ICND1 Equipment.

Hello, Guys, and Gals :P I'm studying the Official Certification Guide, by Wendell Odom. Great book by the way. Anyways, I've been practicing some of the IOS commands on a simulator, but, I feel as if I need to experience the real thing. Plus, some of the commands don't even work on there.

I was looking on Ebay, and was overwhelmed by the different routers/switches with different specifications. I'm a college student, and work part-time so I don't have much cash. So, just for the ICND1, what would be the bare minimum? I will buy more equipment as I progress with my studies. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments

billscott92787

Hello,

Since you are kind of strapped for cash, I would highly recommend using GNS3 or the Cisco Packet Tracer software. It is going to definitely be enough for you to use to pass the ICND1. After that if you like, I'd look into get some hardware for hands on experience. You could save some money up over time. I'd say about $350 - $500 will get you some decent hardware, depending on what you want to get. You could get 2-3 cheaper 2610xm routers for about $95 a piece, and then pick up 1-2 2950 switches ($50-100). Add about $20-$30 for cables and such and $50 for a NM-4A/S for frame relay. This would be when you are working on the ICND 2 though. For now the simulators should really be enough for you. In addition, it depends on what you plan to do. Do you plan to go past the ICND1 to the ICND2 and stop? Or do you plan to go on to the CCNP?

cleanwithit

billscott92787 wrote: »

Hello,

Since you are kind of strapped for cash, I would highly recommend using GNS3 or the Cisco Packet Tracer software. It is going to definitely be enough for you to use to pass the ICND1. After that if you like, I'd look into get some hardware for hands on experience. You could save some money up over time. I'd say about $350 - $500 will get you some decent hardware, depending on what you want to get. You could get 2-3 cheaper 2610xm routers for about $95 a piece, and then pick up 1-2 2950 switches ($50-100). Add about $20-$30 for cables and such and $50 for a NM-4A/S for frame relay. This would be when you are working on the ICND 2 though. For now the simulators should really be enough for you.

Thanks for the reply. Never heard of the GNS3, thanks for the suggestions. I have some 2950 switches at school to play around with, but I guess I can supplement it with a simulator. Is that simulator better than the Boson? Yeah, right now, I don't know what I want, I just want what I need, if that makes sense. Thanks for all of your help!

Edit** Well, I think I'm going to take this path. CCNA > CCNA:Security > CCSP. .

If anybody has more suggestions, please post.

crisb20

Since you are planning on doing the Cisco security track you should just go ahead and pick up 2 2610xm routers with 48 mb flash and ios version c2600-adventerprisek9-mz[1].124-15.T7.bin. Packet tracer and those cheap 2501 routers don't really offer much for security and do not run SDM. Even though I don't have ccna: security I have gone through the cisco press book and found that these routers are more than enough and cheap. As an added bonus these routers will also run call manager express

. You can also can pick up a 2650 12 port switch for under $100 dollars.