Rack rental for CCNP labs

silalaval

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a rack rental service for me to do the Cisco Switch Labs and eventually route?
Thanks

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Comments

networker050184

For ROUTE I'd just go with GNS3 personally and save yourself the money.

silalaval

networker050184 wrote: »

For ROUTE I'd just go with GNS3 personally and save yourself the money.

Agreed, GNS works fine for Route. But what about the SWITCH exam?

I used to have a lab but sold it a couple of years ago and I really dont miss the noise and mess (I get that at work)

Where do we get rental to practice the SWITCH labs?

thenappyone

You can do some of the labs with Packet Tracer, but for the most part I used real equipment

late_collision

I'm pretty sure that just about everyone uses real equipment for the SWITCH labs.

3550's can be had for under $100, there are a few on ebay for under $75 shipped. Pickup a pair of those and a pair of 2950's and you should have what you need for SWITCH.

We get your complaint about heat and noise, but I think all will agree there is a certain amount of suffering that must be done if you are serious about getting your CCNP

silalaval

yep... Guess I will need to clear some space for the lab then... my wife wont like it...

Ahh the stuff you do for the love of IT

silalaval

Bought 4 switches off ebay (cheap)

2x 3560
2x 3550

Guess those will do for a while. I also had an ASA5505 which will sit nicely on top

martell1000

did anyone try to do the SWITCH exam stuff onGNS 1.0 alpha with IOU boxes?

i still have 4 switches on my desk from my exam preparation, and i wonder if i should get rid of em. i played around a little bit with the alpha and some L2 images but didnt get to do the "fancy" stuff yet..

silalaval

IMHO, if you are learning, you cannot afford for the software to fail you...I think switch should be learned either on equipment at home or rack rental.

GNS3 for switch is not an option for me yet as I don't want to waste time troubleshooting the software and fixing it all the time. Otherwise, packet tracer would do just fine.

Switches are cheap now.

fredrikjj

silalaval wrote: »

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a rack rental service for me to do the Cisco Switch Labs and eventually route?
Thanks

I used INE. It's actually a lot more expensive than some of the cheaper options out there, but they allow you to book an arbitrary amount of time (in 30 minute blocks) and I needed short sessions on short notice, rather than the 3-4 hours blocks the others offer. I also didn't need more than $100 worth of time, regardless of who I went with.