B r a i n s l a p ' s
InternetworkExperts
Earn the Knowledge

Home

Cisco Resources

Cisco Website Resources

Short Lessons

PowerPoint Lessons (requires IE 4.x+)

There are many alternatives to purchasing equipment that you may outgrow or that may not meet your future requirements for Cisco training. While it is highly recommend that you work on the equipment to get hands-on knowledge, at some point, the cost to do that will most probably far exceed your desired spending level.

If you are going to purchase equipment then you must verify before you buy that it will support the IOS version(s) you plan to use. Be careful with buying things on eBay... there have been situations when people have bought routers and then needed to buy memory upgrades before they could install IOS v 11.x, which requires 8mb RAM. Two routers will work fine for CCNA but you are going to need at least three to accomplish many of the CCNP requirements and simulate the environments.

An alternative is to utilize the web where there are sites that let you access (i.e. rent) live or simulated routers. Check out SimRouter.com and RouterSim.com. These sites should give you an idea of the different types of offerings that are available and the costs involved. SimRouter.com also allows you to use workbooks written by Laura Chappell that go right along with their existing lab environment. Laura Chappell's website is NetAnalysis.org and her Cisco lab books can be found at PodBooks.com.

Some of the equipment you might want to get to build your own lab can be found below.

Cisco Training Lab Recommendations

A Cisco Training Lab should emulate conditions under which CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP and CCIE candidates are tested for their certification tests and the CCIE lab exam. In addition to equipment, networking exercises should provide students with experience in configuring complex networks and the ability to learn topics required for certifications. Lab scenarios should allow students to implement and troubleshoot different network configurations. 

A typical Cisco training lab might consist of the following equipment:

• (1) Cisco 2511 Router
• (1) Cisco 2515 Router
• (2) Cisco 2524 Routers; Each with 1 ISDN BRI interface
• (1) Cisco 2621 Router; With 2 FXS voice interfaces
• (1) Cisco 3640 Router; With 1 OC-3 ATM and 2 FXS voice interfaces
• (1) Cisco 4000M Router
• (1) Cisco 7000 Router
• (1) Catalyst 2924C-XL Switch
• (1) Catalyst 5000 switch
• (1) Cisco Light Stream 1010 ATM Switch
• (3) Ethernet Hubs
• (3) Cisco 3920 Token Ring Switch
• RJ-11, RJ-45, and serial patch panels, cables, and transceivers
• (2) Analog Modem Lines
• (2) ISDN Lines
• (3) Backbones; With an array of simulated network traffic
• (1) LAN and WAN traffic generator and analyzer such as the Network Associates Sniffer or RADcom protocol analyzer
• (1) Windows NT 4.0 Server with (Ethernet & Token Ring Network NICs)
• (1) Windows NT 4.0 Workstation (Ethernet & Token Ring Network Cards)
• (1) Cisco CallManager 3.x
• (2) Cisco IP Phones
• (1) CiscoWorks 2000 software

Protocols and network topologies used in the laboratory will include, but will not be limited to:

• IP
• IPX
• Token Ring
• Ethernet
• Fast Ethernet
• Gigabit Ethernet
• OSPF
• EIGRP
• IGRP
• ATM PVC's
• ATM SVC's
• Voice over IP
• Voice over FR
• Voice over SONET
• VLAN's
• Trunking
• ISDN
• DDR
• Frame Relay
• Route redistribution
• PPP
• HDLC
• BGP
• DLSw  

Cisco Mobile Lab Recommendations

Use the information below to build your own mobile Cisco training labs but please be aware this information could easily become obsolete. Equipment needs and new technologies covered on the Cisco certification exams and labs should definitely be considered before building any lab, whether it is mobile or in a permanent facility. Please check Cisco's CCIE website at http://www.cisco.com/go/ccie for further information.

Catalyst Switching Mobile Lab and Equipment
This mobile lab should contain switches that use Catalyst switch software. In addition to QoS and VLANs, lab users should be able to learn trunking, Gigabit Etherchannel and RMON statistics gathering.

IP Telephony Mobile Lab and Equipment
This mobile lab should contain products that use Cisco IP telephony technologies.

IOS Switching Mobile Lab and Equipment
The mobile lab contains many of the same technologies as the Catalyst Switching Lab, but with switches that run IOS instead of Catalyst switch software. In addtition, stacking of the IOS switches is incorporated with GigaStack GBICs.

Routing Mobile Lab and Equipment
The mobile lab contains most technologies used in current routed environments. HSSI, ATM OC-3, Synchronous and Asynchronous Serial and Ethernet interfaces allow these devices to be connected to simulate real-world environments running such protocols such as EIGRP, OSPF and BGP. In addition, technologies such as QoS can be demonstrated from end-to-end using the QoS capable switch included.

CCIE Mobile Lab and Equipment
The equipment listed here should be added to the Routing Mobile Lab to provide most of the functionality necessary to study for the CCIE Routing and Switching Lab.

 
Interested in advertising? Reach hundreds of Network Engineers. Contact
 

© Copyright 2008, Brainslap Productions
All rights reserved.