So you want to Build your own CCIE Lab Rack

Building your own CCIE Lab Rack can be a daunting task if you’re not sure how to get started. Hopefully this will provide you a blueprint of what you will need and how to set up correctly so you can spend more time doing Labs and less time trying to figure out how to build the Lab Rack.

Hardware needed for CCIE Lab Rack
2 x 3550 Catalyst Switch $400
2 x 3560 Catalyst Switch $1300
3 x 2501 Router $75 (BB’s)
1 x 2511 Router $100 – Terminal Server
5 x 2611 Router  $100 (or Cisco 2611XM $150, or Cisco 3640’s $150)
2 x 4500 Router $50 (1 is your FRLY Switch, )
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~$4500

1. Ebay is your friend. If you don’t have an account, definitely get one.
2. Set up a PayPal account.

Once you pass your CCIE Lab you can sell everything that you previously bought on Ebay.  Think of this like a college loan.

18 x Crossover Cables (Interswitch connections)
12 x Straight-Through Cables (Switch to Router connections)

CablesToGo for your Serial cables if you can’t find some for free.
12 Serial Cables
2 Octal Cables

1 or 2 WIC module for each router depending:
Cisco WIC-1T ($40)
Cisco WIC-2T ($50)
CENTRECOM 210T TWISTED PAIR TRANSCEIVER($10 or free)

Cisco 2600 Series Memory Upgrade

You will need 64 MB of DRAM and 16 MB of system Flash on Cisco 2611’s.  Cisco 2611XM’s can be upgraded to 256MB of DRAM.