<p>Cablesandkits.com has cisco stuff used for pretty good prices. I am not super-impressed by disco's network emulator. It is cheaper than buying hardware, but getting a couple of 2600s and getting them talking would be more useful, osib .</p>
<p><a href="http://sourcefreedom.com">http://sourcefreedom.com</a></p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Nov 29, 2011 3:48 PM, "David Tomaschik" <<a href="mailto:david@systemoverlord.com">david@systemoverlord.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
All,<br>
<br>
I consider myself a pretty good system administrator and a decent<br>
developer. What I am not is a networking guy. At the risk of<br>
spreading myself too thin, I want to learn more about the networking<br>
side of things. (It helps as a system administrator to know what is<br>
going on on the stuff your servers are connected to.) While I know<br>
the academic/general side of things like VLANs and STP, I haven't had<br>
any opportunity for practical experience.<br>
<br>
I'd like to get my hands dirty, so I'm looking for one (or more) cheap<br>
managed switches. Cisco probably preferred, since they have the<br>
lion's share of the gear out there, but I'm open to other suggestions.<br>
I know there are some switches for around $50 on eBay, but most of<br>
those seem to be ancient and I'm not sure how relevant they are to<br>
what's out there today. (i.e., devices that went end-of-sale a decade<br>
ago.) Of course, the basics might not have changed too much. I'm not<br>
looking to go CCNA or really work as a network guy, just to know<br>
enough to have a good grasp of the network side and maybe to do some<br>
small business scale tasks.<br>
<br>
Can anyone suggest a source for cheap used networking gear? Or<br>
alternatively, suggest models of switches worth looking at on<br>
eBay/other?<br>
<br>
--<br>
David Tomaschik, RHCE, LPIC-1<br>
System Administrator/Open Source Advocate<br>
OpenPGP: 0x5DEA789B<br>
<a href="http://systemoverlord.com" target="_blank">http://systemoverlord.com</a><br>
<a href="mailto:david@systemoverlord.com">david@systemoverlord.com</a><br>
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</blockquote></div>