From: Scott Vermillion (scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com)
Date: Sat Oct 13 2007 - 20:39:01 ART
Hey Gary,
The IEWB Brians are working on something to help folks get up and running
quickly w/ Dynamips on a Mac Mini. Not sure where they stand on that,
time-wise as far as a release goes.
This is the basis of my own lab. Much time was invested in the initial
setup, I admit. However, many lessons have been learned that can be shared.
Also, I am in fairly routine contact with two other list members who have
migrated to a Mini-based lab (we all three use physical switches integrated
with our emulated routers). If you go this route, we'll patch you into our
little group and I think you will find many of your questions answered
quickly. Once the investment in time is behind you, it's reclaimed in very
short order. Want a totally different topology than the one before you?
Kill the current and launch the new with a few clicks of the mouse! Boot a
3640 in ~5 seconds and a 3725 in well under 10! It's killer.
BTW, I ordered my Mini from the factory w/ 2 GB RAM but there are 3 and 4 GB
aftermarket upgrade options available. It's my understanding that if you'd
like to pursue voice, 3 may be better than 2. As long as you stay away from
a Windows-based Dynamips server, the Trendnet USB-Ethernet converters work
great (they'll work OK on Windows too, except that you won't be able to do
dot1q). My 3560-8PCs have been more than sufficient for lab prep and do
work in the IEWB topology quite well. Having looked at IPExpert's topology,
I can see that they would work perfectly well in that environment too. But
you already have a full hardware lab, no? So that wouldn't be an issue
anyway. I've personally not had any experience with the new IEWB
Dynamips-specific labs, as I have hardware switches and prefer to keep it
that way. This is not a problem from a noise perspective, as the -8PCs
don't have fans (and besides that, everything is in a closet anyway - I run
Dynagen from my Windows box and connect to the Mini remotely via WiFi). So
I have a totally silent lab that consumes a minimum of space. I'll unicast
you a few pics and feel free to fire away with any specific questions you
may have.
In parting, I think you inquired about this some weeks back as far as the
time investment was concerned. If you don't know OS X well already, I would
plan for this to take the better part of a week to get tweaked to your
liking. Maybe not an entire week, but a handful of days anyway. I think
our little group can help you to keep that to a minimum and if you wait for
the Brians, it's likely to take you even less time to get up and running.
Also, I'd be more than willing to share some stuff I built with ApppleScript
that will likely save you some time here and there.
Regards,
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Gary
Duncanson
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 4:24 PM
To: ccie candidate
Cc: Brian Dennis; Radioactive Frog; WorkerBee; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: OT: how to cope with home lab's NOISE
Guys,
I have an interest in this from a distance as I may very well invest in
something like this in the future. I find the idea of having the lab on a PC
at home rather appealing instead of the hulking great lab of equipment that
presently noisily occupies a large corner of my spare room.
My concern at the moment is making sure I buy the right things for the
dynamips wotzit (Frog looks like to have bought something noisy as opposed
to what Brian Dennis says he has) and also finding a cookbook so I dont
spend as long trying to get the creature to do something useful as I do
using labs.
If anyone has any cookbooks about specs and how to set things up for
different tracks I would be interested.
Thanks
Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: "ccie candidate" <ccie.candidate@securebytes.co.uk>
To: "'Brian Dennis'" <bdennis@internetworkexpert.com>; "'WorkerBee'"
<ciscobee@gmail.com>; "'Radioactive Frog'" <pbhatkoti@gmail.com>; "'Cisco
certification'" <ccielab@groupstudy.com>; "'Cisco certification'"
<cisco@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 10:42 PM
Subject: RE: OT: how to cope with home lab's NOISE
> Brian,
>
> Sorry to bring this up but I just have to ask a question.
> When you say a 3 gig mac mini with vmware will run a whole voice lab, do
> you
> mean absolutely everything? If not, what can it not run? As in what might
> one have to rent online racks for? Also, any help with set up will be
> appreciated (dynamips)
> Thanks for your anticipated reply.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Brian Dennis
> Sent: 07 September 2007 06:28
> To: WorkerBee; Radioactive Frog; Cisco certification; Cisco certification
> Subject: Re: OT: how to cope with home lab's NOISE
>
> http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13795
>
> Also www.macsales.com sells a 3 gig upgrade for the mac mini.
>
> HTH,
>
> 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: Re: OT: how to cope with home lab's NOISE
> Date: Thu, September 6, 2007 22:13
> From: "WorkerBee" <ciscobee@gmail.com>
>
>> Hi Brian,
>>
>> How do you make Mac Mini running with 3G RAM? The spec says only 2G.
>>
>> From Apple,
>>
>> 1GB (two 512MB) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
>> Option: Up to 2GB
>>
>> The closest to Mac Mini lookalike is AOpen minipc which can support
>> 4G ram. The problem which mini pc is, they need SO DIMM ram which
>> is used in notebook, hence more expensive than PC ram.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 9/7/07, Brian Dennis <bdennis@internetworkexpert.com> wrote:
>> > VMware Fusion on a Mac Mini with 3 gigs of RAM will run a whole voice
> lab
>> > and its extremely compact plus nearly totally silent.
>> >
>> > As a side note I know someone who is doing about 70% of their CCIE
>> > voice
>> > lab preparation on a single computer running VMware and Dynamips. Of
>> > course this person is extremely creative and resourceful. Kind of like
> a
>> > MacGyver of networking ;-)
>> >
>> > 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: OT: how to cope with home lab's NOISE
>> > Date: Thu, September 6, 2007 20:14
>> > From: "Radioactive Frog" <pbhatkoti@gmail.com>
>> >
>> > > Hi Gang,
>> > >
>> > > I just bought HP ML-580 server (Dual XEON 3.2 Ghz, 4Gigs ram) from
> e-bay
>> > and
>> > > it's noisy in home environment not acceptable.
>> > > Can someone guide me if there are ways around to reduce the noise.
> It's
>> > > normal noise which comes from the server (as usual).
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > This server has 6 fans. I took 2 fans out but still the XEON
> processor's
>> > > FAN's are making noise.
>> > >
>> > > How important it is to have VOICE home lab at home?
>> > > I am thinking to put all lab gears at work and access it from home
> using
>> > > IPSEC tunnel.
>> > > From home I can get 3-4 mbps connection to work.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Frog
>> > >
>> > >
> _______________________________________________________________________
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>> >
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