cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
508
Views
0
Helpful
3
Replies

Making a lab for CCNA - Price check?

Persondude2
Level 1
Level 1

I'm trying to study for the CCNA, and I've heard from many people that I should build myself a small lab to practice. I've looked at eBay and many sites on the internet for used routers, switches, and equipment, and I can't seem to find a consensus on what older Cisco products are worth. How much are 2500 series routers going for now days?

I found a person who is selling the lab that he used when studying for the CCNP but his list of what it includes is a little confusing. He writes: "List of equipment: 1 C4500 M+, 1 SW 5000, 1 CPA 2501, 1 2501, 1 2521, 1 2507, 1 2524, 1 2509, 1 2612". I'm not even sure what a few of those things are!

Basically, I just need a little help so I don't get ripped off... Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

3 Replies 3

tdrais
Level 7
Level 7

For 2500 you generally pay more for shipping than for the router. Their usefulness is very much coming to a end even for the certs which explains the prices. Not to say they are worthless but it is very close to that.

For most certs things like 2611 is a good router for now and they are well under $100.

If you plan to do more advanced certs a xm series of 2600 "with max memory" will be useful for quite a while since you can load the newest IOS to them... at least until it becomes 12.5.

Do not go overboard on buying hardware. All the certification tests are mostly theory. You do need some hands on to pass the labs in the exams but at the CCNA level

2 or 3 routers should be enough.

I would personally just use dynamips for this, you can easily setup a simulation lab on your pc with no cost.

I have it setup with a full CCNA lab. Using mainly 3640's w/Ethernet switch modules for layer 2 activity you would like to perform.

http://www.gns3.net

Hope this helps, Please rate if so

Regards,

Justin

I find the GNS3 is quite a handy tool, probably more so for CCNP than CCNA because personally I think it's nice that someone has at least some "hands on" with real routers.

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community: