Solved: CCNP IOS

Adrian O'Neill · ‎08-25-2013

Hello,

I was hoping someone might be able to help me. I am currently studying CCNP switch. I am currently going through the cisco press CCNP SWITCH Lab Manual, and have run into a few problems. My home lab switches are 2950/24 X3 3524 XL so are not a great deal of use until i get hold of some L3 switches. The L3 switch IOS on packet tracer doesn't have the required commands. Using version 5.3.3. Is there any alternative simulators i can use? Or do i just bite the bullet and get some L3 switches?

Cheers

Adie

Peter Paluch · ‎08-25-2013

Hello Adrian,

Welcome to CSC and do not apologize - you are in the correct area.

Sadly, I am afraid there is not much you can do without real gear in the area of multilayer switching. To my best knowledge, both switch types you currently have are pure L2 switches and are incapable of doing any multilayer switching. Simulators such as Packet Tracer or Boson are only of limited fidelity, and I would be very cautious about using the to prepare specifically for CCNP level (not mentioning the fact that many features are simply not supported).

Nevertheless, you may want to look out for the Boson simulator at least to practice the commands, but I strongly caution you against trying to understand or derive a particular protocol's behavior from observing a simulator's response.

To prepare best, you really need to get your hands on a real equipment. Look for 2960, 3550, 3560 types of switches, and you may actually be quite successful with using the compact (8-port) versions. They support many (not all) of the required features, and may be cheaper to obtain.

There are also rentable labs run by Cisco Learning that allow you to practice switching features - see here:

https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/market/prod/productView.se.work?/nxt/rcrs/proieidentity/=19434#.UhnhXq7iffQ

Sorry to disappoint you. I wish I could do more here but it's just the way it is.

Best regards,

Peter

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Adrian O'Neill · ‎08-25-2013

Apologies if this post is in the wrong area

Adie

Peter Paluch · ‎08-25-2013

Hello Adrian,

Welcome to CSC and do not apologize - you are in the correct area.

Sadly, I am afraid there is not much you can do without real gear in the area of multilayer switching. To my best knowledge, both switch types you currently have are pure L2 switches and are incapable of doing any multilayer switching. Simulators such as Packet Tracer or Boson are only of limited fidelity, and I would be very cautious about using the to prepare specifically for CCNP level (not mentioning the fact that many features are simply not supported).

Nevertheless, you may want to look out for the Boson simulator at least to practice the commands, but I strongly caution you against trying to understand or derive a particular protocol's behavior from observing a simulator's response.

To prepare best, you really need to get your hands on a real equipment. Look for 2960, 3550, 3560 types of switches, and you may actually be quite successful with using the compact (8-port) versions. They support many (not all) of the required features, and may be cheaper to obtain.

There are also rentable labs run by Cisco Learning that allow you to practice switching features - see here:

https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/market/prod/productView.se.work?/nxt/rcrs/proieidentity/=19434#.UhnhXq7iffQ

Sorry to disappoint you. I wish I could do more here but it's just the way it is.

Best regards,

Peter

Adrian O'Neill · ‎08-25-2013

Peter,

Many thanks for the reply. With PT using a IOS simulation and GNS3 not having cisco IOS based switches, i did think that it may not be possible. Thanks for the link with the rentable labs. I think i'll bite the bullet and get a few switches.

Thanks again

Adie