CCIE - Catalyst buy or preplab

Author

Catalyst buy or preplab

dagreer

2001-04-16, 11:57 am

Hello out there,

I am studying for the CCIE lab, and have acquired several 25xx's to play with in a test lab. I have absolutely no experience with Catalysts at all.

My question is should I buy a couple of catalysts to play with and then sell them when done? Or should I spend the money on one of the preplabs?

Fortunately the price is about equal and there is a university preplab about 5 miles from where I work.

Any help appreciated...

vr2zjw

2001-04-16, 12:15 pm

For Catalyst, you need to buy the one with the CatOS using "set" command. Either you buy the Catalyst 5000 (which is huge, at least I don't want to pay the shipment or it is too big for my house, or it is too noisy and draw too much electricity) or the Catalyst 2901 which is very difficult to find.

So I recommend you get the Cisco CIM LAN switching to practice the command line. And use your money for the prelab as there are other things to need to know like ATM, voice else.

Also there is a Token ring switch too which run different OS.

dagreer

2001-04-16, 12:31 pm

vr2zjw,

I was thinking of a couple 2924-XL-EN, which our account rep assured me that it used the "correct" version.

Do you know for sure whether or not this uses the correct version of IOS?

As for the test lab, my employer will let me put it up in our data center providing that I don't connect it to production, and that I let the other engineers to borrow on occaision. Plus then I will have access to other undeployed gear..

vr2zjw

2001-04-16, 12:40 pm

I have one of those and they are running IOS, Not CatOS. So they are not the right one as your account rep say. By the way, the Cat 2901 have end production and you can't buy them new. I am not sure for the Cat 5000.

It is always good your employer support your training and have a test lab to play with, better still they sponsor your certification.

Also look at the Switchsim from www.routersim.com but they seen to support very limited command and target for CCNP switching exam.

Stickman

2001-04-23, 4:23 pm

Try ebay.. I purchase WS-C2924M-XL-EN
for $845 on ebay...it also had the latest cat ios...

dagreer

2001-04-23, 7:21 pm

Stickman,

That is what actually started this thread. A Cisco Account Rep had assured me that the 2924-XL-EN was indeed a good study platform for the CCIE. Before I dropped money for three of them, with plans to sell afterwards, I wanted to know if I should buy them or just rent time in a local prep-lab. My main concern with buying them is that I would really lack any sort of direction to the lab-work, that I will be taking anyhow.

What do you think? BTW, this is my money, not the company's.

quote:
Originally posted by Stickman
Try ebay.. I purchase WS-C2924M-XL-EN
for $845 on ebay...it also had the latest cat ios...

dagreer

2001-04-23, 7:30 pm

quote:
Originally posted by Stickman
Try ebay.. I purchase WS-C2924M-XL-EN
for $845 on ebay...it also had the latest cat ios...

Stickman

2001-04-24, 3:49 pm

I purchased the switch for personal use...I wanted to get a feel for IOS based switches. Since your not proficient with set based (cat 5000) or IOS base switches (ie 2900), I would suggest the lab at the university...

PS Recently, I read a article about the secondary market for Cisco equipment and how demand was down. The article stated that a year ago, a piece of cisco that would originally sell for $10,000 could sell between 3500-5000. A year later with the turn down in the market, a $10,000 item may sell as low as $2500. My point is, it may be worth purchasing cisco equip for lab use because if the demand is back you may be able to sell the equip for the same price you purchased it...Also you may be able to get a tax write off

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