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Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Home Lab Assembly Case Study |
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Part of your CCNA / CCNP education is deciding what network
topology to use when you're putting together your home lab.
Some of you are starting with one or two routers or switches,
while others are starting with more. A customer recently sent
me a list of his Cisco routers and switches that he has available
for a home lab and asked for my help in coming up with the
best way to use them.
There is no "right" or "wrong" answer
to this question; again, part of the learning process is configuring
and reconfiguring the physical topology of your lab. Let's
look at the routers and switches he has available, including
the interfaces on each, and come up with one possible CCNA
/ CCNP home lab setup.
The equipment list:
Two 3620 routers. Each has 1 serial port and 2 ethernet ports.
One 3640 router. This has two ethernet cards, each with two
ports, and two AUI ports.
Three 2503s, my personal favorite for home labs! These have
1 AUI port, 2 serial interfaces, and one BRI interface apiece.
One 2524 router. This has one serial port, 1 ethernet port,
and one BRI interface.
One 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, one
2924 switch, and one 1924 switch.
Now, if you don't have this much equipment to work with,
don't panic! 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 many of my CCNA / CCNP home lab articles,
an access server is a great thing to have. All he needs is
an octal cable to connect his AS to the other devices we choose
to use, and he's all set. (If you need an access server sample
configuration, there is one on my website in the Home Lab
section.)
A frame relay switch is also great to have, and the 4500
will make a great FR switch. Having a frame relay cloud in
your CCNA / CCNP home lab is a great way to get experience
configuring and troubleshooting frame relay, an essential
skill for CCNA success.
I would put both of the 3620s on the frame relay cloud via
the Serial interface, as well as two of the 2503s. That gives
you four routers that will be using frame relay to communicate,
and that's the most we can have since the 4500 has four serial
ports. The 4500 will need to be configured as a frame relay
switch and connected to the other routers via a DTE/DCE cable.
(Again, if you need a frame relay switch configuration, the
one I use in my pods is on the website in the same place as
the access server configuration.)
The two 2503s that are on the frame relay cloud should also
be connected via their BRI interfaces. The home lab also includes
an ISDN simulator, which is necessary to allow routers to
communicate via their BRI interfaces. Just get a couple of
straight-through cables to connect those two routers to the
ISDN simulator and that segment is ready to go. (Remember
that you can't connect Cisco routers directly via their BRI
interfaces.)
All of the routers in this lab have at least one ethernet
or AUI port, so we can connect them all to either one of the
switches. The switches should be connected via at least two
crossover cables to allow practice with trunking, root bridge
election, and VLANs. Having two switches really does add quite
a bit to a CCNA / CCNP home lab's capabilities. You can experiment
with different subnets and vlans with as well. Don't be afraid
to dive in - that's what a home lab is all about!
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 directly via their serial ports. For this, you'll
just need another DTE/DCE cable. Knowing how to bring up the
line between two directly connected serial ports is an important
CCNA skill, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be able
to bring such a connection up with your eyes closed, and once
you work with your own CCNA / CCNP home lab, you'll be able
to!
Also, don't forget to add a loopback interface to each one
of your routers. I like to use 1.1.1.1 for R1, 2.2.2.2 for
R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another great way
to get practice with RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and static routing.
We've taken a pile of routers and switches and turned them
into a fantastic CCNA / CCNP home lab. Whether you're working
with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own home
lab topology is a great learning experience and the beginning
of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.
About the Author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage,
home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study
Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. For a FREE copy
of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and
“How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download
your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam
questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!
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