Posts Tagged ‘cisco’
January 1st, 2012 | 
Author: To be truly prepared for your CCNA and CCNP exams, you need real hands-on experience with real Cisco routers and switches. However, a production network is a really bad place to practice your configurations, but an excellent way to get fired and/or sued. The key to becoming a true CCNA and CCNP is assembling your own Cisco home lab.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to do so; used Cisco equipment is cheaper than ever. It’s robust as well – I’ve bought literally hundreds of used routers and switches over the years and have had very few problems. I owe much of my skill to practicing configurations and troubleshooting in my own home lab.
2501 routers are fantastic for CCNA and CCNP home labs. They come with two serial interfaces, allowing you to connect one interface directly to another router (you’ll need a DTE/DCE cable for that, too) while connecting another to a frame relay switch if you like. If you don’t have a frame relay switch, you can connect a 2501 directly to two other routers via the serial interfaces.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 
I know from experience that part of the excitement and anxiety of putting together your own CCNA / CCNP home lab is deciding what to buy! While you can make a workable home lab out of almost any combination of Cisco routers and switches, some routers are better suited for home lab work than others because they can fill multiple roles.
My personal favorite is the Cisco 2520. This router has four serial interfaces, making it an ideal frame relay switch. Don’t forget that just because you’re using a router as a frame switch, you can still use its routing capabilities. One setup I use is to use three of the four serial interfaces for frame switching and the fourth interface as a point-to-point network with another router. All you need is some DTE/DCE cables and you’re all set.
The 2520 also comes with one ethernet interface and an ISDN interface, so that gives you even more options. Even if you’re not planning to run ISDN in your home lab right now, you may choose to do so in the future – and with a 2520, you’ve already got the right router to do so. Keep in mind that if you are going to run ISDN in your home lab, you’ll need an ISDN device such as an ISDN simulator in your lab. (ISDN simulators are physical devices and are plentiful on ebay – they’re no relation to “router simulators”.)
Read the rest of this entry »
To be truly prepared for your CCNA and CCNP exams, you need real hands-on experience with real Cisco routers and switches. However, a production network is a really bad place to practice your configurations, but an excellent way to get fired and/or sued. The key to becoming a true CCNA and CCNP is assembling your own Cisco home lab.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to do so; used Cisco equipment is cheaper than ever. It’s robust as well – I’ve bought literally hundreds of used routers and switches over the years and have had very few problems. I owe much of my skill to practicing configurations and troubleshooting in my own home lab.
2501 routers are fantastic for CCNA and CCNP home labs. They come with two serial interfaces, allowing you to connect one interface directly to another router (you’ll need a DTE/DCE cable for that, too) while connecting another to a frame relay switch if you like. If you don’t have a frame relay switch, you can connect a 2501 directly to two other routers via the serial interfaces.
You also have an AUI port, which requires a transceiver to operate as your Ethernet interface. Transceivers are pretty cheap and readily available from Cisco resellers and ebay vendors, so pick one up for each 2503 you decide to buy.
Read the rest of this entry »
I know from experience that part of the excitement and anxiety of putting together your own CCNA / CCNP home lab is deciding what to buy! While you can make a workable home lab out of almost any combination of Cisco routers and switches, some routers are better suited for home lab work than others because they can fill multiple roles.
My personal favorite is the Cisco 2520. This router has four serial interfaces, making it an ideal frame relay switch. Don’t forget that just because you’re using a router as a frame switch, you can still use its routing capabilities. One setup I use is to use three of the four serial interfaces for frame switching and the fourth interface as a point-to-point network with another router. All you need is some DTE/DCE cables and you’re all set.
Read the rest of this entry »
