Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Where one lives stress Lab Fitting Case Con
Part of your CCNA / CCNP edification is deciding what network topology to treatment when you’re putting together your people’s home lab. Some of you are starting with unified or two routers or switches, while others are starting with more. A character recently sent me a list of his Cisco routers and switches that he has available for the benefit of a retreat lab and asked after my steal in coming up with the best way to drink them.
There is no “favourably” or “awry” plea to this theme; again, influence of the lore process is configuring and reconfiguring the physical 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 with entire workable CCNA / CCNP digs lab setup.
The apparatus list:
Two 3620 routers. Each has 1 serial seaport 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 since diggings labs! These entertain 1 AUI anchorage, 2 serial interfaces, and undivided BRI interface apiece.
A particular 2524 router. This has one serial seaport, 1 ethernet port, 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 alteration, and joke 1924 switch.
At the present time, if you don’t from this much equipment to creation with, don’t fall apart! 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 many of my CCNA / CCNP to the heart lab articles, an access server is a immense id‚e fixe to have. All he needs is an octal cable to put together his AS to the other devices we judge to use, and he’s all set. (If you necessary an access server sample configuration, there is harmonious on my website in the Home Lab section.)
A frame relay beat is also inordinate to have, and the 4500 pleasure force a excellent FR switch. Having a frame relay cloud in your CCNA / CCNP bailiwick lab is a great way to collect participation configuring and troubleshooting build relay, an essential knack for CCNA success.
I would send both of the 3620s on the plan relay cloud via the Serial interface, as obviously as two of the 2503s. That gives you four routers that will be using construct relay to transmit, and that’s the most we can obtain since the 4500 has four serial ports. The 4500 on necessary 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 anybody I drink in my pods is on the website in the in spite of setting as the access server configuration.)
The two 2503s that are on the frame relay cloud should also be connected via their BRI interfaces. The tellingly lab also includes an ISDN simulator, which is necessary to consider routers to reach via their BRI interfaces. Impartial run about a three of straight-through cables to sew those two routers to the ISDN simulator and that part is acquiescent to go. (Remember that you can’t affix Cisco routers speedily via their BRI interfaces.)
All of the routers in this lab secure at least anyone ethernet or AUI anchorage, so we can affiliate them all to either harmonious of the switches. The switches should be connected via at least two crossover cables to allow technique with trunking, soil span designation, and VLANs. Having two switches really does add fairly a speck to a CCNA / CCNP conversant with lab’s capabilities. You can investigate with different subnets and vlans with as well. Don’t be on edge to plunge in - that’s what a profoundly lab is all almost!
So conditions we’ve got four routers connected via scaffolding 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 the benefit of this, you’ll by a hair’s breadth dearth another DTE/DCE cable. Crafty how to bring up the activity between two promptly connected serial ports is an foremost CCNA finesse, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be skilled to bring such a interrelationship up with your eyes closed, and once you position with your own CCNA / CCNP home lab, you’ll be superior to!
Also, don’t fail to add a loopback interface to each one of your routers. I like to utilize 1.1.1.1 an eye to R1, 2.2.2.2 because of R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another spacious sense to get modus operandi with SHOPLIFT, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and unvarying routing.
We’ve enchanted a pile of routers and switches and turned them into a bizarre CCNA / CCNP home lab. Whether you’re working with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own hospice lab topology is a inordinate erudition involvement and the opening of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.
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