Of all the CCNP exams, BSCI is probably the most familiar to most people. It has the most overlap with the topics in CCNA, it's got a lot of topics that people use in their real jobs, and the topics covered haven't changed a lot over the years. So, I left it as the last of the 4 exams to look at in this CCNP lab series. Today, I'll look at the topics, and talk about some really inexpensive options for BSCI labbing.

First, for perspective, the main hands-on topics for BSCI are:

• EIGRP
• OSPF
• IS-IS
• BGP
• Multicast
• IPv6
• OSPFv3 (for IPv6 support)

As usual, the biggest issue with the router-based CCNP topics is finding the right feature sets and IOS versions. After doing my usual search of the Cisco feature navigator, here's the big takeaway - you really need a feature set with IP plus (older models) or Advanced IP Services (new models) to get most or all the features for BSCI.

For perspective, consider the older/cheaper 2600 non-XMs. You can get a feature set called "IP", another called "IP Plus", and another called "Enterprise". In this case, IP Plus includes all of the "IP" feature set, plus more features like BGP. Again in this case, Enterprise includes the IP Plus features plus some additional features. So, you have a router whose current IOS isn't "IP Plus" or "Advanced IP Services", just check out that feature set, for that platform, on the feature navigator.

The good news is that the mid-range priced routers on the used market - 800's, 2600XMs, and 3640's - support all the BSCI features given the right feature set/version. (I used 837's when searching. I checked on the 12.4 mainline version in the feature navigator. The possibly better news is that you get many useful features with the super-low-priced 2501's and 2600 non-XMs. For perspective, here's a table that lists some details, assuming the following feature sets:

• 2501: 12.3 (latest available) IP Plus
• 2610: 12.3 (latest available) Security Plus and Enterprise Plus Basic
• 837: 12.4 IP Plus
• 2610XM: 12.4 Advanced IP Services
• 3640: 12.4 IP Plus

So, for a hundred or 2, you can get a router that supports all of BSCI. However, we've got some expensive switches to buy, so let's look at the really cheap options, and what you lose. The 2501's still support a little IPv6, but not OSPFv3. OSPFv3 is specifically mentioned in the BSCI exam topics, and is included in the labs in the authorized Cisco BSCI course. (OSPVv3 supports IPv6). Additionally, it's missing IS-IS. Same with 2600's with some feature sets, but with possibly a little more IPv6 support - but still no IS-IS or OSPFv3. However, you could configure IPv6 and use RIPng to support IPv6.

The sweet spot for a cheap lab looks like the 2600's with an Enterprise Plus Basic feature set. You pick up IS-IS, but still no OSPF-v3.

I've got one more big exam topic to hit - MPLS. I'll get to that in the next post. After that, I'll start pulling this stuff together, and come up with some sample topologies, options, and price ranges.