Cisco Home Lab

I see this question all the time. I don’t have a lot of computer experience and I’ve heard the CCNA is a great program to help me get a job. What should I do to get my CCNA?

If you are really new to IT, then I’ll tell you right up front, the CCNA is hard. I’m not trying to discourage you. By all means, we all started somewhere. When I first took my Cisco Academy classes back in 2004, I thought I actually new a little about networking. The more I learned, the more I realized the less I know. With that said, I was able to do it and so can you, if you work hard.

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One of the really cool things about Cisco IOS is the ability to move around the file system as if it was a standard unix operating system. I decided it might help a new CCNA if they knew what those commands were and how they worked.

1. cd

cd is one of the easiest commands to use. It’s the same in windows and unix. This will allow you to move around the directory structure of your file system.
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As a Cisco network engineer, I am constantly searching Cisco.com for Configuration info or checking out the latest equipment features. I don’t mind going to the website, but sometimes it is easier to search directly from my browser.

I tried searching, but it doesn’t look like anyone has done this yet. Being a resourceful lad, I decided to figure it out myself. Here are the directions for adding Cisco.com Search to Firefox.

Copy the following code into notepad.

<OpenSearchDescription>
<ShortName>Cisco</ShortName>
<Description>Cisco</Description>
<InputEncoding>UTF-8</InputEncoding>
<Url type=”text/html”
template=”http://tools.cisco.com/searchplugin/PluginRedirection?
id=cdc_search&terms={searchTerms}”/>
<Image height=”16″ width=”16″ type=”image/x-
icon”>http://www.cisco.com/favicon.ico</Image>
</OpenSearchDescription>

Save it to the following location as cisco_search.xml. Be sure to put quotes around the filename so it is not saved as a text file.

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

Restart Firefox.
Go to the search box and drop down the menu.
Click Add Cisco.com.
Now select Cisco as your Search Provider.

You can now search Cisco.com directly from your browser.

If you use Internet Explorer, you should be able use this same file. You will have to figure out the location to save the file.

When you are working on your CCNA or even CCNP for that matter, you find yourself saving the config all the time. The one thing that always annoyed me is how the pause will create additional characters and text in your saved file. If you are like me, you get tired of hitting the space bar all the time to continue the configuration. I learned this command when I first started my CCNA, then I forgot it. I knew it existed, but for some reason Googling never turned up what I was looking for.

Here is how you show a cisco configuration without pausing.

enable#terminal length 0

or the shortest way to type it.

enable#ter le 0
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So you want to get your CCNA and you need to buy a router for your CCNA home lab? Now the question is which router should you get? I have been in your shoes and know when you are just starting out, it is tough to make sense of all the different models of Cisco Routers available. The good news is there are a lot of good options available to get a good CCNA router for a fair price.

I recommend getting a Cisco 2611 Router or a Cisco 2621 Router because they have two Copper ports instead of one and offer the most training flexibility. If the cost isn’t much different, go for the 2621 because it offers 2 10/100 Ethernet ports and has 128MB of memory versus the 2611 that has 2 10Mb ports with 64MB of memory. Don’t forget to buy 2 routers as most of the CCNA Labs require two routers. You could also get 3 routers, but from my experience, you will rarely actually need 3 routers to practice for your CCNA.

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I was setting up a new ASA the other day and ran into a problem that drove me nuts. I’ve configured local access on tons of switches and routers, but this is the first time I had to configure access to a firewall from scratch. I thought I would share my experiences in case anyone else ran into the same problem.

I went through all the standard steps to setup SSH on the ASA.

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If you’ve read my original post on Gigabit Autonegotiation, you already know how I feel. Today, this hit me smack dab in the face. We were on a conference call with EMC. We are about to install a very expensive EMC NAS and were going over all the settings and details.

Right there on the worksheet, it said to use hard coded Gigabit Full. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This thing cost as much as a Lexus and EMC is suppose to know their stuff. When I told them I wanted to use Gigabit Autonegotiation, they balked. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They said they tested and found it worked best. I call bull shit on that one. Then they had the nerve to ask what Cisco thought.

Screw what Cisco thinks, this is an IEEE Standard, IEEE 802.3ab to be exact. Then they came back and said they had seen network performance problems when using Autonegotiation because it would slow down to 100Mbps on just one of the Etherchannel links. Well of course that’s a problem, but if you hard set it, then you’ll never know you have a problem, which in itself will create a bigger problem because now you have bad data constantly streaming across your lines.

Anyway, I know I’m worked up over this, but I see this all the time and it is so frustrating to me how many people just don’t get it.

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WoW! I really didn’t see this coming. While surfing the Cisco website, I stumbled onto some information regarding the new Cisco CCNA tests. Rather than bore you with the details, I will highlight some of the things I found.

There are three new tests:

CCNA Security 640-553 IINS
CCNA VoIP 640-460 IIUC
CCNA Wireless 640-721 IUWNE

While they are CCNA level tests, they have a prerequisite of holding a valid CCNA. Even more interesting is the fact that you will now be required to have a CCNA and a CCNA Security before you can work on your CCSP. The same applies to CCVP as you will be required to hold a CCNA and a CCNA VoIP before you can work on your CCVP.

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Repeat after me. I will not force a switch to 1000/Full, even if some idiot insists that I should.

Now we have that out of the way, let me give you a little background. I’ve had two instances where a “network” admin/engineer argued with me about hard coding Gigabit settings on a switch and server to 1000/Full. In both cases, I provided irrefutable proof that it is a bad idea and still they insisted.

Why Is Hard Setting Gigabit Ethernet to 1000 Full a Bad Idea?

Here’s the deal. Gigabit Ethernet is a very misunderstood standard.
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It still lacks a lot of information, but it seems to be easier to get around than Cisco’s regular website. It doesn’t appear to be open to editing from outside users, but it’s a start in the right direction.

http://supportwiki.cisco.com/