CCNA / CCNP Property Lab Tutorial: Assembling Your Cisco Property Lab

A CCNA or CCNP candidate who desires to be totally ready for their exams is going to put together a property lab to practice on. With utilised Cisco routers and switches a lot more cost-effective and plentiful then ever just before, there's actually no excuse to not have one!

Using the many different models obtainable, there is certainly some understandable confusion amongst future CCNAs and CCNPs about which routers to purchase and which ones to stay away from. You may take almost any set of Cisco routers and put together a property lab; component of the learning process is taking what equipment you may have obtainable and putting together your own lab! For those of you preparing to start your property lab or add to your existing one, this write-up will list the routers I use in my Cisco pods. You undoubtedly don't have to have all this equipment, but this will give you some very good tips on tips on how to get began.

By far the most versatile router you could get for your CCNA / CCNP property lab is a 2520. These routers come with 4 serial ports, one ethernet port, and one BRI interface for ISDN practice. This mix of interfaces indicates you could really use it as a frame relay switch although employing the ethernet and BRI ports for routing. (There is no problem with employing a lab router as both your frame relay switch as well as a practice router; for a frame relay switch sample configuration, pay a visit to my internet site!)

My pods consist of five routers and two switches, and 3 of the five routers are 2520s, as a result of their versatility. A current ebay search showed these routers selling for $99 - $125, an outstanding value for the practice you're going to obtain.

I also use 2501s in my property labs. These have fewer interfaces, but the mixture of two serial interfaces and one ethernet interface enables you to obtain plenty of practice.

A mixture that works very well is employing 3 2520s; one as my dedicated frame relay switch, one as R1, and a further as R2. Add a 2501 as R3, and you could have a frame cloud connecting R1, R2, and R3, a direct serial connection among R1 and R3, an Ethernet segment that consists of all 3 routers, and an ISDN connection among R1 and R2 for those who have an ISDN simulator. That mixture will allow you to obtain a tremendous quantity of practice for the exams, and you could generally sell it when you're done!

2501s are very cost-effective, with many within the $50 range on ebay. It is fairly possible to obtain 3 2520s and one 2501 for less than $500 total, and you could get most of that capital back should you pick out to sell it when you're done.

With 4 routers to work with, you're probably going to obtain tired of moving that console cable about. An access server (really a Cisco router, not the white boxes we tend to feel of when we hear "server") will allow you to out with that. An access server enables you to set up a connection with each of your other routers via an octal cable, which prevents you from moving that console cable about continually. For an example of an access server configuration, just pay a visit to my internet site and look within the "Free Training" section.

Access server rates vary fairly a bit; don't panic should you do an ebay search and see them costing thousands of dollars. You don't will need an high-priced access server for your CCNA / CCNP property lab. 2511s are great routers to obtain for your access server.

One question I get typically from CCNA / CCNP candidates is "What routers ought to I acquire that I can nonetheless use when I'm ready to study for the CCNP?" The CCIE lab adjustments frequently and in some cases drastically in relation to the equipment you'll will need. For the duration of my CCIE lab studies, I found that renting time from on-line rack rental providers was really the very best solution to go. Don't hesitate when putting your CCNA / CCNP property lab together, wondering what might be acceptable for the CCIE workbook a year or so from now. None of us know what's going to be on that equipment list, so get the CCNA and CCNP initial - by building your own Cisco property lab!