables). These are very finicky in Windows, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, however they work much better in Linux. The serial card should be much better, but you will need to physically move the console cable to a different switch/router when you want to console into something differently. You could simply telnet around, but this requires everything to have a working connection and a lot of what you will probably be doing in your labs are breaking connections, so you will really want console access to you devices.

This is why a lot of people use an old router such as a 2511 as a terminal server, this would be connected to all of your devices console ports and then you just connect to that terminal server to get into your lab. I just received a Digi CM 32 console server in the mail and so far I really like it, plus it was cheaper than if I had bought a 2511 console server.

The password recovery is a very useful thing to know how to do on a router or switch, same with upgrading the IOS. It doesn't matter if it has a username/password and an enable password, the password recovery process will bypass both. Just don't forget to do a copy-run-start before rebooting, or you'll have to do it all over.

alxx

The ftdichip based usb2serial work great with windows , linux and mac.
Use a lot of them at home and work.

Can get them from easy sync USB to RS232
or in Australia from dontronics USB Converters - Dontronics

The ftdi based usb to can and rs422/485 converters also work very well.

For cheap console cables you can get them for $2.60 shipped from HongKong.

The pci serial cards can work nicely but also be a pain with windows.
The cheap ones seem to work better with linux.