CCIE Lab

Hardware

Router 1 - Cisco 2651XM (256MB DRAM/48MB Flash)
Router 2 - Cisco 2651XM (128MB DRAM/32MB Flash)
Router 3 - Cisco 2651XM (128MB DRAM/32MB Flash)
Router 4 - Cisco 2651XM (128MB DRAM/32MB Flash)
Router 5 - Cisco 2651XM (128MB DRAM/32MB Flash)
Router 6 - Cisco 2651XM (128MB DRAM/32MB Flash)
*Routers 1-6 run 12.4 Adv Enterprise Services.

Access Server - Cisco 3620 (64D/32F) NM-32A/S & NM-2FE2W

Switch 1 - Cisco 3560-24PS-S Running Adv. IP Services 12.22(46)SE
Switch 2 - Cisco 3560-24PS-S Running Adv. IP Services 12.22(46)SE
Switch 3 - Cisco 3550-24-SMI Running IP Services 12.22(46)SE
Switch 4 - Cisco 3550-24-SMI Running IP Services 12.22(46)

Frame Relay Switch - Cisco 3620 (64D/32F) NM-8A/S & NM-2FE2W

Backbone 1 - Cisco 3640 (128MB DRAM/32MB FLASH)
Backbone 2 - Cisco 3640 (128MB DRAM/32MB FLASH)
Backbone 3 - Cisco 3640 (128MB DRAM/32MB FLASH)
*All Backbone Routers have a NM-2FE2W & 2x WIC-1T;
Running 12.4 ENTERPRISE / FW / IDS PLUS IPSEC 3DES

And How Much Did That Cost?

I’m actually kind of nervous to add up all the receipts of this lab. The majority of this lab was purchased off eBay used and it took me a good month to piece it all together.

I built this lab in November of 2007 and at cost of that time, I have estimated that I’ve spent $11,794.81 so ultimately I would put the price that I paid for this lab in the $12,000 dollar range. Of course you’re probably thinking I’m crazy and wondering if it was worth spending that much money. I do wonder time from time If I could have gotten away with spending less but in the end I feel that it is all worth the investment.

Often times people tell me I should have used Dynamips, of course don’t get me wrong it’s a great hardware emulation program and I DO use it, it just crashes way too much on me and I cannot have that when I’m in the middle of a lab and I’m a good 6 hours into it and all the sudden everything stops working, then I look at the dynamips server console and I see that it CRASHED! Afterwards cursing like a sailor because I’ve lost a lot of work and time.