What a mess! There's just too many variables for my little processor. There's no right answer, and there's no best solution.

Yep, it's time to pick which routers I'd suggest for a CCNP lab. We've discussed many in the last few months in this blog. But "best" depends on a lot of factors, including cost that varies from week to week on Ebay, features supported by each platform/IOS/feature set, the availability of that IOS version/feature set based on your relationship with Cisco, whether Feature Navigator lists all features or not, and whether you really need to practice several features that have only a little coverage for the CCNP exams.

So, what to do? Here's my plan: today I'm posting some new info, summary info, and making some assumptions to narrow things down a bit. Then I'll announce a little contest for fun, and really for sure finally wrap up this series with some discussion of sample lab gear for the three budgets ($800, $1200, and $1600).

First, to the models. As of today, I'm not looking at any more models past those listed here. I priced each of several models that we've either already discussed or someone has mentioned in the last week or so. For those, I'm going to add enough of the optional features to the mix to make them useful for CCNP, eg, adding a WIC-2T to 2610s. Then I priced it out on Ebay once again, and I'm using those numbers. Here's what I came up with:

Everyone will probably have a different opinion on the pricing, and rightly so.

Here's what I assumed when estimating a price. First, I looked not for the very cheapest today on Ebay, "buy it now", but for the lowest price for which there were at least a few routers available at that price. I tried to look for prices of models with max memory (RAM and Flash) to be safe, or look at the prices to add the memory to max. I wasn't fully scientific on the price guesstimates, and I know these prices are a little higher than some of the anecdotal evidence you folks have offered - my goal is to use a price that most anyone could get tomorrow, with enough memory to not have to worry about memory anymore. Finally, I completely ignored the IOS on the actual routers for sale today - I'll make the usual disclaimer that it's up to you to decide how to obtain and use IOS images per your relationship with Cisco.

Next, I tried to get a handle on all those features for the different exams and feature sets to support them. Let me make some general comments first. The ONT features are support on most every IOS feature set and most every platform, so I ignored them. I also assumed that the routers would use the most recent mainline or T-train version available on each model. I then assumed the best feature set to get all features for all exams, which generally means "IP/FW/IDS/Plus IPSEC 3DES" on older models, and "Advanced IP Services" or better on the later models. Here's the specific ones for each model:

• 2501 -  IP Plus
• 2610 - Enterprise Plus Basic
• 2610 XM - Advanced IP Services
• 1760 - Advanced. IP Services
• 1710 - IP/FW/IDS Plus IPSEC 3DES
• 3640 - IP/FW/IDS/Plus IPSEC 3DES
• 877 - Advanced IP Services
• 837 - IP/FW/Plus 3DES