Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: The (Many) Cable Types And
Their Purposes
One of the most common questions I get from CCNA and CCNP
candidates who are setting up their own home labs is "What
cables will I need?" The answer is "It depends." As you know
from your exam studies, the physical layout of your lab is what
determines the cables you'll need. Let's take a look at the most
common home lab cable types and when you will need them.
Straight-through cables have quite a few uses in a CCNA / CCNP
home lab. You'll need them to connect a switch port to an AUI
port on a router (and you'll need a transceiver for that as
well). If you have an ISDN simulator, straight-through cables
can be used to connect a router's BRI port to the simulator.
Crossover cables are used to connect switches and allow them to
trunk. If at all possible, get two switches in your home lab.
This will allow you to gain valuable experience in manipulating
root bridge election, working with STP, and creating
EtherChannels.
DTE/DCE cables are used to connect two routers via their serial
cables. If you are planning on using a frame relay switch in
your lab, you'll need several of these. You can also get some
great practice in by directly connecting two routers and
bringing the connection up (and making sure it stays up!). This
is valuable practice for your CCNA exam.
Octal cables are used to connect an access server to each of the
other routers and switches in your lab.
Finally, there's that precious blue cable, the rollover cable.
Rollover cables (sometimes called "rolled cables") allow you to
connect a host device directly to a router or switch's console
port. These cables have a way of disappearing around an IT shop,
so make sure to take one home - and leave it there!