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So I have a question hopefully someone can answer; does taking (and passing) any of the Cisco exams renew the CCNA, or do you have to actually acquire the new cert to renew? My CCNA expires this year, but since I'm taking the ROUTE exam in about a month, I'm curious whether that will renew my CCNA or if I should start preparing to re-certify.
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Feb 8, 2013 20:26
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Cyazares posted:So I have a question hopefully someone can answer; does taking (and passing) any of the Cisco exams renew the CCNA, or do you have to actually acquire the new cert to renew? My CCNA expires this year, but since I'm taking the ROUTE exam in about a month, I'm curious whether that will renew my CCNA or if I should start preparing to re-certify. Anything on the same level as ccna or above renew it. Generally, if the exam requires the ccna to even take it, then you will know it will renew it. CCNA voice or CCNA security are both simple tests to renew it with.
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Feb 8, 2013 20:34
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Here's a complete list straight from the source.
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Feb 8, 2013 21:36
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This probably isn't the best thread to continue this discussion, but I find it interesting. I've found that people have a very wide range of what they consider to be a DBA, so I'm not at all surprised to see the varying opinions. Always interesting to get the opinion of other professionals.
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Feb 10, 2013 05:24
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Graves posted:This probably isn't the best thread to continue this discussion, but I find it interesting. I've found that people have a very wide range of what they consider to be a DBA, so I'm not at all surprised to see the varying opinions. Always interesting to get the opinion of other professionals. 
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Feb 10, 2013 21:11
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Scheduled the CCNA for 2/27 so it's all study all the time for the next two weeks. Mama wouldn't be happy if I went in and wasted her $300 bones on a swing and a miss.
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Feb 10, 2013 22:17
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I was hoping I could maybe get some encouragement and motivation from those of you who have gotten your CCENT/CCNAs. I've been a VOIP tech for a telecom for about 3 years now. I have no certifications and basically have picked up what little I know from the company's in-house training sessions and CBTs. Honestly, my heart just isn't in this, but it seems like getting the CCENT and then CCNA would be a prudent long-term decision. For those of you with certs, how did you motivate yourself to study? My day-to-day work tends to cover VOIP and Class 5 switch-based voice troubleshooting and provisioning, but once my workday is over it's not something I think about or care about at all. My plan was to pick up some of the CCNA books mentioned in the OP and study based off the training materials my company has put out there for at least 3 or 4 months, then take the test over the summer. Should I really bother with training classes or boot camps? My company has a reimbursement program for the test, at least, provided I pass.
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Feb 12, 2013 02:25
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MeatwadIsGod posted:I was hoping I could maybe get some encouragement and motivation from those of you who have gotten your CCENT/CCNAs. I've been a VOIP tech for a telecom for about 3 years now. I have no certifications and basically have picked up what little I know from the company's in-house training sessions and CBTs. Honestly, my heart just isn't in this, but it seems like getting the CCENT and then CCNA would be a prudent long-term decision. For those of you with certs, how did you motivate yourself to study? My day-to-day work tends to cover VOIP and Class 5 switch-based voice troubleshooting and provisioning, but once my workday is over it's not something I think about or care about at all. My plan was to pick up some of the CCNA books mentioned in the OP and study based off the training materials my company has put out there for at least 3 or 4 months, then take the test over the summer. Should I really bother with training classes or boot camps? My company has a reimbursement program for the test, at least, provided I pass. For me the CCNA was probably the most boring certification I've ever had to study for. I don't really care about a large portion of the subject matter (frame relay) and the rest of it is uninteresting by virtue of having been doing it since 1994 so it's nothing new. I still wanted to/had to study though to make sure I had the "cisco appropriate answers." I basically forced myself to study by scheduling the composite exam about a month out. Spending a couple hundred bucks on a test can be a powerful motivator to get it right the first time.
