CCNA & CCNP Lab Suggestions

Many people ask me what would make a good CCNA lab? Well, that can be a tricky question based upon your budget and future Cisco aspirations. So let’s start off with a few basic concepts I hope we can all agree on. Real Routers

You need a physical router as the simulators just don’t have the ability to give you the “hands on” you need to see what happens when you disconnect a cable, put a cable in the wrong location or just plain configure the interface incorrectly. Dependant on what you do by mistake, you may see either the interface or protocol go down and based upon that it should give you a clue of where to start troubleshooting(hint, what layer is the interface at and what layer is the protocol at?). Anyway, you will come to find quite quickly that mistakes you make on Router 1 are affecting Router 4 all because you did not screw in a cable properly. No simulator can simulate that, so a router is invaluable.

I also get occasionally asked if someone can use their D-Link “router” or such in their lab. That class of home “router” generally does not support protocols such as RIP, OSPF, IGRP, etc. nor do they support the Cisco IOS which is a majority of the CCNA exam. So the answer is they are not really applicable to building your Cisco CCNA lab. How Many Routers Do I Need?

Two routers really are required to see if anything works. If you have a very limited budget, you can receive value from only purchasing a single router over working with a simulator. However, you will not be able to see the main thing we are trying to accomplish. The propagation of route tables and the routing of data! The only way you can see if your configurations work, is to have at least two routers. That said, if you can afford a kit with more than two routers, it will enable you to exercise more complex scenarios. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you purchase a dual router kit or better that comes with all the accessories you need. Otherwise you can spend days or weeks trying to find all the little extra pieces you need to get your lab up and running. I mention this as some other resellers are selling their kits with 2500 routers and they are not including transceivers. Well how will you use the Ethernet AUI ports without them?? So this is basically how I view it. One router will give you the ability to run the commands on the switch and allow you to memorize the correct syntax and context in which to run the commands. Two routers will allow your to route table information propagate, data propagation and path election. In addition, you will see basic device elections. With three or more routers you will get all of the above and full device elections.

Can We Build A Lab That Will Cover Every Single CCNA Exam Concept?We get this question quite often. Yes, we can, but it is not realistic for most customers who are self studying as this will cost well in excess of $5,000. If you have that sort of budget available, we suggest you pick on of the CCNP kits as that will get you through your CCNA exam and well on your way to your CCNP certification.How Many Routers & Switches Do I Need To Complete Your Lab Workbook?

Our Lab Workbook was designed with the knowledge that most of our customers can’t afford a large lab. Keep in mind, that you will see a variety of labs that were written for three of four routers below. That does not mean you can’t complete most of them. It just for the most part means they will not be as complex as they could be.

Number of labs requiring only one router – 7

Number of labs requiring two routers – 11

Number of labs requiring three routers – 19

Number of labs requiring four routers – 4

Number of labs requiring one or more switches - 8

What Are Some Things I Need To Consider For My CCNA Lab?

Two new topics have popped up for the new Cisco CCNA 640-802 exam. They are IPv6(IP Version 6) and SDM(Security Device Manager) which is a GUI based way to configure your routers and switches. A common question is can the 2500 series routers support IPv6? Yes, they can if they are maxed out with 16MB of DRAM and Flash. Here are some more specs on routers and required DRAM and Flash to support IPv6 assuming you have the correct IOS. To make your life a little easier, I have included a handy chart illustrating the minimum DRAM and Flash required to support IPv6 per model platform below.

DRAM/Flash Memory Required for Feature Support

If you took a good look at the chart, you will also notice I mentioned the requirements for SDM too. As mentioned before, SDM is Cisco’s Security Device Manager and is the GUI option to configure your routers. It is not supported on some of the older models. But the good news from a lab perspective is that you do not need it on every router to get a good grasp on how SDM works. The 3640 router is going to be the cheapest way to get SDM with a 10mb Ethernet interface and the 2600XM series seems to be the cheapest way to get SDM with a 100mb Ethernet interface.

