NetSim for CCNP 10 is designed to help you learn the Cisco IOS command. NetSim 10 for CCNP includes labs for the ROUTE, SWITCH and TSHOOT. (VRRP) authentication; Added two new devices: 3750 switch and 3750 stack. GNS3 is free and if you don't have access to IOS images you can download them for free.
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A gathering place for CCNP's or those looking to obtain their CCNP! Rules 1) No posting of illegal materials (torrents, stolen PDFs, etc) 2) No posting of 'braindumps' 3) Be courteous and helpful 4) If someone is wrong, try to be clear and understanding in your correction, not rude and disrespectful 5) Blog posts must be text posts with at least a proper summary of the topic. Must Haves -The network simulator that every network person should have -NOTE: The 'Reddit Cisco Ring', its associates, subreddits, and creator 'mechman991' are not endorsed, sponsored, or officially associated with Cisco Systems Inc. All opinions stated are those of the poster only, and do not reflect the opinion of Cisco Systems Inc., or its affiliates. Hi everyone, I don't want to make this a long question but what would someone that recently passed the CCNP purchased to prepare for the certification? I've looked into VIRL, spoke with Cisco support and was told it's not suitable for exam preparation.
I read that a Catalyst 2950 and Catalyst 3750 should be fine, but I am not 100% if this is enough for labing. I am very sorry for the dumb/stupid question I've been busting my brains for the past two months with Juniper to hit a wall that has me going back to Cisco. . There are one or two sections you can't do in VIRL. You can enter the QoS commands in the IOSv devices, but I don't think they actually do anything. You will probably also want a switch to do 802.1x on as well. So, I would use VIRL for about 90-95% of the prep and practice work, and have a single switch on hand to practice with if you don't use those features at work.
Being a really bad person, I just memorized the serial stuff. Even when I did my first CCNA ten years ago, FR was only a small topic. One of the things that's hard / impossible to do in VIRL is plug a PC into a virtual device.
Yes, you can use the Linux image, or inject your own windows image, but life's too short for that garbage. Sometimes it's nice to pass traffic over two interfaces and see what happens! I personally have a stack of 2 3750Es and 4 3560s (both have current iOS images) that I use whenever I'm studying switch stuff for any given reason. The 3750Es are part of my production network as well so it's nice to actually see how things work outside of a vacuum.
I honestly wouldn't bother with 2950s since they're strictly layer 2, and if you want to emulate a layer 2 switch you can just do 'no ip routing' on a layer 3 switch. As others have mentioned, routing studies can be done in various emulation softwares. VIRL plus 2x Catalyst 29 60 and 2x 3750/3560 (or 4 3750/3560) is enough. You can get away with just VIRL. GNS3 might be better (personally found it more challenging to get up and running than VIRL, but once it's running it's great). If you use the official lab manuals, then what they suggest is 2x Catalyst 2960 and 2x 3560 running IOS 15.x and 4 1900 routers running 15.2 (I think) with serial interfaces. The 1900s might be a bit pricey, but you can use VIRL anyway.
You should be able to pick up suitable switches for under $200 total. If you do decide to get hardware, you need to be careful about which specific models (in particular the 3750/3560 are a minefield) you get since not all can run IOS 15 with the necessary feature sets.