Mastering Python Networking - Second Edition

Cisco VIRL

I remember when I first started to study for my Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) lab exam, I purchased some used Cisco equipment from eBay to study with. Even at a discount, each router and switch cost hundreds of US dollars, so to save money, I purchased some really outdated Cisco routers from the 1980s (search for Cisco AGS routers in your favorite search engine for a good chuckle), which significantly lacked features and horsepower, even for lab standards. As much as it made for an interesting conversation with family members when I turned them on (they were really loud), putting the physical devices together was not fun. They were heavy and clunky, it was a pain to connect all the cables, and to introduce link failure, ...