Post Your Lab (PICS)

Hey Everyone,
I couldn't find any other thread similar to this after searching for a while, so I wanted to get one going. It would be great if everyone could post pictures of their current home or work lab (Big or Small). Hopefully we can get the CCNP/CCIE folks to post in here as well.

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veritas_libertas

Not much to look at, but it should do the job for the CCNA

attachment.php?attachmentid=822&stc=1&d=1295037544

I also have a pair of 2501s and 3500s if I end up needing them.

CCNA lab.jpg

simply

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Not much to look at, but it should do the job for the CCNA

How noisy is the equipment when it's turned on...

veritas_libertas

Like most Cisco equipment you can expect a constant fan noise. It may bother you if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.

simply

Veritas,
What about over-heating? Can equipment be ran in a room without air-conditioning?

It's winter now and temps range between 60-85 in room. In summer could ran from 90-100 max... ( would that be a problem? )

veritas_libertas

I wouldn't be the person to ask. I would look over Cisco's web site and see what they say. I personally wouldn't stick them in a room that didn't have the temperature regulated.

alan2308

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Like most Cisco equipment you can expect a constant fan noise. It may bother you if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.

For this very reason, mine is down in the basement.

I took an old Linksys wireless router and flashed it with DD-WRT so I could configure it as a wireless bridge so I didn't have to get out the drill and run a cable downstairs.

Netwurk

alan2308 wrote: »

For this very reason, mine is down in the basement.

I took an old Linksys wireless router and flashed it with DD-WRT so I could configure it as a wireless bridge so I didn't have to get out the drill and run a cable downstairs.

I'm also a Cisco mancave (basement) guy. Some days I think I should ditch the gear and get a pool table but hey, I'm a network warrior (ha).

My gear has over 20 devices (pics here - http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/15235-post-your-lab-pics-15.html you may need to scroll down if interested)

The Cisco fans are actually very quiet, it's my HP server that is noisy. But if the gear were upstairs my wife would of course object.

ZeroHunter

simply wrote: »

ZeroHunter ,
Very very nice lab. Very clean, neat and well organized. Did you put all everything together yourself ( purchase each piece separately, or did you buy kit )?

How much cooling is required to run something like that at home?

Is it very noise?

I plan to put my equipment in a separate bedroom that has a window and door which can be closed to minimize noise; however, i'm curious if equipment gets too hot to run in a bedroom where windows are closed and temp is ~65-85 degrees F

Greenmet showed pictured of his lab
* removed tops of hardware for ventiliation
* removed fans

First let me say thank you for the compliment, I did not buy it as a kit, I bought almost all of it off eBay, with the exception of the 2950's and one of the 2610XM. I even bought the RAM / Flash upgrades and some of the Boot ROMs that need to be upgraded to support the additional memory (above 128Megs).

As to noise; as stated below there IS FAN NOISE, I personally thought that it was less then it was going to be and its much quieter then some servers I have owned. But there are 11 pieces of equipment running it that rack, only one run 24/7 though, the nice thing about the router though it that you can turn off the ones you are not using at the time, and that I can unplug switches that are not being used.

As to temperature, I have never had a problem and really don't think that the hardware gets that hot, now my equipment is in an air-condition house, and in a room with a ceiling fan on top of that to help move the air around, but again it does not run 24/7 and is really not taxed all that much, plus the rack is VERY open so air flow is good.

Another thing that helps is the console server, I do not have to sit at the rack, to work it all the time, it is on the other side of the room, and I use my workstation to do most of the work.

I would not think 85 degrees F is too hot for that equipment, I do not suggest removing fans or lids, the fans are there for the purpose of moving the air around inside the units and they were designed to have the lids in place to assist air movement and to prevent anything from getting dropped in the unit. I personally think that doing either of those would be a bad idea. An interesting note though is the fact that there is not any heatsinks on the processor inside the equipment that I have, so Cisco did not feel it was needed and there fore did not fore see the units over heating and they had to know that they would be used in some extreme conditions from time to time.

veritas_libertas - My rack/lab started out almost exactly like that!

tiersten

ZeroHunter wrote: »

But there are 11 pieces of equipment running it that rack, only one run 24/7 though, the nice thing about the router though it that you can turn off the ones you are not using at the time, and that I can unplug switches that are not being used.

