Lab Pics....

[John Lockie 4]

I want to see your goods. If you are in lab preparation and not using GNS3 let's see your gear you are using for whatever track you are preparing for. I am doing R&S.

 

If you are interested in details of my setup I can post, but this is mostly a picture thread.

 

Here's my topology (done in packet tracer, LOL) - which hooks me up to do any vendors lab books!

 

Here it is in real life:

[notgoing2fail 16]

I want to see your goods. If you are in lab preparation and not using GNS3 let's see your gear you are using for whatever track you are preparing for. I am doing R&S.

 

If you are interested in details of my setup I can post, but this is mostly a picture thread.

 

Here's my topology (done in packet tracer, LOL) - which hooks me up to do any vendors lab books!

 

Here it is in real life:

 

 

Why do I see no pics?

[John Lockie 4]

are you behind a corporate firewall? possibly twitpic is blocked :-)

 

Try this link: http://www.twitpic.com/photos/JohnLockie

[notgoing2fail 16]

are you behind a corporate firewall? possibly twitpic is blocked :-)

 

Try this link: http://www.twitpic.com/photos/JohnLockie

 

 

Nope no FW, I'm at home... =)

 

But your link seems to work so let me take a peek....

[notgoing2fail 16]

Good stuff, do we have to be studying for the CCIE lab to post pics? I don't really have anything too interesting to show but I can....

[John Lockie 4]

by all means, post away

 

by the way, CCNA w/ CCNA Security is not bad.

 

how quickly do you pick the stuff up? i would seriously consider R&S or Security CCIE track....

[notgoing2fail 16]

by all means, post away

 

by the way, CCNA w/ CCNA Security is not bad.

 

how quickly do you pick the stuff up? i would seriously consider R&S or Security CCIE track....

 

 

I'll take some pics tomorrow with better lighting.... I only have a small 20U rack...

 

 

I don't think I pick things up that well actually. I'm just a very hard and focused "learner?". Don't get me wrong, I've been around computers my whole life since the commodore 128/64 days.....and I am that "computer guy" amongst my friends...

 

I put in about 10-12 hours a day literally, no weekends off, my brain has been in studying mode for so long, I don't even know what it's like to not be reading something.

 

The fact that you even think I should consider ANY kind of CCIE track is very complementing(so thank you), but I am probably a good 3 years away from "experience" to think about CCIE.

 

Tomorrow, I think I am picking up my CCNP SWITCH book and diving head first.....I would love to be one of the first few guys around here to pass the new CCNP track...it'd feel really nice....of course it's not race at all, not the least bit....

 

I would then love to have the CCNP voice, wireless and security as well. AND mmmmaybe CCDA/CCDP. I'm highly considering the design tracks to get inside the head of Cisco's methodology.

 

Then and only then, I would see what CCIE tracks are out there....wow, to even think about CCIE......amazing!!!

[notgoing2fail 16]

Ok screw the lighting, I took pics anyways...so below is what I have, it's what I used for CCNA/CCNA Security, no GNS3....not that I have anything against it....I just don't know how to use it....

 

 

The other picture is my guard cat. She literally sleeps, and guards my rack. Really, she does, she thinks she owns this rack, when I'm at the rack plugging, unplugging she's standing right next to me watching what I'm doing....and sometimes she'll lay where I need to stand and won't budge and instead gives me a hiss....you see her looking at me? She's wondering what I'm doing with the camera taking pics of her rack....

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2010 by notgoing2fail

[Darby Weaver 32]

Dude! You better get your cat's permission via change control before you load up the rack to practice!

 

My killer yorkies are like that.

 

We call them "Team Yorkie" - each one grabs a finger on my hand and they try to play? and tear one of my hands apart...

 

Umm... I think... lovingly.

[notgoing2fail 16]

Dude! You better get your cat's permission via change control before you load up the rack to practice!

 

My killer yorkies are like that.

 

We call them "Team Yorkie" - each one grabs a finger on my hand and they try to play? and tear one of my hands apart...

 

Umm... I think... lovingly.

 

 

I love animals....don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those nature loving type guys or anything. Dogs/cats, you have no idea what's going on in their heads...

