CCNA prep

D

Destonomos

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 13, 2004
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I'm going to start preping for the ccna since I'm graduating college after next semester and need to "catch up" on some concepts so I can flush out my resume some more before I send it out. What is the preffered book to use to study for the exam and I also have gns3 to do the lab stuff on my computer.

Also I was talking to some guys at school that just passed the exam and they said there were some freebie programs out there on the net that simulated actual exams and they said that the programs they used actually had questions ver batim that were on the actual test. Anyone know what these programs are called?
 
It looks pricey but as a study guide and good load of questions 100 bucks it damn worth spending to ensure passing. Whats the book I should be buying to study for the exam. I can search on amazon for the official book which is what I want but there are so many versions. Which is the most up to date?
 
I've never been big on spending more on the test prep than for the actual cert, but I've always found a good prep book (or a few) can really help a lot. Todd Lammle has one of the best I've read and I'm using it in prep for my CCNA. I can't remember the exact name of the book though.... Amazon has it for about $30. It's definitely worth it.
 
Thanks that linux guy. I think I am going to get that along with the standard Cisco Library book. It can't hurt to have one more refrence book on the cheap. I got some gift certificates from my credit card so both this and Cisco Library book new is only going to run me 41 dollars :). Gotta love incentives to use a credit card wisely. Plus buying all this with my amazon.com card will next me 3x reward points :p.
 
A few comments, as I just passed my CCNA exam 2 weeks ago..

CBTNugget's is a really handy video series to use. (See Atech's post)
Todd Lamelle's FastPass Handbooks are pretty good too for concepts in a nutshell.

Websites like Pass4Sure, Testking, etc... are CHEATING. These are against Cisco's policies and although they will pretty much give you the test verbatim, how is that legit? All you are doing is memorizing answers instead of learning and applying concepts.
 
IceWeasel said:
A few comments, as I just passed my CCNA exam 2 weeks ago..

CBTNugget's is a really handy video series to use. (See Atech's post)
Todd Lamelle's FastPass Handbooks are pretty good too for concepts in a nutshell.

Websites like Pass4Sure, Testking, etc... are CHEATING. These are against Cisco's policies and although they will pretty much give you the test verbatim, how is that legit? All you are doing is memorizing answers instead of learning and applying concepts.
Click to expand...

Oh, they are verbatim the entire test? I did not know that. I'd like to get a good idea of what is on the test but I am not going to brain dump and just memorize the questions. I want to walk away knowing what I am talking about :p. I've been in college after next semester for 5 years at a Murray State University which has almost the best Telecommunications Systems Management (my major) in the United States. Adtran (second to cisco in networking) does more internships out of my college than any other college in the United States and the head of security at Cisco is on our IT board of directors. Just to name a few of my teachers professions. I have one teacher that worked with Nasa on Space Shuttles and was with Unisys during their 80's booming. Another one of my teachers in wireless worked with ATT and made 300k a year and has been published a lot. My network design teacher worked for the Department of Defense and was in the Pentagon during 9/11. To say the least my teachers are some of the leaders or were leaders of the industry during their times.
 
I recommend buying the program from networksims.com. It is a pretty well made emulator with lots of practice labs to do for each level of Cisco certification. I used it and a combination of Cisco Press books and actual hardware to pass my CCNA.
 
I'm using the Train Signal stuff from Chris Bryant and Packet Tracer 5 for my sim. Packet tracer is missing some commands, but for the most part all the stuff he does in his videos Packet Tracer has the command for. Should be enough to pass the CCNA, but anything beyond that and I'm going to spend some dough on a nice real lab.
 
Sounds like you've got a good program. I graduated from Purdue University with a major in Network Engineering Technology. I'm working at Cisco now and it's a lot of fun.

Good luck on the CCNA
 
IceWeasel said:
Sounds like you've got a good program. I graduated from Purdue University with a major in Network Engineering Technology. I'm working at Cisco now and it's a lot of fun.

Good luck on the CCNA
Click to expand...

