2950s good for CCNP

I have 2 2950s, just 2950s. I have one 2950C and one 2950G-48-EI. Will these be good do do labs for finishing CCNP? Last year I had everything in place to do it but between all things going on never worked through the final stuff. I had finished packages for the BSCI and BCMSN and am finalizing everthing to sit for those 2 exams. I may run out of time to do the 4 exam cert but I am wondering if the 4 switches I have will work. I think I should get 1 more switch that will support RSTP. I am not sure the 2950s will do RSTP. Also will all 4 do 802.1q VLANs?

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Comments

mikem2te

network.ipadmin wrote: »

I have 2 2950s, just 2950s. I have one 2950C and one 2950G-48-EI. Will these be good do do labs for finishing CCNP? Last year I had everything in place to do it but between all things going on never worked through the final stuff. I had finished packages for the BSCI and BCMSN and am finalizing everthing to sit for those 2 exams. I may run out of time to do the 4 exam cert but I am wondering if the 4 switches I have will work. I think I should get 1 more switch that will support RSTP. I am not sure the 2950s will do RSTP. Also will all 4 do 802.1q VLANs?

It's not RSTP and .1q that will be the problem. The 2950's shold be more than enough for those. They are only layer 2 switches though, not multilayer which is prety important for the BCMSN (after all it stands for Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks)

As far as I can tell most people try to get a couple of 3550 EMI switches for the multilayer bits as well as some layer 2 swiches like the 2950 for all the rest.

aordal

I personally run 2x 2950s and 1x 3550. To do things like HSRP, GLBP, VRRP I just connect a port to my PC and run it into GNS3. Works fine.

ColbyG

A 3550 or two would help greatly.

SysAdmin4066

Recommended for BCMSN was 2 2950s and 2 3550s, if I remember right, as you're going to have things you cant do with 2950s, such as ISL trunking. Personally I did my CCNP labs with 3 2950s and 1 3550, because I couldnt find another good, cheap 3550 at the time. For CCIE though, those 2950s will be worthless, so if you want to future proof your lab, get at least 4 3550s. Or you could get the recommended 2 3550s, 2 3560s, but those 3560s are a world of hurt as far as price is concerned. I have 4 3550s and when I need to practice on 3560s i'll just rent some rack time. Hope that helped.

jovan88

I've got 2x 2950EI and 2x 3550 EMI in my lab. It still doesnt give you a few things like private vlans and glbp but its still pretty good. My 3550s are PoE aswell.

SysAdmin4066

This has been pasted on other threads because it's a good resource. For CCIE you want 4 switches, and you definitely are going to need 3560s for Private VLANs. Other than that, as far as I can tell, you can get away with 4 3550s.

Catalyst 3560 Only Features [12.2(25)SEE2] | Internetwork Expert

elegua

Hi,

I would say yes, 2950 are good for CCNP but at least you will need a L3 switch, you need to know how to configure Routing protocols in a L3 switch and few more things but couple of 2950 EI and one L3 switch are more than enough, if you after want to go for CCIE as few guys are telling you here, L3 switches are the one you will need.

Hope this help.

sides14

I used two 2950-12, one 3550 and one 2924 and didn't have any issues.