Looking for advice.

Dustyk

Guys I know there are a million threads on labs and buying equipment. Well here is another one.

Me and another guy at work want to start studying for the ccna. I have 5 2610xms that were taken out of branch offices but there are no extra modules.

I have several 2950 and a couple of 2960 and even a 3760. I also just got a digi cm32 for a decent deal. My question is what else do we need. I have been trying to figure out how I can do frame relay with a 2610 or do I need to spend the big bucks on the 2511?

We want to set our selves up to go up to ccna switching and then ccnp.

I dont know what else we need.

Thanks

NotHackingYou

You can do your frame relay config in packet tracer

oli356

CarlSaiyed wrote: »

You can do your frame relay config in packet tracer

WHile I bought a lab I hated doing FR. Setting up the "frame switch switch" annoyed me, I started using packet tracer or GNS3 to avoid setting up the ISP part. Much easier!

If you really want to buy a router, just needs to be something with lots of ports or using the NM-4/AS or something similiar.

StephenOnTheGrid

the cisco 800 series on ebay are cheap. A while back I paid $20. I had to do a pwd recovery because the guy that sold it to me forgot his pwd. works well for doing the lessons on ICND 1 and 2.

Dustyk

Thanks guys.

So I can get a NM-4/AS for one of my 2610xm's and be ok right?

Do I need to do anything with serial or has it been retired? Any other Modules I need?

JeanM

Well, you'll obviously need WiC-1T or Wic-2T for the stub routers....to connect them to the one with NM-4 or 8 A/S for example...

Dustyk

Right. Since I have 4 to 6 2610s i dont see why that will be a problem. I have several wic-1ts so I should be ok there.

jdballinger

The equipment you have for your lab seems more than sufficient. My home lab has similar equipment (2620xm's, 3550's and 2950Ts) and was way overkill for what I needed to learn for CCNA. From what I've been scoping out in my limited foray into the CCNP FLG books, it will suffice for those studies as well.

The only thing I can recommend, besides the NM-4A/S (check prices on the NM-8A/S as well, I actually got mine cheaper than the 4 port) which everyone above recommended, are some WIC cards. I used WIC-2Ts for mine, mostly for economy of space, but also because I manage to find 3 of them in a lot for cheap (around $12 each.) You can use the WIC-1T cards too, whichever one floats your boat and can be found cheapest. You will also want to consider maxing out flash and RAM if you can, so that you can load the 12.4T IOS images (I used AdvEnterprise on all my devices, that way I had access to just about every feature available.)

Good luck!

Dustyk

Thanks JD. Ill start searching for some A/S cards. I have a few 1s is the only reason Ill use them. the Wic cards are what I need for frame relay correct? Do i need to worry about serial connections at all?

jdballinger

The WIC-1T, WIC-2T, and NM-4A/S cards and modules are all serial connections. You will use them for a combination of things, but mostly Frame Relay, PPP, and just as a general WAN connection. I've seen people use T1 cards as their WAN connections for studying, which you can certainly do as well, but be prepared to make your own T1 crossover cables.

jdballinger

Hey, that was my 100th post! Glad that milestone was passed while helping someone else out!

Dustyk

Congrats. And thanks for the help. Its much appreciated. I have a couple of T1 cards as well so I may play with that but I dont have to. One more question for now. When doing the connections does each router get hooked to every other router or is it just a chain? Im trying to figure out how many cables I will need.

jdballinger

It depends on what you are looking to lab. If you are practicing PPP then you need to connect each router to each other via cable. If you are just doing route distribution or something then you can get away with connecting the routers via ethernet through a switch. Since I use the WIC-2T cards, I generally had one card where I daisy chained the routers, and another card where I connected to my Frame Relay switch. That's one of the reasons I chose the 2T card was because I got two connections for the price of a single slot, and since space is at a premium on these 2600 series routers, it just made sense to me to max my capabilities. Of course, it all depends on what your budget is at the time of purchase.

Best advice is to look through some practice labs, such as those found in the Configure the Network book you can find on the boards here. Also try Free CCNA Workbook and if you feel like spending $5 (worth it for sure IMHO) you can pick up 101 Labs for the Cisco CCNA Exam: Paul Browning, Stuart Juggins, Farai Tafa: Amazon.com: Kindle Store at Amazon.

Dustyk

Alright..Thanks again. Just so Im clear. I throw wic-2t's in my routers and then a couple of NM-4A/S in one router just to get more connections to create my Frame relay router..then get the appropriate cable.
Bought the book just now. I want to get going as soon as I can.

Ltat42a

Here's a thread with some helpful lab information -

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/28660-ccna-ccent-home-lab-ideas.html

Dustyk

Thanks. Im checking it out.

Dustyk

Alright guys, I have been doing a ton more reading and I think I have it figured out. I went and ordered cables fro frame relay as well as cables to hook each router up to each other. I also have modules coming to make this all happen.

Now that Im back at work, I got to looking at my equipment a little more. I have 2 2621XMs and 2 2621s. Im a little worried about the non xm's as I wont be able to run 12.4. Does any one have experience with these? I was planing on using 1 for the frame relay as I didnt think I needed to worry about 12.4 on the FR box but maybe thats the wrong assumption. Can i get by with what I have and be able to study everything for at least the CCNA and then I can worry about upgrading to more XMs or even 1841s for the CCNP.

jdballinger

I'm still running 12.2T on all of my devices and didn't have any problems passing. I'll need to bump them when I start my CCNP studies I'm sure, but for CCNA it's more than sufficient at the moment.

Dustyk

Sounds good. Ill use these non XMs for CCNA and then maybe I can get my hands on some 1841s for CCNP when its time.