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CCNA LAB, NEED EXPERT FEEDBACK BEFORE $$$$

ICregular
Level 1
Level 1

I am seriously considering buying my own lab for hands on experience and good study time. I want to get this lab offered to me on the NET, can anyone here please be kind enough to give me you professional opinion on this lab package?

Product Information

As you may know, the new CCNP test requires IOS 12.4 which the cheaper routers do not support so you will need to step up to the 3640 series. So understanding that you may want an advanced CCNA lab kit that you can use as a starter CCNP kit, we developed this kit for those on a limited budget. This kit will support all the features to pass your CCNA and give you a start on your CCNP certification. I want to be very clear, this kit will not support all the features to pass your CCNP as-is. However, it will be your starter kit that you can add more switches and routers to as your budget permits to get there! The 3640 is going to support 12.4 so you will have exposure to that feature set. The 2620 will be your 100mb router to support 100mb specific features and the 2500 series unit can act as your frame relay switch. The 2924 will be your main 12.0.05 Enterprise switch and the two 1900 switches will round out your switch Domain for various elections. Other kits don't have console kits, serial cards, ISDN cards(which is still on the CCNA test), back to back cables or the latest IOS software. With this kit, you will also get the CiscoKits CCNA and CCNP test prep CD which includes Cisco practice labs, CCNA & CCNP test questions & answers, CCNA test tips, over 100 articles and white papers explaining various test concepts, the IOS on CD, Cisco's TFTP Server and much, much more prep material. These routers are in excellent condition and are guaranteed working!

# Tested and Guaranteed working!

# One 3640 64/16 Router supporting 12.4

# One 2620 100mb 64/16 Router support 12.3.21

# One 2500 Series Ethernet router supporting 12.1.21

# One 2924 100mb Switch supporting Enterprise 12.0.05

# Two 1900 Series Switches supporting 9.00.07

# One NM-1E2W Modules with one built-in Ethernet port

# Two WIC-1T Serial modules

# One WIC-1B-U ISDN Module

# Two Back to Back Cables

# Console Cable Kit

# Six Power Cables

# 30 Day Warranty!

# Additional Items Include:

# 12.4.12 IP/FW/IDS IOS on CD

# 12.3.21 IP/FW/IDS IOS for the 2620

# 12.0.05 Enterprise IOS for the 2924

# 9.00.7 Enterprise IOS for the 1900 Series

# TFTP Server & 8 other programs

# 50 Advanced Cisco Labs covering:

# RIP, OSPF, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP

# IP & IPX Routing

# Queueing, Multicast, DLSW

# Appletalk, IP Firewall, HSRP, NAT

# 300 Cisco CCNA review questions

# List of all Cisco CCNA router commands

# List of all Cisco CCNA switch commands

# 300 Cisco CCNP review questions

# 100+ articles covering Cisco concepts

# IOS Upgrade Instructions

# Password Recovery Procedures

# CCIE tricks

# Cable modem configurations

# Connecting thru AUX ports

# CCNP PIX Firewall & IDS Tools

# CCNP IOS Configuration Editor Trial Tools

# CCNP Router & Switch Simulator Trials

# CCNP Network Design Trial Tools

# CCNP Network Protocol Analyzer Trial Tools

# CCNP VOIP Packet Sniffer Trial Tools

10 Replies 10

ICregular
Level 1
Level 1

Also , please note I am looking to tackle the IE immediately after, so I was under the impression I may need to get a 3550. What do you think? Well i guess we need answers for the first question above, thanks!

Sounds good.

you may be short of routers to simualte complex topologies though...

Have a look at Dynamips too which can simulate an entire router and would be helpful for creating some complex topologies

http://www.ipflow.utc.fr/index.php/Cisco_7200_Simulator

HTH, rate if it does

Narayan

Pavel Bykov
Level 5
Level 5

My professional opinion is that it is not very good.

The 3640 and 2620 are the only worthwile items. More 2620 than 3640. But they are still two generations behind.

The switches are terrible. 1900 is completely useless. You might as well buy 20$ off the shelf switch. command line is a joke and it uses MENU by default. almost none of the commands used on 1900 aren't used anymore. Also, it supports only ISL trunking, which is not a trunking of choice.

2924 is a bit better, but still... It's not even 2950, which is a bare minimum. 2924 will not emulate real life scenario very well because, well, there aren't many 2924 left in real life environments.

Thank you so much for your help as it is much appreciated. My question is now, what would be a good LAB to own, of course being somewhat conservative with cash? Thank you for the help!

In term of switching, Cisco released the 'compact' 3560 switches (retailed under $1k).

They come with 8 ports and support the latest and greatest IOS.

In term of routing, 2600XM routers from eBay can be easily found at a decent price. For NP, you would need 3 to 4 routers, while for IE, you need at least 6 routers with 3 BackBones and a frame relay router.

First i'd seriously suggest you look into DYNAMIPS that Narayan suggested. I know it's a good feeling to have real boxes around, but Dynamips is for free. It emulates HARDWARE, not the software. So you will use real IOS.

You will spend a couple of days configuring your lab, but there are many HOWTOs and once you have se it up, all your setting are saved and you are always good to go.

Hey, I will check that out, I appreciate that input. Anyone else have some advice?

Hi, I would recommend first buying couple of

highly recommended lab books.

All-in-One Cisco CCIE Lab Study guide by stephen Hutnic and Michael Satterlee

ISBN# 0-07-212760-0, this is a good book which lays out equipment needed for various simple and complex labs.

If you have the money sure, why not go for it and get a good lab. If you do not have the means of spending so much in equipment I would use the programs provided by Narayan's link ( Dynamips) which looks extreamely good .

Thanks Narayan for the info !

There is also another very good book called Cisco CCIE Lab practice kit also by the above authors ISBN# 0-07-212766-x .

HTH

Jorge

Jorge Rodriguez

Thank you Jorge, I looked up these books on Amazon and saw that they were from 2002, I didnt see any new reviews. A lot of the reviews were bad. You see, its things like that that throw me off, arent they outdated?

I used them few years ago, and every now and then I reference them and works for me.. yes indeed they are from 2002, but %80-%90 of its content is still used today..

Jorge

Jorge Rodriguez
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