 

What I didn't mention was that as I was trying to take pics, she was swiping at my hand with her paws...but I think that's cause she was hungry....(my bad....hehe)...

 

Nice to have them around....for the most part...

 

You gotta get a pic of them next to one of your racks.....that is a must! Now that you have mentioned them!!!

[notgoing2fail 16]

Proof I'm not lying, went back to check my rack, and right on cue, there she is...in that spot....where I would need to stand to do some work....

 

Of course she's looking at me thinking, "What? You got beef? This is my spot...I thought you knew that?"

 

 

[John Lockie 4]

That's awesome.

 

I like that rack. I have a rack like that out in the field in one of our construction sites, which I cannot wait to get back because I will be changing out....except it's a 4 post on wheels. It will work perfectly because it's the type of rack that just didn't work for our physical needs, and we switched to using these music case gig racks which we can lock up and send on the road.

 

Of course, all we put in these sites now is an ASA, Riverbed appliance, switch or two, and UPS =P

[notgoing2fail 16]

That's awesome.

 

I like that rack. I have a rack like that out in the field in one of our construction sites, which I cannot wait to get back because I will be changing out....except it's a 4 post on wheels. It will work perfectly because it's the type of rack that just didn't work for our physical needs, and we switched to using these music case gig racks which we can lock up and send on the road.

 

Of course, all we put in these sites now is an ASA, Riverbed appliance, switch or two, and UPS =P

 

 

Glad you like it. I actually like yours BECAUSE it looks like musical equipment. I want to get one now and slap some stickers on the side....

[a61971 17]

This is my full rack

 

http://store.apple.com/dk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?afid=p202%7CGODKP102785955&cid=OAS-EMEA-KWG-DK_CPU-DK

 

The routers and switches is beeing used to lift my cars wintertires of the floor in the garage. Practical use

for boring hardware, and I really love my wintertires.

[John Lockie 4]

This is my full rack

 

http://store.apple.com/dk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?afid=p202%7CGODKP102785955&cid=OAS-EMEA-KWG-DK_CPU-DK

 

The routers and switches is beeing used to lift my cars wintertires of the floor in the garage. Practical use

for boring hardware, and I really love my wintertires.

Routers AND switches? LOL. 2960's make great forts for your kids.

 

I am so glad I don't have to use GNS3....

 

It's a great tool for people with no access to equipment. My lab is in my office, and not my home office If you were in my position you would never use GNS3. It does no advanced layer 2 (and yes I know you can throw a NM ethernet module in). You can't even do spanning-tree labs in GNS3 =O

 

But I have friends using it, because of financial constraints. I just sold 2 of my 8 port 3560's very cheaply to a friend who is using them with GNS3.

[chrcel 64]

 

The other picture is my guard cat. She literally sleeps, and guards my rack. Really, she does, she thinks she owns this rack, when I'm at the rack plugging, unplugging she's standing right next to me watching what I'm doing....and sometimes she'll lay where I need to stand and won't budge and instead gives me a hiss....you see her looking at me? She's wondering what I'm doing with the camera taking pics of her rack....

 

 

 

OT: brit cat is it? mine kept disconnecting stuff. so i've migrated it to virtual

[a61971 17]

John, you're right!!

 

We all choose our paths, and I know you are an experienced man.

 

I just like to keep things simple. INE has 20 fantastic GNS labs, I struggeling my

way through them, the same lab can be on the Mac for weeks. I'm studying every detail carefully.

I guess I finish my studies with some weeks on-line with the real thing.

 

MadVillian said some interresting words in his topic about his first attemp.

Everything he met at the lab could be practised in GNS3. That's what I like to hear ...

 

I belive we both does what works for us ... wish you the best (luck is no help in this game, just hard work)

Edited May 19, 2010 by a61971

[notgoing2fail 16]

OT: brit cat is it? mine kept disconnecting stuff. so i've migrated it to virtual

 

Funny that you say that. Well she is a British Short Hair. But of course I live in New York. She's the only cat I've ever had that is extremely unfriendly and possessive.

