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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JeanM

MAC_Addy wrote: »

Anyone want to buy my rack? Make me an offer

C28U ? What gives, upgrading?

MAC_Addy

JeanM wrote: »

C28U ? What gives, upgrading?

Oh, you'll see...

I just want to get rid of this one first before I do anything else.

HAMP

As much Cisco searches I have done, I can't believe I found this site after so many times. It only took me reading a few post to know this is a great site, and I had to join. I'm gonna jump right on in and post my rack that I am putting together now. I have a few more things to get.

HAMP wrote: »

As much Cisco searches I have done, I can't believe I found this site after so many times. It only took me reading a few post to know this is a great site, and I had to join. I'm gonna jump right on in and post my rack that I am putting together now. I have a few more things to get.

Glad to have you on here! This is a great place to get answers, if you have them, or contribute to helping out others.

pitviper

HAMP wrote: »

As much Cisco searches I have done, I can't believe I found this site after so many times. It only took me reading a few post to know this is a great site, and I had to join. I'm gonna jump right on in and post my rack that I am putting together now. I have a few more things to get.

Welcome to the madness!

Nice setup you have there - that's how it all starts...and then before you know it you have a full rack of equipment!

HAMP

pitviper wrote: »

Welcome to the madness!

Nice setup you have there - that's how it all starts...and then before you know it you have a full rack of equipment!

In my lab I have a 2960 and 3550 switch, and I’m not sure if I should get the 3560 now or get a 2950 and call it a day until I truly need the 3560.

Routers are 1841, 2801 and 2811.

I have to get a couple of WIC cards and cables this weekend.

JeanM

There is no going back now HAMP! lol

wgroom - I see empty spaces in the rack, you must fill them up

jeanm-albums-cisco+-+vmware+lab-picture4976-2014-lab.jpg

wgroom

LOL, thanks Jean! I am looking for another 3750 to practice HSRP, and would like to find a few 1841s to add to the rack. What I really need right now is a NAS. Currently using a WD 1tb USB drive slaved off the E3000, but I would like to tie a NAS into the ESXi environment.

JeanM

wgroom wrote: »

LOL, thanks Jean! I am looking for another 3750 to practice HSRP, and would like to find a few 1841s to add to the rack. What I really need right now is a NAS. Currently using a WD 1tb USB drive slaved off the E3000, but I would like to tie a NAS into the ESXi environment.

I am using Linux unRAID for my NAS in the 2u case above, free license lets you add 2 data drives and 1 parity drive, so I am running 3x 3tb. The 4u case is running VmWare esxi for labbing os related functions.

Clem25

Do you all have any suggestions for someone like myself just getting into IT on what I should use for setting up a small lab in my house? I'm finishing up my A+ in 2 weeks, then moving on to the Net+. Currently interviewing for a couple help desk positions at a couple local hospitals.

tprice5

Assuming you are not wanting to go the Unix route, you just need to learn Windows really well. You've got a laptop/desktop otherwise you probably wouldn't be posting so lab through the Windows 7 and Windows 8 exams and reassess after that.

kalvindeane

Please excuse the dust and cabling. The lab is being moved to a new location soon so I've allowed it to become a bit of a mess.

4x 2821
5x 2811
2x 1841
4x 2600XM

2x 2950
1x 3550
2x 6509

1x APC 7953 MasterSwitch PDU for remote power control.

Pair of raspberry Pi's as well as VMs on my desktop and laptop for client/servers.

I have IOS 15.1 AdvEnterprise for the Gen1 routers but 8 of them don't have enough DRAM for the image.
Waiting to find a good price so I can upgrade them.

Abdul201288

My Cisco Stooffs :P

In the Cabinet:
Cisco 2950 24 port Switch.
Cisco 3524XL 24 port with 2 GBICs Switch
Cisco 1760 Router.
Dell PowerEdge R200. Specs are: 1 Dual Core Xeon 3.00 GHz, 4 GB of ram, 250 GB windows drive, 500 GB backups. Running Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise.
Dell PowerEdge 2950 III Specs are: 2x Quad Core Xeons 3.16 GHz 32 GB of ram, 5 x 450 GB Drives. It's running my ESXi 5.5

IMG_20140331_093725.jpg

IMG_20140331_093733.jpg

IMG_20140331_093755.jpg

exsi 5.5.jpg

HAMP

I've added to my rack since the last time I took a pic and posted it less then a month ago. I have one more 2950 switch which isn't in the rack at the moment. I wasn't thinking I would have this many pieces. I almost feel I wasted money with just getting the 2509, when I need 2511.

