Lab and Real World Help!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share something that has been bothering me a bit lately. I am an aspiring CCNA candidate, I'm looking to go for my exams next month or maybe April.. but I've read about people CCNA certified but still don't know how to implement their skills or whatever they learnt in real world.

I wouldn't want my case to be like that. I wanna be good at what I do, I wanna be that guy that knows the way around how to cause fire at work... I am sure you guys know what I mean.
I am thinking of setting up a lab at home so I can practice everyday. Do you think this is a good idea ? And yes, if it is, please advise me on what equipment I need to buy. I am thinking of going the Voice track after completing CCNA and CCNP. What do you guys think ?

And trust me, I don't know anything about these routers.. I've never seen a real Cisco router but thanks to GNS3 - I can do a lot remotely.
Preparing for CCNA Certification :study:
Up Next: CCNP
Onto the Next: CCNA Voice
And Umm: CCNP Voice

Comments

  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    Getting a lab together is a great idea. For some ideas check out the sticky threads in the CCNA forum. Plenty of lab info there.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
  • olaHaloolaHalo Member Posts: 748 ■■■■□□□□□□
    You can buy prebuilt homelab racks on ebay. Usuallu built by other people who passed their exams already
  • the_hutchthe_hutch Banned Posts: 827
    A lab is an excellent idea. Still, I think a common problem that people run into is that the complexity of your lab is never going to be anything near what you are going to see in most rack rooms at the enterprise level. They've got the fundamentals down, but the scale is intimidating. Even after CCNA, there is still going to be somewhat of a learning curve depending on your environment. But that shouldn't be any reason to doubt your knowledge of the fundamentals.
  • danstardanstar Member Posts: 136
    prebuild homelab racks? how's that ?
    olaHalo wrote: »
    You can buy prebuilt homelab racks on ebay. Usuallu built by other people who passed their exams already
    Preparing for CCNA Certification :study:
    Up Next: CCNP
    Onto the Next: CCNA Voice
    And Umm: CCNP Voice
  • danstardanstar Member Posts: 136
    Thank you @the_hutch
    Preparing for CCNA Certification :study:
    Up Next: CCNP
    Onto the Next: CCNA Voice
    And Umm: CCNP Voice
  • biggenebiggene Member Posts: 153 ■■■■□□□□□□
    danstar wrote: »
    prebuild homelab racks? how's that ?

    It is basically a kit someone else already built and used for their testing and is now wanting to sell off the kit.

    Something like these listings on ebay

    Used-Cisco-CCNA-CCNP-CCIE-Complete-Lab-Kit

    Best-Cisco-CCNA-CCNP-V2-home-lab-kit-for-CCNA-and-CCNP


    CCENT-ICND-CCNA-HOME-LAB-KIT
  • danstardanstar Member Posts: 136
    This is not bad at all.. but then don't you think GNS3 is enough for CCNA and NP ?
    Preparing for CCNA Certification :study:
    Up Next: CCNP
    Onto the Next: CCNA Voice
    And Umm: CCNP Voice
  • biggenebiggene Member Posts: 153 ■■■■□□□□□□
    From what I have read on the forums here, it is better to have actual physical hardware to work with. You won't get anywhere near the scale you would in most IT closets, but being able to physically touch everything and actually have to plug it in yourself would seem to help tremendously when you are on the job.
  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    real equipment should be a requirement. I know a BUNCH of people who were already working in a network shop who thought GNS3 or packet tracer would suffice and most, if not all, failed first attempts.
    Be careful of buying pre-made kits as people try to sell off outdated equipment that way. Be sure that you research whether the gear will run fairly recent IOS's
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
  • danstardanstar Member Posts: 136
    @biggene, thanks a lot. I think working with real equipments will help a lot... but it's just that I reside in India and I can't buy these things off ebay... I'll keep trying though.. I just want cheap equipments and not outdat equipment like earweed just mentioned @earweed, I see a bunch of pre-build labs on ebay but buying those is not for me right now, as I need to know about these routers.
    Preparing for CCNA Certification :study:
    Up Next: CCNP
    Onto the Next: CCNA Voice
    And Umm: CCNP Voice
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