The Cat 3550 is currently a new product so used items are hard to find. However, if you are not too far along in your CCIE preparation, you have some time. The fact that this question was not posted to the CCIELAB mailing list suggests that you may not be in a huge hurry yet. Many of the important lessons that you need to learn can be learned with a relatively cheap lab of Cisco 2500-series routers. No voice, no switch (except perhaps some really cheap switch), no ATM. Many of the hardest lessons to learn involve matters such as routing protocols and redistribution among routing protocols, as well as countless router IOS features -- which can be learned in a cheap lab.
After 6 mos to 1 year, you may find that 3550s are available used from CCIEs who went before you. Yes, this means that for many months you may need to use lab scenarios that do not take advantage of the cutting edge features of the 3550s, or you will need to adapt scenarios to your topology. This is not optimal, but a lot of us have had to do this with other technologies (taking the ATM link out of a scenario, not doing the voice part, doing token ring with MAUs instead of the formerly-expensive TR switch). Best wishes, Tom Larus, CCIE #10,014 wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > I don't know of any alternative for the 3550. While you can purchase a less > expensive switch to practice your IOS-based commands (such as a 2912XL, > 2924XL, or 3524XL, for example), you will be losing a lot of features that > will most likely show up on the CCIE Lab exam, such as advanced Quality of > Service (QoS) and Layer 3 functionality. > You're best off biting the bullet and purchasing a 3550 or renting 3550 rack > time. > Shawn K. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Vic Dmon [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 6:19 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: good alt. to a catalyst 3550 [7:55132] > > > > Hi, does anyone know what would be a good (and cheap) alternate for a 3550 > > switch. Please let me know. Thanks Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=55181&t=55132 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
