Would this be a good CCNA/entry-level CCNP lab?

[dcarmich]

I'm going to be recertifying on the CCNA and I'm looking at purchasing a small home lab so that I can both study for the CCNA, and possibly go up to a CCNP in the future. (I also want to be able to use more advanced features (ie. voice) if I decide to study them.)

Here's the setup I'm thinking of:

2 x 2611XM routers
1 x 2950T-24 switch with Enhanced Image software
(Could I get a 2950 series switch with the Standard Image and upgrade to Enhanced Image when
I want to work with the EI feature set?)
1 x PIX 506E firewall

What do you think?
Could a routing-capable switch take the place of one or both of the routers?

Comments welcome.

--Douglas

 

[nightowl]

I am not sure about the capabilities of the routers off the top of my head nor the PIX but I do know that you cannot upgrade the 2950 from the standard image to the enhanced image. The basic 2950s do not have enough memory on them to take the image. We have accidently killed a couple SI 2950s at work because we did a mass upgrade of all the 2950s (most are EI). We had to revert back to the SI to get it to work again. You could look for a 3500xl (almost exactly like a 2950) or a 2900xl with the EI installed on it. Both should do what you are looking for.

 

[spidey07]

a couple 2500 routers and a 2924 switch from e-bay should be all you need.

and yes, you can upgrade the 2950/3550 from standard to enhanced.

 

[nightowl]

Not all of the 2950s can be upgraded to the EI. Some do not have enough flash memory to hold the EI. That is how we killed some of the switches that I mentioned