Switch for CCIE INE Lab

jobinjv

Would a Cisco catalyst 2960 be sufficient instead of the C3550 for the Dynamips based CCIE RS lab ?

I presently have 2 C3560 and 2 C2960. Or will 4 C3560 be enough for the lab ?

Zartanasaurus

2960 is insufficient. Most go with 2x3550 and 2x3560 or 4x3550. I have 4x3560.

mapletune

Yup, just as zartanasaurus (is this a dinosaur themed name? that's kickass...) most go with 2x 3550 + 2x 3560. Many get 3750 instead of 3560... but be aware that 3750's are known to have more failures than 3560's.

Here are some resources you can read up on:

INE site: comparison of features between 3550 vs 3560
Catalyst 3560 and 3550 Comparison | INE

Another comparison site organized in a nice table
http://routeswitchlabtips.com/switching/rs-ccie-home-lab-cisco-3550-vs-3560/

Mostly notably, 3560's can do Private VLAN and IPv6.

jamesp1983

I would just follow their lab build.

jobinjv

Thanks for the replies.

Well, the reason why I asked was the 3560's and 2960's are lying around in office and can fit into my lab. I would have to otherwise purchase 3550 if 2960 cannot be used or even 3560.

But like Zartanasaurus has mentioned, would an all 3560 be capable to carryout all the requirements in the Lab

mapletune

Yes, 3560 are like... more feature "full" than 3550's

so, a 4x 3560 lab would also work

spiderjericho

Hmm, it's up to you. For what you want to do, 2 3560s are fine, but if you have the money, make it rain private VLANs and ipv6.

Zartanasaurus

jobinjv wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Well, the reason why I asked was the 3560's and 2960's are lying around in office and can fit into my lab. I would have to otherwise purchase 3550 if 2960 cannot be used or even 3560.

But like Zartanasaurus has mentioned, would an all 3560 be capable to carryout all the requirements in the Lab

3560s are what is used in the actual lab, so go with that if you have them lying around.

jobinjv

Thanks a lot for all the replies.

Indeed I shall make use of the "free" 3560

MickQ

3560s are the newer 3550s, just as 2960s replaced 2950s... I think

routergods

spiderjericho wrote: »

make it rain private VLANs and ipv6.

I gotta remember this quote... make it rain indeed.

Another option is just to do rack rentals, PacketLife and Brendan Choi's switch lab.

down77

routergods wrote: »

Another option is just to do rack rentals, PacketLife and Brendan Choi's switch lab.

+1 on this. I have gear at the house but am using Rack Rentals on the road for lab access. There are plenty of quality rental places and PacketLife has built a nice little set up as well. For the cost of 2 3550 + 2 3560, you can get around 1000 tokens of rack rental (100hrs give or take).