From: Brian Dennis (bdennis@internetworkexpert.com)
Date: Fri Aug 17 2007 - 23:46:30 ART
You can just get a USB hub and a bunch of USB to Ethernet adapters. USB
to Ethernet adapters are usually really cheap. One of my Mac OS X servers
has about 10 USB to Ethernet adapters used for various processes
(dynamips, vmware, parallels, etc).
A Mac Mini with 2 gigs of RAM would make a really nice dynamips server.
Add in a few USB to Ethernet adapters and you'll be all set to connect to
your switches. Also the performance of dynamips on Mac is far better than
Windows ;-) You can boot a 3640 running 12.3T enterprise (compressed
image) in under 20 seconds on a dual core Mac.
Brian Dennis, CCIE4 #2210 (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/SP)
bdennis@internetworkexpert.com
Internetwork Expert, Inc.
http://www.InternetworkExpert.com
Toll Free: 877-224-8987
Direct: 775-745-6404 (Outside the US and Canada)
>----- Original Message -----
Subject: [FWD: RE: IE Workbook Lab Topologies]
Date: Fri, August 17, 2007 16:55
From: "Scott Vermillion" <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
> 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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