can anyone recommend online labs racks for labbing?

pamccabe

I've heard of them before but the only ones I found were for CCIE. I'm trying for CCNA and am finding that Packet Tracer lacks some of the commands I need for the labbing I am doing. I have a 2950 switch at home and can order more. It would just require patience. Otherwise, is there some online CCNA racks that can be had for cheap? I don't mind paying for a certain amount of time. I heard Cisco's site has it but I can't seem to pull anything up with my searches.

Mrock4

I haven't seen much in the way of CCNA rentals. Truthfully if you already own a 2950, I would obtain two more and you can do 99% of your Spanning tree/VLAN labs with those. A couple of 2600 routers would do a LOT of your labs, and can be had for $30-$75/ea (depending on model/memory).

If you insist on racks, mindtechcom.com (I know, weird URL) sells CCIE racks for $1.5/hr. It may be worth buying $100 worth of rack time and just using the bigger topology (you don't necessarily have to use all of the devices).

My own $.02 is that hardware is better when starting out as you'll learn a lot from the hardware itself (password recoveries, upgrading images, etc).

Comblues

What kind of gear would you like to use?

I think most CCENT Students would be ok with just a simple router and a switch to begin with.

A CCNA Student who already knows how to use routers and switches could benefit from 3 routers, 3 switches, a terminal server, and a frame switch to start with.

IOS version is nice but not as important at this point, except that it support IPv6.

I have gear contact me and we can discuss it.

Comblues

pamccabe

Mrock4 wrote: »

I haven't seen much in the way of CCNA rentals. Truthfully if you already own a 2950, I would obtain two more and you can do 99% of your Spanning tree/VLAN labs with those. A couple of 2600 routers would do a LOT of your labs, and can be had for $30-$75/ea (depending on model/memory).

If you insist on racks, mindtechcom.com (I know, weird URL) sells CCIE racks for $1.5/hr. It may be worth buying $100 worth of rack time and just using the bigger topology (you don't necessarily have to use all of the devices).

My own $.02 is that hardware is better when starting out as you'll learn a lot from the hardware itself (password recoveries, upgrading images, etc).

Great post and thank you! Great site and exactly what I was looking for. Like you said though, hardware might be a better option. Been looking on ebay and it seems that prices aren't that bad. I might go the hardware route.

pamccabe

Comblues wrote: »

What kind of gear would you like to use?

I think most CCENT Students would be ok with just a simple router and a switch to begin with.

A CCNA Student who already knows how to use routers and switches could benefit from 3 routers, 3 switches, a terminal server, and a frame switch to start with.

IOS version is nice but not as important at this point, except that it support IPv6.

I have gear contact me and we can discuss it.

Comblues

Unable to contact you, can you send me a message when you have time so we can discuss? Thank you.

Ltat42a

There's a list of live racks here in this thread -

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