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When you're putting your CCNA and/or CCNP home lab together, you are not just buying hubs and switches you are developing a plan for success. There's number better way to learn about how real Cisco routers and switches work than to work with the real thing!

Obviously, it is not enough to just get the switches and hubs you've got to have the other devices and right cables to permit them to talk. Let's have a look at the different cables and connectors you need to know about when putting together your CCNA and CCNP house laboratories.

The basic cable you may need is just a straight-through cable. These are employed to connect your switches and routers also, when you yourself have an simulator, you'll need a straight-through cable to connect the router's BRI interface to the simulator.

A far more specialized cable type may be the DTE/DCE cable. If you plan to utilize the serial interfaces on your own routers (and you certainly must be!), you'll need many of these wires. To connect two routers directly via their serial interfaces, you'll want a DTE/DCE wire. (When you have a Cisco router set up as a relay swap, you'll need more of those cables.)

If you have multiple switches, it's also important to link these switches to be able to create a trunk line and probably an Etherchannel. To effectively develop a start between two buttons, you'll need crossover cables.

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To get in touch your PERSONAL COMPUTER directly to the hub or switch you're configuring, you'll need a cable, also known as a rolled cable. This cable has DB-9 connector on another and an Rj-45 connector on one end.

Once you've added multiple routers and switches to your CCNA / CCNP house laboratory, you'll get fed up with moving that folded cable around. An access server (a special model of Cisco router, actually) allows you to keep in touch with all your devices via that link and connect the thrown wire to it. To use an access server, you'll need an octal wire. This cable has a large serial connection on one end (this will not fit just any serial screen, when buying an access server, be sure to get the right type of Cisco router) and has nine split RJ-45 fittings at another end.

The best information of all for all CCNA and CCNP prospects is that like used routers and switches, all these wires are inexpensive. You can find vendors that provide these cables on ebay and through search engines, and the chances are that the vendor that sold your research gear to you also offers these cables. This gives you first-hand experience in cabling your personal research - and that is the best examination planning of all! (Multiple-choice questions on wire types are easy if you have actually caused them!)