I'm going to take my first step at becoming CCNA certified this month, with CCNP in the future and I've been doing a bunch of reading on the site here and theres so much info a person could get lost!
After tons of reading the forums and blogs comparing models and whats needed for a CCNA and then CCNP route (with a future CCIE rack setup) I've come down to the following items to purchase to help setup a home lab:
Routers:
2x 2503 16/16 (isdn for ccna, not needed for ccnp now i hear?)
1x 2522 16/16 (for 3rd router and possible frame relay setup)
Switches:
2x 2924-XL-EN
1x 2950 (instead of a 3rd 2924-EN for QoS, worth it?)
I know this is probably overkill for a CCNA and not sure if its an exact fit for a CCNP, but it seems to fulfill most of what I can find, and part of a CCIE future rack setup. I was thinking of maybe switching out a 2503 for a 2505/2507 and still having one one isdn for the CCNA. Any advice on those?
On the switches I figured the 2924s and the 2950, or maybe two 2950s and a 3550 for some layer3 experience. Or maybe just three 2950s? Also is it worth picking up a 2511 to act as a terminal service router, or just a piece of mind from not having to move the console cable each time for separate devices? I keep seeing kits with 1900 series setups but I hear those are a deadend piece of hardware that doesn't support IPv6, are they even worth looking at? Is it required to have 16/16 for the enterprise IOS and also required for IPv6 if I've read that correctly?
I figure if I'm going to set things up I may as well do it right, and make it so that everything can work for my final goal with minimal repurchasing.
