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A CCNA or CCNP candidate who wants to be totally ready for the exam they will gather to practice in the home laboratory. Used with Cisco router and switch, and a lot more affordable then ever before, truly there is no reason not to have one!

With various models available, there is some understandable confusion between CCNAs and the future CCNPs about buying a router and to avoid that. You can take almost any Cisco router and set the home laboratory, part of the learning process that takes what equipment you have available and put together your own lab! For you to start preparing your home or to a laboratory that is one, this article will list the router that I use in the Cisco pods. You do not need to have all this equipment, but this will give you some ideas on how to get started.

The most versatile you can get the router for CCNA / CCNP home lab is 2520. This router come with four serial ports, one ethernet port, and an ISDN BRI interface for practice. This mix of interfaces means you can actually use it as a frame relay switch while using the ethernet port and BRI for routing. (There is no problem with the router using the laboratory as your second frame relay switch and router practices; frame relay to switch sample configuration, visit my website!)

My router pods consist of five active and two, and three of the five routers are 2520s, due to their versatility. An ebay search shows selling routers for $ 99 - $ 125, the outstanding value of the practice you’re going to get.

I also use 2501s in my home laboratory. This has a little more, but the combination of the two serial interfaces and one Ethernet interface allows you to get a lot of practice.

A combination that works well is using three 2520s, as a dedicated frame relay switch, one as R1, R2, and others as. Add a 2501 as R3, and you can have a frame cloud connecting R1, R2, and R3, direct serial connection between R1 and R3, an Ethernet segment that includes all three routers, and ISDN connection between R1 and R2 if you have an ISDN simulator. The combination will allow you to get a large amount of practice for the exam, and you can always sell it when you’re done!

2501s are very affordable, with many in the range of $ 50 on ebay. It’s quite possible to get three 2520s and one 2501 for less than $ 500 total, and you can get more money back if you choose to sell when you are finished.

With four routers to work with you may be tired from moving the console around the cable. Access server (Cisco router that is actually, not a white box we tend to think when we hear the “server”) will help you with that. Access server that allows you to make a connection with each other through the router from the octal cable, which prevents you from moving the console cable around continually. As an example of an access server configuration, please visit my website and look in the “Free Training” section.

Access server prices vary quite a bit, do not panic if you do a search ebay and see the cost of thousands of dollars. You DO NOT need expensive server to access your CCNA / CCNP home lab. 2511s a great router for you to get access to the server.

One question I often from CCNA / CCNP candidates is “What should I buy a router that can still be used when I ready to study CCNP?” The CCIE lab changes dramatically on a regular basis and sometimes when it comes to the equipment that you need. During the CCIE lab studies, I find that the rental service provider of online rack rental is the best way to go. Do not hesitate if you put CCNA / CCNP home lab together, wondering what will be accepted for the CCIE lab or so a year from now. None of us knows what will happen to the equipment list, so get the CCNA and CCNP first - by building your own Cisco home lab!