Over the past few years I’ve slowly assembled a kit of older Cisco gear to help me study for my certification exams, as well as just try out various things that I want to learn about for my own reasons or for consulting jobs I do for others. Below is a picture and list of what I currently have in my apartment (there are a few more switches I have in storage elsewhere, but my two-post rack in my apartment is only so big). Below the picture and list are an explanation of why I’m posting about this, largely because I want to post somewhere that I’m willing to rent out the kit at a daily rent for anyone who wishes to use it to study.
This is the collection of Cisco gear that I use to study and test things. Click to go to my gallery where you can see it in more sizes (including the original) for more detail.
Here is a list, from top to bottom:
- 8 port gigabit switch (Netgear GS108, not that it matters) which connects parts of the lab (explained below) to my home network. Next to it is a Cisco Aironet AP1131AG access point.
- Cisco 1841 router with a WIC2T and T1 card
- Cisco 2610 with NM-16A, used as a terminal server to access the serial interfaces of everything else
- Cisco 3524 used as an “interconnect” switch
- Cisco 2620 with 4 port serial network module and WIC2T
- Cisco 2620 with WIC2T
- Cisco 2610 with nothing installed
- Cisco 2610 with 8 port serial network module
- Cisco 2522 with 10 serial ports and 10 baseT Ethernet via transceiver
- Cisco 2521 with 2 serial ports, 10 baseT Ethernet via transceiver, and token ring
- Cisco 2501 with 2 serial ports, 10 baseT Ethernet via transceiver
- Cisco 2501 with 2 serial ports, 10 baseT Ethernet via transceiver
- Cisco 2501 with 2 serial ports, 10 baseT Ethernet via transceiver (yes, 3 of them)
- Cisco 3640 with two NM-1E1R2W modules, and one NM-2FE module. This gives it a total of 2 10baseTX Ethernet ports, 2 token ring interfaces, and two 100baseTX Ethernet interfaces (plus the vacant NM slot and 6 WIC slots)
- Cisco 3550 with 48 10/100 ports plus 2 GBIC slots
- Cisco 3550 with 48 10/100 ports plus 2 GBIC slots
- Cisco 3524
- APC switched PDU so I can turn devices on/off remotely and with some granularity.
The general idea behind this collection of devices is that the AP is good for testing out wireless configs, the 1841 is good for testing features available in some newer hardware and software. The terminal server and PDU are pretty self-explanitory. The “interconnect” switch is a switch that almost every device currently has a connection to so that VLANs can be used to let devices talk to each other in any fashion necessary (and since most of the devices support 802.1q trunks to them, I can build multiple layer 2 point-to-point connections from devices like the 262x routers, which only have a single Ethernet interface.). Devices with additional interfaces are currently connected in no specific fashion and are changed as I have a reason to change them. The 3640 is there for use with voice hardware/software (which I currently don’t have, though I do have some Cisco 7910 phones) as well as give me a box which can have a significant number of interfaces if I so chose. The two 3550s are of course there for layer 3 switching hardware, as well as the ability to use HSRP and other protocols. The bottom 3524 is just there to be used for additional switching/spanning tree/other testing and to be “just another switch” in the mix. Not shown are 4 more 3524s that I have in storage.
The nice thing about this setup is that it can be 100% turned on/off and configured remotely via the terminal server, so there’s no problem with screwing up configs because you will always have out-of-band access. I have slowly been upgrading the RAM/flash in a lot of these devices so that I can get the latest software on that will fit and run, mostly with the intention of getting as many features as possible in addition to as much IPv6 support as possible.
Now here’s what it all boils down to and why I’m posting it here. I want to make this available for rent to anyone working on studying for their CCNA/CCNP (and perhaps CCIE R&S too) on a daily rate (maybe a negotiable hourly rate too). I am thinking something on the order of $25/day, but that may be flexible as I don’t know what else is out there for rent along these lines. This is all connected to a UPS that can keep everything running for 15-20 minutes, or more/less depending on how much equipment is on. I would be able to make some cabling changes at request as long as diagrams are provided up front, I don’t want to keep getting asked to swap cables all day long. If you’re interested in this, e-mail me at ryan@u13.net and we’ll talk.
Lastly, if anyone out there is familiar enough with this hardware and wants to recommend a cabling scheme for me that will prove to be flexible enough for labbing things up, I’d love to hear it. I have yet to find a scheme that can remain uber flexible so that I can test all different stuff with minimal cable movement. Especially if people start showing interest in renting this, I’d like a cabling scheme that will meet many needs with minimal changes. The WIC and NM cards don’t need to stay where they are, I’d be more than happy to move them around as necessary (keep in mind that some modules are not compatible everywhere, like the NM-2FE in the 3640 won’t work in 262x routers). I have enough cables (including crossover adapters) for the Ethernet and serial interfaces to connect anything pretty much any way possible/desired. E-mail me if you have suggestions, or comment below and I’ll try to keep up on them to answer questions and take comments. I know the picture above sucks and the cabling is messy. I took the picture in a dark room with my phone and the cabling is messy because I didn’t want to tidy up a bunch of cabling that I’m not happy with considering a decent “base cabling” setup.
