Basic Lab 4
The following is a very basic and entry level lab. Suitable for CCENT and CCNA type of activities and or just general router tinkering.

Total Cost: ~$314

Equipment

Router(s)
4x Cisco 2611 ($50 each eBay)

Switch(s)
2x Cisco 2950 ($45 each eBay)

Cable(s)
8x Cat5 Ethernet (~$2 each)
2x Cat5 Ethernet Crossover (~$2 each)
4x Console Cable (~$1 each eBay)

Setup
1. Connect router A E0/0 to switch A Fa0/1
2. Connect router A E0/1 to switch A Fa0/2
3. Connect router B E0/0 to switch A Fa0/3
4. Connect router B E0/1 to switch A Fa0/4
5. Connect router C E0/0 to switch B Fa0/1
6. Connect router C E0/1 to switch B Fa0/2
7. Connect router D E0/0 to switch B Fa0/3
8. Connect router D E0/1 to switch B Fa0/4
9. Connect the RJ45 end of one console cable to each router and switch.
10. Connect the DB9 end of one or more console cables to serial ports on your computer.*

*If you do not have enough console ports you can swap them as needed. Or consider investing in a terminal server.

Good call!

For the terminal server (also known as a Access Server), look into either, a 2509 router, or a 2511 router. The 2509 will support up to 8 console sessions and the 2511 will support up to 16 console sessions.

You cant go wrong with an access sever! no more swapping that single console cable all the time!

Yup, going to introduce terminal servers and frame relay into the intermediate set of lab setups

Sweet! Wish I had come across a post like this when I started out 14 months back!

Why not condense all these into one thread?

Also, I'd link to this in the thread as well:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/24916

I'm going to create a summary post that will act like an index for all of these. The end goal is to have lab challenges and L2/L3 diagrams to utilize these setups. I'm keeping them separate so people can view these as stepping stones to getting their labs setup.

They are also intended to be very brief so as not to over whelm.

Cool. If you need any help with these let me know. I've learned a lot about building labs, haha.