Cisco Certification: Building Your Home Lab, Part II

In the first part of this home lab tutorial, CCNA and CCNP candidates can see that there are a LOT of choices when it comes to what to buy to build your own Cisco practice lab.

Having been there myself, I know itâ??s confusing to decide how many routers or switches to buy, and what I need at the minimum to run labs and get some great hands-on practice. Letâ??s take a look at some lab configurations and some other lab equipment you may need.

A starter practice lab will consist of two Cisco routers and one switch, hopefully a 2950. This is a good way to get started. You will need to make sure that the routers you purchase have Ethernet ports, and at least one serial port. If possible, get routers with BRI ports, so even if youâ??re not configuring ISDN now, youâ??ll be able to in the future. (You will need one additional device to make ISDN work in your lab, and weâ??ll talk about that later in this article.)

You can practice setting IP addresses and testing IP connectivity over the Ethernet interfaces, and you can configure a point-to-point connection between the two serial interfaces. (You must know how to do that before you think of taking the CCNA exams!) Depending on the switch, you can also get some practice putting the Ethernet ports in different VLANs and working with the switch IOS.

This setup does have some limitations. You canâ??t practice trunking or Etherchannels with one switch, and you canâ??t set up a Frame Relay cloud with this configuration. Itâ??s a good start, but you should consider getting a few more routers, including one to serve as your Frame Relay switch.

Whatâ??s a Frame Relay switch? Good question.

The Frame Relay Switch

As you know from your studies, Cisco routers are DTEs by default. The Frame Relay cloud is made up of DCEs.

In a lab environment, you need a device to serve as the Frame Relay cloud. This device will have DCE interfaces, and will actually be performing frame relay switching. But this isnâ??t a switch in our lab â?" itâ??s a Cisco router.

There are plenty of Cisco routers that make great frame relay switches. Get one of those and a couple of DCE/DTE cables, and you can configure the router as a frame relay switch and have your own working frame relay cloud in your lab!

The Cisco router you choose as your frame relay switch should have at least four serial ports, and if you can get more, great. Itâ??s always good to have spare ports.

If you get four Cisco routers, with one as your frame relay switch, you can set up a frame relay cloud and practice your hub-and-spoke frame configurations. Even better, as my labs do in my CCNA Study Guide, you can set up a frame relay cloud and a point-to-point Serial connection. This will help you get real hands-on practice with such features as EIGRP variance.

With that four-router configuration and one switch, you can get some great hands-on experience with many CCNA features that many candidates just read about. If you can add a second 2950 switch, you can practice different spanning-tree configurations, such as changing the root bridge of a given VLAN, working with VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), and configuring your own Etherchannel! (You will need some crossover cables to connect your two switches.)

Letâ??s take a look at one more important piece of lab equipment: the ISDN simulator. You canâ??t just take a straight-through cable and connect your BRI interfaces directly. You need a device called an ISDN simulator to act as the phone company in your home network. The newer simulators let you set your own phone numbers and SPIDs; most older ones have a preset phone number and SPID that you must use. Either way, you get truly valuable experience getting hands-on work with ISDN, especially watching PAP and CHAP debugs and understanding the authentication process.

ISDN simulators can set you back a few bucks. I recommend you visit www.ebay.com and search for â??ISDN simulatorâ??. There are generally 20 â?" 30 used ones on there at any given time. Be careful to purchase one with at least a 30-day guarantee. They are robust devices for the most part, as there is one in my home lab that Iâ??ve had for three years (when they were really expensive!), and itâ??s never given me a bit of trouble.

There are many online vendors that will sell you a new one, but obviously the price is going to be higher. One company Iâ??ve had good experiences with is www.vconsole.com . Make sure to shop around, as there are plenty of ISDN simulator manufacturers out there on the web. Vconsole is the only one Iâ??ve purchased a new unit from, and the 10-port simulator I use in my classes has worked beautifully.

There is another piece of lab equipment that isnâ??t necessary for your lab, but youâ??ll find life is a lot easier with it. And just as the frame relay switch is really a router, so is this device: the access server.

Access servers are devices with an asynchronous port that an octal cable can connect to. What you do is connect your blue console cable (officially referred to as a â??rollover cableâ??) to the console port of your access server. You then take an octal cable, and connect one end of the cable to your Async port. The other end of the cable, as youâ??d expect from the name, consists of eight smaller RJ-45 connectors. Each one of those goes into the console port of one of your other lab devices, and you configure the access server to allow one-key access to each of the other devices in your practice lab.