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Feb 12, 2013 03:31
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If the material isn't altogether interesting to you on some level then you might want to invest in a classroom setting. Check your local community colleges to see if you have a CCNA Exploration series of classes. They're four classes that you can take mostly concurrently, but you will want to do at least the first class separately if you're not confident in your subnetting skills and troubleshooting by OSI layers, etc. I am a big proponent of learning by doing, and honestly if the material isn't interesting I tend not to "do", and reading becomes a chore. A structured setting might be best to alleviate that if you're anything like me. The way I look at the CCENT/ICND2 is that CCENT is beyond boring, full of facts and charts and focuses mainly on RIP, which you are likely to never encounter. The other concepts it touches on that are interesting are only glanced at. Once you graduate from the boring pit that CCENT, I think CCNA/ICND2 actually becomes very interesting. You start to look at switching in depth, frame relay is at least interesting, OSPF and EIGRP are pretty awesome. It took me a year to do the exam (keeping in mind that I did it in one test, not two) and I could have done it in significantly less but I procrastinated and basically went over the material a thousand times until I knew it like the back of my hand. I aced the exam, but I probably could have done it in a few months if I wasn't such a worry-wart.
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Feb 12, 2013 11:20
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Is it OK if I ask for some general certification path advice here? I lazed my way through my college education here in the UK, 'securing' a bunch of crappy qualifications that aren't worth the paper they're printed on. GNVQ and an AS level in IT, which basically means you know how to turn the PC on and open Word. After that, I managed to get a job in Tech Support, and got my A+ and N+ over the course of a couple of years. I then made a terrible career decision that left me in an office role that stagnated any and all IT skills I had once acquired. I took it because it was a significant payrise, but it led me straight into a dead end. Unfortunately, I was made redundant after a couple of years and as a result, struggled to find another job. A few pages back, someone mentioned that they interviewed a guy with an N+, but couldn't explain the purpose of subnets when asked? I had to check the post dates, because I'm sure as hell the poster was referring to me. It was incredibly embarrassing, but somehow - I managed to secure the job. Luckily, I don't think the aforementioned poster is now my boss.  What I'm trying to say, is that I haven't taken certifications, or my career very seriously up until this point. I always figured that I could manage, that somehow I'd always land on my feet. Being made redundant shock me to my core, and I realised that because I had experience, I wasn't entitled to every role that I applied for. These are hard times, and there are more experienced, and more qualified people out there, fighting for jobs. So, I've taken studying seriously, and I'm pumping out a minimum of an hour on weekdays, and at least 2 hours at weekends (with more leading up to an exam) - It's led me pretty well, I managed to get my Windows 7 Config (70-680) on my Second Shot, and I'm taking my Windows DST (70-685)in 2 weeks time. My question - Is where should I go from here? Once I've secured my 685, what should I do next? The way I see it, I have three immediate options: A) Take the upgrade to turn my 680/685 into the Windows 8 equivalent. Will extend the life of my certs from retirement, with just one exam. Will potentially demonstrate that I'm knowledgeable on portable / tablet platforms? B) Head straight into the Windows Server 2012 certs. This will happen regardless, as I want to secure an MCSE (or whatever the hell MS are calling it nowadays) C) Tie up loose ends first. Subnetting is still a black subject for me. While I now understand their purpose, CIDR and VLSM still don't quite sit right in my mind. I'd like to refresh on the more recent N+ syllabus, without actually taking the exam. I'd also like to look into PowerShell in greater depth, as it looks pretty interesting. My end goal is to secure an MCSE and possibly be an IT support team leader down the road, before finding a field to truly specialise in. But right now, I'm bored of being a low level DST with no responsibilities, with nothing but a ticket system to monitor and the occasional bit of pre-empt work. TLDR: After passing my 70-685 - what should I move onto next? Thanks for reading my small essay. 
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Feb 12, 2013 22:17
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Zaii posted:A) Take the upgrade to turn my 680/685 into the Windows 8 equivalent. Will extend the life of my certs from retirement, with just one exam. Will potentially demonstrate that I'm knowledgeable on portable / tablet platforms? Don't go for A. Since you have a job with downtime right now, I would start at C. Practice your subnetting and try to automate anything you can think of with powershell. Go to https://www.subnettingquestions.com for a few minutes a day, until you start seeing the patterns. Go to the powershell thread here and start reading and asking questions. Once you start to become comfortable with those, work towards your MCSE. There will be some powershell and subnetting questions on those exams, and they will have become easier. Meanwhile, knowing powershell and subnetting will make you better at your job. The more you automate, the more time you have to learn.
