Starting the CCENT

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Comments

  • notgoing2failnotgoing2fail Member Posts: 1,138
    I like the "Vegas Rule" analogy. If I buy a piece of equipment with an older IOS is there a way to obtain the newest IOS and update the equipment? I suppose Cisco would probably sell it to you, but I haven't heard of this so I wasn't sure.


    Nope. Which is why I've stressed all along and Mike just said it as well, that if you buy something off eBay try to make sure you have the latest IOS. You'll need a smartnet contract in order to get the latest IOS from Cisco and that contract has to be applied to the device you own.
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I've been making pretty good progress in my studying. I've made it to the configuring Cisco Switches section of the book, and I plan to try and take the test by May 9th. I start summer classes on the 10th so I don't want to be studying for the CCENT and Quantitative Methods at the same time.

    After reading through the advise I was given on labing I downloaded GNS3 and got it working. I like it so far, but you can't do anything with switching so I decided to go ahead and order some 2950s and then keep using GNS3 to simulate the routers until I can afford to get some 26xxXMs. I've found the 2950s at a reasonable price but they only had one in stock so I scooped it up and it will be here in the next few days. I'm as excited as a kid waiting on Christmas.
  • notgoing2failnotgoing2fail Member Posts: 1,138
    I've been making pretty good progress in my studying. I've made it to the configuring Cisco Switches section of the book, and I plan to try and take the test by May 9th. I start summer classes on the 10th so I don't want to be studying for the CCENT and Quantitative Methods at the same time.

    After reading through the advise I was given on labing I downloaded GNS3 and got it working. I like it so far, but you can't do anything with switching so I decided to go ahead and order some 2950s and then keep using GNS3 to simulate the routers until I can afford to get some 26xxXMs. I've found the 2950s at a reasonable price but they only had one in stock so I scooped it up and it will be here in the next few days. I'm as excited as a kid waiting on Christmas.


    Congrats. I don't know what the future holds for GNS3 if Cisco is going to make future IOS's use activation keys to unlock it. You're right, it doesn't support switches at all. Just basic generic vlan but that's done at the GUI from what I remember.

    I am definitely an advocate for real stuff. I know not everyone can afford to just go out and buy stuff but if you can, I'd say you should....
  • alan2308alan2308 Member Posts: 1,854 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Nope. Which is why I've stressed all along and Mike just said it as well, that if you buy something off eBay try to make sure you have the latest IOS. You'll need a smartnet contract in order to get the latest IOS from Cisco and that contract has to be applied to the device you own.

    And to add to this, you can't get a Smartnet contract for a piece of gear that's EOL'ed. So if you're on eBay looking to piece together a lab on the cheap, then buyer beware.
  • notgoing2failnotgoing2fail Member Posts: 1,138
    alan2308 wrote: »
    And to add to this, you can't get a Smartnet contract for a piece of gear that's EOL'ed. So if you're on eBay looking to piece together a lab on the cheap, then buyer beware.


    Yeah most of the time eBay users will provide the show version output. When something is really cheap, it's probably because the IOS is really old and/or there isn't enough memory to even upgrade the darn thing to the latest IOS!!!
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Yeah most of the time eBay users will provide the show version output. When something is really cheap, it's probably because the IOS is really old and/or there isn't enough memory to even upgrade the darn thing to the latest IOS!!!

    Yeah I ordered from cablesandkits.com. I have been hosed by Ebay before so I wanted to go with something a little more reputable, and people on these forums had great things to say about them. I made sure to ask about the IOS. It's not super up to date 12.1(5)T20 if memory serves, but I looked over the feature navigator and it looked like it supported everything I needed for ICND1.

