This is a complete Lab kit for the Cisco CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure (EI) Lab Exam ver 1.1
that includes a DNAC and ISE Simulator.
Please note that the DNAC Simulator in this Lab is not a fully featured DNAC Virtual Appliance
However, the Simulator does provide all the functions needed for the CCIE Lab Exam such as:
- SDA Fabric Design & Deployment, SDA Macro Segmentation using VNs (Virtual Networks)
- SDA Micro Segmentation using SGTs (Security Group Tags), etc.
We do offer fully featured DNAC Virtual Appliance as a separate item though (see our other items)
This Lab is built on Dell R620 Server w/ 256GB RAM + 2TB SSD Drive w/ VMware ESXi 6.7
Dell R620's are very Powerful Servers with 2 x Ten-Core Processors (Xeon E5-2660v2 or higher).
Each Ten-Core Processor provides 20 vCPU's. Therefore, this Server has a total of 40 vCPU's
It has been setup with two EVE-NG VM's and designed to support 2 different Lab Topologies:
- EVE-NG VM No.1 with DNAC + ISE Simulator loaded w/ CLC (ccielabcenter.com) CCIE EI Labs - EVE-NG VM No.2 with SD-WAN loaded w/ Internetwork Expert (www.ine.com) CCIE Lab
In addition, this Lab also includes the following extra VMs:
- Cisco CML-2 Server ver. 2.6.1 (Cisco Modeling Labs) with 90-Day Demo License - Cisco ISE Server ver 3.1 (Full ISE VM; not a Simulator) with 90-Day Demo License - Windows 2019 Server with 180-day Trial version
Physical Server's Main Features:
- 2 x Ten-Core Processors (Xeon E5-2660v2 ==> 40 vCPU's)
- 4 x Gigabit Ethernet Interfaces - 256GB RAM (Server supports up to 768GB!)
- 2TB SSD Drive - Dell SAS SATA RAID Controller - VMware ESXi 6.7 Enterprise Version (with Permanent License)
Note: A Monitor is not included. You'll need a Monitor + Keyboard to operate the Server
Lab Topologies:
As mentioned before, this Lab has been built to support 2 different Lab Topologies:
- Inter Network Expert CCIE EI Lab (ine.com)
- CCIE Lab Center (CLC) EI Labs (ccielabcenter.com)
Each Lab Topology is built in a separate EVE-NG VM (2 independent VM's)
INE's Topology uses 10 Virtual Routers (SD-WAN capable), which are built in 2 different ways:
- 10 x CAT8000v Routers (built as Independent VM's)
- 10 x IOSv-L3 Routers (built inside the EVE-NG VM)
All Routers are deployed in Autonomous Mode (AM), which means that they can only be configured and managed via CLI; not through the vManage Controller..
But they can be converted to Controller-Mode, which allows mgmt through the vManage Controller.
This Lab could be used by those who have bought CLC's CCIE EI Lab Book (ccielabcenter.com)
because It includes a separate EVE-NG VM that is already
loaded with the CLC CCIE EI Lab
Having your own Home Lab will keep you from paying for Rack Time which can add up quickly!
As the Lab Diagrams show, CLC Lab Topology is very complete and complex one.
It includes several sites: HQ, Datacenter, Service Provider (SP) and 4 Branches.
Please note that the EVE-NG VM for CLC's Topology has everything, including a DNAC VM!
Although the DNAC and ISE VM's are only Simulators (not fully functional Appliances) they do provide the main functions needed for the CCIE EI Lab Exam!
As mentioned before, CLC offers a Lab Book with very specific Lab Exercises.
However, the CCIE Lab Book is not included with this item.
Please contact CLC directly if you need to buy their Lab Book.
EVE-NG Virtual Machines:
The EVE-NG Virtual Machines included in this Lab are the most important components of it.
Both VMs provides full SD-WAN functionality.
That is, they provide all the Network Nodes needed to simulate a Viptela SD-WAN Network
This includes SD-WAN Controllers (known as Control Plane components) and WAN Edge Nodes - vBond
- vSmart
- vManage
WAN Edge Nodes (known as Data/Forwarding Plane devices) can be implemented in 2 ways: - vEdge Cloud Routers
- IOS XE Virtual Routers (CSR1000v or CAT8000v)
Our EVE-NG VMs also includes a Fully Configured and ready to use Sample SD-WAN Network
This is done just to demonstrate the full SD-WAN functionality of this VM.
We provide all the Configuration Files that you can use to build your own SD-WAN Network
CML-2 VM:
This Lab also includes a CML-2 VM because INE uses CML for many of their Lab Exercises.
CML-2 is a Licensed product sold directly by Cisco; its price for a 1-Year CML-2 License for $200
The VM included in this Lab doesn't have a License though.
However, you could use the EVE-NG VM instead of CML-2 for almost all Lab Exercises!
In other words, CML-2 could be considered just an optional element of this Lab.
However, you may want to enable this VM because the latest version of CML includes very powerful Virtual Devices like the CAT8000v and CAT9000v.
The new list of requirements of the CCIE EI Lab Exam (ver 1.1) does include CAT8000v Routers.
CAT9000v devices are not explicitly included in the new list of requirements, but since they come with IOS XE ver 17.9, they could be used as a substitute of physical 9300 Switches.
For that reason alone it's worth considering activating a CML-2 License.
Training Materials:
We include a large set of Lab Exercises for INE's Topology
For INE's Topology we also include all the Videos for the CCIE EI Lab Boopcamp.
In addition, for INE's Topology we also include all the initial configuration files that can be loaded either on CML-2 or EVE-NG.
Once again, the CCIE Lab Book is not included with this item.
Upgrade Options:
The new requirements for CCIE EI Lab Exam, which can be found at the URL shown below,
include the use of 4 x Physical Switches.