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Feb 12, 2013 22:47
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Jelmylicious posted:I would start at C. Thanks. I'll get this pesky exam out the way, and tie up some loose ends before working on something new. Cheers
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Feb 13, 2013 14:26
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I've dropped in here before to ask about certs but that was back when I was still pretty new at my job. I've now been here 9 months as a junior engineer. The General Operations Manager pulled me into his office yesterday to tell me the company wanted to get me on track to become a real engineer (a REAL boy!) and that they came up with a plan to get me there. They want me to complete my Mac Integration Basics exam before I start on anything else but they said after that it is up to me. I looked through the OP and it looks like I should shoot for lower level stuff like MCSE but I wanted some input. They are willing to pay for any cert as well as give me a pay bump after each completed exam. Should I start with A+ and get the Net+ after that? At that point should I move on to MCSE or Sec+? I would like to eventually end up going for the CCNA but I know I need a lot more experience for that. Is there a general skill level rule for these lower level certs?
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Feb 13, 2013 21:10
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Red Robin Hood posted:I've dropped in here before to ask about certs but that was back when I was still pretty new at my job. I've now been here 9 months as a junior engineer. The General Operations Manager pulled me into his office yesterday to tell me the company wanted to get me on track to become a real engineer (a REAL boy!) and that they came up with a plan to get me there. A+ and net+ plus are stuff you look to do when you want to GET an entry level gig. You already have one or better. The question to ask is "What kind of stuff do I want to specialize in first?". Do you want to manage windows machines? Windows Servers? Linux? How about networking? The question a lot of new people come to this thread and ask "What should I do next?" when they should be asking "I want to do this, how do I prepare myself the best to do this?". You have a gig that will pay for the exams and reward you for passing them. That's a dream situation for someone who is starting out. Take full advantage of it while you can.
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Feb 13, 2013 21:22
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The above is pretty much on point, but if you're looking to knock out a couple certs just cuz its free, A+ is passable easily and sec+ I hear is quite quick as well, with as low as a week study time mentioned frequently. MCSE consists of, uh I'm not sure about the new one but it used to be 7 tests, I think it might be 5 now but even 5 MS tests would take you quite a while.
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Feb 13, 2013 21:28
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I started my "career" as an intern at my school district's technology department running ethernet, labeling servers and switches and wires in the NOC and doing general help desk stuff at the schools. That was really a fun experience but I wasn't able to take full advantage of it because once I graduated they had to cut me loose. After that I worked non-IT jobs (Target and construction) until the network admin from that school district got a new job at a local cloud solution company. He suggested me for a temp junior engineering position that ended up turning into a full time position. That is where I began in my first post above... Before the school district I learned everything on my own at home or from my uncles at their jobs. One owns his own business that designed web pages and programs and the other was a network admin at a law firm but now works as a network admin at a private school. I've learned a lot from them but not a lot of real-world experience. What I THINK I am interested in is security. I've always been fascinated with hacking in general and I considered joining the Air Force to go a cyber security but ended up getting this gig. I guess I kind of feel like I haven't done enough to know what I really like. tl;dr: I'm interested in security. I know that is pretty broad so probably more server security than anything else. I enjoy playing with server hardware and routers, but have not had much experience with building servers. I'm a Windows guy but always wished I could be a Linux guru.
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Feb 13, 2013 21:52
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Red Robin Hood posted:I started my "career" as an intern at my school district's technology department running ethernet, labeling servers and switches and wires in the NOC and doing general help desk stuff at the schools. That was really a fun experience but I wasn't able to take full advantage of it because once I graduated they had to cut me loose. After that I worked non-IT jobs (Target and construction) until the network admin from that school district got a new job at a local cloud solution company. He suggested me for a temp junior engineering position that ended up turning into a full time position. That is where I began in my first post above... Well, like a lot of us, your interests seem to be all over the loving place. That's not a bad thing, just means you are going to have a harder time figuring out where to start first. Since your interested in security, traditionally your first stop should be Sec+. Its going to go over a very broad range of topics without a huge amount of detail. It will however get your feet wet with the basic concepts of security. It also is a requirement for a great number of dod/government jobs so its not a total waste either way. There are also a good number of security related books out there that are worth reading that can improve your knowledge of security best practices and so on. I would also remind you that security, at least at one point, was done by SR people who were more of experts in their field. They basically knew so much about the inter-workings of the systems they managed that they knew the most about methods used to break into them. Even though that's not exactly the case with security jobs these days (a sad fact I might add) it still holds true that you are going to need a good working knowledge of the systems you are attempting to secure. All the various vendor cert coursework can help with that so its best to choose whatever you personally are interested in because honestly, you got years and years of work to do. So in short, do the Sec+ content and then maybe CCNA stuff? Might also be a good idea to ask your boss what technologies he would prefer you look into first.
