SWITCH home lab gear question

For my home lab for the SWITCH test, im planning on buying the following:

1x 3550 switch
Cisco WS-C3550-24-EMI upgraded(WS-C3550-24-SMI) Layer 3 - eBay (item 270502420799 end time Feb-09-11 08:16:51 PST)

2x 2950 switch
Cisco WS-C2950G-48-EI 48-Port 10/100 2950G 2950-48 - eBay (item 270689070483 end time Feb-05-11 12:11:51 PST)

First, will this be enough to be able to do everything to pass the SWITCH exam?

Second, about the 3550, are there any advantages of buying a 3550 model 3550-emi over a 3550-smi that has been upgraded with emi?

Thanks!

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tomaifauchai

I think so

Here's an old topic about this subject!
http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccnp/37135-3550-emi-vs-smi.html

BroadcastStorm

You need more multi-layer switch, if you can try to snag something that supports POE, those 3560 would be awesome to lab.

wolverene13

JZegers wrote: »

For my home lab for the SWITCH test, im planning on buying the following:

1x 3550 switch
Cisco WS-C3550-24-EMI upgraded(WS-C3550-24-SMI) Layer 3 - eBay (item 270502420799 end time Feb-09-11 08:16:51 PST)

2x 2950 switch
Cisco WS-C2950G-48-EI 48-Port 10/100 2950G 2950-48 - eBay (item 270689070483 end time Feb-05-11 12:11:51 PST)

First, will this be enough to be able to do everything to pass the SWITCH exam?

Second, about the 3550, are there any advantages of buying a 3550 model 3550-emi over a 3550-smi that has been upgraded with emi?

Thanks!

As far as the EMI/SMI question, I always go with the SMI switch and then upgrade it to EMI - it's the same thing and is usually cheaper.

alan2308

phoeneous wrote: »

No loss in ios feature or functionality at all?

No, the model only indicates what was on it when it went out the door.

tiersten

wolverene13 wrote: »

As far as the EMI/SMI question, I always go with the SMI switch and then upgrade it to EMI - it's the same thing and is usually cheaper.

For a lab thats true but doing that in a production environment where people will care that you're pirating software its a totally different matter. There is no physical difference between a 3550-SMI and a 3550-EMI apart from what IOS it came with.

SMI and EMI have been renamed by Cisco. The new names are:

SMI = Standard Multilayer Image = IP Base
EMI = Enhanced Multilayer Image = IP Services

You can't do this trick on the newer routers and switches as they started to do big unified IOS binaries which get the different feature sets unlocked by typing in a device specific key.

Netwurk

1x 3550 and 2x 2950G is a good start for a switching lab, although for your budget 2 x 3550 might be a better start. I would suggest that at least one of your 3550's have PoE ports. For the 3550, the PoE models are listed as PWR and/or Power Inline models.

Good luck with your lab.

zerglings

You can't do this trick on the newer routers and switches as they started to do big unified IOS binaries which get the different feature sets unlocked by typing in a device specific key.

That's right. We've been given demo routers and switches long before Cisco announced EoL/EoS of 3560s, 3750s, 2800s, 3800s, and etc and the IOS do require some kind of license key. The process is a pain in the butt according to my colleague.

For the 3550, the PoE models are listed as PWR and/or Power Inline models.

Optional, IMO. If the thread starter can snag it for less, then might as well. I think 2960 is a little bit overkill for SWITCH. 2950 will do fine, IMO. I used (2) 3550 and (2) 2950 for BCMSN. The 2950s has been replaced with (2) 3560 for CCIE R&S lab, still no PoE since it adds ~$150 to $300 on top of a regular 3560. Not worth it in my opinion. If anything, I can always buy a power adapter for PoE once I start doing voice labs. While, it is better to do future proofing, it may still be better to wait if it will add $200 to $300 to the price of the switch. Those power bricks for IP phones aren't that pricey to spend additional $200 to $300. Just my 2 cents.

JZegers

So it sounds like i should be OK for the SWITCH test, MAYBE add another 3550, but i doubt it based on funds

tiersten

zerglings wrote: »

That's right. We've been given demo routers and switches long before Cisco announced EoL/EoS of 3560s, 3750s, 2800s, 3800s, and etc and the IOS do require some kind of license key. The process is a pain in the butt according to my colleague.

Yeah. It is a pain. Its similar to how ASA/PIX boxes work so its not really that new.

