[FWD: RE: IE Workbook Lab Topologies]

From: Scott Vermillion (scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com)
Date: Fri Aug 17 2007 - 20:55:40 ART


Somehow dropped the group off that one...

  -------- Original Message --------
  Subject: RE: IE Workbook Lab Topologies
  From: Scott Vermillion <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
  Date: Fri, August 17, 2007 4:43 pm
  To: Julian Rodriguez <jumaroyu@gmail.com>

  Hi Julian,
  That's an interesting thought! I don't yet own any of these
  workbooks, so may I ask what the worst-case is in terms of NIC ports
  I'd need? I did look at quad NICs about a month back but I was
  looking at pricing for new hardware -- it was quite expensive. I'm a
  mistrustful person by nature, I guess, as I've never bought anything
  on e-bay in my life and don't expect that I probably ever will. But
  I know there are some reputable vendors out there who deal in
  used/refurbished equipment, so this may be a good option to consider.
  Regards,

  Scott

    -------- Original Message --------
    Subject: Re: IE Workbook Lab Topologies
    From: "Julian Rodriguez" <jumaroyu@gmail.com>
    Date: Fri, August 17, 2007 4:37 pm
    To: "Scott Vermillion" <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>

    Scott, With such a server, and enough NICs (say like maybe 2 for
    each router instance) you will be able to run any IE lab, there
    are cheap quad port NICs on ebay, you just have to configure
    router instances to use real ports on dynamips. Serial/ATM/FR are
    all simulated on dynamips, so you'll be safe on that side. Julian

    On 8/17/07, Scott Vermillion <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com> wrote:

      That's an interesting perspective Jay. I was worried about
      perhaps
      missing the whole point of certain labs because I couldn't
      see what I was
      supposed to be seeing, but certainly what you say seems to
      make perfectly
      good sense... Thanks much!

      -------- Original Message --------
      Subject: RE: IE Workbook Lab Topologies
      From: "Swan, Jay" < jswan@sugf.com>
      Date: Fri, August 17, 2007 3:26 pm
      To: <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>, < ccielab@groupstudy.com>

      My opinion: you'll learn a lot by trying to adapt workbook
      labs to
      whatever resources you have, whether those resources are real
      routers
      or
      Dynamips. Yes, it takes up some extra time, but it's still
      valuable
      experience.

      During my final preparation phase I had access to a lab with
      a few
      routers, two 3550s, and a 3560; and Dynamips on a Dell D620
      with 2GB
      RAM. I was never able to completely duplicate any of the
      commercial
      labs
      with this equipment, but I was able to modify the labs to
      meet my
      study
      goals and pass the exam. In some ways, I think the experience
      of
      modifying the labs as needed was more educational than doing
      them as
      wr itten.

      Jay (#17783)

      -----Original Message-----
      From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On
      Behalf
      Of
      scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com
      Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 3:34 PM
      To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
      Subject: IE Workbook Lab Topologies

      Hi all,

      I admit that this is a cross-post from the Professional
      board, but I
      didn't yet have myself subscribed to this list, so I hope you
      will
      overlook it just this once (my guess is that there are many
      here who
      never look there, so chances are probably a bit higher
      someone will
      have
      some thoughts to offer)...

      ____

      OK all, I know that many here use these workbooks, so I'm
      hoping for
      some insight. I had planned to use a large 8 x CPU server to
      run all
      router instances in Dynamips. I had then thought to buy two
      or
      perhaps
      four 3560-8 switches. However, when I look at the drawing on
      page 18
      of:

      http://w
      ww.internetworkexpert.com/downloads/iewb-rs.v4.00.sample.lab.pdf
      (1 MB file, BTW)

      I see that, for example, SW2 has connections to four
      different
      distinct
      routers. I had planned to have one GBIC connection to the
      server per
      switch (four NICs on the server). Not sure, exactly, how to
      work this
      out without doing too much customization of each lab, which
      could be
      confusing and chew up a lot of valuable time. The one obvious
      thing I
      can think to do would be to create an emulated switch for
      each
      physical
      switch. Then all routers would terminate to emulated switches
      only,
      per
      the lab topology. I would then bridge the emulated switches
      to
      physical
      server NICs using the Windows loopback and run 802.1q trunks
      to with
      the
      physical switches.

      For those of you who have experience with the IEWBs, do you
      think
      this
      feasible? Or too much trouble to keep straight, since it
      wouldn't map
      exactly to the lab topology.

      And yes, I realize that those 8-port switches would not fully
      support
      what I'm seeing on page 18. My thought was that rather than
      three
      links
      between each switch, I'd dro p it down to two in some or all
      places.
      Thoughts on the impact of that approach?

      Thanks much...
      ____

      The bottom line is that I can't afford four 24-port 3550s or
      3560s
      (self-employed, slow year). So I'm just trying to work out
      some form
      of
      lab prep that is not horribly expensive yet is still
      effective. That
      server sitting there doing nothing is just too great a
      temptation; I
      cannot justify bying a bunch of used or new routers with that
      resource
      available to me. Just need to work out the switching part and
      I'm not
      too keen on rack rentals. Seems like you need to book too far
      out and
      availability can be very spotty. I'm certainly open to the
      idea of
      mock
      labs, just don't want to rely on rentals for study, which I
      do at
      very
      odd hours at times...

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