Home Cisco CCNA\CCNP Lab

[tyanni]

I know a few posts have been made about a home CCNA Cisco Lab, but nothing in great detail. My work is paying for my kit, so I'd like to get one that will work for the CCNA, and eventually, CCNP (and who knows - maybe even CCIE 🙂). One place I was looking at is offering the below - does it look like a good starting kit? Or can someone recommend a better setup? Budget is about $4500, give or take a hundred or so.

Two Cisco 2610 Modular Routers with maximum memory 64/16
Two WIC-1T serial cards, one for each of the Cisco 2610 routers
Two Cisco 2503 Routers with maximum memory 16/16 for ISDN labs
Two Cisco 1720 Modular Routers for the 100MB Ethernet ports
Two WIC-1T serial cards, one for each of the Cisco 1720 routers
One Cisco 2509 Router with maximum memory 16/16 to act as your Terminal Services Router
One Octol Cable for the 2509 Router
One Cisco 2523 Router to act as your Frame Relay Router
One Cisco 3550 Layer 3 switching Switch
One Cisco 2950 100MB Switch
One Cisco 2924 100MB Switch
One brand new ISDN Simulator
Eight back to back cables
Two console kits

 

[InlineFive]

Take a look at this thread.

 

[tyanni]

Thanks - I did look at that thread, and while the 2620 and 3550 are recommended, there isn't much on what else is required, i.e cables, Cards, etc.

 

[phatrabt]

I'm jealous!!!!!

Here's what I have (just got everything and waiting for it to arrive:

4 2620 routers with 16\48 memory (one will be a Frame-Relay switch)
3 WIC-2T cards
1 WIC-1AS card

1 1924
2 2950 switches

1 2509 with Octal cable to use as a Terminal server

I got most of my cables from a guy on the web. AnthonyPanda

You've got it all covers on yours. I only wish I coulc get a 3550 and an ISDN simulator, but that's way more than I have to spend. Good luck!

 

[InlineFive]

Hey, I'm also looking for CCNA hardware and I can't find any decent places to get the 262Xs or 295Xs for a good price. Do you know of any good spots? So far I have been watching eBay and Craigslist.

 

[phatrabt]

Originally posted by: InlineFive
Hey, I'm also looking for CCNA hardware and I can't find any decent places to get the 262Xs or 295Xs for a good price. Do you know of any good spots? So far I have been watching eBay and Craigslist.

eBay is where I got all mine. I paid approx $150 for each of the 2620's (plus shipping and with no WIC cards (except for one)) and $225 for the 2950's. If you stay on top of eBay you can find some deals (most of mine were Buy It Now, which saved me money after watching the other listings) but you just have to be patient and keep on it. Also, watch the memory that comes with them and the IOS version, as those are VERY important in determining what you can do.

 

[tyanni]

phatrabt -

Do you think its worth trying to get 2620s and WIC-2Ts instead of the 2610s and WIC-1Ts in the kit I listed?

 

[phatrabt]

Originally posted by: tyanni
phatrabt -

Do you think its worth trying to get 2620s and WIC-2Ts instead of the 2610s and WIC-1Ts in the kit I listed?

The only real difference is the 2610 has an Ethernet port and the 2620 is FastEthernet. For the purpose of a lab a the Ethernet interface would be plenty. The main thing you need to be aware of the IOS version and feature set, since they determine what you can do on the device. As for the WIC cards, I decided to go for the WIC-2T's because they are the same price (on eBay) as a WIC-1T but you get two interfaces instead of one.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: phatrabt

Originally posted by: tyanni
phatrabt -

Do you think its worth trying to get 2620s and WIC-2Ts instead of the 2610s and WIC-1Ts in the kit I listed?

The only real difference is the 2610 has an Ethernet port and the 2620 is FastEthernet. For the purpose of a lab a the Ethernet interface would be plenty. The main thing you need to be aware of the IOS version and feature set, since they determine what you can do on the device. As for the WIC cards, I decided to go for the WIC-2T's because they are the same price (on eBay) as a WIC-1T but you get two interfaces instead of one.

A bit more info that phatrabt helped me find about these: It turns out that with 12.2(2)T and onward the regular Ethernet interfaces found in the 261X models support 802.1Q!

Knowing this helped me out a little bit by giving me a larger purchasing spectrum.

 

[tyanni]

Guys - do either of you know the difference between the nm-4a/s cards and the WIC cards?

 

[phatrabt]

Originally posted by: tyanni
Guys - do either of you know the difference between the nm-4a/s cards and the WIC cards?

NM-4AS - Network module (big slot) and AS is Async\Synchronous (it'll only go up to 128kb\s)

WICs are cards that go in the small slots.