I know from experience that part of the excitement and anxiety in setting up your own CCNA / CCNP home laboratory determines what to buy! Although you can create a home lab that can be used from almost any combination of Cisco routers and switches, some routers are better suited for home laboratory work than others because they can fill a variety of roles.
When you buy a CCNA or CCNP "lab kit" - a collection of routers and switches - you can be a little confused about whether you get a good price. One router that I often ask is 2503.
2503 routers are great for CCNA and CCNP home laboratories. They come with two serial interfaces, allowing you to connect one interface directly to another router (you will need a DTE / DCE cable for that too) when connecting the other to the frame relay switch if you like. If you don't have a frame relay switch, you can connect 2503 directly to the other two routers through the serial interface.
You also have an AUI port, which requires a transceiver to operate as your Ethernet interface. Transceivers are quite cheap and available from Cisco resellers and eBay vendors, so choose one for every 2503 that you decide to buy.
2503 routers are also equipped with a BRI interface. Even though you may not have an ISDN simulator now, you can choose to add it later. That makes 2503 good bets for future lab expansion.
Overall, 2503 routers are great for your CCNA / CCNP home laboratory. They run around $ 125 each on ebay, or less, so they are also very affordable. There is no better training than training in CCNA or your own CCNP home laboratory, and you can always sell sulfur analyzer indonesia equipment later if you want. Basically, you rent routers and switches, and the experience you get from working with the real deal is very valuable.
Chris Bryant, CCIE # 12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home to more than 100 free certification exam tutorials, including Cisco CCNA certification exam preparation articles. The exclusive Cisco CCNA study guide and Cisco CCNA training are also available!
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