CCENT/CCNA recomended hardware

So I tried searching the forum and didn't find the best results.

Here's my situation. I got laid off recently (I wasn't working in IT). Instead of being bummed about it, I'm using this situation to finally get my certs (CCENT and CCNA first is the plan) and get back into IT (where I always wanted to be anyway).

Thus far I've been primarily using the TrainSignal videos with Chris Bryant along with the Boson simulator. I'm following it decently well, but I'm at the point where the simulator is just too flakey.

Keeping in mind that my funds are indeed limited due to the lack of work, I'm thinking of purchasing some real Cisco hardware to learn on.

I'm looking for some suggestions on:
A) Do I really, really need hardware or can I get by on the sims? Should I be using a different sim?

If I do need hardware to properly learn, what hardware should I be looking for? I'm on a budget, but if I'm putting money into this, I want it to be right.
C) What else should I be looking at, as far as other learning materials go?

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Comments

kalebksp

Roasty wrote: »

So I tried searching the forum and didn't find the best results.

Here's my situation. I got laid off recently (I wasn't working in IT). Instead of being bummed about it, I'm using this situation to finally get my certs (CCENT and CCNA first is the plan) and get back into IT (where I always wanted to be anyway).

Thus far I've been primarily using the TrainSignal videos with Chris Bryant along with the Boson simulator. I'm following it decently well, but I'm at the point where the simulator is just too flakey.

Keeping in mind that my funds are indeed limited due to the lack of work, I'm thinking of purchasing some real Cisco hardware to learn on.

I'm looking for some suggestions on:
A) Do I really, really need hardware or can I get by on the sims? Should I be using a different sim?
If I do need hardware to properly learn, what hardware should I be looking for? I'm on a budget, but if I'm putting money into this, I want it to be right.
C) What else should I be looking at, as far as other learning materials go?

I would look into Dynamips/GNS3. They require a decent computer to run on, but for a couple routers you don't need anything too powerful. Dynamips isn't a simulator but rather an emulators running actual IOS images, so you don't have the problems that can occur on simulators. GNS3 is a graphical front end to Dynamips (which uses command line and configuration files). Unfortunately they only run router images, not switches, you may want to get two or three 2950s for the switching side. Or you can use NM-16ESW modules in a Dynamips/GNS3 router.

Roasty

Thanks for the reply. I'm working on configuring GNS3 right now...

Does anyone else have any input?

tiersten

kalebksp wrote: »

Dynamips isn't a simulator but rather an emulators running actual IOS images

Obligatory mention that it isn't legal to acquire IOS images for use with Dynamips. You're not allowed to copy it from a licensed router either because Cisco only license it for real Cisco hardware.

kalebksp wrote: »

so you don't have the problems that can occur on simulators.

I'm not sure I'd trust Dynamips to do anything regarding QoS testing though but you won't hit that in CCENT/CCNA. Some day I'll have to compare results between Dynamips and real hardware...

kalebksp wrote: »

GNS3 is a graphical front end to Dynamips (which uses command line and configuration files).

Also look into Dynagen which is a command line tool to help you generate the Dynamips configuration files.

kalebksp wrote: »

Unfortunately they only run router images, not switches, you may want to get two or three 2950s for the switching side. Or you can use NM-16ESW modules in a Dynamips/GNS3 router.

I'd get the 2950s and a big pile of NICs. They don't cost that much and you'd be able to do nearly all the required labs.

Roasty

tiersten wrote: »

Obligatory mention that it isn't legal to acquire IOS images for use with Dynamips. You're not allowed to copy it from a licensed router either because Cisco only license it for real Cisco hardware.

Understood. The IOS images are not my problem. My problem is simply figuring out how to get the terminal interface up! It just doesn't seem to launch PuTTY. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

tiersten wrote: »

I'd get the 2950s and a big pile of NICs. They don't cost that much and you'd be able to do nearly all the required labs.

Please elaborate for the lamen. You mean for multiple NICs to be put into 1 or 2 host PCs correct?

tiersten

Roasty wrote: »

Please elaborate for the lamen. You mean for multiple NICs to be put into 1 or 2 host PCs correct?

You can attach your virtual routers to the NICs so you'd just plug those into your switches. In theory you can just trunk everything and use another switch to split it out but I've never tried that.

katachi

Remember that there are a number of free How-To videos at the GNS3 site.

As for using PuTTY for the console, you have to configure it in Edit > Preferences > General. Try entering the following into the "Terminal command" box:

C:\the\location\of\your\putty.exe -telnet %h %p

If you're using Tera Term, use this:

C:\the\location\of\your\ttermpro.exe %h %p /W=%d /T=1

If GNS3 doesn't seem to be launching a window at all when you try to open a console, try using the old 8-character DOS paths, for example:

PROGRA~1

instead of the full "Program Files" folder names. (this was perhaps only a problem for me because I use a non-English OS.)