CCNA

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Stratigas

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
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74
Hey guys,

I'm interested in getting my CCNA. I've looked around community colleges in my area and they all have bullshit programs that involve A+/Net+ and things I couldn't care less about. I really don't need to go to school for 13 months and have 9 months of worthless junk.

Looking for some reccomendations on how to set up my own lab to mimic what a school might offer as well as some books/study material. I figure I'm smart enough to figure it out myself provided I have the correct equipment/learning materials.

Thanks!
 
Dylan80 said:
If you know your stuff just go apply to take the A+ test and get that... that is pretty much the first basic thing you should get.

The cisco blog will probably help a little, but its from a few years ago (still the basics)

http://www.ciscoblog.com/archives/2006/08/ideal_ccna_lab.html
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that list is VERY old and even for the old outdated test. They updated the exam in late 2007 and the recommended routers are 2600 series routers and switches are 2950's.
 
The CCNA course I was planning on taking was 13 months long. Any rough time frame how long it should take me to complete both books/study before I am ready to take the test with confidence?
 
Stratigas said:
The CCNA course I was planning on taking was 13 months long. Any rough time frame how long it should take me to complete both books/study before I am ready to take the test with confidence?
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It depends how much you already know about Networking. 13 months is a VERY long time. If you are motivated and dedicated and have the free time to study you could easily pass the CCNA in 2-3 months.
 
A CCNA boot camp is five days.

The military teaches CCNA in two to three months through the Cisco Network Academy.

Some community colleges teach CCNA in two semesters through the Cisco Network Academy.

I took an online course through UMUC. They used the Sybex Book and the rinky dink network simulator. It wasn't a real good class.

You can try to cram the info in a few weeks buy reading the CCNA kit, GNS3 or lab.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
that list is VERY old and even for the old outdated test. They updated the exam in late 2007 and the recommended routers are 2600 series routers and switches are 2950's.
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Exams were updated last year. CCNA is no longer 3.1, its 4.0 Discovery now.
 
Vito_Corleone said:
CCNA Discovery is not the CCNA, it's the Cisco Network Academy stuff. Not the same thing.
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Its the same curriculum of stuff you have to know... Unless you have other information that Cisco isn't telling me...

But to the OP, the current curriculum is 4.1, see if you can find some 4.0 curriculum books and read through those and try the labs out that are in those books.

I did my CCNA in high school and we did it pretty much by the book. Read a chapter (or section depending on how long a chapter was) and then do the labs for that chapter/section, then rinse and repeat. We went through CCNA 1-4 in about 2 semesters of high school.

I also took CCNA again in university and finally decided to get certified after my second year. :rolleyes:
 
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I'm trying to understand what you mean by no update last year. So the 2009 exam will be the same as the 2007 one even though the 2009 one asks about IPv6 and the 2007 one doesn't?
 
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INTRO and ICND were the old CCNA exams, they were retired in 2007 and replaced by ICND1 and ICND2, the new exams.

Code: 
Retired Exam            Last day to Test                 Related Certification(s)
640-821 INTRO 	  	11/06/07 	  	         CCNA 
640-811 ICND 	  	11/06/07 	  	         CCNA

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le11/learning_retired_certification_exams_list.html

So what I'm trying to get across is that the CCNA topics have not changed since 2007 (or last year, as you keep saying).

Edit: Stop basing your information on the CCNA Discovery crap. They probably took too long to update after the changes. The Network Academy material has no real bearing on what is or isn't in the actual CCNA exams.
 
Sheesh, just buy the ICND books by Odom and some crappy gear off ebay to practice with. I'd claw my eyes out if I had to sit though two entire semesters for a single test...

I've taken seven Cisco exams this year alone. If you have the fundamentals down it should only take a few months of concentrated study to do just about any test (or series of tests if they are the shorter ones like SNRS that overlap with other tests/certs)
 
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