Yeah adtran said when they came to our job fair a few weeks ago that Perdue has the second closest degree to a TSM at Murray State University but its not near as in depth as our program but thats just what they said, so I dunno.

I dunno if you know what ITERA is but we've won it every year its been going on. This year we are building an entire network for a hospital from the ground up and I'm on a team competiting right now to represent Murray State.

They changed our major a few years back but you used to have to pick specialties but now you can mix and mach. I did a little mixing and matching but for the most part I've stayed on the course of wireless and systems administration. My higher end 500 and 400 level classes have all been geared towards ERP solutions and path loss in wireless technologies.
 
IceWeasel said:
Websites like Pass4Sure, Testking, etc... are CHEATING. These are against Cisco's policies and although they will pretty much give you the test verbatim, how is that legit? All you are doing is memorizing answers instead of learning and applying concepts.
Click to expand...

I completely agree, but I took the cisco network academy and the questions from pass4sure gave me a more accurate view of the test. The network academy doesn't give you an accurate representation.
 
i would get the study guide and the cisco network simulator.
Great software for going threw configs
 
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-(Xyphox)- said:
i would get the study guide and the cisco network simulator.
Great software for going threw configs
Click to expand...

Does cisco have an updated simulator? I took some CCNA classes a few years back but never got my certification. I hated the fact that you couldn't set up any topology you wanted to in the simulator. Yeah the simulator will get you real world practice so definitely do that.
 
Packet Tracer 5 is a pretty decent freebie simulator. It can be downloaded at the Cisco Netacad site, and probably lots of other places
 
merc141 said:
Does cisco have an updated simulator? I took some CCNA classes a few years back but never got my certification. I hated the fact that you couldn't set up any topology you wanted to in the simulator. Yeah the simulator will get you real world practice so definitely do that.
Click to expand...

Yeah PT5 doesn't have every thing. It's definitely lacking some commands, or maybe I'm just not completely setup. But things like, when I enabled port-security there was no aging command. Little stuff like that. The equipment is limited but it does have a Layer 3 switch, but nothing like a 6500 series or anything.
 
IceWeasel said:
A few comments, as I just passed my CCNA exam 2 weeks ago..

CBTNugget's is a really handy video series to use. (See Atech's post)
Todd Lamelle's FastPass Handbooks are pretty good too for concepts in a nutshell.

Websites like Pass4Sure, Testking, etc... are CHEATING. These are against Cisco's policies and although they will pretty much give you the test verbatim, how is that legit? All you are doing is memorizing answers instead of learning and applying concepts.
Click to expand...

QFT. CBTNuggest is very good, you may also want to check out trainsignal. Chris Bryant does their Cisco material and he is a pretty good instructor(knows how to convey the information very well).

IceWeasel, Nice to see another Cisco guy on these forums ;) What position?
 
I guess now one has used GNS3 here because after I mentioned it people kept talking about sims. GNS3 runs the actual Cisco IOS on virtualized routers and switches in the program. You can setup any lab you want with it and do any connections, and add any cards to any of the routers in the program. It virtualizes the hardware and actually runs the cisco ios so it does not lack 1 command and it starts up and is like your sitting at the real thing.
 
merc141 said:
Does cisco have an updated simulator? I took some CCNA classes a few years back but never got my certification. I hated the fact that you couldn't set up any topology you wanted to in the simulator. Yeah the simulator will get you real world practice so definitely do that.
Click to expand...

The Network Simulator i have costed like 150 bucks and i could do just about anything with it. You can do topology's and everything. Another great program is Packet Tracer
 
Destonomos said:
I guess now one has used GNS3 here because after I mentioned it people kept talking about sims. GNS3 runs the actual Cisco IOS on virtualized routers and switches in the program. You can setup any lab you want with it and do any connections, and add any cards to any of the routers in the program. It virtualizes the hardware and actually runs the cisco ios so it does not lack 1 command and it starts up and is like your sitting at the real thing.
Click to expand...
technically GNS3 is just the front end to dynamips. Ive been preaching dynamips for easily 4-5 years here since its public stable release(I was a hater when it was alpha).

