New hardware, lab advice

bwillford

Hey guys,

I am just starting my ccent studies and picked up a 2950g-48 switch yesterday.. I ordered a 2601 router that will be in later this week.. Because of financial reasons I will be slowly putting my lab together over the next month but I was curious is there anything I can do with just the single switch? Anything you guys can suggest to get me working with the CLI while trying to get some more hardware together.. Thanks!

zrockstar

With a single switch and a single router you can do router on a stick labs. These are much more further in the studies than CCENT though, so for now I would just get in there and get used to IOS. Learn about IOS help, learn what all your show commands do, and start practicing basic router config (hostname, enable secret, motd banner, console and vty passwords, logging synch, no ip domain-lookup, etc.). Most Cisco Academy labs are built around 3 routers, 3 switches, not to say you can't get by with less, I am just not familiar with the other lab manuals out there. But definitely right now I would say the most important thing you could do on hardware is learn your show commands through and through. Good luck!

EV42TMAN

i agree with zrockstar, take this time to get use to the IOS. i can't remember if the 2601 has 2 Ethernet ports or not but if it does then i could put the Cisco gear into your existing home network to see it in action. that would force you to learn the CCENT/CCNA material to get it to work.

SdotLow

For CCENT I would run through setting up a router and switch from scratch, wipe it, rinse and repeat. Set banners, pw's, set up interfaces, etc. You can also tinker with changing IOS versions through TFTP, and getting into the router in case you lost your password.

Lots of fun stuff you can do! Repetition does wonders when trying to get all those commands to stick, and you'll need to know them all for the exam. If you don't know already, Cisco exams have simulators for some of the questions so you'll have to work in CLI to fix whatever problems they throw at you.

YFZblu

Agree with what everyone has said already. If you're starting with CCENT you'll just be dealing with basic configuration: Hostname, ip address, securing the management plane, etc. As far as VLANs are concerned CCENT doesn't get into inter-vlan routing or STP so you don't really need a second switch until you get to ICND2.

Pick up one more router and your CCENT lab will be complete. That way you can lab PPP, HDLC, and RIP when it comes time.

Good luck!

bwillford

Thanks for the advice guys, gives me somewhere to start. Been playing around with the switch past couple days and wife just called and said the router came in the mail today so I can't wait to get home and start playing

Being a microsoft guy moving into Cisco for the first time i feel like I have been missing out, this stuff is addicting and actually exciting to work with.

Ltat42a

In your lab research, check out my Lab Gear Blog (in my Sig below), it has a bunch of info regarding CCENT/CCNA Labs.


hth