CCNA home lab or virtual???

I'm finishing up my studies at WGU....only 5 classes left....of those 5, 3 are Cisco. They do offer all the virtual stuff and my mentor says I can get by with that but I rely want to do the home lab thing. I've researched a ton and it all seems "halfway" straightforward on what to buy but.....when money is involved, I want reassurance. Any good recommendations on what I need to accomplish this?

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zachkenemer

Double00Kevin wrote: »

I'm finishing up my studies at WGU....only 5 classes left....of those 5, 3 are Cisco. They do offer all the virtual stuff and my mentor says I can get by with that but I rely want to do the home lab thing. I've researched a ton and it all seems "halfway" straightforward on what to buy but.....when money is involved, I want reassurance. Any good recommendations on what I need to accomplish this?

I think your instructor is right, on the CCNA level, you don't need hardware. You can even do CCNP Route/Switch now on virtual hardware. I learned on hardware with Networking Academy classes, but I thought packet tracer was good enough to learn all the concepts and probably some more. What you really miss with the virtual is dealing with the setup and maintenance. I bought 3 2621XM's for my first CCNP Route lab and I ended up buy WIC cards, more RAM and flash with new images. It is definitely good experience to do hands on and I think I would do that, but if you are wanting reassurance that the hardware you buy won't crap out, I don't think you will get it.

Hardware is the best way to go because it is more tangible, like reading a hardback book versus a pdf. I would choose which you you feel would enhance your learning experience the most

MTciscoguy

Double00Kevin wrote: »

I'm finishing up my studies at WGU....only 5 classes left....of those 5, 3 are Cisco. They do offer all the virtual stuff and my mentor says I can get by with that but I rely want to do the home lab thing. I've researched a ton and it all seems "halfway" straightforward on what to buy but.....when money is involved, I want reassurance. Any good recommendations on what I need to accomplish this?

You can get by with virtual labs, so your instructor is right, although I am going to say it is not the best, it pays to have hardware, because there are a lot of little quirks that can come up that will only happen on hardware, like a cable clip not working right, or a power cord going bad, that you will encounter in your everyday life as you move along into working on stuff, buying good used equipment is not all that expensive and you can put together a damn good lab that will cover a lot of stuff for less than $500.

So my vote is for real equipment, hands on and it will make you a better technician.

As far as equipment going bad, I have tons of stuff, some of it, 20+ years old and have never had a piece of Cisco gear go bad on me there is really not a lot to go wrong with them.

gorebrush

I would argue that CCNA level you *need* a home lab, CCNP and higher you don't.

ccnpninja

Go with physical if you can afford the gear. You can never beat real equipement. If not, go with virtual. And even with a virtual environment, there are some investments to make.

HAMP

gorebrush wrote: »

I would argue that CCNA level you *need* a home lab, CCNP and higher you don't.

This is an interesting thought. I was under the impression of it being the opposite. Although with me, I feel having equipment is important from the beginning until the person is done with testing for certs.

Of course its just my opinion, but I look forward to reading your thoughts on it.

Double00Kevin

Thanks for the feedback everyone, in regards to buying physical hardware, I think I will.....the next questions would be.....what to get? Obviously there are a ton of choices out there on the interwebs. Should I just go with a premade kit on ebay or piece together my own thing??? Without knowing anything about Cisco.....I find myself wondering if I am buying the right equipment? I dont want to be stuck with something that I really dont need just yet.

cyberguypr

There's some mystique about the little flashing lights that makes it more engaging to me.

quickman007

gorebrush wrote: »

I would argue that CCNA level you *need* a home lab, CCNP and higher you don't.

I concur.

HAMP

Double00Kevin wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback everyone, in regards to buying physical hardware, I think I will.....the next questions would be.....what to get? Obviously there are a ton of choices out there on the interwebs. Should I just go with a premade kit on ebay or piece together my own thing??? Without knowing anything about Cisco.....I find myself wondering if I am buying the right equipment? I dont want to be stuck with something that I really dont need just yet.

If you goto Certificationkits they have different startup labs and you can make changes to them and pretty much order what you want. Or if you are confused about what to buy, on thier website they go into detail of why you would need certain devices.

Must warn you, they are not the cheapest compared to you buying individual pieces of equipment yourself.

I learned a lot from reading their website. What I did was buy a small starter kit, did a couple of upgrades from them before ordering, and it was much easier to add more to the rack as you progress.

https://www.certificationkits.com/

gorebrush

The reason I say this is that, predominantly the people we see here who are going for the CCNA are relatively new to the world of Cisco. Typically they don't get much hands on - I work in a NOC and 95% of the time you never touch a device.

I bought a CCNA lab consisting of a bunch of 2500's and some crappy old 19xx something switches and the first time I touched anything in production, I was fairly comfortable with what I was doing - especially as only a year or so later I had to get my hands dirty with fibres in production and having to move a bunch of users to a temporary office due to a faulty SFP.

Once you have got a fair amount of hands on then you just get to know in your mind how virtual equipment works. I did the vast majority of my "practice" for the CCIE lab using pretty much all virtual kit, because I'm used to it.

I'm not trying to discourage virtual labs for beginners - it's a real neat, cheap way to get your feet wet without investing too much capital into it, maybe you don't actually enjoy it, for example?

