CCNA Question 1

[sk391]

Hi all, Im studying for my CCNA and have a question. Will the exam have a router or switch? Its just that the command are slightly different for the type of hardware that you use so how do you know what time of hardware to practice on?

Thanks

 

[maczen]

Hello sk391,
First I would point you to the Cisco certification forum located here:

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=473

In the future this is where you will want to post Cisco cert related questions for best response. That said, you will want to practice on both routers as well as switches for the CCNA. As far as types go you want both routers and switches that run IOS. Try the 2950 switches and any routers that can run 12.4 (ie. 2610XM or 3640)... You only need one of these and can supplement the additional routers with 2501 or 2503 models.

A good (inexpensive) CCNA lab would look something like this..

1x 3640 (Router) $100
2x 2501 or 2503 (Routers) $30 total
3x 2950 (Switches) $300 total
1x NM-4A/S or NM-4T (Network Module for 3640) $50
2x Serial Back-to-Back Cables $10 total

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) = about $500
Everything can be used for your CCNP studies after...

You may wish to decide on a rack as well.. I personally like the Skeletek rack (16U cost me around $100)

Check eBay for these models.. You may find that

http://www.cablesandkits.com

has the best deal on the 3640.. $99 plus $5 shipping.. Plus they send you a pack of M&M's and a spiffy business sticker... LoL

I hope that this helps... If you have more questions please follow the link above and post in there... Later!



B Haines
CCNA R&S, ETA FOI

 

[burtsbees]

Why have you not mentioned this bag of M&M's before, mac??? You holdin' out on us, man? Gees...just when you think you may know someone...

Beert

 

[maczen]

Hey,
Still getting to know you.. Having a tough time with your name though.. Burt, Buirt, Beert.. LoL

And don't forget about the sticker.. LoL

B Haines
CCNA R&S, ETA FOI

 

[Cluebird]

Obviously Burt/Buirt/Beert is running some sort of adaptive naming convention. Maybe even dangerous script here? Or worse...JAVA!!! Wascally pwogrammars!!

Love the stickers, mac! Plain or peanut m&m's?

 

[maczen]

LoL Clue... You may be on to something...

Plain M&M's but I wasn't complaining.. LoL

B Haines
CCNA R&S, ETA FOI

 

[lockcole]

If u are keen not to spend cash on the gear for the CCNA exam, and wanna spend some time looking on torrent sites.

Download Dynagen from

http://dynagen.org/

Then see if u can get ur hand on an 7200 advance IP IOS from a torrent site.

U will need to learn the cisco filename format for IOS images but here is an example of what ur looking for

c7200-ik9o3s-mz.bin

If u can get ur hands on this file with dynagen u will everything u need to create heaps of virtual routers.

Good Luck with ur Exam.

BTW, if u just write out all the commands in a paper back book as u read them from the text u will be fine, but this tool is great to see the debugging and the show <blah> output in action. It will require some dynagen scripting to create the lab. There is plenty of support for the scripting on the site xD

 

[burtsbees]

http://subnettingmadeeasy.blogspot.com/

This is a great tutorial on dynagen and GNS3.

Burt

 

[maczen]

If you are going the Dynagen route with the GNS3 front-end then check out

http://www.blindhog.net

for GNS3 tutorials..

B Haines
CCNA R&S, ETA FOI