    Yeah, I don't know what will happen to GNS3 when they start doing that. I'm hoping they don't. Studying for Cisco certs is already very expensive. If they take away GNS3 then everyone either has to dole out for real equipment, which is fun, but not everyone can afford it, or they find a way to get a student link account so they can get packet tracer. Plus, as you move up to the CCNP CCIE level it almost looks like real equipment would be prohibitively expensive for most people. It almost seems like GNS3 is a must for those exams, but maybe Cisco is intentionally narrowing the pool of people that can take their certs.
  • notgoing2failnotgoing2fail Member Posts: 1,138
    Yeah I ordered from cablesandkits.com. I have been hosed by Ebay before so I wanted to go with something a little more reputable, and people on these forums had great things to say about them. I made sure to ask about the IOS. It's not super up to date 12.1(5)T20 if memory serves, but I looked over the feature navigator and it looked like it supported everything I needed for ICND1.

    Yeah, I don't know what will happen to GNS3 when they start doing that. I'm hoping they don't. Studying for Cisco certs is already very expensive. If they take away GNS3 then everyone either has to dole out for real equipment, which is fun, but not everyone can afford it, or they find a way to get a student link account so they can get packet tracer. Plus, as you move up to the CCNP CCIE level it almost looks like real equipment would be prohibitively expensive for most people. It almost seems like GNS3 is a must for those exams, but maybe Cisco is intentionally narrowing the pool of people that can take their certs.


    I've only recently started checking out cablesandkits, let me know if you like them. I see them selling stuff on eBay too but if I can buy something from a more reputable shop then I will....

    I think it's pretty clear what Cisco is doing. It does seem like in the future, the number certs will probably not be as much if the IOS is going to be activated via a key. Of course you can still use GNS3 for older IOS's but they will be useless down the road as the commands and technology change...

    They are probably creating an alliance with vendors who train for Cisco certs. This would make those tranining facilities more valuable....
  • alan2308alan2308 Member Posts: 1,854 ■■■■■■■■□□
    I've bought a few things from cablesandkits.com. Every order $25 and up gets free shipping and I've always gotten my stuff within 2 days of ordering. Plus all their routers and switches come with a console cable and rack mounts, which as you know can start adding up it you have to buy them all later.

    However, they don't show what IOS is on the device or the amount of RAM and flash. So assume the bare minimum when you see something with a crazy low price.
  • steve514steve514 Member Posts: 17 ■□□□□□□□□□
    cablesandkits.com is a excellent site for all your networking needs. The two day shipping right to my front door is a nice bonus to as someone else mentioned here!
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    alan2308 wrote: »
    I've bought a few things from cablesandkits.com. Every order $25 and up gets free shipping and I've always gotten my stuff within 2 days of ordering. Plus all their routers and switches come with a console cable and rack mounts, which as you know can start adding up it you have to buy them all later.

    However, they don't show what IOS is on the device or the amount of RAM and flash. So assume the bare minimum when you see something with a crazy low price.

    They don't list it because they get a mix of IOS's since they buy used equipment, but they have a great live chat feature where you can ask a salesperson to check on the available IOS's and flash for you. I would say if they get something with a recent IOS you should gobble it up quick, because they had a router (can't remember which) with 12.3 on it and I waited around and they sold it in like an hour and the best left was 12.1.
  • alan2308alan2308 Member Posts: 1,854 ■■■■■■■■□□
    They don't list it because they get a mix of IOS's since they buy used equipment, but they have a great live chat feature where you can ask a salesperson to check on the available IOS's and flash for you. I would say if they get something with a recent IOS you should gobble it up quick, because they had a router (can't remember which) with 12.3 on it and I waited around and they sold it in like an hour and the best left was 12.1.

    I figured thats why. But either way, the old 1600's and 2500's that make up my home lab take old EDO simms that I have a box of, and I'm with mikej412 on the "Vegas Rule" as far as IOS. icon_mrgreen.gif

    On a different topic, earlier in the thread the lack of switching support in GNS3 was gone over. While it's true that it doesn't do an actual switch, you can put a switching module into a 3640 router and do a good deal of switching. And here is a site with a bunch of free labs using just this setup. The site is a work in progress, but he's done with the switching.
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    alan2308 wrote: »
    I figured thats why. But either way, the old 1600's and 2500's that make up my home lab take old EDO simms that I have a box of, and I'm with mikej412 on the "Vegas Rule" as far as IOS. icon_mrgreen.gif

    On a different topic, earlier in the thread the lack of switching support in GNS3 was gone over. While it's true that it doesn't do an actual switch, you can put a switching module into a 3640 router and do a good deal of switching. And here is a site with a bunch of free labs using just this setup. The site is a work in progress, but he's done with the switching.

