I'm in the process of building my home lab for my CCNP and have used Ebay and NetworkHardwareResale.com. You can find good deals on Ebay but you have to be patient. When buying from Ebay, do your homework and know exactly what you need i.e.: model numbers, components, etc. and make sure the seller has a good history. Give the seller a call and make sure you are both on the same page.
As for NetworkHardwareResale.com, their prices can be a bit on the high side (I got a 2509-RJ for $700 and 2926T for $900 - great deal! When it arrived, it work great but then one 10/100 port went out. Called back and because they did not have any more 2926T, they ware hard to find, so they took of $200. So the switch ended up costing me $600.) but their staff is REALLY REALLY helpful. I informed them that I was building a lab for my CCNP and that I was on a budget. They helped my find the equipment that best fit my budget and lab requirements. Most used Cisco resellers don't have a clue about what they are selling and have little knowledge to offer what it comes to putting a lab together. The bottom line: Do a lot of research and know exactly what you need. Compare process from Ebay and used Cisco dealers. You would be surprised the deals you will find. Call as many used Cisco dealer and Ebay sellers as you can and get info. Colin Justin C wrote: > Danie, > > I built my home lab entirely from Ebay. There are some good vendors on > there, but the phrase "buyer beware" always comes to mind. I always look at > the sellers feedback, not just for positive ratings but to see if they have > sold equipment in the dollar value I am purchasing. Look to see if the > seller has positive feedback on equipment in that price range. The sellers > I can recommend (based on my own purchases and those of people I personally > know) are: > > networkhardwareresale - great packaging, good prices, quick shipment; > bluedesperateboy - good packaging, fair prices (little high, but top notch > equipment); ciscoware; www.whirled-routes.com; magi-tech; snootfull; lskok > > If you look up their feedbacks, you will see the amount of business they do. > If you are after good deals, be patient about purchasing and watch for > good products at good-to-fair prices. It took me two months to build my > home lab (Catalyst 5000 w/ Sup 2, 2-2501, 2-2503, 1-2502, 1-2513, 1-4000M, > 1-2620, 1-2522, 1-2511RJ, 2-2900 Cat switches, plus all serial/ethernet > cables) for around $9500. All of it from Ebay, and all of it worked when I > received it. Costly yes, but nothing beats continuous hands on experience > with the equipment for months (six so far) on end. Plus, I can configure > almost anything I find in the CCNP and CCIE books I have (save some Token > Ring and ATM of course), which is nice when you have questions about > technologies and want to experiment to learn more about them. Personally, I > will rent rack time to get at the 3900/3920 switches and ATM configurations. > Also, I have not purchased from them, but Optsys.net has some pretty good > deals on 2501 and 2503 router packages. I will be purchasing an ISDN > simulator from them later this month. > > As for the Catalyst 5000 switch, you can substitute a Catalyst 2901 or a > Catalyst 2926T (the "T" means 10/100T connections on the supervisor module > versus the 10/100 Fiber connections on the 2926F). Search the archives for > additional information on rack recommendations AND Ebay sellers to steer > clear of as the topic gets brought up at least once a month. > > Best of luck to you in your studies. > > My apologies to the group for any perceived waste of bandwidth on this often > discussed topic. After reading about it for the past seven months, I just > wanted to drop my $.05 on the table. > > Regards, > > Justin Cluer > > From: "Danie Strydom" > Reply-To: "Danie Strydom" > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: CCIE Starter [7:37283] > Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 13:04:08 -0500 > > Dear All, I've recently started active study on CCIE and have limited > experience but CCNP knowledge on Cisco kit. I'm in the process of buying > what I need and I need some advice on where to start and would like to find > out how you guys started out. What do I need for my home lab? I've looked > at auctions on Ebay, is it alright to buy second-hand? Is there IOS upgrades > available free from Cisco? If any of you know a good link to a specific > equipment list I need I'd be very grateful, I've had a look on the Cisco > Routing and Switching Lab equipment list but they only had the following - > no real specifics: > 2500 series routers > 2600 series routers > 3600 series routers > 4000 and 4500 series routers > 3900 series token ring switches > Catalyst 5000 series switches > > I can only afford up to 3600 series routers, what can I do about the rest? > > Thank you for your help and I think this is a great group. > > Kind Regards, > > Danie Strydom > > London, UK > > _________________________________________________________________ > Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=37319&t=37319 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
