De-ice is the basic one, but it will be better for you if you'll gonna start reading some basic hacking books. Given that you are at least CCNA, you can start with one of the CEH books, in order to better understand the whole process. Then you are good to go with the tools (or better do both in the same time).
 
Just my noob opinion.

This book will help you a lot and has the www.heorot.net training in the dvd:

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Penetration-Testing-Creating-Operating/dp/1597494259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255799170&sr=8-1

LT72884,

I'm a former CCNA with 13 years of data networking experience. I recently read Hacking for Dummies. Some of the stuff I knew, some of it I didn't. I also read Firewalls and Internet Security (mostly theory and using something Unix based to create a firewall, down side it is dated but so was Hacking for Dummies).

My next step is going to get my Sec+ cert. After that, I'm looking forward to reading Hacking: The Next Generation and Network Security Assessment.

My interest is Overall security of the network I run (Network Engineer and Linux Admin).

You're lab will help you do lots of things, especially if you have a few extra computers you can toss on to it. I've got a lab I built for CCNA study purposes (3 routers, 3 switches). I can practice things like arp poisoning, turning the switch into a hub (forwards all packets to all ports), and practice port spanning with a packet sniffer, and then trying to find it. (I know it's there, I can see it but I can I find it without just going to where I set it up and killing the port).

Couple of things I want to add to my lab, a small voip infrastructure and a cisco firewall.

The place is usually pretty active.

LT, I am currently running IpCop.   If you don't mind, what do you feel the advantages of smoothwal are over IpCop?   

Besides outbound filtering. I like the edition of zerina(i think thats spelled right) Its an awesome vpn gui/management addon for smoothy. Smoothy seems to play better with cisco. Have not tested and proven that yet. I LIKE ALL THE ADDOns (dang caplocks) that smoothy has to offer.

Untangle is just way to fancy and bloated with extras a FW does not need. Mainly a system resource hog IMHO. i will start another thread later that i could use some help with. i want a cisco router after the smoothy so i can incorperate vlans. Its not configureing the cisco devices. its trying to get everything to work correctly. hahah

Smoothwall plays very nicely with other VPN's. never had an issue with wacthgaurd or sonic wall. Egress filtering is all done with a pertty lil GUI in smoothwall. AND you can add custom entries in IPtables if wanted. The only thing i dont think smoothwall can do is this: some isp's block certain ports and i know with ipcop you can add a custom ip entry to redirect any incomming data for that port to another port. Its more than portforwarding. I cant exactly remember what it is. Its like comcast blocks port 441 and so any incomming dat to that port is dropped but in ipcop you can redirect port 441 to 4598 or whatever. smoothwall i dont think can do that

Ill check it out from library. Cookbooks can be usefull at times but i also dont want all theory. i want to be taught how to use the tools and have hands on for pentesting and not just read a book about what pen testing is. I have begged and begged for the labs from my friend back east for offsec 101. so he let me borrow them. so hopefully they will work for me rather than against me.

Your so lucky you know IPtables. i wish i could read and edit those.