GNS3 is straight trash IMO... it adds a bunch of crap to your net files, they're not easilty exportable to run in dynagen(a problem I had which turned me off to GNS3), get dynagen and run it on linux as the performance is 100% better on a *nix platform. Also, dynagen is now compling PEMU with the binary so you can have fun and emulate the PIX.

How far do you want to go with your certification path? Dyngen will pretty much take you through every cisco routing and switching(CCNA,CCNP,CCIE) certification with a few other purchases if you plan on taking the CCIE.

Also, I read your other posts in this thread and want to point something out, and it is very important. Where you go to school doesn't matter anymore, if you plan on working in the IT industry experience is key. Every employer does like to see the "paper"(as in your deploma) but don't think that becuause you went to an ivy league school or the number one program in the country you have an automatic in at a good company. Now, I don't mean to shit in your cheerios but this is something ive seen time and time again(and actually been involved in). The degree will get you noticed but what you say and do in the interview will land you the job. In closing

IT degree from devry = your degree. This is all assuming your going to be working somewhere in the network engineering field.

With all that said, If you are content in doing an internship to hire after school then the school that you attend does absolutely matter. If you plan on going out on your own and finding a job... the school name don't mean that much.

Get the experience, do all you can on your own to build up personal experience as well(home labs, etc) because you will be involved in a technical interview ;)
 
i agree again with some of xphil3's points... it doesn't matter so much where your degree is from as it does what sort of previous experience you have. get internships during the summer if at all possible, as it will help tremendously when interviewing and talking to recruiters.

*edit* - Nvm to the above, since you're graduating next semester! The next question would be, what previous job experience do you have?
 
xphil3 said:
technically GNS3 is just the front end to dynamips. Ive been preaching dynamips for easily 4-5 years here since its public stable release(I was a hater when it was alpha).

GNS3 is straight trash IMO... it adds a bunch of crap to your net files, they're not easilty exportable to run in dynagen(a problem I had which turned me off to GNS3), get dynagen and run it on linux as the performance is 100% better on a *nix platform. Also, dynagen is now compling PEMU with the binary so you can have fun and emulate the PIX.

How far do you want to go with your certification path? Dyngen will pretty much take you through every cisco routing and switching(CCNA,CCNP,CCIE) certification with a few other purchases if you plan on taking the CCIE.

Also, I read your other posts in this thread and want to point something out, and it is very important. Where you go to school doesn't matter anymore, if you plan on working in the IT industry experience is key. Every employer does like to see the "paper"(as in your deploma) but don't think that becuause you went to an ivy league school or the number one program in the country you have an automatic in at a good company. Now, I don't mean to shit in your cheerios but this is something ive seen time and time again(and actually been involved in). The degree will get you noticed but what you say and do in the interview will land you the job. In closing

IT degree from devry = your degree. This is all assuming your going to be working somewhere in the network engineering field.

With all that said, If you are content in doing an internship to hire after school then the school that you attend does absolutely matter. If you plan on going out on your own and finding a job... the school name don't mean that much.

Get the experience, do all you can on your own to build up personal experience as well(home labs, etc) because you will be involved in a technical interview ;)
Click to expand...

Your degree does count when cisco and adtran show up at your school bi semester and want to higher 5 to 10 senior students. Over half the product engineering group for instance at adtran is murray state students.
 
Destonomos said:
Your degree does count when cisco and adtran show up at your school bi semester and want to higher 5 to 10 senior students. Over half the product engineering group for instance at adtran is murray state students.
Click to expand...
Again, I don't want to rain on your parade but I have never heard of the school that you go to, nor have I met anyone at Cisco that went to your school(social networking is absolutely massive here at Cisco). I would say the majority of Cisco graduates come from Perdue and RIT. Sorry man.

Adtran, you mean the guys who sell routers that are rebranded Cisco devices :p ..Yes, its a common known fact that we supply adtran with the majority of their equipment(they do have some badASS multiplexers though!). Like I said dude, get your experience.

