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:
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:
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.
Odom, CCIE No, 1624, splits time between writing books for Cisco Press and teaching classes for Skyline ATS. In his 25-ish years in the networking industry, he has worked as as a pre-sale and post-sale SE for a few networking vendors, as well as a network engineer implementing network technology. Wendell has spent the majority of the last 15 years teaching, consulting, and writing about networking technologies, most of which in some way relate to Cisco products. His books include titles on QoS, CCIE R/S, as well as several titles related to CCNA certification, including the September 2007 book CCNA Official Exam Certification Library (CCNA Exam 640-802) (Read a sneak peek of chapter 7). Click for the list of current titles by Wendell.
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IS-IS
You can do IS-IS on a 2500 so long as you have something like a 12.2 Service Provider IOS.
It still fits within the 16MB of flash (just)
Damned thing is, you need to then go back to a 12.3 Enterprise to do much of the other stuff, or have access to features you get used to like, DO SHOW RUN etc etc.
The old 642-801 which is extremely close to the 642-901 practicals in CCNP Self-Study BSCI 2nd Edition can all be done on 2500's and you can build this network with them:
Just getting that picture to work at all is a good exercise in itself. :)
Thanks for all your helpful advice though Wendell
Cheers
Shaun
Sniff/thanks/sneeze
Hey Shaun,
To you and the rest of the crew, my apologies for the long delay on last week's posting/response - was out ill a bit.
Anyways, interesting... so it looks like Cisco's feature navigator isn't noticing IS-IS on the SP releases. So, 2501's to practice IS-IS - certainly a pain the rear to switch IOS's, but someone else just posted a suggestion about just booting from TFTP anyway, and leaving the IOS images outside the routers - that may be less painful than erasing and copying into flash too much.
Yep, you can learn a lot setting up the lab, for sure - but when you're new to it, that causes a chicken and egg issue. For CCNP folks, I'd say starting with an exercise to get the lab initialized with a known routing protocol, plus configure the FR switch (something most folks don't do every day), would be a good first step.
I figure you already know this as well, but the figure matches the start lab topo suggested by Cisco for the authorized BSCI class. The Cisco Press books geared towards the exams, but with "Self-Study" in the title, are edited versions of the authorized course materials.
Thanks for the continued posting!!
1760's
Hi Wendall,
I've noticed that throughout this series you haven't included 1760's in your list of routers. I have a couple of these is my lab, which i picked up on eBay for less than $200. Each came with a serial WIC and has an on-board Fast Ethernet interface. They run the latest IOS, and also run CCME and can be used as gateway's for VoIP.
Just my 2 cents worth...
1760's - check!
Franky,
I'm not avoiding the 1760's on purpose. I've actually have a pair of 1760-V's in my lab since they first came out for generating both analog voice traffic and for running CCME. A very useful platform to add to your home lab if you're looking at adding CCVP to the list of goals.
I will look at the 1760's when I start pulling this stuff together later in the week. MY recollection is that when I looked at them in the used market a few months back, when doing a similar CCNA series, they were more expensive than the comparable routers - comparable in regards to IOs's supported (for CCNP) and interfaces supported (for CCNP).
Thanks for the suggestion...
errata for your CCNA books
This is the only way I could find to contact you, Mr. Odom. I believe I may have an item for inclusion in the errata for your ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.
Answer to you in particular, and process of how to contact CP
Hey Brady,
I'm certainly interested in what you found - I'll be in touch via email. But so you'll know, and maybe a few other folks that read this, here's how to contact Cisco Press about any of their books, mine included:
Go to www.ciscopress.com
scroll to the bottom, and click "contact us"
Fill out the form on the next page - (if you put in the ISBN, it's gets to us authors more quickly!)
That's it. I know that there's a couple of waysd to seemingly give feedback, but that's the one that gets directly to me.
If your comment is about something that the author needs to look at, like a possible error, it'll get forwarded to me. While Pearson (Cisco Press's parent) is a big multi-billiondollar company, the form filters directly to the adminstrator for the Cisco Press brand. She handles everything she can, and then it gets routed to the author (or other support team, eg to somewhere else for CD software issues.)
Thanks, Brady, and I'll be in touch.
Wendell