Help with purchasing for self-study home lab

[JDew]

I'll start with the question and then save the background details for the end of the post. I'm setting up my own student lab at home to (re-)certify for CCNA R&S and I would appreciate some help selecting used equipment that will be useful to me for at least the near future.

I've found some people selling lots with various switches and routers and other devices and I've made plans to drive a few hours away to buy equipment from one of these lots on Wednesday. Here's what that guy has:

1x Cisco Catalyst 3560G Series PoE 48-port (WS-C3560G-48PS-E V08) $80
1x Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series PoE 48-port (WS-C3750-48PS-S) $60
4x Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series SI 24-port (WS-C2960-24TC-S V07) $20 ($70 for all four)
1x Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series SI 24-port (WS-C2960-24-S) $15
1x Cisco Catalyst 3500 Series XL (WS-C3548-XL-EN) $30
1x Cisco Catalyst 2950 24-port (WS-C2950G-24-EI) + one 1000Base-SX module $25
1x Catalyst 2900 XL (WS-G2924C-XL-EN) $20
1x Cisco 5500 Series Wireless Controller (AIR-CT5508-K9) $130
2x Cisco 2800 Series (CISCO2801 V04) $30 ($50 for both)
1x Cisco 2600 XM (CISCO2610XM) $40
3x Dell EqualLogic PS6000 SAN $50 ($120 for all three)
1x Dell PowerVault MD3000 DAS with PERC H800, cable, 5 caddies and bezel $300

I did the best research I could today and told him that I was mainly interested in the set of four identical 2960(TC)'s and the two 2801's, which would set me up with two routers and four switches for lab exercises. **If they seem to work, I plan on buying them. I am also thinking about the 5500 wireless controller so I can work on the Wireless cert/badge at some point and the 2610 just to have a third router in case that would be helpful.

Would this be a sufficient lab setup for re-attaining CCNA? Let me know if I'm on the right track or if you have any comments or advice, it would really be helpful. I'm worried I don't know what I don't know about current CCNA study and that I'll need other equipment. Any comments after wednesday will still be appreciated, I can afford buy more equipment if I really need to.

[Seb Rupik]

Hi there,

Personally I would avoid saddling yourself with noisy, hot, old hardware just for the CCNA. You should be able to re-certify with just the study material.

If you were determined to buy hardware then I'd say two switches should be all you need to learn the core concepts. Regarding routers, I wouldn't bother, you can configure most emulators (eg, GNS3) to bridge your physical PC interfaces to allow you to connect to physical devices.

cheers,

Seb.

[JDew]

I already saddled up with them but it's fine, I think I like mixing it up and working with real machines sometimes. For example, just trying to learn how to console into the switches a couple days ago helped because it forced me to learn about the Express Setup, which I don't remember existing in the very old routers I trained on in mid 2000.
I wound up using the GNS3 to "see" the switch while I was trying to troubleshoot that function, too. It's all good.

[Martin L · Accepted solution]

I agree with previous post about doing Routing on GNS3. you can connect GNS3 routers to real switches.  So, Save $ for switching.

First of all, Packet tracer is very good and enough for CCNA level. However, if your need some hands-on expireince, get following:

For CCNP and CCNA, I would get 2x 3750s and 2x c3560 non-POE since those have 32 MB flash where u can store new IOS 15. (won;t fit on 16MB).  if u do not care about IOS 15, you can get c2960.  IOS 15 for c3750 would be on E or X models and those are bit expensive.

If you go all the way to CCIE, then get 4x3750-X with ios 15 - although new CCIE v6 requires c9200s due to automation/programming. so, alternative option are Virtual labs like Eve-ng, VIRL, GNS3 (one with server option).

Regards, ML
**Please Rate All Helpful Responses ** 

[Martin L]

c3500 and c2950 are worthless.

[JDew]

I didn't hear back before I had to make the decision (it was short notice, in fairness) so I wound up going with the eight devices I was thinking about. I already started to regret the 5500 on the way home, but maybe it'll be useful someday or I can resell to another student. I mainly wanted something to take me through at least CCNA and would be useful for CCNP, at which point I would hope that the certs help me get IT work. Sounds like it will all do for that for now.
CCIE is too far to think about right now but at that point I'd probably have plenty of cash for better training equipment.
The software router emulation solution (if I understand that right) that Seb mentioned feels like it introduces another complication to just getting started, and I'd like to just get going on practical labs.

Questions regarding the IOS15 firmware: Is this something radically different than previous version or is it just something where I can learn the new concepts using the emulator software like PT and GNS3?
Are these concepts something that would even come up through CCNP or can I just not worry about it for now?