Personal Cisco Lab

Hey everybody,

I would like to build my own little Cisco lab. At the moment I have a lab that consists of 12 computers, 5 of them being servers. I have been building this lab for the past 4 years. I use this lab to run different scenario's that you would see out in the field. So I would like to add a Cisco lab.

At the moment I have a PIX501 Firewall. Now there are plenty of Cisco switch's to choose from, what exactly should I be looking for, series? memory? ect... Now I was thinking about picking up a couple other Cisco devices on top of my PIX. Any advice on what to get? I figured this would be a rather good investment for both my network and my knowledge, most importantly my knowledge.

Also, for the time being I would like to segment my Cisco network from my main network. Now I am just thinking out loud here, but would I be able to carry an Internet connection from my main network to the Cisco, and make the Cisco network on a completely different LAN? That way if I mess anything up on the Cisco network I won't compromise my main network. Any advice or ideas would be most appreciated it. Thanks guys!

Cheers,

ZiPPy

Also, for the time being I would like to segment my Cisco network from my main network. Now I am just thinking out loud here, but would I be able to carry an Internet connection from my main network to the Cisco, and make the Cisco network on a completely different LAN? That way if I mess anything up on the Cisco network I won't compromise my main network. Any advice or ideas would be most appreciated it. Thanks guys! Cool

If I get you right here, If your placing that new segment on the same router that you have your main network on, and you already have an internet connection running on the main, Then you probably don't need to do anything more than adding that segment and giving the interface on the router an appropriate IP/MASK. simply because there is already a default route for the internet.

Otherwise if your placing it on a different router, I guess you'll need to add a default route.

After doing some research I plan to implement the following devices:

2 - Cisco 1700 series router
1 - Cisco 2950 series switch
1 - Cisco 2924 series switch
1 - Cisco PIX501 firewall

Currently, I am running a Linksys router which has a firmware flash that runs the DD-WRT. In running this firmware I have the capability to create VLANs. I will create a specific VLAN for the Cisco network, therefore segmenting it from my main network.

That is my plan at the moment, any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

ZiPPy

With the hardware listed above, how do you segment the Cisco lab from the main network? I know I can VLAN the network, but having 2 1700 series routers that will communicate when working on the labs will I need another router in front of them that comes off the VLAN? I think I might be overlooking this setup, but I want to make sure. In theory I want to have a safe area to play, but make sure that area is setup correctly.


Cheers,

ZiPPy

Well you can do two things here:

1) Just use a subnet instead of creating VLANs. this is probably a lot easier than setting up Vlans. just use an address like 10.0.1.0 for Network 1 and use 10.0.2.0 for Network 2 and use a net mask of 255.255.255.0

2) Purchase CCNA 1 and 2 Companion Guide and pick up a copy of CCNA Command Quick Reference. These two books are great and I have used them all through ought my college/consulting career.

and one more thing, have you thought of just using packet tracer????