Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Domestic Lab Assembly For fear of the fact About
Involvement of your CCNA / CCNP upbringing is deciding what network topology to treatment when you’re putting together your people’s home lab. Some of you are starting with equal or two routers or switches, while others are starting with more. A guy recently sent me a record of his Cisco routers and switches that he has within reach in search a home lab and asked in compensation my staff in coming up with the best way to use them.
There is no “true” or “wrong” answer to this theme; again, role 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 at, including the interfaces on each, and meet up up with entire workable CCNA / CCNP digs lab setup.
The accoutrements list:
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 special favorite after diggings labs! These entertain 1 AUI refuge, 2 serial interfaces, and undivided BRI interface apiece.
A particular 2524 router. This has single 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, lone 2924 change, and joke 1924 switch.
Second, if you don’t from this much gear to work with, don’t fall apart! Most CCNA / CCNP candidates don’t; this is more of an distress in looking at what you do possess and using it to the utmost.
As I’ve mentioned in uncountable of my CCNA / CCNP stingingly lab articles, an access server is a immense thing to have. All he needs is an octal cable to put together his AS to the other devices we decide to make use of, and he’s all set. (If you be in want of an access server sample configuration, there is harmonious on my website in the Bailiwick Lab section.)
A system relay lash is also huge to have, and the 4500 determination make a enormous FR switch. Having a structure relay cloud in your CCNA / CCNP cosy lab is a superb style to get face configuring and troubleshooting fabric relay, an fundamental artistry benefit of CCNA success.
I would put both of the 3620s on the plan relay cloud via the Serial interface, as evidently as two of the 2503s. That gives you four routers that liking be using construct relay to transmit, and that’s the most we can take since the 4500 has four serial ports. The 4500 on need to be configured as a enclose relay switch and connected to the other routers via a DTE/DCE cable. (Again, if you desideratum a chassis relay birch configuration, the one I using in my pods is on the website in the after all is said hit pay dirt as the access server configuration.)
The two 2503s that are on the attitude relay cloud should also be connected via their BRI interfaces. The tellingly lab also includes an ISDN simulator, which is necessary to allow routers to down via their BRI interfaces. Impartial pick up a couple of straight-through cables to connect those two routers to the ISDN simulator and that segment is ready to go. (Remember that you can’t affix Cisco routers straight away via their BRI interfaces.)
All of the routers in this lab have at least unified ethernet or AUI seaport, so we can connect them all to either at one of the switches. The switches should be connected via at least two crossover cables to allow practice with trunking, forefathers bridge selection, and VLANs. Having two switches actually does count up actually a minute to a CCNA / CCNP home lab’s capabilities. You can policy test with contrastive subnets and vlans with as well. Don’t be afraid to dive in – that’s what a home lab is all about!
So in the present climate we’ve got four routers connected via frame relay, two via ISDN, and the others via ethernet segments. Two of the routers that are not using their serial interfaces should be connected directly via their serial ports. For this, you’ll just fundamental another DTE/DCE cable. Knowing how to carry up the line between two directly connected serial ports is an notable CCNA expertness, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be qualified to fetch such a interrelationship up with your eyes closed, and in a minute you post with your own CCNA / CCNP composed lab, you’ll be talented to!
Also, don’t lose to tot up a loopback interface to each one of your routers. I like to utility 1.1.1.1 an eye to R1, 2.2.2.2 instead of R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another spacious trail to get modus operandi with BILK, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and static routing.
We’ve entranced a heap of routers and switches and turned them into a illusive CCNA / CCNP conversant with lab. Whether you’re working with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own impress upon lab topology is a terrific knowledge event and the opening of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.