Setting up a cisco home lab

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so for a while now ive used cisco for lan-partys/home use but want to go a bit "deeper" than simply trunking a bunch of switches etc
i currently do maintainance/user-support at a school and figured instead of spending downtime surfing the net id do something useful like labs.
been looking at ccna/ccnp lab kits on ebay but shipping them to norway is a small fortune not to mention the customs putting a 20$ fee + 25% of value on anything above 30$

but threw a former coworker i found what i consider to be a cheap job lot with rack,signal emulator and a pile of cisco, paid about 400$ for evrything.



switches:
4006 ws-x4013 engine2 and ws-x4232-L3 layer3 engine (4xgbic 32x100mbit total, 4unused slots)
ws-1912-r
ws-1912-en
ws-c2950-24
ws-c2924-xl-r
ws-c2924-xl-en
ws-c2924-xl-en

routers 26xx:
2611xm
2621 - 1ct1 + wic-2t
2621 - wic-2t + wic-1bu
2621 - wic-2t + wic-1bu
2621 - wic-2t
2621 - wic-2t
2620 - wic-2t
2620 - wic-2t
2620 - wic-2t
2620 - wic-2t + wic-1bu

routers 25xx:
2522 - frame relay
2514
2503
2501
2501

other:
30U rack on wheels 800depth
atlas 550 signal emulator filled with modules for phone,isdn,v.35
3x 1U patch panel rj-45
3x 1U pdu 6slot
10x power coord
1x console cable

unsure on a few points thp:
- all the lab kits suggest use 2950, but how does the 2924 compare commandwise in usability for ccna/ccnp lab use or would 3500-24 be better instead of the 2924 ones?
- how many routers would you guys suggest keeping (and how much memory/flash is minumum/suggested)? i was thinking the 2611xm and the 5x2621 but the lab kits mostly use 2-4.
- what cable would be the correct between wic-2t on routers to frame relay, found both "DB60/DCE to SS/DTE" and "DB60/DTE to SS/DCE" that look identical but is it DCE or DTE on relay end?

 

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Wow that seems like a fair but of kit for the price, Not really sure what you need although I've been in the initial stages of thinking about the ccna myself. I can across this blog post http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23715 quite quickly and was looking at getting the cheap ones to start with and see how I get on. from what the post seems to suggest that level of kit should be quite sufficient.

 

My first thought as to what to keep is:
R1 - 2611xm
R2 - 2621
R3 - 2621
R4 - 2621
R5 - 2621
R6 - 2621
F1 - 2522
A1 - 2511
S1 - 2950
S2 - 2924-r
S3 - 2924-xl-en
S4 - 2924-xl-en
S5 - 4006

unsure on what switches i want other than the 2950/4006 tho

 

right keep the XM router - and try get it up to 12.4 IOS. You lucky you have WIC-2ts. As for the rest of the 2600 worse case max out the RAM so you can run 12.4 on them too and those are set for up to CCNP level apparently. Agree with the 2500 for Frame relay. Dont know about the 4006 (sounds like a more advanced switch) switch but 2960 is what is covered on the CCNA now - you got a 2950 so more or less the same. 2924XL apparently do the job just in different ways so make sure you learn all the switching commands on the 2950.

@dales - look at the 1721 mate got 2 cheap ones that run 12.4 for less than £30 just make sure you get power packs with them.

 

i dont have any cables between the wic-2t and frame relay tho.
found 2 fitting cables lookswise "DB60/DCE to SS/DTE" and "DB60/DTE to SS/DCE" is it DTE or DCE i want for frame relay side?
found them at 7,5£ each with shipping from uk, lowest ive found including shipping but thats not to bad i suppose.

the 4006 has a 2 of what looks to be decent modules:

other is "Cisco Catalyst 4006 Supervisor Engine II" specs i found on it is 150mhz cpu, 64mb sdram, 16mb flash, 1mb nvram, 8mb packet memory

 

are you talking about this company?

http://dantrakuk.com/index.htm

 

yeah, they got 2 that look identical but one has dtc on wic-2t end and other dte.

 

well look at their site and i believe they my even make you a custom cable if you need one!

 

their helpsite for cables goes threw the ports nicely, but dosent mention if should get dtc or dte on the frame relay side.
assuming since they make both types its 1 of them i want not either one.

 

recived a package from a recycling fan today, paid the postage of about 10£ for it
3x 2port com pci
1x 4port com pci
128mb pci-e asus gfx card
20ish 256-512mb mixed ram

had no com port or gfx card on the motherboard im using for labpc and free fits nicely within my budget

 

labpc built and installed, cost me a total of 70£

4U i&s case with rails
2,2ghz dualcore amd
2gb ddr2 533mhz ram
2x gbit
Media Converter Rack
ati3450 128mb
3x 2com port pci + motherboard had a comport so com1-7.
server 2003

still havent gotten my package with scrws/nuts so cant mount it in the rack yet

also ordered 6cables for wic-2t to frame relay that ended up on 45£, and 300x rj-45 from hong kong.
kept the cabling from a pclab we removed last week and cut it up today for 50x0,5m 50x1m 40x2m to make patchcables so a nice pile of patchcables totaling at 10£ for the rj-45plugs.

 

reset configs on all 26xx routers now and all working, the 2611xm was 128/16 and all of the 2620/2621 are 64/16