Growing up I've had all sorts of cats (all male) and they were damn fun. Brought dead birds and squirrels to my porch. And would just lay on the sidewalk for anyone to walk

by and rub their belly.

 

This one? Nope....we call her "The Queen". Because she acts very much like one.....

 

 

John, you're right!!

 

We all choose our paths, and I know you are an experienced man.

 

I just like to keep things simple. INE has 20 fantastic GNS labs, I struggeling my

way through them, the same lab can be on the Mac for weeks. I'm studying every detail carefully.

I guess I finish my studies with some weeks on-line with the real thing.

 

MadVillian said some interresting words in his topic about his first attemp.

Everything he met at the lab could be practised in GNS3. That's what I like to hear ...

 

I belive we both does what works for us ... wish you the best (luck is no help in this game, just hard work)

 

 

I am soooo indecisive regarding GNS3. For one, I do have it installed but not really setup that well. I don't know how to communicate with the outside world.

I can't go one day without someone talking about GNS3.

 

I'm not against it at all, I guess because I'm hands on, I've been fighting the impulse to go virtual. If MadVillain can vouch for it, as well as others, I know it's quite worthy....

 

Heck, I think I even saw Darby include GNS3 in one of his blogs regarding his lab.....

 

I would love to play with other types of routers that I can't get my hands on right now. Should I? Shouldn't I? :blink:

[John Lockie 4]

John, you're right!!

 

We all choose our paths, and I know you are an experienced man.

 

I just like to keep things simple. INE has 20 fantastic GNS labs, I struggeling my

way through them, the same lab can be on the Mac for weeks. I'm studying every detail carefully.

I guess I finish my studies with some weeks on-line with the real thing.

 

MadVillian said some interresting words in his topic about his first attemp.

Everything he met at the lab could be practised in GNS3. That's what I like to hear ...

 

I belive we both does what works for us ... wish you the best (luck is no help in this game, just hard work)

You know, it's not a bad approach. I think using GNS3 as much as you can will work. I think it's a good idea to rent rack time too. It is so cheap!

 

Good efforts to you too! (I won't say luck either )

[chrcel 64]

 

I am soooo indecisive regarding GNS3. For one, I do have it installed but not really setup that well. I don't know how to communicate with the outside world.

I can't go one day without someone talking about GNS3.

 

I'm not against it at all, I guess because I'm hands on, I've been fighting the impulse to go virtual. If MadVillain can vouch for it, as well as others, I know it's quite worthy....

 

I would love to play with other types of routers that I can't get my hands on right now. Should I? Shouldn't I? :blink:

 

If you can find a spare CRS1 I'll sure be interested.

 

as for GNS I can run 8-10 routers on my HP 8440 notebook with core i7. but i got used to do the configs in notepad and than lunch it from dynagen. i've got excellent idlePC for 3640-aes-12.4.23. i can elaborate more or we can take it somewhere else...

[John Lockie 4]

I'm not against it at all, I guess because I'm hands on, I've been fighting the impulse to go virtual. If MadVillain can vouch for it, as well as others, I know it's quite worthy....

A lot of guys can vouch for it. I have used it, and some guys use it solely.

 

I tell CCNA's to use Packet Tracer for similar reasons. There's no point in buying $100 routers as a CCNA candidate. Well, the same kind of goes for CCIE guys.

 

The only reason I have a physical lab is really because I have a sponsor and I believe it is the right and good investment to make which will aid others on our team too.

 

I am also hungry to work on real equipment. It's actually a TAX on my time to use a real lab. Router reloads on GNS3 are super fast. In real life, not so much! My layer 2 network is also superior. How much layer 2 is on CCIE lab? Enough....I heard in Group Study no layer 2 in TS section, but I have a hard time believing that!

[a61971 17]

Your choise.

 

Most of the business towards the lab is about the IOS features, -not the hardware.

 

Yes, there is a few limitations on ethernet, but I don't care, it only a few percent of the blueprint.

 

I'm at a bootcamp these days. Some of the guys there is really hardcore. Big setup with GNS3 on Ubuntu,

racks of real equipment, real sniffers and real traffic generators. All tied together. I'm impressed.