1. Buy license for something and Cisco give you a Product Authorization Key.
2. Go to the Cisco website via a computer or use the router interface to the site. Type in the PAK, SN# and PID of the device.
3. Get a Software Activation license which you need to install into the device.

If you don't have internet access from the router or from a computer then you're stuck. If the Cisco site (not that it ever goes down or breaks right?) doesn't work then you're stuck. If you don't have the SN# and PID for the device ready to go then you're stuck.

Cisco give you one time only 60 day temporary licenses so if the engineer installing it can't get to the license portal then they can work around it but you also have to make sure that they remember to fix it later!

I've heard some stories about people that turned on the 60 day trial license of a higher feature set and then forgot to install the real key they had. They only found out when their ISR suddenly downgraded itself to IP Base. Thats just poor documentation/planning but its still a big oops.

zerglings

Problem is, we have a lot of IT field techs that aren't Cisco savvy. They'll most likely call our NOC for activating those. Not sure how fun will that be for the NOC and field techs, as they have other and more important things to do. I guess, we won't have to worry about it yet until we start rolling out those new routers. New remote sites will definitely be 2900s or 3900s depending on the requirements of course, but I am pretty sure that we're gonna stick with 2800s, 3560s, 3750s, and etc until the support runs out, 5 years aint it after EoL/EoS? Upgrading more than 7.5K remote sites ( ain't in the budget even if our company has 5 years to "save" up, at least I think so. Then again, it'll all depends on the remote sites' requirements. We did roll out those 2800s to replace 2500s and 2600XMs because of the the requirements. Imagine the money that the Cisco sales rep got from all the routers and switches that we bought for more than 5K remote sites.

tiersten

zerglings wrote: »

Problem is, we have a lot of IT field techs that aren't Cisco savvy. They'll most likely call our NOC for activating those. Not sure how fun will that be for the NOC and field techs, as they have other and more important things to do.

I've never actually tried it but the Cisco sales rep was trying to convince us to buy the USB eTokens to provision routers. They say its really easy to do and that it makes everything completely foolproof because its all securely encrypted and automatic. Its a nice idea but it just sounds like even more work because somebody has to prep all these configs with the licenses and then encrypt it on these special USB keys.

zerglings wrote: »

I guess, we won't have to worry about it yet until we start rolling out those new routers. New remote sites will definitely be 2900s or 3900s depending on the requirements of course, but I am pretty sure that we're gonna stick with 2800s, 3560s, 3750s, and etc until the support runs out, 5 years aint it after EoL/EoS?

The majority are 2800s here with the tiny sites using a 1841 and a few with 3800s but we're not intending to change any of those any time soon. Cisco say that software maintenance will last until end of Oct 2014 so still some life in these routers. They're capable of handling the connections we've currently got and I don't see any benefit of upgrading anytime soon despite what the sales rep claim.

zerglings

tiersten wrote: »

I've never actually tried it but the Cisco sales rep was trying to convince us to buy the USB eTokens to provision routers. They say its really easy to do and that it makes everything completely foolproof because its all securely encrypted and automatic. Its a nice idea but it just sounds like even more work because somebody has to prep all these configs with the licenses and then encrypt it on these special USB keys.

I think my colleague was talking about that. Not really sure. It was several months ago when we talked about IOS 15 and the newer routers/switches. These USB eTokens, how much do these cost? I also heard that the USB console cables are not included in the box so you have to buy those too. They only include the serial console cables in the box.

The config part, we don't really worry about it since we have an automatic script that configures for the field techs. We've managed to standardize the config for majority of our remote sites. Field techs just click some buttons, enter some information and it configures for them.

The majority are 2800s here with the tiny sites using a 1841 and a few with 3800s but we're not intending to change any of those any time soon. Cisco say that software maintenance will last until end of Oct 2014 so still some life in these routers. They're capable of handling the connections we've currently got and I don't see any benefit of upgrading anytime soon despite what the sales rep claim.

Yea, if it can still support whatever you throw at it then there's really no point of upgrading. That's the reason why we still have old systems running, like Catalyst 4000s (running CatOS) or 4000s routers. Talk about OLD stuff.

Was gonna give out more information but I think I should stop now. Not sure, if I am supposed to say more about our network.

Ooooppps, sorry for hijacking the thread!

wolverene13

JZegers wrote: »

So it sounds like i should be OK for the SWITCH test, MAYBE add another 3550, but i doubt it based on funds

Well, it depends on where you get it from. I usually get my stuff on eBay from hardware resellers. My 3550 cost me $80.