How to learn CISCO without access to equipment?

Question

System administration

There is a strong desire to understand and accept, in other words, to learn how to manage various CISCO equipment.
My organization uses equipment from another vendor that does not interest me and is administered by a specially dedicated person who is not me :-)
The question is - is there a tool for creating "virtual switches / switches" and connecting them in a network.
Interested in something like ESXi. I turned on the console, - I created a 24-port switch as a node, for example, - I configured it, - I created the second / third / etc., - I configured the network on them. Set up access rules, etc.

Answer 1

Cisco Packet Tracer of course

Answer 2

There is GNS, only system images are needed for it. However, a Russian person will cope with their search)

Answer 3

As far as I remember, even the CCNA course mentions a virtual environment that you can download, install and use. ios seems to be there.

Answer 4

I recommend starting with this course.