As I start things out by going through the CBT Nuggets SCOR course to refresh my mind on a lot of the topics I went through for the SCOR exam, I know the next thing around the corner is going to be really digging into the CCIE Security V6 blueprint, and doing lots of research and labbing on each technology. Things of course need to be labbed in such a way that complex, integrated topologies can be created, so I want to spend a bit of time really planning out a good base topology before I build it.
Regardless of the topology, though, I know I am going to need to work with the devices and software Cisco outlines on the Equipment and Software list.
Much of what is on this list is stuff I can cover, but, not all of it will be identical and some of it I won’t be able to host or interact with locally at all, such as DNAC and FireAMP Cloud. Other things which pose issues are software that Cisco has completely deferred and no longer makes available for download, such as AnyConnect 4.2 (seriously, 4.2??). My plan is to try and approximate the list Cisco provides as closely as I can, trying to pay attention to release notes of the versions they specify vs. whatever I am able to deploy so I know what features are/aren’t available, and most importantly to use the cloud-based offerings Cisco provides such as DevNet sandboxes, dCloud, and of course the new CCIE Security Practice Labs.
All that being said, this is what I have in my home lab to work with:
Physical Gear
- ASA 5506-X (SFR-capable)
- 2x Catalyst 3750-V2-48-PS-S
- Catalyst 9300-48U
- WLC 2504
- 2x AP1142n
- 2x AP2602i
- Cisco 6945 IP Phone
Hypervisor Hosts
- ESX-01 – will be used mostly for smaller machines, AD, and GNS3/EVEng
- Dell Poweredge R410
- 2x Intel Xeon E5620 (16 logical cores) @ 2.4GHz
- 1x 300GB 10K SAS
- 3x 600GB 15k SAS
- 112GB RAM
- VMWare ESXi 6.5
- ESX-02 – will be used mostly for bigger, static VMs like ISE, FMC, SMC, etc.
- Dell Poweredge R720XD
- 2x Intel Xeon E5-2670 (32 logical cores) @ 2.6GHz
- 10x 300GB 15k SAS
- 256GB RAM
- VMWare ESXi 7.0
- Peripherals (connected to ESXi hosts for VM passthrough)
Misc.
In the coming weeks, I will invest some time in coming up with a preliminary lab topology using what I have available, which I feel should hopefully be adequate given the cloud-based options I can use to supplement the gaps.
Happy labbing!
CCIE #TBD 