Question on Cisco 2950-12 and 3550 for CCNP

Guan Foo Wah 21 years ago

Hi,

I wish to purchase several Cisco 2950-12 ports (the 24 ports variant is too pricey) and Cisco 3550 for my CCNP BCMSN in the future. I am also planning to go for CCIE once completed CCNP and would like to reuse these cisco equipments I purchased to minimize the cost in the long run. I have some questions to ask before actually getting one and regret it. Here are some questions.

Is 2950-12 SMI IOS sufficient for CCNP? What about CCIE?

Is Cisco 2950-12 good enough for CCNP & CCIE or do I need to get something better (e.g. 2950-24)?
Can 3550 SMI upgrade to EMI by just simply flashing appropriate EMI IOS?

Thanks.

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Todd Lammle 21 years ago

Hi, the 2950's cannot be flash upgraded like the 3550's can - somehow the IOS looks at the hardware and only lets you run what you purchased. You need to buy the EMI for the 2950's, but you can buy the cheaper

3550 SMI and flash upgrade them to EMI, which is necassary to run IP routing on the switch. The 2950's and 3550's are good enough for what you need. Cheers! Todd Lammle

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SysAdm 21 years ago

The 2950 doesnt have an SMI or EMI train. The 3550 does.

The 2950 (port density irrelevant) whilst good enough for ccnp, will not be good enough for CCIE.
For the CCIE you would need (preferably) 2x 3550-EMI (L3 code features etc)
A 3550-SMI can be upgraded with the appropriate EMI image (this is not a free upgrade, and the switch will still report itself as an SMI variant)

Alternatively, you buy a couple of 2950's and get familiar with all the L2 config stuff you need, and then purchase some rack time to test out the L3/QoS/Mcast additions that come with EMI.

Most people I know have swallowed the cost and bought their own labs. I guess its something about having your own kit to play with whenever you want... 3550's can be had on ebay for a reasonable amount of money, considering their list price (but then thats relative I suppose)

SysAdm

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