Current views on home lab specs

A 2924-XL-EN should de, thay can be found pretty cheap on ebay. remember
that the 2950 series does not have support for ISL



Might consider buing three. 2500 series routers should do if you load them
up with 16/16 in flash and memory in order to run newer version of the IOS.
Consider to go for the 2600 series instead. they do cost a little bit more
but can be found relative cheap on ebay.



Then you definately need to go for the 2600 series routers.



Both 2500 and 2600 can handle frame-realy.



Again the 2500 and the 2600 can handle ISDN but depends on the model. For
the 2600 series routers you will need a WIC for ISDN (you will need WIC for
seriel interfaces on the 2600 routes as well).

You might want to buy a ISDN simulater. They a dropping in price at the
moment since they are no longer needed for the CCIE R&S exams. Is ISDN still
needed for the CCNA?

So a list of routers could look somethning like this:
3x 2610 with WIC-1T cards
1x 2924 switches (You can do trunking to the 2611 router)
Optional an extra 2924 switch if you want to examine trunking betveen the
switches.
optional 2x ISDN BRI cards and a ISDN simulator. I am not sure if you
actually need this.
and cables. you will need DCE/DTE crossover cables for the serial
connections.

Hopes this clears things up a little bit :-)

--
Best regards
Martin Kiefer
www.kiefer.dk

See mine and:
http://imageevent.com/hhuntley/newcamera
http://e-shane.com /

Both excellent, but probably a bit more money than I was willing to
spend.  I was thinking of perhaps 4 or 5 devices I could hide in the
corner!




--
Andrew W. Young                                  news03@andrew-young.com
                                             http://www.andrew-young.com /

But the 2924 does support ISL?  And where does the 2900 fit in?




What's the main advantage of practising on a 2600 over a 2500 ?




Oh.  I saw that thebryantadvantage.com use 2500s for all their rack
rentals.  What's the main disadvantage of the 2500s?  Is it that they
cannot support one of the trunking protocols?




Yes, definitely.

Many thanks.

--
Andrew W. Young                                  news03@andrew-young.com
                                             http://www.andrew-young.com /

Yes the 2900 series switches have support for ISL.


Newer technology. You will probably not see any 2500 routers on the real
world. Faster CPU and modular design. You can use a wide area of WIC and NM
in them.

But in order to just get startet I will not say that buying a couple of 2500
routers is stupid. If you can find 2x 2500 with 16/M/16F they will do for
the serial links and get you some practice training. And then just add a
2600 router and a switch later when it will be needed.



There is no support for trunking on the 2500 series routers.


Ok, it has been almost 3 years since i have done the CCNA. Just recertified
my CCNA a couple of weeks ago with the 350-001 exam and that one did not
include any ISDN :-)



You are welcome.

--
Best regards
Martyin Kiefer
www.kiefer.dk

Why do you need "16/M/16F in the 2500" listed below??

For the newer IOS versions.

--
Best regards
Martin Kiefer
www.kiefer.dk