Also, what Cisco people come to your school? What are they offering? I would assume they are there for the ASE/ASR program as the Network engineering program has never gone to your school.(its still too small, about 1/4 the size of the ASE program).

PS. you never answered my question, how far do you plan on going with the Cisco certs? :)
 
enough of the badgering back and forth about schools... seriously it doesn't matter. I just looked at Murray's TSM program curriculum and it seems fairly similar to what I did for my undergrad, with just a tad more focus on actual signaling instead of networking.

the thread is getting derailed by the posts about schooling. let's get back to the original topic of the CCNA and such.
 
I honestly plan on going all the way through them all, all the way to the ccie. I'm a money whore and I plan on getting into a company and doing everything they say will earn me more $$. They want me to go get my masters? Done! They want a msce? Done! I think you get the picture.

I know a lot of people don't find this outlook appealing but I feel like if I am not near or making more than 300k by the time I retire I will have failed. That is also on my low end, if I could make more, I'm down. Soon as I get out of school I'm going to strive to make the most that I possibly can.

Oh and the guy from Cisco that comes here often is Robert J. Du Charme and I know its off topic but if your into basketball you surely have heard of Murray State. If not then I can see where you haven't. We usually win the OVC every year and we are one of those schools (mainly because we are an ovc school) that make it to the NCAA every year and are out the first round :p. Just a reference.
 
Destonomos said:
Your degree does count when cisco and adtran show up at your school bi semester and want to higher 5 to 10 senior students. Over half the product engineering group for instance at adtran is murray state students.
Click to expand...

I'm with xphil on this one, not to rain on anyone's parade, but I've never heard of it either. (Technically, I have, but not for the Engineering/Networking Department)

I know plenty of people that work for Cisco, some have even posted in this exact thread.

I work for a partner, and I know this partner could care less where you got your degree from. (Unless its University of Phoenix. lol) We expect everyone to have at least a CCNA, and beyond that, its all experience.

Even then having certs is pretty much a wash, some of the smartest people I work with don't have any certs. (Just to keep it clear, we also have 3 CCIE's on staff.)


OP,
Search! This question has been asked hundreds of times here at the [H]. Just to reiterate, grab some books and or CBT nuggets. Spend a few weeks studying and take the test.
 
xphil3 said:
Also, I read your other posts in this thread and want to point something out, and it is very important. Where you go to school doesn't matter anymore, if you plan on working in the IT industry experience is key. Every employer does like to see the "paper"(as in your deploma) but don't think that becuause you went to an ivy league school or the number one program in the country you have an automatic in at a good company. Now, I don't mean to shit in your cheerios but this is something ive seen time and time again(and actually been involved in). The degree will get you noticed but what you say and do in the interview will land you the job. In closing
Click to expand...


TRUTH
 
Destonomos said:
Your degree does count when cisco and adtran show up at your school bi semester and want to higher 5 to 10 senior students. Over half the product engineering group for instance at adtran is murray state students.
Click to expand...



Did you mean hire?



5 years and no english classes? I can understand simple spelling mistakes, but that is the complete wrong word.
 
Verge said:
Did you mean hire?



5 years and no english classes? I can understand simple spelling mistakes, but that is the complete wrong word.
Click to expand...

I do spelling mistakes like that often. I'm horrible at writing papers :p.
 
Must agree, where you graduate from might get you into the door at a place but that doesn't ensure you'll stay employeed there. Adtran is a very big company, lots of smart people, however, all of the product engineers that I have met are generally on the Tier 1 and lab side of things, gophers that take customer calls and run boring tests in a lab all day. The product managers and up are the ones that really matter, and they are generally 30+ with quite a bit of experience both at Adtran and real-world experience from prior jobs. That being said, I do like Adtran as a company...if only they could get a development cycle for products and actually hit dates.

And yes, AOS is almost identical to IOS but for some reason the hardware is 1/2 as much with a better warranty. Seems like a no brainier to me, we have had enough good feedback on the Netvanta line that we have standardized on it in our business, well, outside of the Core(carrier here), Cisco 6500 and now 7600S's there.


