CCNA Lab, Part 9: The Bigger Picture for CCNA Switch Hardware

To wrap up this CCNA home lab series today, I'll summarize the main options for the switches in your CCNA home lab. And I'll go ahead and spill the beans - I'd rather see you with a pair of 2900XL's instead of a single 2950.

First, let's review a few of my price guesstimates, and let me expand a bit on a key difference between the 2950's. First, the 2950's with the standard IOS image cannot be field upgraded to use the Enhanced IOS image. To get a 2950 (or 2960) with the Enhanced image, if must have been originally purchased from Cisco with the Enhanced image. To see which models have which IOS (standard or enhanced), look at this URL, and look at two different docs from the list.

If you look at this URL, you can see a comparison of features on the 2950 for both images. (Thanks to G for posting this URL last week.) Of the items missing in the Standard image, the only one I think matters for CCNA study is the lack of RSTP (aka 802.1w). The Enhanced image 2950's, whose product names include a T at the end, are still considerably more expensive than their Standard image cousins - around $400, verses around $200 for the Standard image models. In my mind, for CCNA study, it's not worth the difference. (For CCNP study, that's another matter - and CCNP's on my list for later this month!)

So, I'll suggest the 1900's, 2900XL's, and 2950C's (standard image), with these price guesstimates for comparison:

1900:          $13

2900XL:    $90

2950C:     $200

To build a useful lab for CCNA study, I think the following are the primary criteria, in order:

• 1. At least 2 switches, preferably 3 - allows STP and Etherchannel practice
• 2. The ability to trunk between the switches - allows VTP and trunking practice
• 3. The ability to use realistic commands/syntax - generally better chance of making sense of the output seen on the exams

So, lets take a look at a $50 budget, $100 budget, $200 budget, and $300 budget. Keeping the above criteria in mind, in order, here's what I'd recommend:

$50:     3 x 1900's

$100:   1 x 1900, 1 x 2900XL

$200:   2 x 2900XL

$300:   1 x 2900XL, 1 x 2950C

Here's a few comments why: First, all choices give you the minimum 2 switches to try experiments with STP. And for just a few dollars more on the last 3 options, you could add 1 more 1900 or 2900XL to the mix, and get a triangle of switches in those cases as well. However, at $100, I'd rather see you with at least 1 2900XL, because the IOS is much more similar to the 2960 than is the IOS in the 1900.

Additionally, on the $200 budget, I'd rather see you with 2 2900XLs, rather than a single 2950C. The benefit of having two switches to experiment with STP and VTP outweighs the benefit of having the most similar IOS (commands and syntax) compared to the 2960's, at least among the three model series that I've chosen.

Finally, for $300, I think the 2950 (standard image) is well worth it, plus a 2900XL. You can do trunking between these two switches. However, because the 1900's only support ISL, and the 2950's only support 802.1Q, at the $300 budget, I'd rather avoid 1900's altogether.

So, tell me what you think. You agree with my 3 priorities, and their order? Would you go for the 2950T (enhanced image IOS)? How about 3 2900XLs if you've got a $300 budget?