Well honestly, I haven't even taken my CCENT yet, which I plan to take in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to getting pass that part, so I can really get into the rack instead of reading so much.

final_cisco.jpg

dactyl

I'm just about to take my CCNA, and this lab does well for me. I had to do some customizing to make it current enough to handle everything, such as upgrading memory so the 1760's will support IOS 12.4. I also had to add a WIC for an extra Ethernet port to one router since these are 1 port routers and some labs in the manuals from Cisco require a router to have two.

Routers: 3x Cisco 1760 - All routers have 128mb memory added, so that they can run IOS 12.4T.
WICs: 4x WIC-1T, 1x WIC-1ENET
Switches: 3x Cisco 2950
Firewall: Cisco PIX 501

For building a lab on a budget, this set up has worked out well, at least for the CCNA level.

Note: If anyone is considering 1760's, just be aware, only some of the models can be upgraded to support 12.4. The ones like mine with [32F] written in white text within a black square on the front above the FastEthernet port can be upgraded. The older ones without this marking cannot. If they're the older ones you'll be stuck without a lot of the functionality taught in the current CCNAv5 curriculum.

MP 015.jpg

MTciscoguy

Here is a shot of the lab I am working with right now, it has been pretty inexpensive to put together, my 3rd 1841 will be delivered today, but it consists of 5 2950 switches, 3 1841 routers, upgraded to maximum memory and running 512mb flash cards, 2 2503 routers upgraded to max memory, 2 AUI transceivers, 3 HWIC-2T, 1 HWIC-1T, 4 WIC-1DSU-T1-V2, I upgraded the 1841's to IOS 15.1 yesterday and will be upgrading the 2503's to the latest IOS today.

I have also set up my PC to pretty high standards, it is a E8400 Intel Core Duo, with 4 gigs of memory, 2 TB hard drive, running windows XP Sp3 Professional, with a PCI 16 port serial card, so I can connect to all of the Cisco equipment and manage, it has a Phillips Blu Ray Burner, in addition to a DVD Burner, dual Nic cards, Nvidia 9800GT HD video card with 1 gig of memory, I also have a few DB9 to USB converter cables so when I am working in the field I can connect to one of my laptops. Currently I make my own network cables.

I will be adding a couple of Dell servers in the next couple of weeks, so I can start working on my Windows server certs as well and I already have a Unix server that I will hook up this weekend.

Cheers guys, stay geeky!

LOL

ciscolab.jpg

Iristheangel

I just started my new job on Monday and they happened to be scraping a TON of stuff out of their lab. Needless to say, my home lab just received an ENORMOUS upgrade.
Here's my 4507R with dual sups that I haven't figured out how to get out of the trunk of my car and up a flight of stairs yet:

Here is my newly stacked rack:

It contains the following:
2x 4948 w/10GE
2x 3560s
2x 3750
1x 2960S
1x 2504 WLC
1x 3602 AP
1x Meraki MR34
4x 1142N APs
4x 2801 ISR

I'm also getting a spare MDS 9124 tomorrow so I'm going to get a cheap server with Solaris on it and an HBA to set it up as a fibre target.

My future wishlist thought is to have two switches capable of VSS in my home lab. It'll have to fall into my lab because honestly I can't afford it on my own.

IMAG0394.jpg

IMAG0387.jpg

JeanM

Nice! You plan on powering the 4507 with dual a/c lines ?

What is the 2nd device (blue)?

wgroom

What a score Iris, that is awesome!

kj0

JeanM wrote: »

What is the 2nd device (blue)?

Are you referring to what looks like a ST-Fiber fobot?

That's awesome Iris. That's one way to dim the city lights!

Abdul201288

New PoE Switch

Iristheangel

kj0 wrote: »

Are you referring to what looks like a ST-Fiber fobot?

That's awesome Iris. That's one way to dim the city lights!

I tried booting it all at the same time yesterday with the exception of the 4507. I tripped the circuit breaker. Opps.

I am thinking of either relocating my lab to work or renting a cheap office space or storage space off CL for my rack.

MTciscoguy

Iristheangel wrote: »

I tried booting it all at the same time yesterday with the exception of the 4507. I tripped the circuit breaker. Opps.

I am thinking of either relocating my lab to work or renting a cheap office space or storage space off CL for my rack.

I am not surprised, that is a lot of juice to try and get from the average home electrical system.

fist-of-freedom

Hey guys, just piecing together my new CCNA/CCNP lab, here is what I have so far. Can you think of anything else I will need? More specifically cabling and modules?

Thanks!

(2) 1841
$_57.JPG

(2) 2611XM

(2) 3550

(1) 3620 (NMA4S on the way)
$_57.JPG

JeanM

fist-of-freedom - nice! get some ethernet and serial cables, and what are you going to connect to the 4A/S module? You'll probably want another module for 2nd router.

sucanushie

Added a couple 3560's to the lab to start working on SWITCH.

From top to bottom...

ASA 5505
1841
1841
3825
3500
3550
3550
3560
3560

lab5.jpg

theodoxa

This is the lab I keep at work.

1 x 3750-24TS
1 x 3560-24TS
2 x 2960-24TT-L
1 x Laptop - Not Pictured (Domain Controller, Root CA, RADIUS Server, DNS Server, Web/FTP Server, Syslog Server, VirtualBox, Wireshark)
1 x Laptop - Not Pictured (Serial Port, TFTP Server)
1 x My Personal Laptop - Not Pictured (GNS3, VirtualBox, Wireshark)

I swap out equipment [from home] as needed for whatever I'm focusing on right now.

20140606_184331.jpg

alxx

consolidating my lab/cleaning a few things out

4x 1841
1x 3745
3x 3550
1x 3550fx
5x 26xxXM
1x 2950fx
1x 2950sx

to go
2950
2950G
4x1721-32f
3660
3460
4x1760

gone
2x1751
2950
2651

need a rack but don't really have space.
Will update pic when everything is in a neat stack again , instead of spread out around the living room

attachment.php?attachmentid=5368&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1402294767

attachment.php?attachmentid=5369&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1402294909

2014-06-09 16.13.47.jpg

2014-06-09 16.13.54.jpg

alxx

sold/selling most of my old lab (consolidate the space)

picked up 2x3750 for $100

updated lab
4x 1841
5x 2600xm
2x 3750
1x 3550
1x 2950sx
2x 2950fx
1x 3550g
1x 3550fx
1x 3745

attachment.php?attachmentid=5442&stc=1

and 877 on top

Need to get off my butt and finish ccna asap then start on ccnp. Baby due in 6 weeks and inlaws due here in 4 weeks and staying for 2 months
(they don't speak English and my mandarin is fairly crap

)

If anyone is after a lab (hint its my listing) http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=291179522257

Cisco Inferno

I have not yet posted any pictures of my lab. Here is my setup.

3 2620xm routers
3 2950c switches
4 USB to Serial adapters, 4 port USB hub, 2 port PCI serial card.
A bunch of crossover and straight through cables as well as 6 console cables so each device has a dedicated terminal.
6 WIC1DSU-T1V2 cards and 3 1' T1 cables.
I also have an ISDN BRI module that I do not use, but have instead of a faceplate.
To simulate hosts, I also have a space usb to ethernet adapter that I have going to a VM with bridged networking on my desktop.

I am racking this all together in a neat way that I thought that more people should know about.
It's called a "Lack Rack". Basically, you use a cheap table from Ikea that costs less than $10. It is the perfect width to mount server/networking/pro audio gear.

LINK: Ikea Lack Table

I only made one necessary improvement on the design.
I used a 1 inch wide strip of aluminium from Home Depot/Lowes (dirt cheap) on each length of the table's leg. This would make everything a bit more secure. I also mounted the aluminium strip into the leg, as well as the devices into the aluminium with self-tapping screws so I would not need to pre-drill holes.

I find this so much more fun than packet tracer. 100% authentic and real. I've already dealt with many physical/link layer issues that I wouldn't have seen with packet tracer.

The best part of this rack is that I get to use it as a table!
What otherwise would have wasted space is now helping to save it.