Good lab setup for CCNA study?

[jme77]

Hey everyone,

I'm studying for my CCNA and was thinking of purchasing a CCNA lab kit from

http://www.ciscokits.com/products.htm.

Any recommendations on what I should purchase?

Thanks!
jason

 

[iolair]

I bought the kit with four 2500 routers, and have been really pleased. I did have to purchase additional cables to connect the serial ports, but other than that, I've been pleased. Good luck with the exams.

Iolair MacWalter

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[tomlemay]

I took a different path. I recently purchased the CCNA software simulator version 6 from Boson. this versio is more improved over the vsion 5 which Boson and Cisco collaberated on a year or so ago. Boson did not work with Cisco on their new version 6.0 and I am using this to prepare for my CCNA exam. There are pros and cons to buying hardware or simulators for Cisco Certs. I think it is more cost efective to buy and use the simulator for the CCNA but more beneficial to buy lab equipment hardware for more advanced exams like the CCNP and CCIE.

 

[iolair]

Good point, tomlemay. I used the Boson simulator as well, but just had forgotten it.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[waneey1]

I bought my routers and switches on E-bay. Ciscotkit is way too expensive. I do not think he is selling the right equipment for ccna anyway. For ccna you will need a 2600 and a 2500 router + a 1900 and a 2900 switch if you can afford it. The only thing he has that you will have issues finding is an up to date cisco operating system.(12.3)

 

[alzentany]

anyone has a good simulation and good refrence that can be help me to prepare myself for ccna exam
pls i want test myself to design some networks with routres and switching but i have problem with simulation pls i need help my exam will start next month

 

[zers]

I haven't been a Cisco student for long, but I found an excellent router sim. Ironically, it's called RouterSim Network Visualizer. Go to

http://www.routersim.com

 

[nekesauk]

Hi All,

Something I found handy when doing other (non-Cisco) exams was those little click-and-answer programs that let you practice answering questions over and over until the correct answer is burned into your brain. There's an interactive HTML-based cisco router configuration applet at

http://networkingbreak.com/labethernet.htm

It's quite addictive because you keep trying to get the highest score.

brooksie

 

[CiscoGuy33]

This is ok for free - but it should be programmed to support all Cisco command variations.
When you use the abbreviations that are supported and used on the CCNA exams it tells you it is wrong - it only recognizes the full Cisco command.

In the real world - networkers DO NOT type out the whole command if they do not have to.

conf t
is the came as
configure terminal

in e0/0
is the same as
interface ethernet 0/0

sh in e0/0
is same as
show interface ethernet 0/0

cop ru st or
copy run st
is the same as
copy running-config startup-config


When Cisco first started the Cisco Network Academy for CCNA about 7 years ago they had a sim like this, I had an experienced networking guy from the USAF who kept getting hung up - he could completely configure a real Cisco router in 4 minutes but the sim had him second guessing himself because it wanted everything spelled completely out. Cisco changed it in the Academy because so many people complained that it was not like a real router.

It is great to know the full command but you can use and will see command variations on Cisco exams, at least I have on CCNA, CCDA and a CCNP exam.

My thoughts - get time on a real stack of your own routers or the free stack offered in this forum and practice it until you get the Ethernet interface up and running by confirming it with different show commands. This would then be kind of like what you would be doing in the real world !!

Just my thoughts!


E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +

 

[jeffmoss26]

I am taking CCNA classes right now in HS and that's one of my gripes about the e-labs. I am used to the shortcuts and it doesn't allow them. I learned a lot of them quickly and memorized a good deal of them. We normally do labs on the routers though so it's not a huge deal. I am going to look at some of the simulators and such anyway.
Thanks,
Jeff

jeff moss

 

[CiscoGuy33]

Jeff,

Most of the good sims act just like a real router and allow you to use short-cuts and abbreviations just like on the real router.

I know the sims from Cisco Press and Boson both support all the command variations. But it is always best to get as much time on real routers and switches.

Even the sims on the CCNA support all the command variations!

Keep up the study - I wish I could study Cisco when I was in high school but ....... Cisco was not around yet



E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +