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Hey so I'm a fresh graduate in computing and IT and I hold CCNA, MSCA, VM certificates, I'm looking to set up a home lab/playground to practice real life scenarios that I would encounter as a system administrator, as I have no experience in the IT field. Money not an issue so throw at me any setup and I'll buy it, I already have some computers, laptops, printers and other devices laying around, I just want a way to build an environment similar to lets say a bank or company and maybe software that can create problems for me to solve and learn along the way. ** PLEASE DONT ASK ME TO GET A JOB AS I KNOW THAT LIKE DUH Thanks for any contribution/advice

Wasn't sure where to post this thread. For those who know, how valuable is the CCNA certificate and what kind of jobs can I get with it? I have a net+ cert already. Is getting a CCNA worth it? Would it actually give me a better chance at getting this job linked below for instance than a Net+ Cert? Link: IT Support Engineer

Hello everyone, What certificates do you think will pay back if you're a freelance electronics technician? I heard that one can expand his services to network services by achieving CCNA certification for example. what do you guys think? What are all the vendor certificates that is worth going through their learning and practice material that will pay back really well? Thanks

I've always wanted to do a post but felt like this is more appropriate for a blog post instead of on the networking forum. I've had a few people ask me on instagram + other social sites about building a lab and decided to create this so I can point them to it. Let us begin! So, you're studying for a Cisco exam or want to get some 'real' hands on experience with Cisco equipment because either: 1) People are telling you real hardware experience is better than emulation/simulation 2) You are generally interested in learning on real hardware Let us clear up one thing before we start talking about building a lab. There are many alternatives that can provide almost all the functionality for the R&S path (if not, everything for CCNA/CCNP) which are either free or cost a tiny investment, a bit like the money you will invest into this lab of yours! Why would I want to build a lab? The first thing I want to talk about is electric. Running this hardware cost money and can vary depending on the type of models of routers/switches etc you use. My personal experience is that I use my lab when I know I am going to be spending a long time on a concept, otherwise I'll just use GNS3 or a mix of GNS3 and real hardware. My equipment is off when I'm not using it and it doesn't affect my electric bill to the point that I'm considering if I should not use hardware. Noise... Buying the most up to date models for a lab doesn't seem a good investment if you're just building a lab. While you can get routers/switches for £15 each, they can produce a LOT of noise when you populate your lab with many devices. You're probably going to go for 2nd hand equipment which could have faulty fans (still working, but they might rattle or make high pitched noises) "I want to get real hardware because I want to plug things in..."... If you are planning on getting a lab purely for the practical feeling of actually using physical cables, you will feel different about that half-way during your studies. Sure, it doesn't take a long time to plug things in but a few factors come into play: Have you got a sufficient amount of cables for your different topologies? Are you going to make a network diagram inc. labelling the interfaces incase you want to recreate your topology with config files you already have? Can you keep up with using 40+ cables in your lab and knowing what connects to what logically? (Maybe you're not doing direct connections between devices...) A fine addition to crafting your ultimate lab from my point of view is, can you obtain IOS images for the devices you buy? During my first few days of obtaining real hardware, I would normally check out the IOS version, figure out if I need any module cards, maybe do password recoveries (urghhh!).. My first experience before even configuring my first ever interface on a router is that I had to obtain an IOS image because someone had deleted it from the flash! (I was threatened because I didn't have a clue what I was dealing with) Ok, I still want to build a lab but don't have a clue what to buy and how many? You can buy sufficient equipment for your beginning CCENT/CCNA studies then invest more when you start to branch out into other areas to carry on to your CCNP. You can also be smart and buy equipment to still be used in your CCNP studies. For now, lets look at a few options CCENT/CCNA studies (2 routers, 2 switches) 2 routers can provide: Basic routing protocol concepts You could always use other technologies to logically further split the routers so it looks like you have more Integrate with GNS3 for more routers Provide more functionality with static/dynamic routing 2 switches can provide: Basic switching concepts 802.1Q labs spanning multiple switches Personally, I think you can take a better look at slicing up unicast vs multicast vs broadcast with more flexibility... You can always substitute hardware routers with GNS3 (which will allow you to emulate IOS but also provide connectivity between emulation and hardware devices). Another option is that you can also chuck in another router since you can really find some good deals on ebay for job lots etc.. Enough with the boring stuff, lets look into models for routers and switches. Wait.... I NEED DEVICES that can run IOS 15!!! Some of the older models don't run IOS 15 (like computers and operating systems), sometimes the models are too old to either store the IOS version or don't have the hardware requirements. Now lets look... Routers Cisco 1841: I started with these during my CCNA studies, they are very quite, have a little bit of room for expansion since they have 2 modules. Most of these on ebay come with a single WIC-1T with allows you bang out serial into your labs. This router does support IOS 15 (15.1) and depending on the IOS image you can experiment with a few other features. I use these quite a lot when I need routers for customer sites in my lab. 1760 Quite an old one so you should be able to get this for cheap on ebay! They take quite awhile to boot up, although they provide 2x WIC cards and the other 2 support VIC voice modules. Not 100% certain but I know this runs 12.3 and not 15. 2610/2612/2621/XM Depending on your preference, the XM series replaces the 10mbps with 100mbps fast ethernet (only a single port)... I mentioned this because you can get them on ebay for about £10-15 if you look carefully and hunt down through the listings. The XM series supports a few more features and you can upgrade it (dram etc..). Using a single ethernet port, you can use subinterfaces trunked to a switch to logically have more connections. The 2610 supports up to IOS 12.3 I believe which is still ok for almost all the concepts at the CCENT/CCNA level. 2801 If you're lucky, you can find these between £25 - £40 a piece. They support more WIC modules than your 1841/2610 etc.. and allow 4x modules, although SLOT 0 only accepts VICS, 2 slots support HWIC modules and others, and SLOT 2 only accepts WICS (not HWICS)... I like that everything is at the front of the chassis so when I rack mount these, it is easy to get to inc. the console port etc.. These also support IOS 15.1 2811 Almost looks like the 2801 with modules around the back, not going into detail with this router because you can sometimes find them cheap... I mention this model because they normally are sold with a few modules preinstalled. Switches 2950 These are extremely dirt cheap, come in many different variants (eg. just 24 x 100mbps port, 2 x gigbit uplinks, 2 x FX or SX uplinks, 12 x 100mbps port... just loads!) People literally throw these away on ebay for cheap but they can get loud! A few people recommended normally to swap these out for 2960's because they can run IOS 15 and obviously support other features. I've found 2950's on ebay with 2x gigabit links for around £12 each... or a job lot of 4x 2950's for £40-50! 2960 Lets take this opportunity to have a look at PoE. We can buy devices which support PoE that can provide power to a range of devices (most common would be IP phones). Again like the 2950, we have different variants which include 2 x gigabit ports for uplinks between switches etc.. A lot of people normally list these on ebay for around £20 3550 Now we are getting into devices known as 'Layer 3' or 'Multi-layer' switches. Unlike our 2950/2960, multilayer switches provide functionality between layer 2 and layer 3. A multilayer switch can act as a standard boring ol' switch but we can enable IP routing to practically act similar to a router. I use many multilayer switches in routing topologies to populate labs when I practiced routing protocols etc.. One key protocol that isn't support by this and another multilayer switch I'll mention is the ability to perform NAT (oh! also IPv6 & a few QoS features ) . I believe these don't support IOS 15 but can be found on ebay between £15 - 20 a piece 3560 Practically looks like the 3550 and supports more features + higher speeds (around £15-35 a piece) 3750 The 3750 is a bit more expensive, more or less a 3560 with a few more features including stackwise. Stackwise isn't really something practical you need to learn for the exam but may be good for the real world. Again, depending on the IOS image you are limited to protocols etc.. eg. the IPBASE image doesn't support BGP..) I managed to buy 4 of these (2x PoE) for around £50 which was an absolute bargin and have taken me through CCNP studies. They are capable of even bringing you to the CCIE R&S. There are plenty more other choices and combinations (eg. fully GNS3 and a few 3550/3560/3750's) but this is the gear that I've managed to use out in my own lab without breaking the bank. Another option is to also by a dedicated server to run GNS3 to allow more devices to run which is a valid option (or even looking at Cisco's virl... OR just using packet tracer for your CCENT/CCNA studies which many people have succeeded with) This post will be edited some time in the future and reviewed

The 'wonders' of 802.1D... This is just a quick blog to discuss the CCNA level of the process of how switches in an ethernet LAN will elect the root bridge and a few other details. Firstly, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is? Simply, a way to create a logical 'loop free' network in our LAN by blocking specific ports that could cause a frame to loop indefinitely in our network. I'm assuming you have a basic understanding of STP because that would be required to understand the basic root bridge election. Getting straight into it, when you connect 2 or more switches together they will begin the process of the 'root bridge election' which can change the way frames are sent in the network or even in different VLAN's. Take a look at the example below: Imaging we had no such thing as STP, the basic example shown is a broadcast has been sent from PC0 to SW1. SW1 with basic switching functionality, will broadcast the frame out of all ports except the one that received the original frame, this seems very normal so far. In short story, the switches will broadcast the frame out of ports the original wasn't received on so it will be going back and fourth until someone literally comes over and literally turns the switch off, it seems extreme but remember that the switch will not broadcast that frame out of the port it was received but SW1 received a broadcast from both SW2 and SW3 (so SW1 will then broadcast the frame from SW2 out fa0/2, and the frame from SW3 to fa0/1) So in a short story, STP will block redundant links to stop these frames from looping. You could have the switches daisy chained but that defeats the whole purpose of redundancy and that if we had multiple switches (SW1 -> SW2 -> SW3 -> SW4), if SW3's link were to go down, people connected to SW1 and SW2 wouldn't be able to talk to people on SW3 or SW4. So what is this 'Root bridge election' or what is a root bridge? When I first looked at the root bridge, I thought to myself does all the traffic need to go to the root bridge before being forwarded to the destination? Because that seems impractical! Of course, it was the first time I've encountered STP and I wasn't 100% wrong sort of... (but close to it!). The path towards the root bridge from other switches are commonly the fastest (or least cost) which can be changed. The easiest way I would explain why the root bridge is needed would be along the lines of: "The root bridge allows other switches to have a destination to decide which ports to put in forwarding and which ports to block, by default the least cost (fastest path/speed) would be a preferred path to the root unless you manually configure things like costs and priority...." Traffic will not need to travel to the root bridge first, unless it needs to travel in that direction or is the only way to get to the destination. We will talk about the different port roles and types for STP a little bit later. Bridge Election Process The bridge election process begins with switches exchanging messages, the Hello BPDU (Bridge protocol data unit) formally known as a configuration BPDU (a lot of people may call it a hello, because it is being sent over and over again like most Hello's in other protocols, excuse me while I refer to it as a hello BPDU for now...). The Hello BPDU will be used to compare on each side of the link and exchange information such as: Root Bridge ID, Sender Bridge ID, Path cost to root, Port ID and Timers (MaxAge, Hello and Forward Delay). The BPDU does contain more fields, but these are the important ones for now.. (Protocol ID will be 0x000 for IEEE 802.1D) I believe the main focus in the CCNA is firstly focusing on the Bridge ID (BID) and what forms it. The BID is a field in the BPDU which is 8 bytes. Split into 2 parts: Priority = 2 bytes (divided into 2 parts: 4bit Priority + 12bit VLAN ID) (interesting fact (2^12 = 4096 VLAN's anyone?) System ID Ext (MAC Address) = 6 bytes Without no configuration, we have some default values in our BPDU that are generated on switches. Such as: Each switch will think it is a root since no root has been elected yet... Each BID priority will be 32768 (VLAN1 = 32769 etc...) Hello Timer is 2 seconds default Forward Delay is 15 seconds by default Max age is 20 seconds by default So upon BPDU messages being exchanged, what will happen since the BID priority is the same? If that ties, then it will move onto comparing the System ID (MAC Address) and will always elect the switch with the lowest MAC address as the root as shown in the example below: In this example, we see that SW3 actually has a lower BID which then tells us that it will become the root in this election process. Ok so are BPDU's still exchanging after this simple process? Yes of course! BPDU's are actually generated from the root and will be sent down the topology similar to the picture below: You can see that the path cost is added to as the basic 'BPDU' is sent down(logically) from the root but where do these numbers come from? STP (1998) has values which I believe you may need to remember for the CCNA exam such as: 10Mbps cost 100, 100Mbps costs 19, 1Gbps cost 4, 10 Gbps cost 2 Now that the root election process has finished, that is pretty much all done? You'd be wrong in not wanting to learn more! Since the previous examples don't really show STP's capabilities of making sure the network is loop free, let's add a redundant link in our switched LAN from SW1 to SW. The image has been changed slightly to make it easier to talk from the logical topology view (remember SW3 is still the root!). So a redundant link has been added and BPDU's have been exchanged but wait... It seems that we understand one of the first values compared in the BPDU is the root bridge ID. SW3 and SW2 will both send a BPDU with the same Root Bridge ID?? Is the switch going to freak out? Is STP going to break? Of course, that would be a poor design if it did but it simply moves onto the next value to compare... Sender Bridge ID - Is the Senders BID lower than mine? No.... Simply move onto the next parameter. Cost.... SW1 root path cost using gi0/1 will be 4 SW1 root path cost using fa0/1 will be 23 (because it needs to also add the cost to get to the root from the SW2 gigabit connection) Port Roles and States After the switch has completed this new election process with the new redundant link, we can move onto the next stage of the STP process. STP defines port roles and states to be used by root and nonroot switches. The root switch will simply put all ports in the designated role and states will be in forwarding mode (FWD), so lets focus on non-root switches. Every non-root switch must have a root port which essentially is the lowest cost to reach the root switch. SW1 has made g0/1 the root port since it is a STP cost of 4 rather than f0/1 which would be a cost of 23. (sorry about hostname, this was issued on SW1) Because the Root switch will generate BPDU's that are then sent down from the topology, each switch will add the cost on the BPDU before sending it out. The BPDU sent from SW3 to SW2 is 0 then SW2 will add a cost of 4 then will be resent to SW1. SW1 will receive it on port f0/1 and will add a cost of 19 creating a total of 23. The BPDU sent from SW3 to SW1 is 0 then SW1 will add a cost of 4 then will be sent to SW2. SW2 will receive it on port f0/1 and will add a cost of 19 (23) which is a worst path than g0/2 to root. As you can see in the #show spanning-tree. It also lists on SW1 that interface fa0/1's role is Desg (Designated). The designated role will be the port that advertises the lowest path cost to a LAN segment. Of course, ties will occur which will result in the BID's being compared and the lowest BID will be chosen. All other ports that are not a Root or Designated will be transitioned into the 'Blocking'(BLK) state as shown on SW2: In the next blog on STP, we will talk about STP convergence, 802.1w (RSTP), PVST+, Configuring them all and tweaking STP values such as priority, cost, also I will go into depth on STP port roles and states etc.. I will be replicating this topology with 3 Cisco 2950's instead of using Packet Tracer. (PS, I wrote this on my actual blog but thought I might aswell upload it here, sorry if any formatting issues occur!)

