home lab

oh noes, another home lab question!

Okay so i read through faq thread and all that good stuff... Anyway, i'm in the process of setting up my own lab. I'm currently at a tech school in a CCNP program. I plan on going for my CCNA late this year.

My lab will consist of:

2 2501s
2 2504s
1 2520
1 2514
1 1912 switch

So the 2504's will probably not be included in the setup until i figure out what to do with them.... I know what i've bought is a bit much but i have a tendancy to do that (hey, it was payday, 2am, and i have an impulse shopping habit). the first 5 came with a kit that i bought on ebay, it also came with DTE/DCE cables and a few books, for $300. Hard to pass that up.

Future plans include 2600 series routers, and since the 1912 is a bit old i'm going to pick up a 2950 or two over the next month or so.

One question i have is where can i found something to mount all these? I really don't want to just pile everything up on a desk with cables thrown around and stuff... I see ciscokits has a 12u rack stand thing but is that any good?

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Comments

Paul Boz

I built my own by going to Home Depot and buying various bracketry. It looks nice and cost me something like $50 total. It's about 3 feet tall, so it will easily support enough equipment to get through the CCNP.

Darthn3ss

do you have any pics?

emsrescue

Heres what I did with some rack rails (try ebay) and some plywood:

Try a ebay search for "19 desk stand" there are usually a few desk stands for mounting 19" audio mixers on there for around 20 bucks inc delivery.

So the 2504's will probably not be included in the setup until i figure out what to do with them....

You could set one of them up as a 2 port frame relay switch or even try and setup a token ring network (not sure how you would do that though!). If you can get access to an isdn simulator then they could be used to practice ISDN setups. Maybe you can attach a PC directly to the token ring interface if you fitted a PCI token ring card.

Jon

Darthn3ss

looks nice. i'm on ebay looking now, thanks.

what kind of equipment do you have?

emsrescue

what kind of equipment do you have?

Thats a bit of a personal question

My cisco lab consists of:

Routers:

2501
2503
2514
4000 with np-4t, np-1e & np-2e
2x 1721 each with wic-1t

Switches:

2912
2924
1924

I have been lucky, the 2 most expensive items were 2924 @ £35 and 2514 @ £30

The rest have either been aquired at work or bought for peanuts on ebay.

Jon

D-boy

emsrescue wrote:

what kind of equipment do you have?

Thats a bit of a personal question

Lol....

Darthn3ss

Nice.

I just picked up 2 sets of rack rails (14u) and some screws on ebay. once i get that together all i'll need is the rack mounts.. i'm pretty sure i'm not getting any through any of my auctions. i might try to sell the 2504's back on ebay since i don't feel like spending $200-$1200 on ISDN simulator.. i have access to those at school. Sell the 2504's and buy a 2950.

so what did you do to construct that? just line the rails with the wood to hold everything together?

emsrescue

I used some 2"x1" timber to frame it and put some diaganol braces accross the back to give some structural strength. It was a bit unstable untill I added them.

Just remember to measure twice and cut once. On my first attempt I wasnt paying attention and ended up with a rack that would have had the kit mounted at about a 20 degree angle

Jon

Tricon7

Nice thread. I'm just about to go shopping for my very first routers. I live about 20 mi. from school, and I need my own equipment to cut down on gas and time spent on the road. I've been told to be sure and get an IOS v. 12 or higher. True? I'm halfway thru Cisco CCNA if that helps. Basic router functions. I'm hoping to get two routers for starters. I guess I'll need a DTE/DCE cable, as well as a serial connection. I'll probably look for something on eBay. Any suggestions?

Darthn3ss

I belive 2501s, 2503s, and 2514 routers will be fine for what we do. Im also about halfway through the CCNA courses.

edit: forgot to mention that ebay is deffinitely your friend.

cisco 2500 (68030) processor (revision N) with 14336K/2048K bytes of memory.

Processor board ID 13542206, with hardware revision 00000000

Bridging software.

X.25 software, Version 3.0.0.

SuperLAT software (copyright 1990 by Meridian Technology Corp).

TN3270 Emulation software.

1 Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)

2 Serial network interface(s)

32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

16384K bytes of processor board System flash (Read ONLY)

Thats (part of) a "show version" command on the 2501's i bought. Something like the 2501's should be fine.

You're going to need a console (rollover) cable, a DCE to DTE v.35 serial cable, and the DB-9 to RJ 45 to connect the console to your computer. i think thats about it.

markzab

I really like the look and price of this rack too...

http://www.ciscokits.com/cube/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=84

Darthn3ss

markzab wrote:

I really like the look and price of this rack too...

http://www.ciscokits.com/cube/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=84

yeah that was the one i mentioned earlier, i think. But, i've already ordered my rack rails. I've got a decent sized sheet of .25" MDF but ithink thats too small?

Darthn3ss

the first 5 routers got here today, yayyyy. Although unfortunently, i can not configure them (from the start) with my laptop due to a lack of a serial port, is there anyway around this? (once i get it setup with my desktop i'll telnet in, but that doesn't help when you don't have an i configured.

seraphus

Try a USB To Serial RS232 DB9 (9 Pins) Cable Adapter that can handle 115200 baud.

EDIT:

That connects to the console cable.

Darthn3ss

eh, another question,, how do i access the router over a usb port with hyperterminal