GigBits
asked on
CCNA/CCNP Home Lab Setup Suggestions
I'm a student at Cisco Academy so I get tons of lab time with a huge range of Cisco hardware. I am interested however in getting even more familiar with Cisco equipment by building a small home lab consisting of at least two routers and one switch. I'm currently studying CCNA (finishing in about two months at my college) and CCNP, starting hopefully in December.
I've been pricing out Catalyst 2950 switches and 26xx and 25xx based routers from eBay, I’m happy so far with the prices I’ve found and am committed to spending about $1000.00 Canadian dollars to build the lab. My question is, what are peoples suggestions for the equipment I choose. I've been given various recommendations by my peers and teachers including;
Skip getting any 25xx based routers because they aren't used AT ALL in CCNP curriculum, don't bother with 2900 based switches because they run the Catalyst OS and not the IOS based 2950 series. I don't really want to spend the extra money on a 2ND 26xx based router though.
So keeping their suggestions in mind, my goal is to setup the following;
Router on a stick
Various Routing Protocols
ACLS
Would 1 26xx one 2514 and one 2950 suffice for this? Will this suffice for a lab setup that will help in preparing for the official certification exams as well as keeping me sharp on Cisco equipment and IOS?
Regards
Owen
I've been pricing out Catalyst 2950 switches and 26xx and 25xx based routers from eBay, I’m happy so far with the prices I’ve found and am committed to spending about $1000.00 Canadian dollars to build the lab. My question is, what are peoples suggestions for the equipment I choose. I've been given various recommendations by my peers and teachers including;
Skip getting any 25xx based routers because they aren't used AT ALL in CCNP curriculum, don't bother with 2900 based switches because they run the Catalyst OS and not the IOS based 2950 series. I don't really want to spend the extra money on a 2ND 26xx based router though.
So keeping their suggestions in mind, my goal is to setup the following;
Router on a stick
Various Routing Protocols
ACLS
Would 1 26xx one 2514 and one 2950 suffice for this? Will this suffice for a lab setup that will help in preparing for the official certification exams as well as keeping me sharp on Cisco equipment and IOS?
Regards
Owen
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
No, the XLs have soldered-on memory, no way to expand. The first ones had 4MB and the later ones had 8MB. Make sure at the very least that you are getting an 8MB model. The 4MBs are useless.
ASKER
The Flash storage for the IOS i assume u are talking about ?
No, the RAM. Sho version:
cisco WS-C2924-XL (PowerPC403GA) processor (revision 0x11) with 8192K/1024K bytes of memory.
cisco WS-C2924-XL (PowerPC403GA) processor (revision 0x11) with 8192K/1024K bytes of memory.
Oh- and make sure the switch you get is running Enterprise Edition software, not Standard.
ASKER
Thanks for the info, i'm really only looking to practice VTP so couldn't i get away with a getting a 10mbit 1900 based switch and configuring the 2950 for ISL trunking? I plan on using the 2950 as my main switch in my house for the 6 or so computers i use, the 2900 sounds like it might be less than suitable as a main production switch ,even though it's 10/100 mbit compliant.
The 1900s are a pain. The 2924 is a good switch if it has reasonably current software. It just has it's limitations. But it's not nearly as limited as the 1900s.
ASKER
cool, i'll try to score a 2924 then, can i install Cisco IOS 11 on it?
You have to get the right software for the switch. It's not router software, it's just a similar CLI. They have a version 11, but it had a lot of problems. I would get the latest, 12.0.5 WC 10 or something.
ASKER
Got a 12 port model 2950. Pricing for the 2924 was *pretty* close to the 2950. I got the 2950 for $450 canadian ($355 US)
Now i need to add a 2nd and third router and i guess a 2nd switch for pracice on VTP. 2nd switch will def be a 19xx series though, budget! 2950 does both forms of trunking right? ISL and dot1q?
Now i need to add a 2nd and third router and i guess a 2nd switch for pracice on VTP. 2nd switch will def be a 19xx series though, budget! 2950 does both forms of trunking right? ISL and dot1q?
I know it does dot1Q, not sure about ISL, but probably.
ASKER
GreatWhiteOne, i'm checking out the 1760 series right now on ebay. And i'll def try to get a 2900XL series running IOS in order to do VTP. Mike how limited are 2900XL's with regards to RAM. Don't they just have banks for standard Simms? Or are you referring to the flash portion of memory for IOS storage. JFredrick29 i'm gonna see if i can get a 2521 as well.
Gonna split the points to everyone for doing such a good job. Thanks again everyone