Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Where one lives stress Lab Flock For fear of the fact About
Involvement of your CCNA / CCNP upbringing is deciding what network topology to use when you’re putting together your people’s home lab. Some of you are starting with solitary or two routers or switches, while others are starting with more. A customer recently sent me a record of his Cisco routers and switches that he has to hand by reason of a at ease lab and asked for my help in coming up with the paramount way to turn to account them.
There is no “proper” or “awry” conform to to this question; again, fragment of the information process is configuring and reconfiguring the specialist topology of your lab. Let’s look at the routers and switches he has readily obtainable, including the interfaces on each, and meet up up with entire achievable CCNA / CCNP serene lab setup.
The accoutrements shopping list:
Two 3620 routers. Each has 1 serial port and 2 ethernet ports.
Single 3640 router. This has two ethernet cards, each with two ports, and two AUI ports.
Three 2503s, my special favorite since stamping-ground labs! These entertain 1 AUI anchorage, 2 serial interfaces, and undivided BRI interface apiece.
Only 2524 router. This has limerick serial seaport, 1 ethernet anchorage, and unified 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 whip, and joke 1924 switch.
Second, if you don’t arrange this much gear to work with, don’t fall apart! Most CCNA / CCNP candidates don’t; this is more of an exercise in looking at what you do have and using it to the utmost.
As I’ve mentioned in sundry of my CCNA / CCNP residency lab articles, an access server is a monstrous id‚e fixe to have. All he needs is an octal line to attach his AS to the other devices we pick out to from, and he’s all set. (If you need an access server sample configuration, there is chestnut on my website in the Home base Lab section.)
A frame relay beat is also huge to from, and the 4500 pleasure occasion a great FR switch. Having a structure relay cloud in your CCNA / CCNP home lab is a great personality to get face configuring and troubleshooting fabric relay, an fundamental knack instead of CCNA success.
I would put away both of the 3620s on the layout relay cloud via the Serial interface, as well as two of the 2503s. That gives you four routers that liking be using mould relay to offer, and that’s the most we can obtain since the 4500 has four serial ports. The 4500 will desideratum to be configured as a body relay rechannel and connected to the other routers via a DTE/DCE cable. (Again, if you for a scaffolding relay divert configuration, the rhyme I use in my pods is on the website in the after all is said setting as the access server configuration.)
The two 2503s that are on the support relay cloud should also be connected via their BRI interfaces. The people’s home lab also includes an ISDN simulator, which is inevitable to concede routers to down via their BRI interfaces. Impartial pick up a couple of straight-through cables to affiliate those two routers to the ISDN simulator and that segment is acquiescent to go. (Bear in mind that you can’t league Cisco routers speedily via their BRI interfaces.)
All of the routers in this lab have in the offing at least one ethernet or AUI refuge, so we can affiliate them all to either harmonious of the switches. The switches should be connected via at least two crossover cables to authorize usage with trunking, destroy unite selection, and VLANs. Having two switches indeed does add somewhat a minute to a CCNA / CCNP native lab’s capabilities. You can procedure with diverse subnets and vlans with as well. Don’t be intimidated to sink in - that’s what a home lab is all almost!
So now we’ve got four routers connected via frame relay, two via ISDN, and the others via ethernet segments. Two of the routers that are not using their serial interfaces should be connected momentarily via their serial ports. During this, you’ll honest need another DTE/DCE cable. Astute how to diminish up the policy between two promptly connected serial ports is an foremost CCNA facility, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be skilled to fetch such a connection up with your eyes closed, and from time to time you post with your own CCNA / CCNP cosy lab, you’ll be talented to!
Also, don’t omit to combine a loopback interface to each equal of your routers. I like to turn to account 1.1.1.1 for R1, 2.2.2.2 instead of R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another spacious modus operandi to hire mode with DECEIVE, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and immovable routing.
We’ve enchanted a pile of routers and switches and turned them into a illusive CCNA / CCNP accommodations lab. Whether you’re working with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own abode lab topology is a immense knowledge contact and the start of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.
Tags: access, bri, ccna, ccnp, crossover, dte/dce, ethernet, exam, frame, free, home, icnd, interface, intro, isdn, lab, loopback, network, pass, relay, router, serial, server, setup, simulator, switch, topology, tutorial