But if you are really serious about getting to know the kit then buying a cheap lab (and you can get ample kit for CCNA and CCNP really cheaply now) is a sensible investment.

Also, all the shiny lights! And the ability to re able on the fly etc etc, it is all really worthwhile experience.

networker050184

Learning to troubleshoot a physical link is a very important skill. In the real world you don't just point and click and it's done. Everyone should accidentally screw up a router and go through fighting rommon at least once too. These aren't skills you really need for the CCNA though.

cyberguypr

Obligatory router story: 7 years ago I spent 3 hours watching my then manager troubleshoot a router that kept freezing every 5-10 minutes. He wasn't a super Cisco guru but could move around and do some things. Memory was replaced, CAT5s replaced, nothing. Since he was getting frustrated and exhausted his arsenal, he gave up and called TAC. Some time was spent flashing the router, etc. Still no evidence of any issue was found and the router would randomly freeze. After an hour or so the guy on the other end of the phone asked if he replaced the power cable. My manager got into this 10 minute agitated argument on how that made no sense. We finally convinced him to replace the cable. After that the router worked successfully for 3 years until it was decommissioned.

Once again, layer 1 wins. Never underestimate the power of the cord (no pun intended).

james43026

Despite what anyone says here, having the real hardware is always better than simulators or emulators. With that being said, you will want actual hardware for anything past the CCNA R&S, as there are many things you just can't put together in Packet Tracer or GNS3. You can get a lot of equipment for great prices on EBAY, you don't need the latest and greatest hardware, I would recommend cisco 2800 series routers (2811 and up if you plan to use network modules), or maybe even 2600 series routers if you don't want to spend as much on routers, and a 2600 series router with a NM-32A is cheaper than other options for a access server, 3550 / 3750 switches for layer three functionality, 2960 series switches are great layer 2 switches. But what would work best for you may be different.

HAMP

james43026 wrote: »

2600 series router with a NM-32A is cheaper than other options for a access server,

Sorry, but I gotta correct you on this part, but the digi access server is the cheapest.

I want to go futher and say it is the best also, but that is a personal opinion.

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE DIGI!!!!

Mackie09

Any though of the virtual router(gns3) plus real cisco switch?

Double00Kevin

Well I am definitely taking everyone's advice.....found a few basic labs on ebay.....nothing too fancy. 2 1841s and 2x2950s. I think that will get me going without spending an arm and a leg.....once I get more "smarter", I'll build onto that. However.....if anyone has something they wanna get rid of, let me know....I have paypal. Thanks again for all the feedback everyone!!

Double00Kevin

I didn't know that could be done.....lol. I don't know yet if my school will provide me with gns3.....I will know more next Tuesday.

clarson

I probably could sell you that equipment from less than ebay. if your interested send me a private message.

Double00Kevin

Would love to.....but apparently I don't have privprivilprivileges to send a message....wtf??

MTciscoguy

Double00Kevin wrote: »

I didn't know that could be done.....lol. I don't know yet if my school will provide me with gns3.....I will know more next Tuesday.

You don't need to wait for your school to provide GNS3, it can be downloaded off the internet, I get updates from them almost weekly.

1841's and 2950's are fine to start out, I have 3 1841's which I have upgraded the memory in and added bigger flash cards to run IOS 15.XX and they work fine, if you can find 2950 G EI, then I would get those, eventually, I would add a couple more updated switches and routers, but right now, those will be just fine.

Jon_Cisco

I think when asking about purchasing equipment it's important to understand what you get with physical vs virtual.

In a totally different industry I had an interview 20+ years ago and I was sat in front of a computer and asked to start a task. I had always worked on a system that was secured and only allowed access to programs via removable disk and a quick launch splash page. I had no idea how to start and it taught me a valuable lesson.

If you simply want to learn the theory it's probably quicker and easier to use virtual options. However if you want to be comfortable walking into a data closet and finding what your looking for you will be well served to buy a few pieces of equipment. Little things like which port is which are less obvious when you are put on the spot and have never seen them before. Connecting a console cable is a simple task. But try to do it with a current laptop. Do you have the right connections now? Probably not.

If you want to do networking and you have not used the equipment before I would find some way to get some hands on experience. I took the netacad classes and the hands on there showed you the basics but you didn't get to really play around because you were sharing the devices. I was able to go home and lab up a lot more on my own.

With that said I invested in a nice CCNA lab and did 90% of my study in packet tracer. It was not either or to me. I used both.

Good Luck! Jon

Double00Kevin

Just bought a few 2950g switches.......best router to buy.....any suggestions???

Mooseboost

I have some 2800 series routers and I have been very happy with them. They are affordable and will definitely cover everything you need.

digitheads

I prefer the home lab to a simulator any day...

zachkenemer

HAMP wrote: »

If you goto Certificationkits they have different startup labs and you can make changes to them and pretty much order what you want. Or if you are confused about what to buy, on thier website they go into detail of why you would need certain devices.

Must warn you, they are not the cheapest compared to you buying individual pieces of equipment yourself.

I learned a lot from reading their website. What I did was buy a small starter kit, did a couple of upgrades from them before ordering, and it was much easier to add more to the rack as you progress.

https://www.certificationkits.com/

I agree as well; however, I just modeled my build off of prebuilt. Or like this dude said, you can start small and always go bigger.