[CS-FSLUG] Building An Experimental LAN
Tim Young
Tim.Young at LightSys.org
Sun Dec 9 00:35:52 CST 2012
On 12/8/2012 5:14 PM, Don Parris wrote:
> I think this drives more at the gist of my question than anything
> else. When I look at managed switches, they all seem to have at
> least 24 ports, when I really only need about 8 (at most). Still,
> at least a Cisco router would get me using their interface. Even
> so, why not just a linux box with 2-4 ports as a router? Is it
> more important to know Cisco or more important to know networking?
Managed switches are usually used in a corporate environment, and
therefore you usually get a large number of ports.
Some of the ddwrt and alternative firmware have variations on managed
switches, but they are definitely "Linux" under the hood, not a
regular command-line interface. The ddwrt boxes give you a lot of
the same functionality (able to set up VLANS, manage remotely,
command-line interface, snmp, etc.) but do not have the structure of
a centralized management interface like many of the big name-brands
use. If you do get a single 24-port switch, you can actually use
"VLANS" to break it into multiple switches. You say the first 8
ports are switch1, the second 8 are switch2, the third 8 are
switch3... VLANS separate ports so they do not switch between the
different VLANS. So it makes it seem like there are different switches.
I think your question about, "Is it more important to know Cisco or
networking" is probably the key to most of your other questions. If
you are trying to land a job in a Cisco environment, having a Cisco
checkmark of some sort helps. My personal belief, however, is that
it does not matter if you are certified in Cisco, Microsoft, or
anything. If you do not know the core knowledge, then the
certification is not really worth as much. I would rather work
side-by-side with someone who has the knowledge than someone who has
a certification that shows they can study well. So my answer would
be, "Learn Networking." But, if you are doing this to get a job,
then a certification in Cisco may be better. If you are doing it on
your own, then I would go for a knowledge in generic networking. It
is cheaper, and I use my generic knowledge much more often than I use
my specialty knowledge. But that is me.
I think the question comes down to, "are you thinking about doing
this for your own edification, or for making yourself more marketable."
- Tim Young
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