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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: October 29th, 2023

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  • First up - don’t make your own rack patch cables. They sell sets of tiny ones and you fingers and sanity will thank you. They usually get the terminations right the first time too, while you’re sure to do a few wrong and have to redo them.

    Don’t get any switch that does less than 1gbe. My Dell power connect 2824 handles L2 switching without issues, it’s quiet, and it can be rack or desk mounted.

    Rather than a NUC I always recommend an old business desktop like an optiplex or an elite desk. They can take abuse, the motherboards are cheap enough to replace when you mess up your first BIOS update, the non-micro ones have decent room for storage as well as a pcie slot, and you won’t feel bad about modding it to suit your needs… Like drilling a bunch of holes in the side of the case and slapping on a fan so a pcie slot is being cooled better.

    While fiber is cheaper than copper, it uses more power and getting the right transceiver can be hard at first.

    If your goal is to learn and your employer uses Cisco, go with Cisco gear. If they use Windows, stick with evaluations. If they use VMware, lol don’t use it bc licensing is painful at best.


  • I have an ISR4331 that I’m using to replace an average branch office environment. You need to watch out for a clock issue, but not all of them are affected by it and a reputable seller is a must. Most also include the licenses you need so no extra cost there unless you need more services. I don’t run a FW yet because my lab doesn’t have Internet access, but I’d go for something from Sophos.