What Cisco catalyst switch do I need for my ccnp?

[freegeeks]

I'm studying for my ccnp and I'm looking to buy 2 switches to play around with. What Catalyst switch do you recommend. Cost is obviously important

 

[spidey07]

Two or more 3550s with routing software (you really should have three). Should be able to find pretty cheap. They key is you HAVE to have routing capabilities and routing protocols.

 

[drebo]

Yeah...unfortunately, you need layer 3 switches. Also unfortunate is that they're $500 on eBay on a good day.

Buying those is even worse than buying the routers required to do PE in an MPLS lab.

Lysdexia...

 

[freegeeks]

Originally posted by: drebo
Yeah...unfortunately, you need layer 3 switches. Also unfortunate is that they're $500 on eBay on a good day.

Buying those is even worse than buying the routers required to do PE in an MPLS lab.

Lysdexia...

yeah, I started doing some ebay-ing after Spidey's post and holey crap, it's expensive

 

[spidey07]

Then get some 2620 routers to play around with routing protocols and then 3500 series layer2 switches.

 

[drebo]

Yeah... Most of your studying for the BSCI and ISCW could be done with something like GNS3. I don't know of a layer 3 switch simulator, though.

Might want to do all your studying on paper and get a lab book first and then rent some rack time online. A weekend of rented lab time would undoubtedly be cheaper than buying three 3550 switches yourself.

I envy the people who work at places with network labs.

 

[mcmilljb]

Wendell Odom has a blog on networkworld.com, and he did a CCNP lab guide a few months back. He went over what features you needed and did a price survey. It's an interesting read to help you determine what equipment you actually need.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/27576

For lab practice, I recommend the Cisco Network Academy's CCNP Lab Portfolios. They walk you through a lot of stuff. I've used the BSCI and BCMSN Lab Portfolios so far.

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: freegeeks

Originally posted by: drebo
Yeah...unfortunately, you need layer 3 switches. Also unfortunate is that they're $500 on eBay on a good day.

Buying those is even worse than buying the routers required to do PE in an MPLS lab.

Lysdexia...

yeah, I started doing some ebay-ing after Spidey's post and holey crap, it's expensive

If you have some money though, you can get 30% off some routers and switches through ebay right now. They upgraded their live.com cashback to 30%.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: freegeeks

Originally posted by: drebo
Yeah...unfortunately, you need layer 3 switches. Also unfortunate is that they're $500 on eBay on a good day.

Buying those is even worse than buying the routers required to do PE in an MPLS lab.

Lysdexia...

yeah, I started doing some ebay-ing after Spidey's post and holey crap, it's expensive

If you have some money though, you can get 30% off some routers and switches through ebay right now. They upgraded their live.com cashback to 30%.

keep in mind it takes 2 months to get the cash
i got an email last week saying i could get my cashback paid back to me
so i went to my cashback account...and it wasnt ready, said they were in the process of moving it to somewhere else so i could get it.
right now i cant even login to my account. :|

 

[freegeeks]

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: freegeeks

Originally posted by: drebo
Yeah...unfortunately, you need layer 3 switches. Also unfortunate is that they're $500 on eBay on a good day.

Buying those is even worse than buying the routers required to do PE in an MPLS lab.

Lysdexia...

yeah, I started doing some ebay-ing after Spidey's post and holey crap, it's expensive

If you have some money though, you can get 30% off some routers and switches through ebay right now. They upgraded their live.com cashback to 30%.

keep in mind it takes 2 months to get the cash
i got an email last week saying i could get my cashback paid back to me
so i went to my cashback account...and it wasnt ready, said they were in the process of moving it to somewhere else so i could get it.
right now i cant even login to my account. :|

I'm in Europe so the opportunities on Ebay are even worse. I'm just going to bite the expensive bullet I think

 

[ndoggfromhell]

I actually just took the CCNA classes at the community college by my house and they have a really nice and modern Cisco equipment setup. Let me do whatever i wanted to do as long as it didn't interupt the class. 4 semesters weren't about the cost of two layer 3 switches... and in the end they helped study for the CCNA and they even gave me a waiver to take the first test for half-price.

I later on bought a couple 2950 switches and a 2600 series router to play with at home. I got them at a hamfest (for $250.00 total) about 3 years ago.

 

[yoda291]

if you can afford it, buy 3 3550s and then sell them once you've finished.

They're pretty much EOL'd so they're not really going to depreciate a whole lot more.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: ndoggfromhell
I actually just took the CCNA classes at the community college by my house and they have a really nice and modern Cisco equipment setup.

this is what im doing, but being that i have to start with a CCNA and that im not sure going past that with cisco is something ill want, its good enough for me. the OP clearly wants to go further.

the idea of studying and renting rack time, or buying gear and selling it when hes done both sound reasonable

 

[mcmilljb]

xSauronx: Sorry you have bad luck with MS cashback. I am unhappy I just recently only got 8% back on my 2 3550's. The money does take a while, but it's worth it in the end for 30% off.

If you're only working towards your CCNA, then doing a class is the perfect solution. You get the hands-on in a decent lab, and you have an instructor to guide you. If you're going to also work towards the CCNP, you need to make an investment towards a practice lab, or you need to have access to equipment on a daily basis at work. The home lab lets you practice whenever you want, which is a bonus if you read something and then want to try it.

