Todd Lammle | William Tedder
1 No NAT...
Took this test this morning. I went through EVERY lab in this simulator and read through the Sybex book a total of three times before taking my test. I was confident in my answers until I got to the simulation questions. ALL...not one...ALL of my simulations were on NAT. Out of all 11 chapters in this simulator, not one of them went over configuring NAT. Not only was I surprised...I was a little upset because of the money spent to be confident in nothing. I went through the website for the upgrade to RouterSim 4.1 thinking maybe that's what I should have done before I took the test..and that too has NO labs for NAT.
Please don't get me wrong. I learned a lot from these simulators and am not completely upset about the purchase, I just assumed that the labs covered by this simulator went over basically EVERY situation the test covers. My fault for assuming...fool my once right? So...just a heads up for whom ever plans on using this tool for a test they will be taking soon...use this in conjunction with another simulator..and pay attention to NAT....it was a pretty HUGE portion of my test!
2 Total rip-off!!
I purchased this product brand new and was only able to use one of the two licenses supportedly available with it. Then I was able to log-on only once and was locked out with an authorization error. I have repeatedly attempted to contact this company, it appears they are not supportive of their product. The one time I did get into the program it seemed to be vague and very simplistic with prompts for upgrade purchases. To avoid an unnecessary headache, save your money and do not buy this product.
3 good, but there is a better one
This is the first product of this kind that I searched for and purchased. One good thing is that you can load already built networks and configure them. And it was ok that you could drag, drop, and build your own. After working with it for a while I discovered it had a maximum number of routers, switches, and hosts you can use. You can have a maximum of 3 routers, 4 switches, and 6 hosts. However, when I got deeper into my studies I needed to work with more equipment but you are limited here. I searched around again for a better package and realized that I could upgrade at routersim to the network visualizer program. I wish I would have purchased that first. There are no limits to the equipment you can use to create a network, plus, that program seems to support a lot more commands that match the new cisco curriculum.
4 Not all it's cracked up to be
As a Cisco Academy student I bought this with the intent to supplement the lab activities and to do labs when lab time was not available. As another reviewer noted, the first thing it asks is if you want to upgrade. I am finishing the second half of the CCNA 1&2 book and this was a help with some of the early labs. As we got further I noted commands missing and not enough hardware can be set up to do the labs. I found the access-list command not working which blew away any ACL labs and practice. It just isn't worth the money for a serious student. I am upgraging to Router Sims NetVis 4.0 (actually the same engine this one uses, this is a scaled down version that Sybex resells). It has all the Cisco Academy semester 2 labs and looks like it covers all the commands. Appears to be a much more comprehensive simulator for about 80 bucks more. See the comparison at their web page.
This will give you a feel for router configs, but has too many limitations to be more than just a toy. If you are serious about CCNA lab and practice, you will find this lacking very quickly.
5 Excellent simulation tool
Virtual Lab is far better than any other simulation available in the market. Esp for those who do not have regular access to switches and routers or networks.
Todd Lamllhe's book and Virtual Lab make a wonderful combination. hope this review helps .
6 Buy the CCNA Gold Edition Used.
This product offers nothing of value over the Gold edition except for drag and drop. Creating my first network, I was shocked that I was limited in adding only two switches and three routers. Not much playing around or building with that limitation!
Todd Lammle, the Gene Simmons of Cisco training material, forces you to upgrade for any additional functionality on this already extremily over priced, very basic program.
Do yourself a favor and save your money and buy the used Gold version.
7 Dissatisfied
I paid 120 dollars for a product that looks very pretty. But when I install it and try to use all the features, it asks me to upgrade! I use other ccna products and they offer more features for around the same price and don't charge for UPGRADES! Customer Support was not too helpful because they do not offer refunds...
8 Best Out There
This simulation tool is excellent! First you create a network by dragging and dropping devices onto a screen. Then you connect them and then double click any of the devices to pop up a console screen. Then, you go a head and enter your configurations. You are not locked into doing anything. You can follow the labs or do your own thing and create you own network.
9 One of life's few bargains
An outstanding training tool for Cisco networks. Does more than you expect. The only competing product has less functionality and looks like it was written in someone's garage with Visual Basic. You won't regret buying this product.
10 Won't run on Win98
Despite what it says on the box and on the CD jewel case, this software will neither intall nor run on Win98. It requires NT4, Win2K or WinXP. Of course, you have to buy the software, have the install fail, and email Sybex tech support before they tell you that...
11 Lammle has done it once more time - no suprise here!
If you have noticed the CCNA exam has been updated from the 640-607 to the 640-801 and who better than Sybex and Todd Lammle to put together the Virtual Lab for you to study with.
Based on the hugely successful Router Sim, the virtual lab has everything you need to pass the exam(s) on the first try. Giving you over 80 labs to work on again and again, and if that is not enough then you can always create you own, which makes this an endless training tool.
The labs cover everything from basic configuration to WAN install to VLAN configuration. If you need even more labs, than you have the option to upgrade this package to the full Router Sim, although there is a small fee for this.
Making a perfect companion to the CCNA Study guide you have all you need to make the grade. About the only thing that this doesn't have a discount voucher for the exam and I can that being added in the next update.
Overall Lammle has taken the best training tool and made it even better; this is well worth the price of admission.
