CCNP / CCIE Voice Lab UPDATE pics

rchase

I've cleaned up my lab cabling, and removed equipment that wasn't part of my voice lab. Heres what remains:

I'm repurposing the lab for CIPT2 which focuses mostly on Multisite deployments, and this setup should be useful later as I transition to CCIE Voice study.

The scenario seems to be standard for CCIE Voice labs and includes:

-1 HQ/main-site (2611xm)
-1 WAN (2911)
-1 PSTN (1760)
-2 Branch-Offices, BR1 and BR2 (2610xm and UC520)
-2 IP Phones will register to each site

For the WAN, I was planning on doing Frame Relay, but being that FR doesnt seem to be a topic of CCNP Voice or CCIE V, I dont see the purpose of the FR WAN right now. I'm considering using it as a SIP gateway? (PSTN is just going to be a H323 gateway)

What do you guys think?

rchase

I'm planning on adding a DSP to the HQ (2611xm) ... Also I need to get PRI cards.

pitviper

Looks good! Your “cleaned up cabling” would give me nightmares – but that’s just a personal pet peeve of mine

Does your 2911 have a UC license? If not, be careful when you activate the trial because it's only good for 8 weeks.

It’s been a while since I checked BUT – The UC520 doesn’t support a lot of the CCIE/NP “enterprise” features (SRST comes to mind).

rchase

pitviper,
I gave descriptions to each switchport so that I dont have to trace cables through zipties, but what I really need is shorter, color coded cables haha. Bought UC license, not cheap. True on the UC520... at least I can use it to practice CUE... I wonder if my 2610xm can do SRST?

shodown

yes the 2610xm can do SRST. How much did the UC licence run you. I have been looking at some 29xx for consulting, but its hard to go from a 2821 to a 2921 price wise when they damn near do the same thing.

rchase

shodown, [FONT=&quot]$408.10 [/FONT]

rchase

Pulled all my WICs from my CCNA FR lab and stuck them in 2911, and 2600xm's. None of them are compatible... Alll new WICs (6) are gonna add to my expense list which also includes 6 VWICs as well...

Chris_

Why bother with serial WAN links or extra WICs? I'm just beginning to drag a voice lab together again and the last thing on my mind is a Frame Relay WAN. I'm going ethernet Sub interfaces and a single POE switch for the whole LAB, can't afford anything else!

The Data stuff was so easy with GNS3 and the odd bit of kit borrowed from work. This Voice world is an expensive nightmare. Been on Ebay tonight trying to get PVDMs and E1 cards, shockingly expensive. If I do this Lab properly then it looks like my kids are getting DSP resources for Christmas!

shodown

You can deff do your lab without frame for CCNP-V. For CCIE V you will need to understand the QOS for frame as thats what's tested. Hopefully they move it to MPLS which is what most of us deal with in the real world.

rchase

Im prepping my lab for CCIE Voice. Although, the v3 lab may retire before I attempt it ...

Right now I'm looking at swapping my 1760 and UC520 for 2 x 2801s, and adding 6 WICs and 6 VWICs to the mix to get this FR + PSTN PRI network up

what do you think?