It sounds like you are going down the right path. My suggestion is to get a 5000 or 2900 (orginal, not XL series) switch (or as many as you can afford).
Connect at least one 3620 with FE to the switch (again, whatever you can afford) and use dot1q trunks. Connect a FreeBSD or Linux box running Zebra and with tagged VLAN support (dot1q). Now you can have a lot of interfaces on both sides. You can play around a lot with that, but for NMS you might have little success since there are still some problems with subinterfaces and the Cisco MIB's in some cases. I believe newer code will solve this problem. In the Linux case, you might even be able to setup MPLS for learning. It might be a lot more difficult to learn ATM or Frame- Relay or xDSL or Cable/DOCSIS management techniques without a lot of specialized (read: expensive) hardware. Then again, if you really want to learn ATM network management, an LS1010 and/or 3600 ATM, and/or Cat5k ATM blade aren't going to cost too too much (if you absolutely must learn ATM specifically, this is probably your best bet). I'd avoid ATM and other WAN technologies, and concentrate on LAN network management first, because it costs a lot less. In any case, a single router and a single switch allow you to learn a lot about NMS applications and general configuration ability. Have a look at some of these tools (do a search, I don't want to get all the URL's): net-snmp, rancid, tool, jffnms, msyslog, nmis, ncat/rat, argus, mrtg, mhtg, pancho, rtrmon, scli, seafelt, wandoc, rrdtool, etc I think ncat/rat, rancid, pancho, mrtg, and net-snmp will interest you much more than opennms. They will allow you to do all the neat management features of CiscoWorks but these tools actually work really well and you can get inside of them and play around with things. These books will also help a lot: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578701805/qid%3D1020453609/ref%3Dsr% 5F11%5F0%5F1/103-7458544-1431031 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0079137822/qid=1020453551/sr=1-3/ref= sr_1_3/103-7458544-1431031 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072122625/qid=1020453523/sr=1-1/ref= sr_1_1/103-7458544-1431031 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/059600186X/qid=1020453510/sr=1-1/ref= sr_1_1/103-7458544-1431031 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596000200/ref=pd_bndl_img_2/103-7458 544-1431031 -dre ""Tom Scott"" wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > If you're looking for scenarios that need attention, > consider network management (Semester 8 of the Cisco > Academy curriculum, for example). Using just a few cisco > routers (say, 2-4), one can build and use reasonably > simple scenarios. But there's a need for more complex > internetworks in the range of at least 5-10 routers. The > question then becomes, How to get the routers affordably? > * Get an SNMP-based NMS like OpenNMS (opennms.org) or whatever. > If there's an affordable version of CiscoWorks that's > available, that would be just great. But I don't think there > is. > > * Learn to use the NMS and MIBs in a complex environment. > > Does anyone have experience with this? Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=43256&t=43237 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
