Configuring a wireless lab for study and testing capabilities is a bit more involved than you might think at first glance. Most of the requirements take place on the management devices, but the underlying switch infrastructure requires some preparations as well. The tasks involved are as follows:

The best way to learn is to engage in hands-on practice using real equipment in a non-production environment. Having crashed a few networks in my time, I can tell you that having the freedom to make changes on the fly without any risk can reduce unnecessary pressure and keep you focused solely on learning. Having said that, don’t use consumer-grade devices for this type of preparation, as they do not even remotely resemble the actual Cisco components used in the exam environments. Ideally, if you have older components in your work environment, then by all means use those.

Previously, I talked about the logical and physical steps to building a basic certification lab, concentrating mostly on the CCENT/CCNA Routing and Switching level. Once you have that set of certifications under your belt, there are several options for specialization. Each of these advanced technology tracks serve as methods of enhancing your professional skill set as follows:

Now for the fun part of the project: configuring it for actual operation. The “real” configuration tasks will be reserved for lab exercises, but some initial setup helps things run more smoothly. The tasks involved are as follows:

There are three generally accepted ways to access equipment for a lab. First, you can rent rack time from a wide number of vendors, which can save on your power bill and simplify practice. Second, for routing platforms, you can use an emulator or simulator, such as Packet Tracer or GNS3. Finally, you can get your own equipment and assemble your own lab, which I think is the best choice. You can utilize spare equipment at work, request some from your local Cisco Users Group, or purchase your own using Craigslist or eBay. Here is a parts list that can make the process straightforward.

Along my journey from CCNA to CCIE, I had to go through the task of periodically building lab environments to give me hands-on experience. This was especially critical in the CCIE Lab, which involved multiple devices, protocols, and tasks to complete. When I first began teaching CCNA courses, I came up with the idea of creating a scaled down version of a lab exam to assist with hands-on learning.