    That is a great site thank you! I had heard about doing switching on the 3640, but for some reason the 3640 IOS image doesn't work in my GNS3 setup. I haven't figured out why yet.
  • alan2308alan2308 Member Posts: 1,854 ■■■■■■■■□□
    That is a great site thank you! I had heard about doing switching on the 3640, but for some reason the 3640 IOS image doesn't work in my GNS3 setup. I haven't figured out why yet.

    It can be quite picky about which IOS images it wants to run at times. All I can suggest is try a different one.
  • ToddBToddB Member Posts: 149
    CBTNuggets and have enjoyed the free videos I have watched, but at $299 just for the ccent pack they are way out of my price range.

    You can get the package for a $100 more if you look at it in the log haul its worth it, I wish I did now After I pass the icnd1 test I'm buying cbt for icnd2.

    But if you can't you can't, but the books at amazon and you can learn it yourself it just takes longer.
    :thumbup:

    Phil 4:6 "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    ToddB wrote: »

    You can get the package for a $100 more if you look at it in the log haul its worth it, I wish I did now After I pass the icnd1 test I'm buying cbt for icnd2.

    But if you can't you can't, but the books at amazon and you can learn it yourself it just takes longer.

    Yeah, I've been kind of torn on it. I would love to have the videos as I learn well from that kind of a delivery format, but they are just so expensive. Maybe if I could find a good package that included an exam voucher or something I would feel better about it. Does anyone know of anything like that? Most voucher packages I see come with practice tests or something like that I was wondering if any came with CBTs.
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I got my 2950 from cables and kits yesterday. I have to say they were a pleasure to deal with. They respond quickly to questions, and I got my shipment so fast I couldn't believe it was the free shipping option. Everything was tightly packed, and if they hadn't told me it was used I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you that it was, because the packing was done so well. I can't recommend them enough. I believe I will be getting all of my lab equipment through them.

    Setting it up and playing with it was a ton of fun. I couldn't believe how loud that little fan is. It's a good thing it's going in the office I guess.

    I had already read through the configuring Cisco switches portion of the book, but I went back through and tried everything out on the switch which really helped to reinforce the concepts. I got the switch connected to my GNS3 set up and it wasn't to hard. Now I just need to get it to be able to access the internet through the GNS3 router. I'm having a little trouble getting GNS3 to do this, and I use a mac so trusty ole google didn't have much in the way of help. I'm sure I'll get it figured out though.
  • mikej412mikej412 Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
    I got my 2950 from cables and kits yesterday.
    I got a little pack of M&Ms from Cables and Kits today icon_cheers.gif -- plus the stuff I ordered.

    All the mentions of Cables & Kits in the last week drove me to buy a bag of assorted Chocolate Candy to tide me over until my order arrived. icon_lol.gif
    :mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set!
  • importantbrianimportantbrian Member Posts: 48 ■■□□□□□□□□
    mikej412 wrote: »
    I got a little pack of M&Ms from Cables and Kits today icon_cheers.gif -- plus the stuff I ordered.

    All the mentions of Cables & Kits in the last week drove me to buy a bag of assorted Chocolate Candy to tide me over until my order arrived. icon_lol.gif

    My wife ended up eating all of the M&Ms icon_rolleyes.gif, but I thought that was a very nice touch. :D
  • DPGDPG Member Posts: 780 ■■■■■□□□□□
    Another satisfied customer of Cables and Kits. The bag of M&M's is indeed a nice touch. icon_thumright.gif
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