Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Home Lab Assembly For fear of the fact Chew over
Voice of your CCNA / CCNP cultivation is deciding what network topology to acquisition when you’re putting together your composed lab. Some of you are starting with unified or two routers or switches, while others are starting with more. A customer recently sent me a book of his Cisco routers and switches that he has to hand for a habitation lab and asked after my staff in coming up with the best disposition to use them.
There is no “proper” or “wrong” rebuttal to this without a doubt; again, fragment of the information development is configuring and reconfiguring the fleshly topology of your lab. Disenchant’s look at the routers and switches he has within reach, including the interfaces on each, and take up with entire credible CCNA / CCNP digs lab setup.
The apparatus schedule:
Two 3620 routers. Each has 1 serial port and 2 ethernet ports.
One 3640 router. This has two ethernet cards, each with two ports, and two AUI ports.
Three 2503s, my personal favorite in search home labs! These from 1 AUI port, 2 serial interfaces, and undivided BRI interface apiece.
A particular 2524 router. This has one serial refuge, 1 ethernet anchorage, and one BRI interface.
Harmonious 4500 router. This has eight BRI ports, 2 ethernet ports, and more importantly, four serial ports.
He also has a 5200 access server, an ISDN simulator, united 2924 change, and joke 1924 switch.
Contemporarily, if you don’t have this much appurtenances to creation with, don’t horror! Most CCNA / CCNP candidates don’t; this is more of an wield in looking at what you do bear and using it to the utmost.
As I’ve mentioned in multifarious of my CCNA / CCNP home lab articles, an access server is a monstrous affair to have. All he needs is an octal cable to tie in his AS to the other devices we pick out to object, and he’s all set. (If you need an access server sampling configuration, there is harmonious on my website in the To the quick Lab section.)
A elevate relay swap is also out-and-out to include, and the 4500 will make a skilful FR switch. Having a frame relay cloud in your CCNA / CCNP bailiwick lab is a huge personality to pick up face configuring and troubleshooting fabric relay, an essential knack seeking CCNA success.
I would set forth both of the 3620s on the support relay cloud via the Serial interface, as evidently as two of the 2503s. That gives you four routers that resolve be using mount relay to offer, and that’s the most we can have since the 4500 has four serial ports. The 4500 thinks fitting desideratum to be configured as a frame relay exchange and connected to the other routers via a DTE/DCE cable. (Again, if you need a chassis relay beat configuration, the anybody I using in my pods is on the website in the same hit pay dirt as the access server configuration.)
The two 2503s that are on the support relay cloud should also be connected via their BRI interfaces. The home lab also includes an ISDN simulator, which is inevitable to consider routers to correspond with via their BRI interfaces. Just get a couple of straight-through cables to sew those two routers to the ISDN simulator and that segment is enthusiastic to go. (Bear in mind that you can’t league Cisco routers speedily via their BRI interfaces.)
All of the routers in this lab have in the offing at least one ethernet or AUI refuge, so we can buckle them all to either the same of the switches. The switches should be connected via at least two crossover cables to authorize practice with trunking, root span selection, and VLANs. Having two switches indeed does add somewhat a speck to a CCNA / CCNP conversant with lab’s capabilities. You can policy test with different subnets and vlans with as well. Don’t be intimidated to dive in - that’s what a profoundly lab is all surrounding!
So conditions we’ve got four routers connected via mount relay, two via ISDN, and the others via ethernet segments. Two of the routers that are not using their serial interfaces should be connected momentarily via their serial ports. Championing this, you’ll upstanding need another DTE/DCE cable. Sly how to diminish up the activity between two directly connected serial ports is an leading CCNA finesse, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be able to cause of such a interrelationship up with your eyes closed, and once you position with your own CCNA / CCNP cosy lab, you’ll be expert to!
Also, don’t fail to add a loopback interface to each sole of your routers. I like to utility 1.1.1.1 an eye to R1, 2.2.2.2 in behalf of R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another spacious sense to get modus operandi with DECEIVE, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and problems routing.
We’ve enchanted a holdings of routers and switches and turned them into a nightmarish CCNA / CCNP home lab. Whether you’re working with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own home lab topology is a immense lore involvement and the origin of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.
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