Finally, I also have an IOS version column. As you can see above, the 2500, 2600 and 3620 models only support 12.3 whereas the 2600XM and 3640 units support 12.4. So if you want to have exposure the latest IOS that is running on routers in the real world, right now that is 12.4. But if your budget does not allow for it, you will still find tons of value in the routers that are running the older 12.3 IOS.

Why Do You Sell Routers With Memory That Can’t Run IPv6?Not everyone has the budget to support every feature. So you will see that we still offer 2500 router kits with 8MB of DRAM and 8MB of Flash as being able to practice on routers that support 95% of the concepts is better than nothing at all if you budget is tight.How Do I Know What Interfaces & Options Are Available On A Router?

In an effort to avoid any confusion and give you one place to look to compare models and interfaces/options, I made this next handy little chart to give you an idea of what to expect on each router.

Summary of Router Interfaces

Anything Else You Can Suggest?

Well, a few things. The 2500s are serviceable routers for your CCNA studies still as long as you have the proper IOS and maxed out memory with all the accessories you need. You might say, but they are only 10mb routers. True, but they still work! The only drawback of them being 10mb routers is you can’t do your inter-vlan routing lab with them(which is true of any of the 10mb routers). So just make sure you have at least one 100mb router in your lab and that takes care of that issue and helps to keep the cost of your lab down for those of us with a tight budget!

You want to make sure your router can support IPv6 as doing those labs will really help the IPv6 concepts sink in. Finally, SDM is more than likely the wave of the future, so you might as well start to get used to it now! Do I Need A Switch?

Do I need a switch? Well, it is a nice to have for the CCNA track. However, with only about a few questions on the test dedicated to “hands on” switch knowledge, you can make it by without a switch. Most of the information on the test will reference material that is memorization based such as “What is a Layer 2 protocol used to maintain a loop-free network?” Thank goodness we memorized STP. That said, it would be nice for us to be able to actually “see” the switching concepts work. So this is basically how I view it. One switch will give you the ability to run the commands on the switch and allow you to memorize the correct syntax and context in which to run the commands. It will also allow you to do some of the VLAN labs. Two switches will allow you to see VTP Domain & VLAN information propagate. In addition, you will see basic device elections. With three or more switches you will get all of the above and full device elections. Remember, we are only at the CCNA level right now. If you ask me do I need a switch for my CCNP studies? Most definitely (you will need three full featured switches)! If you have to skimp on something at the CCNA level, skimp on the switch in my opinion.

What Switch Should I Get?

This is one that there is so much debate on these days. I will give you my thoughts on it and there are a hundred different ways you can build a lab. I will give you the information and let you decide how you want to build your lab.

The 2950 switch is the switch that is covered on the test and has the exact IOS command set that you will see on the lab. So if you can afford one, it is great to get. But sometimes when customers only have a $200 budget, I can’t suggest for them to get a switch and forego the routers. After all, the test is 90% routing! Back to the 2950, this is the best switch for the test if you can afford it.

But let’s say you can’t afford that switch , but still want a switch, what is next? We have the 2900 series. This is a step down from the 2950 and supports all the same CCNA test commands except the switchport and global vlan command. So with that knowledge, this switch may just work for you.

Finally, there is the 1900 series switches. There is not a lot of demand for these so they can be purchased very cheap. Some people say they have absolutely no value in a CCNA lab. I tend to disagree for the most part. You may ask me, hey, what are you smoking? The IOS that the 1900 series switches support is not the IOS that is on the test so how can it be useful? Well, let’s go into knowing that they IOS commands on the 1900 series are not the ones that are on the test. Ok, so we are not going to focus on them(remember, there are only a very few switch IOS commands on the test in regard to syntax), but concepts that I find many people having a hard time understanding in how STP works, how the device elections are handled and such. Those concepts work exactly the same way on a 1900 as they do on the 2950 switch. Not to mention that you can do your VLAN, VTP and other similar labs on the switch to get an understanding on how they work. So hopefully you can see why I still carry them to help customers who are on a tight budget get exposure to such concepts.

As I did with the routers above, I have also included a switch feature chart below to help you make your switch selection.

Summary of Switch Features