CCNA Wireless Home Lab on a Budget at WLAN Book.com

September 22nd, 2010

CCNA Wireless Home Lab on a Budget

by Zaib Kaleem

CCNA Wireless Home Lab on a Budget

A very common reason to build an enterprise wireless home lab is to prepare the CCNA Wireless exam.

“Cisco Certified Network Associate Wireless (CCNA® Wireless) is one validates associate-level knowledge and skills to configure, implement and support of wireless LANs, specifically those networks using Cisco equipment. With a CCNA Wireless certification, network professionals can support a basic wireless network on a Cisco WLAN in a SMB to enterprise network. The CCNA Wireless curriculum includes information and practice activities to prepare them for configuring, monitoring and troubleshooting basic tasks of a Cisco WLAN in SMB and Enterprise networks.”

CCNA Wireless Lab Equipment

Based on the requirements in the CCNA wireless exam blueprint the hardware below can be used to prepare for the CCNA Wireless exam.

- Cisco 2106 Wireless LAN Controller – approx. $1500 on eBay.
- Cisco 1250, 1130, 1131 or 1140 Access Point – approx. $250 – $1000 on eBay

A used controller and a couple of access point can easily total over $2000. If you are experiencing sticker shock then you want to consider swapping out the Cisco 2106 model for a 2006 model WLAN controller. This older model can be found on eBay for about $600. The latest IOS for a 2006 Controller is 4.2 and should be good enough for the exam topics.

If you need to reduce cost even further, another option is to purchase much older hardware known as a Cisco Airespace 4000 Wireless LAN Controller. A Cisco AireSpace 4024 costs only $120 and includes 24 802.3af POE ports. The access points that are compatible with this Cisco Airespace WLAN controller are the 1000 series access points and can be found for $50 or less on eBay or Nortel branded version.

Cisco AireSpace 4024

Below are screen shots from the web user interface for a Cisco AireSpace 4024. Even though the latest firmware for this hardware series is v3.1 the UI is very similar to newer controllers. I think even this model will be OK for a majority of the CCNA Wireless WLAN Controller exam topics listed below.

-Configure a WLAN controller and access points WLC: ports, interfaces, WLANs, NTP, CLI and Web UI, CLI wizard, LAG AP: Channel, Power
- Transfer WLC config and O/S using maintenance tools and commands
- Describe and differentiate WLC WLAN management access methods (console port, CLI, telnet, ssh, http, https, wired versus wireless management)