Building a Cisco Study Lab Part 1 - Introduction

Popularity of Cisco networking certifications seems to be at an all-time high. Certainly Cisco themselves seem to think so, why else would they bother creating three new CCNA specialisations earlier this year.

Networking is a bit of a strange beast, one that is commonly not understood as well as desktop/server administration, or software development.

One of the reasons for that is the ease of getting hands-on experience doing either of the latter. Operating systems are effectively free these days, and so are programmer tools and compilers. Hardware to run these tools is not free, but not many people get into IT without having access to a computer!

Networking is a little different.

Unlike server infrastructure, networking equipment is usually specialised, proprietary hardware, that is not commonly found outside of enterprise wiring closets, and retails and a suitably “enterprise” price.

As a result, a number of people have tried (and some succeeded) in getting their Cisco certifications purely by rote learning, memorising the theory, and doing simulation practice.

Whilst this can work initially, this strategy fails in the long term, as hands-on experience is a must for higher level certifications.

It is far easier to practice (and impress potential employers) if you have access to sufficient real hardware so that you can test and understand any required scenario in a lab environment.

In my experience, it is all about investing in yourself (and ideally, not overspending). My CCNA lab cost me about $2000 (AUD), and I could have spent a lot less with a little more knowledge at the time. Nevertheless, I learned a lot, and gained a raise out of the exercise that more than paid off my study expenses.

In the next series of posts I’ll write about getting the most out of a Cisco study lab, the recommended equipment, and point out a few mistakes to avoid making.