CCNA: Lab or Virtual Lab

I'm a student going for a Network Engineering Degree /w Network Security as my minor. I just started CCNA 1 and I was talking to another student in one of my other networking classes and he recommends going on ebay and buying a CCNA Lab Kit. I was browsing the forums over the past couple days I saw something about Virtual Lab kits and I would like to get opinions and suggestions. Price isn't such a big factor, because I'm just going to put it on my tax return as a educational deductible .

Right now I have a Dell 1.8ghz\256mb ram with WinXP Pro and Redhat Linux 9 (which I'm also trying to learn) and an old Dell 233mhz\128mb running Win 2k Pro. I also plan on buying a laptop in replace of my current machine while upgrading the current machine to a file server in the next 6 months but I have no idea what kind of setup to do.

Thanks

You could get yourself a router simulator.. it can simulate a large number of IOS based devices, switches, routers, etc...

and you wont need to change your hardware at all


Cheers,

Any suggestions on which simulator?

Boson is good

hi

any suggestions on how to get a hands on experience on routers for the CCNA exam? what model is best for practicing on?..are simulators good enough?...

hi,

where can i find this simulators? Are they free? If not, can you suggest one simulator which is free?