Help - Buying a CCNA practise kit!

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Hi guys, I'm back from the CCNA hands-on bootcamp and I have to say it was fantastic! But now I'm looking into buying a couple of routers to get some more practise on before I take the exam, and I've found a 2501 and 2503 on Ebay (I figured that I'll need at least one BRI port to do ISDN labs?)


I have a console cable, serial DTE/DCE cable and Ethernet transceiver. I was just wondering if there's anything I'm forgetting?

 

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Might be worth getting your hands on a couple of switches, to practise VLAN configurations and just generaly messin around with.


HTH


Andy

 

Oh yeah thank you Could you recommend a particular model? As some are pretty expensive!

 

I would say a 2900 Series of some description, however only because this is what I used them at the NetAcademy and work.

I never had to buy Cisco equipment, so i couldn't really tell you were to get them. You might be able to pick up something cheap on Ebay, but I know that Cisco equipment sell fast on there, so you really need to be on the ball to get a good deal.

Some of the others might be able to help too, with models and where to get them.

HTH

Andy

 

Sam,

I just bought a complete lab setup off ebay for £240 which included 1 Cisco 2503 16MB DRAM/16MB Flash
1 Cisco 2503 8MB DRAM/8MB Flash
1 Cisco Switch 1912A

I'm new to cisco stuff so hope I've bought some good kit!!!!
If you look on ebay at the moment there is some other complete lab setups that have a few days of bidding left.

Just out of interest where did you do you boot camp???

J

 

wouldnt bother with the BRI port unless you have an ISDN line simulator
as you wont be able to test the BRI functionality without one (bugger eh?)

look for one with serial and ethernet as those are your primary concerns, most of the CCNA ISDN testing is based on its cisco implementations, commands, and standard ISDN theory, you really wont need the line simulator (often going for £300+) till the CCNP BCRAN (Building Cisco Remote Access Networks) as ISDN is used heavily in this course

glad you liked the CCNA

good models are

switches:
2950
2950XL

some you cant get anymore
but you will want the more recent models due to thier IOS implementation and your exam

routers:
2501
2503

and/or similar 26xx models

again cost is a factor so keep an eye on it, ebay have some good deals, people like you who have just bought a load of gear to learn with then got rid of it
im in the process of setting up a CCIE Security lab with a few friends of mine and we missed out on a VPN concentrator (20k value) going for 3k on ebay in the last minute, put us a few steps back

good luck with your purchases

 

Hi J, that's pretty good... switches are a pain to get hold of although I'm currently watching one that's about £30 at the moment.

Ok cheers I'll check that out, never thought of buying a complete setup

It was in Milton Keynes, why?

 

The one place I thought I'd never miss. Funny how thing's change. lol

 

heh, i have that t-shirt

we have some 2950T-24s or something, havnt checked recently

 

Hi Phoenix - thanks for the advice! I was having a blonde moment there. I remember the course instructor saying how expensive ISDN sims were, we had one there which was about £600. That's good then, I'm familiar with the theory behind ISDN


Yeah I'm seeing what happends with the routers and switch I'm bidding on at the moment... if they go up ridiculously high then I'll look into a set deal. Ah you're heading for the CCIE then, wow good luck. I don't understand why cisco gear is so expensive, you would think they'd be really popular so easy to get hold of.

 

Are you another fan of ThinkGeek.com?

 

You used to live there? It's funny, it's like cisco central there! I went to the ski dome thing there for dinner... I quite like Milton Keynes Although anywhere seems nice to me... I'm in Essex.

 

Ciscosam,

Did you do your training at interquad?

I'm looking to do my 70-291 training there, as our head office is based at Milton Keynes.

Cheers Muff

 

yeah
just bought back about 100 bucks of t-shirts for my mate, bypassed all that shipping and duty hehe

great site

 

Hey no, it was just a one off bootcamp thing - check it out coz it's great for teaching you the hands on stuff. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3706&item=5717090069&rd=1

 

Well, not in MK, about 16 Miles away in a town called Buckingham, but I spent many drunken nights in and around the ski dome.

I prefered a place called Bar central just round the corner from there, they had some cracking drum and Base and Punk nights on the weekends.

 

Sam,

I have a friend whos just booked himself on to that same course. I may well join him now after your recommendation.

J

 

Hey J, yeah go for it, it was brilliant! Say hi to Paul the instructor for me, he's great. If I had the money I'd do it again! He teaches you a way to subnet that you won't forget, and you do lots of labs including all the trickier ones like frame-relay.

 

Ah yeah went to the ski dome (Frankie & Benny's) for dinner... it's really cool actually, weird kinda place, we have nothing like that around here. Didn't know about Bar central, we were looking for somewhere to go n all, typical

 

Frankie and Bennies, I'm ashamed to say that I've drunk coktails in there. Thje only thing I've got to say about that, is it was friends birthday, and that's what she wanted to do.

I've got a really funny picture of me all punked up drinkin a coktail. Let's see if I can find it now.....