so im currently a student studying computer security in university and i would like to hear any suggestions of what other certifications i should consider doing to support my career. I would like to go to the networking field, so my father recommended doing CCNA so most probably i would do that however i have also been asked to do some other certifications like red hat and Microsoft exams by seniors. i have also heard that some certifications such as Microsoft exams expire after a time period and require update exams and i have also heard that some exams r about certain products only and i will be limiting myself to that if i do them. if its possible for you guys to suggest me some exams that doesnt require me to do update exams or limit myself it would be very helpful.Thanks

Hello Everyone , I am making this Topic to better understand on acquiring legitimate professional certifications . Anything ranging from Different Agency and schools to online options for obtaining certifications in the I.T world and tech field. Not seeking College 4 year degrees but some options that can educate me and certify me , some of the certifications I am looking into are listed below. I would like help understanding others that might be easy to obtain maybe what orders to procure or other helpful certifications , If anything else I want to be able to apply for help desk and I.T positions Networking or repairs . server technician, I understand Pc components and can handle common software and domestic problems people have . I do under the type of work that is required any help is welcome thanks for your time. Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) CompTIA A+ Technician Network+ Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

Let's assume I already have already purchased a few textbooks an watched a couple of video series in prep for CCNA. I already have a few cisco catalyst 3000 switches and all the required hardware. Are there any lab manuals or video labs you guys would recommend that would go in-depth with configuring your switches as well as routing and switching examples? I'll also take more recommendations for standard textbooks, but I'm really looking for something supplemental to that.

Please help me with the questions above. I am geyting started into Cisco and just want to be well prepared what I get myself into. Feel free to explain why you voted xyz

hello everyone, any ideas of how can i set a domain at home so i can practice system administration and system engineering ? what are your thoughts and ideas ? i have 2 servers- 10 computers - 2 imacs - 2 mac pro - 5 laptops - 4 printers - Cisco L2 - L3 switches and routers as well as Fire wall . any and all opinions are more than appreciated. Thank you all

hello everyone, iam asking you to suggest me great certificates that really add weight to my C.V and is really worth it and that can be obtainable from Pearson Vue. obviously technical certificates that has to do with engineering and I.T and computers in general. any suggestion is highly appreciated Thank you so much

Hi, i'm currently looking in to taking the CISCO CCNA course on the open university (U.K) but i have two concerns. Firstly, there is only two class room days where u get hands on with some networking equipment, the rest is all theory. How much of a disadvantage would this be? Secondly, If all goes well and i get my CCNA, this would be my only I.T related qualification, ive noticed a lot of networking jobs ask for training in other areas apart from CCNA such as virtualization, juniper etc. Whats the chances of getting into the I.T field with just the CCNA to my name. I do realize this is a broad question but would still hugely appreciate any advice. Thanks.

