New CCNA candidate - hardware question

I have what may be a stupid question, but I am getting back into studying for my CCNA after taking some time of to get an MCSE. I want to get a small router to play around with, but I'm not up to speed on what would be best (2500 vs 2600 series), etc...

Can I get some good suggestions for hardware and also for study materials? Also, some sites have hardware and study materials in a package. Does anyone have any comments on some of these kits?

Thanks in advance for any help from a Cisco newbie.

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IT_FAN

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/50824-ccna-exam-prep-advice.html

johnwest43

checkout CablesAndKits.Com . They have good pricing as well as warranties on most of their stuff. I would say a 26xx xm is a good start for routers. You can call the folks at cables and kits to find out what IOS the routers/switches come with.

Deathgomper

Todd Burrell wrote: »

I have what may be a stupid question

Can I get some good suggestions for hardware and also for study materials? Also, some sites have hardware and study materials in a package. Does anyone have any comments on some of these kits?

Thanks in advance for any help from a Cisco newbie.

First, there are no stupid questions, I have learned so much from stupid questions.

I have 2 2505 cisco routers 1 2611xm router and 2 2950 switches. One thing that I have to bring to the attention is 2505 router ethernet ports are opposite from a fastethernet port, like on the 2611xm when it comes to cabling. It takes a crossover cable to connect a 2950 switch to a 2505 router (10baseT) port; where a strait through cable will connect a 2950 to a 2600 series fastethernet port. This concept helped me fail the first time I took the ccent before I owned a 2600 series router.

2500 series switches still work great for many/most/a lot of items within the objectives, but you will need 2600 or more to get the whole picture. Also you need to look at memory (volitile and nonvolitile) requirements for SDM(Security Device Manager) and IOS Versions.

You don't have to get too expensive to learn, my true advice is to buy one device at a time and see how it sits with you, then buy another, and so on. The last thing you want is to end up with a bunch of equipment that doesn't do crap for you.

Jonk

johnwest43 wrote: »

checkout CablesAndKits.Com . They have good pricing as well as warranties on most of their stuff. I would say a 26xx xm is a good start for routers. You can call the folks at cables and kits to find out what IOS the routers/switches come with.

I recommend CablesAndKits.com as well. Their prices are good and their customer service is great. I received a 2500 router (out of two) but it was missing the flash mem module (took me hours to figure out and doing research, but must say not a loss of time because you really learn a lot doing research and trying things out such a Rommon, tftp, xmodem, etc. for IOS backup and restoring) - anyways I contacted them last night and they promptly responded to me and they are sending me the mem module. Great CS indeed.

Anyways, I did a lot of research of what to build my lab, this is what I came up with:

2 x 2621XMs (with 12.4)
1 x 2610 (with a 4A/S to act as a frame relay switch)
2 x 2950s
2 x 2500s

Plus additional rack accessories such as power, organization, etc.

matallica

That's a good question, I've just started down this path again. Back in 2001 I bought the sybex ccna gold sim, it was cool for about 2 seconds... and I relized I just waisted $200.00 on something that did not work correctly. So recently I got the ccna bug again and bought a 1900,2500, then a 2610 because they were cheap and I did not do my reseach...

I had a hard time following the labs in the new ccna books, I because the ios was out of date with the new study material.

After reading this forum: I only buy routers that can run ios 12.4

2950 switches.... are cool! The 2 I just bought seem to be working out well.

For routers I have an 851-k9 running ios 12.4 and an upgraded 3662 running 12.4. Boths of these are giving great success with the new ccna study matierial, because they run the sdm, ssh, and follow the comands in the new book. Where as my older routers do not. For me it is important to be able to complete all exercises. It has hurt alot going back to those ccna lab whores on ebay and giving them more of my hard earned cash, but I now have peace of mind I can properly study and practice.

With all that said, I think the 851 is killer because I got it for the same price as a 2610 ($100) and it does what I need and kind of acts as a switch too. I like the 3662 because I can buy serial modules for it and connect my other older routers to it and hopefully make use of them when I'm ready. Best of luck!

Jonk

I think this thread calls for digging up this old thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/15235-post-your-lab-pics-12.html

Time to start seeing some labs again!

I want to post a picture but I do not have my 2621xms yet, but will do after that!

matallica

Jonk wrote: »

I think this thread calls for digging up this old thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/15235-post-your-lab-pics-12.html

Time to start seeing some labs again!

!

Thanks for the link. How do you load pictures on this forum? I need to read that thread.