Testing Network Changes When No Test Labs Exist?

vvaduva writes "The ugly truth is that many network guys secretly work on production equipment all the time, or test things on production networks when they face impossible deadlines. Management often expects us to get a job done but refuse to provide funds for expensive lab equipment, test circuits and for reasonable time to get testing done before moving equipment or configs into production. How do most of you handle such situations, and what recommendation do you have for creating a network test lab on the cheap, especially when core network devices are vendor-centric, like Cisco?"

Comments

My last resort

[tchdab1]

I call my buddies at RIM and test my mods on their system.

Re:Pretty simple, really

[symbolset]

Oh, no. We do this all the time. Around the holidays we rewire the production server racks so their ethernet cables droop over the aisles, so we can hang up Christmas cards. Jimmy has a script that blinks the blue UID lights for a festive holiday display.