 

[rathsach]

GNS3 can also do layer 3 switches.. Just use GSN3, set up your multimillion dollar Cisco network, and off you go - virtually..

Good luck with the NP.. But really, you should be working in the field when trying to achieve that, and not sit at home doing stuff you really don't know anything about..

 

[freegeeks]

Originally posted by: rathsach
GNS3 can also do layer 3 switches.. Just use GSN3, set up your multimillion dollar Cisco network, and off you go - virtually..

Good luck with the NP.. But really, you should be working in the field when trying to achieve that, and not sit at home doing stuff you really don't know anything about..

I have 8 years of experience in networking and IT

 

[rathsach]

Originally posted by: freegeeks

Originally posted by: rathsach
GNS3 can also do layer 3 switches.. Just use GSN3, set up your multimillion dollar Cisco network, and off you go - virtually..

Good luck with the NP.. But really, you should be working in the field when trying to achieve that, and not sit at home doing stuff you really don't know anything about..

I have 8 years of experience in networking and IT

Cisco networking? Or making Windows servers/pcs talk to eachother?..

Aaaanyways... Use GSN3.. Has all you need to practice.. No need for physical boxes..

IF you have a dire need to mess with physical stuff all you need is 2 layer 3 switches.. The smallest ones are probably the 3550 series (I simply can't remember if a 2950/60 can do layer 3, or if the 2600xl's can.. I'm fairly sure the 2960 and 2600xl's can though).. When you have that you can mess with routing and switching until you turn blue.. Remember that they can turn into the same amount of switches as they have ports. Routers.. Well, vlan interfaces and loopback interfaces ftw - go crazy..

 

[freegeeks]

Originally posted by: rathsach

Originally posted by: freegeeks

Originally posted by: rathsach
GNS3 can also do layer 3 switches.. Just use GSN3, set up your multimillion dollar Cisco network, and off you go - virtually..

Good luck with the NP.. But really, you should be working in the field when trying to achieve that, and not sit at home doing stuff you really don't know anything about..

I have 8 years of experience in networking and IT

Cisco networking? Or making Windows servers/pcs talk to eachother?..

Aaaanyways... Use GSN3.. Has all you need to practice.. No need for physical boxes..

IF you have a dire need to mess with physical stuff all you need is 2 layer 3 switches.. The smallest ones are probably the 3550 series (I simply can't remember if a 2950/60 can do layer 3, or if the 2600xl's can.. I'm fairly sure the 2960 and 2600xl's can though).. When you have that you can mess with routing and switching until you turn blue.. Remember that they can turn into the same amount of switches as they have ports. Routers.. Well, vlan interfaces and loopback interfaces ftw - go crazy..

Redback and Foundry equipment
I'm just back from a 6 month job setting up a Wimax / IMS network in the Middle-East

I want to move more into Cisco because they are still the top dog

 

[Antoneo]

Hrm, does one see anything interesting setups with 2 3550 switches? Are all CCNP switching topics covered with 2x2950 and 1x3550? Just wondering if I should try picking up another L3 switch.

 

[spidey07]

3 routers or layer3 switches is ideal so you can work with multiple paths and see how the routing metrics change along the path. Also good for playing around with redistribution.

 

[rathsach]

Why on earth would you want more than 2 L3 switches? You can cover pretty much everything you can think of..

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: rathsach
Why on earth would you want more than 2 L3 switches? You can cover pretty much everything you can think of..

Redistribution, summarization, using multiple types of OSPF routers/areas and understanding what they're doing differently, etc. All kinds of things you can do that you can't with only 2. But really the point is to have at least 3 routers, they don't have to be switches.

 

[drebo]

Originally posted by: rathsach
Why on earth would you want more than 2 L3 switches? You can cover pretty much everything you can think of..

With 3 layer 3 switches, you don't need any routers to study for CCNP topics. With only two, you'd need at least one other to do all the fun things with OSPF and redistribution, as Spidey said.

 

[rathsach]

Originally posted by: drebo

Originally posted by: rathsach
Why on earth would you want more than 2 L3 switches? You can cover pretty much everything you can think of..

With 3 layer 3 switches, you don't need any routers to study for CCNP topics. With only two, you'd need at least one other to do all the fun things with OSPF and redistribution, as Spidey said.

Admitted, I have never tried it, but in theory it should work.. Different ospf processes destributing networks behind different vlan interfaces all on one switch.. It'll get tricky, but it's meant to be a learning process anyway..

BUT, as I started saying, this whole discussion is moot, as GNS3 can do all this virtually.. It's even easier than having the actual boxes there..

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: drebo

Originally posted by: rathsach
Why on earth would you want more than 2 L3 switches? You can cover pretty much everything you can think of..

With 3 layer 3 switches, you don't need any routers to study for CCNP topics. With only two, you'd need at least one other to do all the fun things with OSPF and redistribution, as Spidey said.

I would go with just 2 layer 3 switches and pick up to 2 cheaper 3640's for more routers and working with ios 12.4 features(ISCW exam might require some features not found on a 3550). That gives you 4 layer 3 devices for less than 3 3550's. You could do everything on 2 3550's, 2 2950's, and 2 3640's. Then add wirelss and/or voice depending on what you do at your job(and funds available for a lab). If you don't implement VoIP at your job, I wouldn't expect someone to go buy voice equipment just to pass the ONT exam. Same goes for wireless for the BCMSN/ONT exams. Wireless is more common, so most likely you can learn from work.