CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Assemble Your Cisco Home Lab

CCNA or CCNP candidates who want to be truly prepared for the exam will create a home laboratory to practice. With used Cisco routers and switches that are more affordable and plentiful than ever before, there's really no reason not to have them!

With so many models available, there is some confusion that can be understood between CCNA and CCNP in the future about which routers to buy and which to avoid. You can take almost any set of Cisco routers and make a home laboratory; Part of the learning process is taking what equipment you have and putting together your own laboratory! For those of you who are preparing to start your home laboratory or add to an existing one, this article will list the router that I use in my Cisco pod. You certainly don't need to have all of this equipment, but this will give you some good ideas on how to get started.

The most versatile router you can get for your CCNA / CCNP home laboratory is 2520. This router is equipped with four serial ports, one ethernet port, and one BRI interface for ISDN practices. This mix of interfaces means you can really use it as a frame relay switch when using Ethernet and BRI ports for routing. (There is no problem using a lab router because both your frame relay and router practice; for sample frame relay switch configurations, visit my website!)

My pod consists of five routers and two switches, and three of the five routers are in the 2520s, because of their versatility. A recent eBay search shows that these routers sell for $ 99 - $ 125, an incredible value for the exercise you will get.

I also use 2501 in my home laboratory. It has fewer interfaces, but the combination of two serial interfaces and one ethernet interface allows you to get a lot of practice.

The combination that works very well is using three 2520s; one as my special frame relay switch, one as R1, and another as R2. Add 2501 as R3, and you can have a cloud sulfur analyzer indonesia frame connecting R1, R2, and R3, a direct serial connection between R1 and R3, an Ethernet segment that includes all three routers, and an ISDN connection between R1 and R2 if you have an ISDN simulator. That combination will allow you to get an incredible amount of practice for the exam, and you can always sell it when it's finished!

2501 is very affordable, with many in the $ 50 range on ebay. It is possible to get three 2520s and one 2501 for a total of less than $ 500, and you can get most of that money back if you choose to sell it when it's finished.

With four routers to work, you might get bored moving the console cable. The access server (actually a Cisco router, not the white box we tend to think about when we hear "server") will help you with that. The access server allows you to set up connections with each of your other routers via an octal cable, which prevents you from constantly moving the console cable. For an example of access server configuration, just visit my website and look in the "Free Training" section.

The price of server access varies slightly; don't panic if you do a search on eBay and see that it costs thousands of dollars. You DO NOT need expensive access servers for your CCNA / CCNP home lab. 2511 is a great router for getting your access server.

One question that I often get from CCNA / CCNP candidates is "What router should I buy that I can still use when I'm ready to study for CCNP?" The CCIE Lab changes regularly and sometimes drastically when it comes to the equipment you need. During my CCIE lab studies, I discovered that renting time from an online rack rental provider is actually the best way to go. Don't hesitate when putting your CCNA / CCNP home lab together, wondering what will be accepted for a CCIE lab a year or more from now. None of us knows what will be on that list, so get CCNA and CCNP first - by building your own Cisco home laboratory!