If you're turning off your console server then make sure it doesn't send break when it loses power. You'll find every single device stuck in ROMMON or the PROM if it does and you need to go through all of them to make them continue.

I don't see the SCS box you've got in that list but thats not a definitive list and is just what the author has tested.

ZeroHunter

tiersten wrote: »

If you're turning off your console server then make sure it doesn't send break when it loses power. You'll find every single device stuck in ROMMON or the PROM if it does and you need to go through all of them to make them continue.

I don't see the SCS box you've got in that list but thats not a definitive list and is just what the author has tested.

Thanx for the Note, but the stuff is all run on a Cyberpower UPS, so no worries

tiersten

ZeroHunter wrote: »

Thanx for the Note, but the stuff is all run on a Cyberpower UPS, so no worries

I was more thinking if you ever turn it off manually. If your console server goes down because of a powercut then chances are you're not labbing anyway

ZeroHunter

tiersten wrote: »

I was more thinking if you ever turn it off manually. If your console server goes down because of a powercut then chances are you're not labbing anyway

Oh ok, I dont turn it off that way but good to know, what does it do confuse the routers and switches?

As long as you power down the the switch or router first no problems?

tiersten

ZeroHunter wrote: »

Oh ok, I dont turn it off that way but good to know, what does it do confuse the routers and switches?

A serial break is an inband signalling method. Its basically the serial line held low for a period longer than 1 character. Normally you get start bits and stop bits for regular transmission so the line held high for that long isn't valid in terms of data. The device will detect it and then do something. For Cisco hardware unless you've disabled it, is that it will instantly drop into ROMMON and stay there until you tell it otherwise.

You can see why this would be bad in a production environment. Somebody turns off the console server "Oh nobody is using it. Lemme move this cable!" and then the network dies because everything dropped into ROMMON.

ZeroHunter wrote: »

As long as you power down the the switch or router first no problems?

Yes. The other "method" is to buy a console server that doesn't have this problem.

ZeroHunter

tiersten wrote: »

You can see why this would be bad in a production environment. Somebody turns off the console server "Oh nobody is using it. Lemme move this cable!" and then the network dies because everything dropped into ROMMON.

See this is why a lab is so important, you could never learn this with a Simulator!

alan2308

ZeroHunter wrote: »

See this is why a lab is so important, you could never learn this with a Simulator!

Then someone will argue that this won't be on the exam, so why bother learning it?

ZeroHunter

alan2308 wrote: »

Then someone will argue that this won't be on the exam, so why bother learning it?

Cause that way in the 'real world' when I screw it up, I will know how to fix it, I am not just studying to get a piece of paper (not that you were implying that) but to truly learn how to do the work.

I already screwed up several things and have had to learn to fix them, that is why I built a lab.

impz

ZeroHunter wrote: »

Cause that way in the 'real world' when I screw it up, I will know how to fix it, I am not just studying to get a piece of paper (not that you were implying that) but to truly learn how to do the work.

And the other dude with exp with real hardware might attempt to "fix" it but ends up breaking it......something I'm guilty of

alan2308

ZeroHunter wrote: »

Cause that way in the 'real world' when I screw it up, I will know how to fix it, I am not just studying to get a piece of paper (not that you were implying that) but to truly learn how to do the work.

I already screwed up several things and have had to learn to fix them, that is why I built a lab.

This is why I've kept a lot of junk (including a few non-Cisco pieces) that others have advised me to recommission as a boat anchor. With a more heterogeneous lab, less assumptions are made.

And yes, there is no better motivation to find a fix than the knowledge that you are to blame.

Forsaken_GA

simply wrote: »

Veritas,
What about over-heating? Can equipment be ran in a room without air-conditioning?

It's winter now and temps range between 60-85 in room. In summer could ran from 90-100 max... ( would that be a problem? )

Cisco gear can actually deal with some pretty high temps. I've done some work in some seriously cramped and heated wiring closets during summer in the south, and the cisco switches just hummed along and did their thing without a care in the world. Honestly, the only equipment I see that usually has a problem with high temps are hard drives.

ZeroHunter

zerglings wrote: »

Here's my incomplete CCIE lab. I am following INE's topology.

2801 - R4
2801 - R5
*Blank slot* 2801 - R6 (will be buying soon)
3550 - SW4
3550 - SW3

How did you support the 2801 and 3550's I had to support mine with brackets on the front & the back of the C16U rack?

cyberguypr

I am still working on 70-680 in order to finish my MCITP-EA but decided to slowly build the CCNA lab, Current setup includes:

- 2 x 2610XM
- 1 1721 (not in the pic)
- 3 x 2950

Still pending:
- Skeletek 16 or 20U
- 1U PDC
- 1U cable management
- A few serial cards

If anyone has any ideas for improvement, now is the time.

simply

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Cisco gear can actually deal with some pretty high temps. I've done some work in some seriously cramped and heated wiring closets during summer in the south, and the cisco switches just hummed along and did their thing without a care in the world. Honestly, the only equipment I see that usually has a problem with high temps are hard drives.

Thanks... Now that i think about it, you're right...

Someone sent me following, said it was from cisco

Operating environment 32 to 104×F (0 to 40×C)
Nonoperating temperature -40 to 185×F (-40 to 85×C)

mmhq

After reading a lot over the past few weeks, here's the small lab that I built. I guess it's enough for the CCNA and can be extended for CCNP.

4 x 2611XM (128/32) w/ 2xWIC-1T
1 x 3640 (128/32) w/ 1xNM-2FE2W and 1xNM-4T
2 x 2950G-48
Console Server (Debian Linux)

(Click for larger version)

ZeroHunter

mmhq wrote: »

After reading a lot over the past few weeks, here's the small lab that I built. I guess it's enough for the CCNA and can be extended for CCNP.

4 x 2611XM (128/32) w/ 2xWIC-1T
1 x 3640 (128/32) w/ 1xNM-2FE2W and 1xNM-4T
2 x 2950G-48
Console Server (Debian Linux)

Did you put (4) 2 port serial cards in that machine?

veritas_libertas

@MMHQ: Very nice!

mmhq

ZeroHunter wrote: »

Did you put (4) 2 port serial cards in that machine?

Nope, it's two of these:

DeLOCK > Produkte > PCI Karten > 89075 Delock PCI Karte 6x Seriell

There's no room for the last two serial ports but I don't need them right now

zerglings

ZeroHunter wrote: »

How did you support the 2801 and 3550's I had to support mine with brackets on the front & the back of the C16U rack?

Nothing. Right now, there's a box behind it to support it. But, once the 3560s arrive there won't be a support. Probably just the 2950 at the bottom to support half of it.

mickeycoronado

This is my non-functioning lab. It's none functioning because I still haven't figured out the combination of cabling I need. It's nothing special, just some stuff I got on the advice of a few lab threads.

3 Cisco 2950 switches
3 Cisco 2620XM routers
1 Cisco 1721 router
1 NM-4A/s card
2 Wic-2A/S cards

Sorry for the annoying picture links, I'm not well versed of properly inserting images into forums. If you have a better way to post them I'll take any suggestions.

ehnde

If I had the money for a decent camera, I'd spend it on more cisco gear

My gear from top to bottom:
Two 1721s with T1 cards
24 port patch panel
Catalyst 2950
Geist rackmount powerstrip
4U server (used for dynamips)

rack.jpg

carwashguy

Im just getting starting on ICND1 and 2. We are moving and everything is unhooked right now