What's a good price for a "complete" CCNA/CCNP lab kit set up?

Nyblizzard

The listing I'm looking at is including the following routers and switches:

2 Cisco Catalyst WS-C2912-XL-A Switches
1 Cisco Catalyst WS-C3550-24-SMI Switch
2 Cisco 2610 Routers
2 Cisco 2505 Routers

geek4god

Nyblizzard wrote: »

The listing I'm looking at is including the following routers and switches:

2 Cisco Catalyst WS-C2912-XL-A Switches
1 Cisco Catalyst WS-C3550-24-SMI Switch
2 Cisco 2610 Routers
2 Cisco 2505 Routers

One of the reasons you see gear like 2610s, 2505s, and WS-C2912-XL-A is that people can't give them away. So they bundle them in a kit and and label them CCNA.. It is conversant but you will over pay for really old gear..

Poke around here and you will find tons of advice.Here are a few tips you can take or leave.

• Don't buy any gear until you have read one CCENT/CCNA book and have picked a lab manual you want to use.
• Buy your gear for the manual you are going to use!
• The IOS a router can use is more important than the router itself. Think of the router as an IOS delivery mechanism! There are exceptions (Ethernet ports, boot speed etc) but in general one router that can deliver IOS XX.X is just as good as the other.

halaakajan

Which good ccna lab manuals are out there? Thanks!

FloOz

halaakajan wrote: »

Which good ccna lab manuals are out there? Thanks!

I used 101 CCNA Labs. They were very helpful

jsb515

I put my lab together over time piece by piece and saved on the cost of just paying a kit. Its easier to think "Ill just by and kit and get everything I need to hook it all up." but when you by all the stuff your self you are actually learning in the process of what wires do what, what features the routers have, what each WIC does, ect..

So my advice is to take your time setting up your lab and learn by doing it.

earweed

Posting here and PM'ing some of the more active people here will also help. Doing a "kit" piece by piece will be more beneficial as you will learn how to find out everything about Cisco devices through their website. Shop smart, get as much info as possible before buying.

Legacy User

Buying older equipment turns out more expensive in the long run. You can't upgrade the 2500s those routers are really only good for the CCNA anything beyond requires you to buy new equipment which adds to the overall cost. Only one thats worth it is the 2520 you can use that as your frame switch. Better if you start with a 2600xm series it gives the option for more upgrades if you decide to go further into the cisco realm.

My .02 cents

biggene

I myself have been using this lab workbook mostly because it is free and having 2 kids to raise on $40k per year sucks the big one.

Good luck, hope this helps out some.

Gene

geek4god

biggene wrote: »

I myself have been using this lab workbook mostly because it is free and having 2 kids to raise on $40k per year sucks the big one.

Good luck, hope this helps out some.

Gene

This is a great lab workbook and he even has a free lab you can use. The workbook is based on 5 routers and 4 switches! Some are based on 3 and 2. So the workbook is free but the gear might cost you more.. He has some great advice on what gear to buy.. His prices are a little old and I would not buy the 3725s he mentioned. If you want to go big spend a little more on 1841s.

jdballinger

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/85818-what-look-ccent-ccna-home-lab-builds.html

spongeym

I've been using 101 as well, really good labs, tips and a forum which i've found quite handy too.

As for a lab, I found a company selling refurb kit on ebay, went directly to them to see if they could price up what i wanted (2 x 2950T, 2 x 2650 + 1T Wic) and negotiated a price cheaper than ebay.

TheNewITGuy

2x 1841
2x2960
1x3550

cosmo4u

is ths setup worth buying?
if so how much?... the guy told me to name a price and i dont want to insult him



C2800nm-ipbasek9-mz.151-4.M4.bin2 x 2801 – 256D / 64F 15.1 IOS Advanced Enterprise Router

- C2801-adventerprisek9_ivs-mz.151-2.T2.bin

1 x WS-C3550-24-SMI – Layer 3 IP Services Switch with EMI Image

2 x WS-C2950-24 – Layer 2 Spanning Tree Access Switch

1 x 4 Port Stand Alone Frame Relay Switch

2 x WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 – T1 WAN Interface Card

1 x NM-4A/S – 4 Port Serial Module

2 x WIC-1T – 2Mbps Serial WAN Interface Card

2 x Serial WAN Cable DB60-DB60

2 x T1 WAN Cable

1 x Powder Blue Cisco Console Cable

7 x Cat5

3 x Cat5 X-Over

7 x Power Cable

OfWolfAndMan

Before showing what you might be getting, do you have a particular budget you're going off of?

Free CCNA Workbook | CCNA Labs, Practice Exams and More!

