[c-nsp] Catalyst 5513 questions - looking at buying one for lab use/tinkering

[bisnsp at googlemail.com]

Hello Tristan,

> Looking at purchasing a 5513 for my home lab as I think it'll be a  
> nice
> platform to play on and definitely comes in a lot cheaper than a  
> 6000/6500.
> The unit that is available to me has a few 5225R's and 5224s in it,  
> an RSM
> and a sup3+NFFC without an uplink module (and two PSUs).  I want it  
> for the
> RSM and the sup3 for my 5000 but he's offering it at a good price  
> and  is
> unwilling to ship individual modules (sigh). As such, I have a few
> questions:
>
> 1.  Is CatOS likely to vanish from the Cisco certification map in a  
> few
> years?  I understand that it won't run the latest and greatest but  
> I haven't
> got too much CatOS experience.

It has more or less disappeared from the courses and the exams already.
ICND, BCMSN etc are already contain IOS-based switches. CCIE as well.

hth
-birgit