Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: To the quick Lab Flock Specimen Chew over
Part of your CCNA / CCNP education is deciding what network topology to acquisition when you’re putting together your home 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 list of his Cisco routers and switches that he has readily obtainable for a habitation lab and asked in compensation my staff in coming up with the most qualified disposition to use them.
There is no “true” or “awry” plea to this query; again, fragment of the lore operation is configuring and reconfiguring the fleshly topology of your lab. Farm out’s look at the routers and switches he has readily obtainable, including the interfaces on each, and come up up with united credible CCNA / CCNP haunt lab setup.
The equipment 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 dear favorite for nursing home labs! These entertain 1 AUI refuge, 2 serial interfaces, and undivided BRI interface apiece.
Only 2524 router. This has limerick serial refuge, 1 ethernet mooring, and one BRI interface.
One 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, one 2924 alteration, and one 1924 switch.
Second, if you don’t have this much equipment to master-work with, don’t dismay! Most CCNA / CCNP candidates don’t; this is more of an wield in looking at what you do have and using it to the utmost.
As I’ve mentioned in sundry of my CCNA / CCNP residency lab articles, an access server is a skilful obsession to have. All he needs is an octal radiogram to connect his AS to the other devices we decide to from, and he’s all set. (If you be in want of an access server sampling configuration, there is chestnut on my website in the Home Lab section.)
A arrangement relay lash is also huge to have, and the 4500 require make a enormous FR switch. Having a frame relay cloud in your CCNA / CCNP abode lab is a eximious way to punch experience configuring and troubleshooting fabric relay, an fundamental skill instead of CCNA success.
I would put away both of the 3620s on the support relay cloud via the Serial interface, as obviously as two of the 2503s. That gives you four routers that see fit be using frame relay to communicate, and that’s the most we can from since the 4500 has four serial ports. The 4500 on need to be configured as a frame relay direct and connected to the other routers via a DTE/DCE cable. (Again, if you need a chassis relay switch configuration, the one I drink in my pods is on the website in the verbatim at the same time place as the access server configuration.)
The two 2503s that are on the frame relay cloud should also be connected via their BRI interfaces. The people’s home lab also includes an ISDN simulator, which is high-priority to allow routers to correspond with via their BRI interfaces. Impartial pick up a couple of straight-through cables to link those two routers to the ISDN simulator and that segment is acquiescent to go. (Recall that you can’t affix Cisco routers speedily via their BRI interfaces.)
All of the routers in this lab have in the offing at least anyone ethernet or AUI refuge, so we can connect them all to either one of the switches. The switches should be connected via at least two crossover cables to allow custom with trunking, soil bridge referendum, and VLANs. Having two switches really does count up quite a speck to a CCNA / CCNP home lab’s capabilities. You can procedure with diverse subnets and vlans with as well. Don’t be timid to dive in - that’s what a home base lab is all surrounding!
So conditions we’ve got four routers connected via edging 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. For this, you’ll honest need another DTE/DCE cable. Astute how to bring up the policy between two promptly connected serial ports is an leading CCNA finesse, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be able to bring such a relations up with your eyes closed, and directly you post with your own CCNA / CCNP composed lab, you’ll be superior to!
Also, don’t fail to enlarge a loopback interface to each joke of your routers. I like to use 1.1.1.1 in behalf of R1, 2.2.2.2 because of R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another spacious modus operandi to get modus operandi with DECEIVE, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and problems routing.
We’ve taken a pile of routers and switches and turned them into a illusive CCNA / CCNP home lab. Whether you’re working with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own impress upon lab topology is a inordinate erudition contact and the opening of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.
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