The configuration of the access server is a simple one, and Iâ??ll have an example of configuring your access server and frame relay switch up later today.

Not everyone can start with a lab this size, so be careful when you buy your first routers. Make sure that theyâ??re not just giving you good practice now, but that they allow for future growth of your lab. As you add a frame relay switch, an ISDN simulator, and an access server, youâ??ll get the hands-on experience you need to be successful on the job, acquire the self-confidence and troubleshooting skills needed in the testing room and on the job, and to solve any simulator question on your CCNA and CCNP exams with ease.

Have fun!

Chris Bryant, CCIE (TM) #12933, has been active in the Cisco certification community for years. He has written several books that have helped CCNA candidates around the world achieve the coveted CCNA certification, including several concentrating on binary math conversions and subnetting questions that the average CCNA candidate will need to answer on their CCNA exams.

He is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com) where he teaches affordable world-class CCNA courses via the Internet, and sells his popular Cisco certification books. Heâ??s proud to have helped CCNA candidates around the world achieve their career goals. Mr. Bryantâ??s books and courses are sold on his site, on eBay, and on several other major Cisco certification sites.

---

Setting File Permissions On A Unix Server

File permissions are one of the strengths that the Unix... Read More

EDTV vs HDTV

Confused by EDTV vs HDTV? We don't blame you. The... Read More

Use Your Computer For Your Entertainment Needs

By using your computer today you can find a lot... Read More

What are the Main Components of Any Computer, and Which are the Most Critical to Its Performance?

Computers are everywhere, and vary in specification, brands, sizes, shaped,... Read More

Your Home is in Your Hands

I would like to tell you about a magic home.... Read More

Top 9 Ways To Speed Up Your Surfing & Computing

It seems like fast never quite rates fast enough.No matter... Read More

PC Owners - The Largest Criminal Gang Ever?

The year is 1981. IBM has just released the Personal... Read More

A Peek Into the Near Future of Electronics Technology

How long do you think DVDs have around? 20 years?... Read More

Have You Invited A Spy Into Your Computer?

Yes, it's true. You may have inadvertently invited a spy... Read More

5 Ways to Speed Up Your PC

No matter how fast your processor and regardless of how... Read More

Cisco CCNA Candidate FAQ

CCNA FAQQ. What exams do I have to take to... Read More

Help, I Need a New HDTV! (Part 5 of 5)

Feeling overwhelmed in selecting a new TV? With all the... Read More

Image Formats: GIF, JPEG, BMP

When browsing the internet you are likely to come across... Read More

10 Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts

Time is money. And when you constantly have to divide... Read More

Deleting and Destroying Data Forever

Peoples' private information needs to stay private, even after it... Read More

MCSE 70-290 Certification Primer

Microsoft Certifications are one of the most widely acclaimed, pursued,... Read More

Why Build Your Own Gaming Computer?

The best way to get the gaming computer that you... Read More

Keeping the Windows Registry Operational

The registry is where the computer stores information about the... Read More

How to Save an Image in a SQL Server Database?

Most of the web applications have a lot of images... Read More

Virtual Memory - What is It?

I recently got an e-mail asking about virtual memory. The... Read More

Mail-merging: The Principles

About mail-mergingMail-merging is the process of merging variable data and... Read More

Dynamite Comes in Small Packages - Tiny Personal Audio MP3 Players Pack Powerful Music Enjoyment

MP3 players are Hot! Playing music has come a long... Read More

USB Drives - What to Look For in a USB Device

Those small USB drives have so many names, pocket drives,... Read More

4 Easy Ways to Speed Up A Sluggish PC

Computers are supposed to speed up our productivity?to help us... Read More

Nephrology and Dialysis For a PDA

Saving Lives With A Pocket PCFree medical downloads can be... Read More

Bluetooth Technology: Tips for Buying Headsets or Headphones

The technological horizon has always got something new to offer,... Read More

Cisco Certification: Building Your Home Lab, Part II

In the first part of this home lab tutorial, CCNA... Read More

Linux Power Tools - Great Tools to Make System Administration Easy

World War II - Germany decided to attack Poland. Poland... Read More

Simple Overview Of Computer

Computer is an electronic machine work on the instructions of... Read More

HTML Explained: Part 1

Want to save money while promoting your web-based business? Of... Read More

Why There Are Color Differences in Printing from Your PC

This article describes the basic properties of color, what the... Read More

2 PC Annoyances and How To Solve Them!

I have a love-hate relationship with my computer.In fact, often... Read More

Password Nightmares

Good Morning Mr. Sampson. Please type in you Personal Identification... Read More