Destonomos said:
Your degree does count when cisco and adtran show up at your school bi semester and want to higher 5 to 10 senior students. Over half the product engineering group for instance at adtran is murray state students.
Click to expand...
 
niccoli said:
Must agree, where you graduate from might get you into the door at a place but that doesn't ensure you'll stay employeed there. Adtran is a very big company, lots of smart people, however, all of the product engineers that I have met are generally on the Tier 1 and lab side of things, gophers that take customer calls and run boring tests in a lab all day. The product managers and up are the ones that really matter, and they are generally 30+ with quite a bit of experience both at Adtran and real-world experience from prior jobs. That being said, I do like Adtran as a company...if only they could get a development cycle for products and actually hit dates.

And yes, AOS is almost identical to IOS but for some reason the hardware is 1/2 as much with a better warranty. Seems like a no brainier to me, we have had enough good feedback on the Netvanta line that we have standardized on it in our business, well, outside of the Core(carrier here), Cisco 6500 and now 7600S's there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, def for mission critial stuff thought I've talked to people that did interns at Adtran and they said while the warranty is better with Adtran and the OS updates are free they do go down more often (even if that is next to never) and for serious mission critical stuff Cisco is the way to go (obviously).

In our labs for routing and whanot we use all cisco gear here at our college and for our telephony classes and labs we use Adtran stuff. Mainly because Adtran loves our program and donates a lot.

I ordered the two books today and I plan on starting on the offical cisco one soon and working on it through December while I'm off from school and hopefully finishing it. Then I'm going to hit the second one which should be a breeze since I have already gone through the other book. I think GNS3 will take me through the CCNA and CCNP. I think for the CCIE I am going to buy equipment though. But then again I've got a while before I start thinking about that.

Normally how long does it take someone to advance from the CCNA to the CCNP and then to the CCIE?

Thanks in advance guys. This info has been awesome thus far.
 
Destonomos said:
Yeah, def for mission critial stuff thought I've talked to people that did interns at Adtran and they said while the warranty is better with Adtran and the OS updates are free they do go down more often (even if that is next to never) and for serious mission critical stuff Cisco is the way to go (obviously).

In our labs for routing and whanot we use all cisco gear here at our college and for our telephony classes and labs we use Adtran stuff. Mainly because Adtran loves our program and donates a lot.

I ordered the two books today and I plan on starting on the offical cisco one soon and working on it through December while I'm off from school and hopefully finishing it. Then I'm going to hit the second one which should be a breeze since I have already gone through the other book. I think GNS3 will take me through the CCNA and CCNP. I think for the CCIE I am going to buy equipment though. But then again I've got a while before I start thinking about that.

Normally how long does it take someone to advance from the CCNA to the CCNP and then to the CCIE?

Thanks in advance guys. This info has been awesome thus far.
Click to expand...
Awesome bro, Ill tell you one thing Adtran kills us(Cisco ) on... their ONS multiplexers... ive been working with them lately.

and it just so happens that Im in the process of my CCIE(sat once, was told to just take it but got very close). As to your question about progression times..... ugh :p .. thats a tough one man. Literally some people can accomplish this certification from CCNA->CCNP-CCIE in about 8 months. I work with someone that did exactly this. It took a boat load of studying though.

If you want to stick with dynamips throughout the CCIE you can do this, I do have real equipment but plan on virtualizing my routers, then trunking(for lack of a better word) out to my physcal switches using real network cards on the dynamips host. PM me and we can chat about this more. Now, im realyl sorry about this.... but im going to jack the thread for a bit :p. I would normally post this but I have not had great success with my questions being answered.

niccoli, question.... You're working with the 7600 ONS line I see. What code are you running on those? SXFxx? If so have you noticed any MLPPP issues? Are you running SIP/SPA cards for your customers to the mux, and if so have you noticed any issues with the SPA and MLPPP on your PE routers?
 
