Tag Archives: ccie rack

Cables, cables, and more cables

Posted by on February 18, 2010 No comments

I’ve spent the last few days getting the rack all wired up and the terminal server working. It looks like I have an issue with my terminal server (2511) not working on some of my TTY lines. I have contacted CiscoKits, which is sending a return mailing address label to me, so I can ship the unit back for inspection. Hopefully they find the same issue and it can be resolved. Kind of sucks, that postpones me using the 2511- which is a pain in the butt for larger labs, but that’s OK. For the tech labs, I’ll mostly need only a couple of routers anyway, so I can deal with moving the console cable in the meantime.

Anyway, I’m getting all of the CAT5 cable made. I’m making it all myself, to save money, and to have the cables at the proper lengths. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a rack with 20 ft of extra CAT5 when that’s not necessary. I kind of understand on serial cables..mine are longer than they need to be also, but let’s at least do a LITTLE cable management people. That being said, there’s gotta be a limit, because if you’re anything like me, you move cables around sometimes, and try new things, which is great. We’re not building a permanent rack here, it’s for training purposes- but using that as a reason to not use cable management is kind of a cop out! That aside, to some extent, I expect CCIE racks to be kind of messy, that’s part of the game..just not overly messy ;)


Back to making the CAT5. I haven’t gotten much studying done since I’ve been busy getting the rack up in order to do IEWB Vol I again. I will surely post more once I make some process whether it be on the rack or my personal studies for the written.


My new CCIE rack

Posted by on February 5, 2010 4 comments

I’ve ordered all of the components for my CCIE rack. Here is what it will consist of:

  • (4) 3550′s
  • (3) 2611xm’s
  • (3) 3640′s (instead of 1841′s)
  • (1) 2522 (Frame switch)
  • (3) 2501′s (BB routers)
  • (1) 2511 (Terminal server)

If you’re familiar with Internetworkexpert’s topology, you’ll probably notice that you only really “need” two BB routers (the 2501′s). I purchased an extra simply as a backup, so I could expand the topology a little bit and have a wildcard in there if I chose to experiment a little more. All of the gear is going in a 24U rack, and I estimate I’ll have about 20U’s occupied with the gear above (plus PDU’s, and possibly a shelf).

Anyway, can’t wait for it to all arrive. In the meantime I have a lot of cleaning to do, and will be reorganizing my computer desk-area (which is no small feat!). I will post pics as the gear comes in!