There's another good set of labs for you on the CCNA level at least

TechGuru80

Ball parking that might come in around $150-200. The 2950s aren't worth much so the 3550 is what would be pushing the price. Guy could counter higher but that's what I would probably offer. Why not check how much 2950 and 3550 are going for? $200 would not be unreasonable because the extras but I don't think I would go more than $250...I think my wic-1t cards ran around $15 each.

By the way this thread is over a year old.

cosmo4u

Thanks for the replies. ..
Yes I'm aware of the age on the thread.
I was going to offer 300

clarson

It is hard to say with the list that you gave. It does seem like it is incomplete.

The part about "C2800nm-ipbasek9-mz.151-4.M4.bin2 x 2801 – 256", the C2800nm version of the IOS doesn't run on a 2801. So, is there an other 2800 series router that your not telling us about.
2801 routers can be purchased for $50. They can run version 15 of the IOS. Good for r&s, not so much for security and voice.
3550 for $50. a good inexpensive level 3 switch. don't need need level 3 switching for the ccna, but you will for ccnp
2950 for $20. can do a good portion of the ccna. lacks rstp and mstp, ssh and a few other things. You can use the 2801's for ssh
I have no idea what value to place on a "stand alone frame relay switch" without a model number.
wics are good, they are supported on the 2801.
what you going to do with the network module. doesn't go in a 2801. maybe it is for the frame relay switch. Looks like excess equipment
you have more cables listed than you need. extra cables are always nice to have, but not worth much. Then again maybe they are for extra equipment that you haven't told us about.
list is 7 power cords. I only count 5 item that need to be plugged in.
there is 7 ethernet cables. 2801's take 2 a piece, add one to go to your computer. and you have two left. are they for another router or just extra.
So, in general, $200 is a good offer for what is listed. looks like there will be a few extra cables that could be useful. But, if those extra cables are for connecting up a couple of routers that are included and you haven't mentioned, you will be lowballing them.

cosmo4u

Sorry I had pasted from his email...here is what was left out
1 x 2821 – 256D / 64F 15.1 IOS Integrated Services Router – Dual Gigabit Ethernet

Alex90

Sorry to highjack the thread but I'm thinking of buying the below from ebay and just wondered peoples thoughts, it would be cool if I could use this for CCNP as well:

3 x 2610XM
2 x 3550 24 port switch

Cheers

Alex

clarson

The 2821 with the network module is about $75. So, $275 is a good price from a buyers stand point. The seller is probably looking to get $325.

clarson

one of the things you buy a lab for is to be able to do testing of NAT/PAT. It is easiest to do that with a router that has two ethernet ports. 2610xm's only have one. maybe there is a network module included that give an extra ethernet port. You don't say and usually on ebay you don't get a lot of extras. So, even to study for the ccna you're going to need a network module or another router. Or just buy a lab that has a router with two ethernet interfaces. the 2610xm's with enough memory can run 12.4 but not version 15 of the ios. The new ccnp test is moving to the 15 version of the ios. So, unless you can get your ccnp in a couple of months. you are better off with starting out with at least one router that can run ios 15. those would be the 1841 router which is good for r&s certifications. or the 2811,2821,2851 routers that are not only good for the r&s but also the security and voice certifications

Alex90

clarson wrote: »

one of the things you buy a lab for is to be able to do testing of NAT/PAT. It is easiest to do that with a router that has two ethernet ports. 2610xm's only have one. maybe there is a network module included that give an extra ethernet port. You don't say and usually on ebay you don't get a lot of extras. So, even to study for the ccna you're going to need a network module or another router. Or just buy a lab that has a router with two ethernet interfaces. the 2610xm's with enough memory can run 12.4 but not version 15 of the ios. The new ccnp test is moving to the 15 version of the ios. So, unless you can get your ccnp in a couple of months. you are better off with starting out with at least one router that can run ios 15. those would be the 1841 router which is good for r&s certifications. or the 2811,2821,2851 routers that are not only good for the r&s but also the security and voice certifications

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll have a look on ebay for a different router. What about the 3550's, are they going to do the job on the switching side of things? I thought they'd be better in the long term as they are L3 switches so I'll need them for CCNP.

Thanks

Alex

clarson

they aren't so good for the long term. There are ok to use in a ccnp lab. you can do most things with them but they do lack some very necessary things that you need to study, ipv6 addressing, private vlans, StackWise capability. But, in a ccnp lab you usually have at least 4 switches. So, the others could be used to study those things. in the short term level 3 switches aren't necessary for the ccna certification. I'd buy a couple of 2950T's, get my ccna, sell them and get a couple of 3750's for my ccnp. The 2950T's are already cheap and aren't going to lose much value. But, the 3750's are going come down some because they will be getting older by the time you get to your ccnp. So, buy cheap switches for your ccna. get better switches for your ccnp. (at least that is my opinion) and, i do have 2950ts, 2960's, 3550's, 3560's, and 3750's in my lab. (wanna buys some)