hello everyone, iam currently studying CCNA and want to get "professional" at it in a practical way. so what do you guys suggest for a home lab that i can train situations as close as real problems that is industrial standard ? please be as detailed as possible thank you all

hello everyone, i won an auction on Ebay for a Cisco CCNA Lab, and the total amount with shipping and handling is 130 US dollars. the lab is this one : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cisco-lab-2924xl-2610-2651xm-1721-Various-WIC-IOLAN-Rack-Server-Console-/163103374261?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=BvdWN%2B8HDJKc8BIP7gaYwreOdqk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc#shpCntId so what do you guys think? any and all opinions are more than appreciated. Thank you all

Hello, i would like to start a networking course to improve my networking knowledge as i wish to go for a job in that stream to work in industry and I was told to follow a CCNA course as I'm new. However when i did some searching i got very confused by the number of different CCNA courses and which one i should follow. When i visited one institute which is here locally doing CCNA they said their course goes for 1 year and they gave me a brochure of the topics that a being covered. According to that it seems to be covering alot but the course is quite expensive and i would like to finish the course in a few months instead of having to go for 1 year. I have checked several other places and they showed me something called CCNA Routing and Switching Certification (200-125). This course can be completed in 2 1/2 months and the cost is much lower. However the content also seem to be much lower. My questions are: What are the differences between these courses? is the one that finishes in 2.5 months a part of the one that finishes in 1 year? Is the one finishing in 2.5 months not good enough for working in industry? If the 1 year course is the better option could u please explain why one should follow it. Thank you

Does anyone know where I can get cheap server and network gear for a personal cisco lab? I scored a cisco catalyst 3650 yesterday but I need more. Any ideas?

Hi everybody, I am just about to take my CompTIA A+ test certification in a couple of weeks and I am trying to pick people's brains on what I should work on next. I enjoy hardware and software more than networking. I don't enjoy databases. I am a computer science student who graduates in a couple of months. I don't want to do programming. I think I could ideally see myself as like a elevated Systems Admin or maybe even working with a device manufacturer in terms of consulting: hard drives, memory, etc. A friend has recommended the CCNA for networking cred and I definitely understand how that would be useful for an employer. Microsoft certifications were another recommendation. Are there any certs you might recommend that would fulfill my desire work more with hardware and software? Thanks for any advice you could give.

Hi everybody, I'm trying to amass a good list of books to buy/rent/etc for technology certifications. I know Mike Meyers is a popular author for CompTIA. I own a couple of books that Cisco put out for it's CCNA Routers and Switches cert. Maybe there's a review website out there for this sort of thing. One thing to rely on is Amazon ratings, but maybe something even more comprehensive or IT focused. Thanks for any help you can give.

Hi everyone, im new in this forum and i not english speaker, so i hope everybody understand me. I have a single question for you, if you could choose about these two certifications CCNA and OCA which would you choose? and why? which field have more jobs? wich one is better pay?. If anybody have anyone of these certifications and could me explain if its a good decision take these certifications. Thanks a lot!

I'm trying to build a Cisco lab to practice on for CCNA/CCNP and I was wondering what else I should buy. So far I have one 2621XM router and two 2950T switches. Thanks in advance.

Im having an issue with this packet trace I need to do for class, I cant find the default gateways for PC's E and F which Ip address of which router and which port would be the default gateways for PCs E and F, Im pretter sure its Router 3's serial port but i could be wrong.

How should I go about getting my CCNA in Routing and switching? I know there are a lot of network admins, etc. on the forum maybe they can shed some light.

I'm thinking about "going back to school", so to speak, because as time goes by I notice that my current job as a freelance translator is way too stressful and simply doesn't make me feel fulfilled. I've always had a passion for computers and I think I'd like to work with networking, especially Windows and Linux system administration, and I've been looking at CCNA certifications, which on paper sound interesting, but I also have a few questions about them. Does a CCNA course/manual cover Linux system administration, or "just" how to connect devices in a network and their inner workings? I already have some knowledge of Linux, but I'm not always able to troubleshoot things myself directly, so I need, more often than not, to look for solutions online. If it doesn't, what is a good Linux certification? Lastly, is it worth getting any certification in this field if you don't have a bachelor or master's degree in a related field? I already invested quite a bit in my linguistics degree and I don't have the resources, nor the time to commit to a new degree in computer science or engineering. I'd be grateful if someone who already works in the field could share his knowledge with me.