I would say that the progression path is incredibly variable depending on what you do to prepare... along with how motivated you are. I know that I am incredibly hard to motivate, so if I was trying to study on my own it would take me much longer. Fortunately, Cisco has me in training, so I went to 2 different 1 week courses and then studied for a week or so on my own, then took the CCNA. (So roughly 3-3.5 weeks total for me with an actual curriculum)

The CCNP is broken down into 4 tests, each which has a significant amount of technical depth, although it is not as broad as the CCNA material (therefore many people think they are easier than the CCNA). I just took a 1 week course for the first test, BSCI, and I hope to take that by Oct 25th.

The thing with my situation is I'm sitting in a classroom all day to learn this stuff, so if you are in school or working at a job, you won't have the 7-8 hours a day that I get to learn it. I'm guessing it'll take me somewhere around 8 weeks to get my CCNP, so I would think close to double that for someone not in classes all day for it. (I figured 1 week of courses and 1 week of self-study for each portion.) Even then, it will be hard for me to actually RETAIN the knowledge afterwards... The sad thing is that you want to know a lot to pass the exam, but you really need to understand it for the future too. I feel like rushing through things, although it will get the certs, may not be as beneficial because you can't replicate it in the field (where it actually matters).

With that being said, I have no intention of going for my CCIE anymore. I had thought about it at one point, but the time & life commitment that you must give it is too much. I'm married and work is not in my top 4 priorities in life, so the CCIE got thrown out the window. It's said to be a "soul-consuming" task, hence why so few people that take it actually pass. The rough #'s for the CCIE are that roughly ~$10k are spent preparing and taking (and *hopefully* passing) it!!

Also, getting your CCIE has its pros & cons. Here are my thoughts on those, they may be different than others on here.

Pros:
- You are an absolute expert in a particular technology (Switching & Routing, Voice, Security, etc.. depending on the path you choose for your IE)
- You have a guaranteed 6 figure income (in most places)

Cons:
- You sacrifice your personal life for months to a year preparing and possibly never achieving the CCIE
- You spend thousands of dollars for something you may not achieve
- You are now known as a technical expert, although the CCIEs that I know don't want anyone knowing that they are IE's because then EVERYONE comes to them for help (customers, co-workers, etc)
- You risk hindering your upward movement if you are seen as incredibly technical, but without any people skills

Sorry for the book! Hope this helps!
 
I'll try to share a bit of my experience here ... now first off the way I study and learn things is all out in-depth study. I even went to a college that was one course at a time where you study your friggn ass off all day every day for 3.5 weeks, then take your final. I thrive in this type of environment.

The way I have been progressing through my certifications is to read over all of the material over the course of a few months, then take a boot camp for a last-minute cram and then pound out the tests. I got through the CCNA in a month of prep and a 1 week boot camp, and the CCNP with 2 months of prep and a 2 week boot camp (granted at the boot camp I was studying 18-20 hours a day for 2 solid weeks).

Now I am setting my sights on the CCIE. Why - well first I find networking absolutely fascinating, and the more I learn, the more I want to know more. I would also say that the other half of the reason is simply for the challenge of accomplishing a supremely difficult challenge and proving to myself that I can do it. But then again, I am one of those crazy people who enjoy doing Iron-Man triathlons too.

And the kicker ... networking is not my primary job function, I just really like doing it (it would be if I had a choice, but the politics of the real world ...); consulting on the side keeps my skills up and is a nice source of a little extra income.
 
Thanks guys. I was thinking that the progression couldn't be done quickly after you get the first cert and moving to the next cert would take a year or more and then the cci would take around 10 years or so of me being in the business. I like whoever said that the ccie is a guaranteed 6 figures in most places which is what I want to achieve so I will probably have my CCNP within 2 years of being out of college. Then its CCIE time :).

Are the msce certs looked down on in terms of the Cisco certs? Would they be a waste of time to even go into? I guess it depends on the employer but I like a place where I start work and if I get X cert it = more cash on the salary. Gives me incentive to learn and I can plot goals for myself.
 
It never hurts to know more than one specific area. Knowing more than one area will make you that much better at troubleshooting issues.
 
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