Hello! And CCNA lab host question

Atmosphere1991

Hello, I have been lurking on this forum for some time now. This is my first post, I live in Saint Louis, MO and am currently studying for my ccna/ccent. I sit my ccent next month.
I have a question/project right of the bat though if anyone could help.. I recently built my own lab 3x 1841 routers, and 3 2950 switches all connected to a 2509 terminal access server(I think that's what it's called lol).
I'm trying to figure out what to do about my hosts. I have 2 pc's that are connected through a program called Input Director, and a crossover cable from each NIC, so I can control them both with one mouse/keyboard. I would like to keep it that way, and still be able to simulate isolated hosts on different networks. I have a few usb to rj45 nics, and a PCI nics, a laptop, and VMware.

What is the best way that I could sim 3 or more isolated hosts? Can I do this with VMware and multiple NICs? Or will they be able to route packets between each other, and not be forced to go through a router? How will my crossover cable that I use to control each PC effect pings to hosts will windows just skip the router and choose the crossover cable?

Any Ideas/answers would be greatly appreciated, I know I'm new here(new to forums in general). I hope it's not considered rude just to ask a question like that on your first post or not lol.

JoseJimenez

Don't know, since everything is physical. I guess you would need PCI passthrough feature on a hypervisor and multiport Ethernet card(s).
It would be a lot easier to virtualize some routers via Dynamips/GNS3. You can then use VPCs and/or VirtualBox to virtualize PCs and have them connected to emulated routers. You can connect all that with your physical gear.

Atmosphere1991

How do you connect emulated routers to physical gear

JoseJimenez

If you are using Dynamips with Dynagen configuration files (.net files) on Linux, you would have a line like this in emulated router configuration:
F0/0 = NIO_linux_eth:eth1
or
F0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth1

which basically connects f0/0 on emulated router to eth1 interface on a host's NIC. You can then plug whatever you want in eth1 (real router, switch or PC).

It's same thing with GNS3 but you configure it via GUI (cloud thing):
GNS3 Tutorial - Connecting GNS3 Routers to Real Hardware Switches and Network Equipment - YouTube

networker050184

Honestly I've never really worried too much about hots in a lab. You can figure most things out without having to connect an end host to a switch.

Corndork2

I personally use Dell servers I get from work for my, and my friends labs. I have a Dell 2950 running ESXi. This has also been very helpful for my VMware cert track. However, this is definitely not required. Do whatever your interests and budget suits

Corndork2

Tried to PM you but couldn't.

You're only a couple hours away. I'm decommissioning a few more Dell Servers from a local bank on a contract. Once they are wiped they can be sold. Let me know if you're interested.

Atmosphere1991

Don't really have much server knowledge, still learning a lot. Could I use some thin clients like these Lot 0f 2 CA21 Neoware Thin Client Computers with Puppy Linux | eBay Would they work without a server?