home lab ideas

I know there have been a million threads on this, but I'm wondering what I should look into if i'd like something with 10/100 ethernet, I guess i'd need two ethernet ports as my incoming connection is a college LAN and I'd like outoging ethernet as well as I'd like to use this router in an actual environment. I suppose I'd have a switch connect to one and my machines to it and then I could get some cheap 2501s or something for other practicing.

So anyway, is it practcal to try to find a router with multiple 10/100 ports?

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dissolved

You could get a 2600 series router. I think they have one built in 10mb ethernet interface. But they are modular, so you can add two more ethernet interfaces if you like. I would not get a 2501 for what you want to do.

Set it up as such:

WAN
|
|
e0
2610
e1
|
|
Switch

Netwurk

Cheapest way to get 2 ethernet ports is to go with a 2514

2500's have ethernet (10Mbps) ports, 2600's are fast ethernet (100Mbps)

10 Mbps is plenty fast - remember that most broadband connections range from 1-3Mbps

If you get a 2500, make sure you get transceivers - most use the old AUI ports for ethernet.

bmauro

For Ethernet - 2507 has a 16-port hub and can be had for pretty cheap.

For Fast Ethernet I believe the lowest model is a 2621 - which would have two 10/100 ports.

malcybood

2 x 1700 series routers and 2 x 2950 switches

I've got 2 x 1721 routers with 1 serial, 1 isdn card and 1 "on board" 10/100 ethernet in each router. I've also got 1 adsl card but you don't need to configure adsl for the CCNA do you?

Anyway, I've linked the routers via serial connection and there is a 2950 switch on ethernet port on each router.

Not ideal but it does the job the only routers I can get my hands on from work that I can take away and practice on are 1721's

Malc

Rearden

thanks for the ideas. the reason i want fast ethernet is because i do work on the campus servers and having 100Mbps to them.

I'm a college student and live on campus, maintaining the campus network, if anyone didn't know.

apd123

I believe a 2611 is dual fastethernet and would be a cheaper alternative to the 2621.

Rearden

bmauro

The 2611 model I have does not have Fast Ethernet capabilities, there might be a higher 2611 model (like an XL) that might support it, but the base 2611 does not.

bmauro

Just did a quick search - 2611 does NOT support 100Mbps - just 10Mbps, usually two Ethernet ports.

The 2611XM does support Fast Ethernet - but doing a quick ebay search for 2611XM showed that they were not that cheap - probably around the same price as a 2621 ($200-400).

I agree that the cheapest route will probably be a 1700 - I completely forgot about those.

loboernesto

What if I did. . ..

LAN connection from campus network
|
|
10/100 switch ---> two of my normal workstations
|
|
router
|
|
router
|
|
one of my other PCs

or something similar to this setup?

You can set up a linux router there "10/100 switch ---> two of my normal workstations" (only one machine with two NICs will do), you can use coyote and you are up and running. I haven't done it myself but I know it can be done very easily, here is an example:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~keiky/misc/linux/router/lnx_router.html
There's an option in windows (bridge connections) that may do the trick aswell but I'm not sure.
In this way you can buy a couple of 25xx an save money.
cheers

Rearden

does it even really add that much benefit to connect the whole thing to the internet?

loboernesto

do you mean connecting you home lab to the campus lan?

Rearden

correct

loboernesto

Personally I don't have the chance to do it at the moment but if I had the chance I would...there must be something to learn about it, particularly if you do something new, like setting a Linux router, and you will get remote access to your home lab as well which I think is great (does the LAN that your maintain have an Internet connection??)
The more complex your home lab the more you will have to know and deal with, which will help you a lot. It may not be necessary to pass CCNA but I'm sure it helps.
cheers.

Rearden

Thanks for the advice. Yes, the one I maintain has an internet connection and the nice thing about it is that we got into networking early here so we have a full class B and every student computer gets an external IP.

loboernesto

Man... you are lucky.. I can't connect my home lab to the internet because I only rent a room in a house, I share the Internet with the landlady and to do so I have a wireless router in her study. my only wireless networking device in my room is my laptop and there seems to be a problem with the ehternet card and the wireless card because whenever I'm using both a the same time my wireless card looses connectivity with the router and my ethernet card can't ping further than gateway... I have to find a solution to that (I'm thinking it's like loop or something, that the pc can't decide which card to use to route packets to another network, but I haven't given it much thought yet) and I may be able to connect my lab to the internet.
cheers, let me know what you do at the end.

Netwurk

bmauro wrote:

The 2611 model I have does not have Fast Ethernet capabilities, there might be a higher 2611 model (like an XL) that might support it, but the base 2611 does not.

Good point - yes, it has to be a 2611XM to have fast ethernet

mikej412

loboernesto wrote:

there must be something to learn about it

NAT, Security, and VPNs (if you want to work on your home lab/network remotely) come to mind as good reasons to connect your lab to the internet. It seems a lot of companies are doing that these days, so it may be good practice.

There are the DNS services that let you connect to your home network from the internet, even if your IP changes regularly (I use dns2go).

Netwurk

mikej412 wrote:

There are the DNS services that let you connect to your home network from the internet, even if your IP changes regularly (I use dns2go).

No-IP Free is also a good service

http://www.no-ip.com/

Rearden

loboernesto wrote:

Man... you are lucky.. I can't connect my home lab to the internet because I only rent a room in a house, I share the Internet with the landlady and to do so I have a wireless router in her study. my only wireless networking device in my room is my laptop and there seems to be a problem with the ehternet card and the wireless card because whenever I'm using both a the same time my wireless card looses connectivity with the router and my ethernet card can't ping further than gateway... I have to find a solution to that (I'm thinking it's like loop or something, that the pc can't decide which card to use to route packets to another network, but I haven't given it much thought yet) and I may be able to connect my lab to the internet.
cheers, let me know what you do at the end.

I'm lucky, but the downside is that being a full time college student often leaves me little time to study CCNA. A lot of days I only have time for an hour or so of CCNA studying. I'm a computer science major and the work, especially all the math courses gets rough.

I'll admit it though, I see myself eventually being one of those guys that studies CCNA forever, convincing myself that I'm not ready even though I am.