 

But I stick to my basics (it would take me months to get all that gear running, won't spend the time on it)

[notgoing2fail 16]

If you can find a spare CRS1 I'll sure be interested.

 

as for GNS I can run 8-10 routers on my HP 8440 notebook with core i7. but i got used to do the configs in notepad and than lunch it from dynagen. i've got excellent idlePC for 3640-aes-12.4.23. i can elaborate more or we can take it somewhere else...

 

 

If you can help me get GNS3 to communicate with my rack, then I might be the biggest advocate for GNS3!! LOL...

 

I'll send you PM with some questions so others don't have to be bored, and we don't have to hijack this lovely picture thread....

 

 

But real quick, if I were to use this on any machine at home, it would be my laptop, it's the latest PC that I have.

 

Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40Ghz

RAM is 4.GB

Windows 7 64-bit

 

 

What do you think of those specs?

[John Lockie 4]

I'm at a bootcamp these days. Some of the guys there is really hardcore. Big setup with GNS3 on Ubuntu,

racks of real equipment, real sniffers and real traffic generators. All tied together. I'm impressed.

I know of these guys. I only have 1 thing to say....if they had the money for real equipment they would have bought it. The amount of time it takes to manage a physical/virtual unified lab like that is off the hook. And like you said, stick to the basics.

 

I don't understand people that run overcomplicated 50 router networks. I know it looks cool, but I think they are getting distracted and love to "look" at their networks. Point is, you can screw up a CCIE using 2 routers....that's all it takes.

 

It's not just ethernet too, it's entire LAYER 2 you are missing.

[a61971 17]

A few weeks back I met a guy who failed his first attemp.

 

I don't think he ever heard of NDA.....(?)

 

He talked a lot about his lab, .... and the TS section.

 

There is layer 2 stuff. (I sat close to him with big ears and pen and paper)

Edited May 19, 2010 by a61971

[John Lockie 4]

Narbik told us that layer 2 will $%()*&@$% you up in TS. (this is kind of obvious)

 

So I have to assume it's there.

 

But....someone on GS claimed that layer 2 is not a factor, or that there are no tickets related directly to fixing layer 2. But they can easily take out a trunk and destroy OSPF neighbor, which if you don't know how to look at spanning-tree topology on switches you will take way to long to fix.

 

This is the crap that makes GNS3 only worth it if you invest in the real 3560/3550 switches and actually run the topology they give you in practice labs, like INE, IPE, 360, Narbik, whoever.

Edited May 19, 2010 by John Lockie

[John Lockie 4]

I don't think he ever heard of NDA.....(?)

Man, these guys don't realize what they are risking when they talk about the test so boldly.

 

It's one thing to say, "hey guys, there was layer 2 in TS...end of discussion"

 

But talking about specific tickets, or problems....wow, simply, wow.

[a61971 17]

Yeah, amazing guy.

 

Having failed his first run, I did have some respect for him. Also knowing that he has booked

his second run this month ... he also held a handfull of CCxP's.

 

Then ... (and this is true)... he pulled me aside, and asked me is I could explain something for him.

What's the difference between a switched port, a routed port and a trunk?

 

I was completely stunned ....

[notgoing2fail 16]

Yeah, amazing guy.

 

Having failed his first run, I did have some respect for him. Also knowing that he has booked

his second run this month ... he also held a handfull of CCxP's.

 

Then ... (and this is true)... he pulled me aside, and asked me is I could explain something for him.

What's the difference between a switched port, a routed port and a trunk?

 

I was completely stunned ....

 

 

Ummm.....WHAT???? Was he kidding? :blink:

[chrcel 64]

 

But real quick, if I were to use this on any machine at home, it would be my laptop, it's the latest PC that I have.

 

Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40Ghz

RAM is 4.GB

Windows 7 64-bit

 

 

What do you think of those specs?

 

on debian i ran 9 routers with the same specs (hp dl320 server). not sure about windows though, maybe 7? the problem begun when after doing redistributions i added mcast, ipv6. routers some times began to loose keepalives...