Cisco 2950 or 2950C Switches?

I noticed on certificationkits.com, there is an upgrade to 2950C for the Enhanced Image IOS.

Do most people have the 2950 switches, or do you recommend upgrading to 2950C?

Plans are to build an advanced CCNA / CCNA Security home lab.

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Comments

wbosher

2950 is fine for CCNA. You'd probably be better getting 3550s though, they're really cheap and are L3.

Brain_Power

What is your opinion of 3550 or 3560 PoE?

Power over Ethernet

wbosher

I've got a couple of 3550s and they're great. You can do anything a 2950 can do and more...POE, routing etc...and they don't cost much more than a 2950.

Brain_Power

Do you recommend staying away from PoE swithes? I heard they draw more power.

wbosher

What does it matter, it's only for a lab.

Somnipotent

Brain_Power wrote: »

Do you recommend staying away from PoE swithes? I heard they draw more power.

Not really. Unless you're going for CCNA/CCNP voice/wireless, you don't need a PoE switch. I got them because I wanted to make sure if I wanted to (which I do, at least on the Voice side) I had the capability to do so. For CCNA, 2950s are fine, but you can't do ISL encapsulation on them. If you can spare an extra $50 or so, go with 3550, you'll be glad you did come CCNP time.

MAC_Addy

Brain_Power wrote: »

Do you recommend staying away from PoE swithes? I heard they draw more power.

Obviously they do, yes. But why do you need PoE for a lab? Unless you plan on getting phones for your lab. But for CCNA I'd go with the 2950T or the 3550. 3560 would be good for the CCNP track.

JeanM

Brain_Power wrote: »

I noticed on certificationkits.com, there is an upgrade to 2950C for the Enhanced Image IOS.

I use 3 2950T's...but I am curious what does the C/Enhanced Image add?

itgl72

JeanM wrote: »

I use 3 2950T's...but I am curious what does the C/Enhanced Image add?

Well, one thing I noticed is it has two ports for 100BaseFX on the front.

veritas_libertas

itgl72 wrote: »

Well, one thing I noticed is it has two ports for 100BaseFX on the front.

I have one 2950C, but the CCNA does not require you to deal with fiber so why spend the extra money? I did consider getting another one to play with it, but then my frugality set in and I bought the cheaper 12-port 2950 which is working just fine

Also, I highly recommend picking up cheap gear from eBay. CertificationKits is a little over price in my opinion.