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Feb 13, 2013 22:08
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Good security demands a holistic approach, so you have to get your fingers into everything. It in particular is a topic where a couple of upper-level college courses on the topic would do you a lot of good, as opposed to any particular vendor's stamp.
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Feb 13, 2013 22:55
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I took an 400-level IS Auditing course in college. Remember kids, ask the network admin if his network runs on half- or full-duplex, to show him you're tech-savvy.
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Feb 14, 2013 02:07
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Contingency posted:I took an 400-level IS Auditing course in college. Remember kids, ask the network admin if his network runs on half- or full-duplex, to show him you're tech-savvy. I... who... goddamnit. Where the hell is that idiot?
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Feb 14, 2013 03:24
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Half-duplex, brah. I'm saving so much money on those duplexes 
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Feb 14, 2013 03:32
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"I'm an IT professional." "You're not dealing with a rank amateur." A customer of mine who spits lines like this every 8 months i have to see him. Please don't end up like this guy when you get your certs/degrees.
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Feb 14, 2013 03:53
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Parlett316 posted:"I'm an IT professional." I'll apologize ahead of time because I realize it might be obvious but by "rank amateur" do you mean act like I know a lot because I have certs in my signature? I don't plan on being that kind of guy. Mostly because the co-worker that is getting me on track at work is a complete airhead that is terrible at his job but has passed the CISSP test so he acts like tough poo poo 
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Feb 14, 2013 04:44
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I'm into some pretty obscure routing protocols. You've probably never heard of them 
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Feb 14, 2013 05:54
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I have a cousin who proves how IT he is by posting CPU overclock results and benchmark scores etc from his home PC. He's so IT.
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Feb 14, 2013 06:00
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If someone asks, just pull out a picture of your Flying Saucer plate. True credentials right there.
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Feb 14, 2013 06:46
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:I have a cousin who proves how IT he is by posting CPU overclock results and benchmark scores etc from his home PC. He's so IT. A support guy at work is a lot like this. He's so very  about it, too...
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Feb 14, 2013 06:48
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Red Robin Hood posted:A support guy at work is a lot like this. He's so very "hey stripe what video card do you run at home?" "ATI, I believe" "oh yeah what model?" "uh, the red one. yeah. the red one." "what's the texture fill rate on that guy?" "... seven? seven textures? i think it's seven" Anyway, certs is the topic - hey guys aren't certs the best? Anyone else into certs like I am? Martytoof posted:I'm into some pretty obscure routing protocols. You've probably never heard of them e: Oh, you're into EIGRP? Yeah that was pretty cool before it went all mainstream. there's a pitchfork pun in here somewhere - routefork? pitchwork? netfork? it's there somewhere it's just not coming to me. MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Feb 14, 2013 |
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Feb 14, 2013 06:51
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CrazyLittle posted:I... who... goddamnit. Where the hell is that idiot? It's the mid 90s. You can install Windows, so you're practically a wizard. Do you: A) make the metamorphosis from "computer guy" to sysadmin/developer/IT manager, or B) cash in your rep for a professorship and ride that gravy train to retirement? 15 years later, you're worried the cracks are beginning to show. The accounting majors eat up everything you say, but the IS guys seem...skeptical, almost contemptuous. He lasted another year after I graduated; these days, he's probably doing his side work as an expert witness.
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Feb 14, 2013 06:55
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Contingency posted:I took an 400-level IS Auditing course in college. Remember kids, ask the network admin if his network runs on half- or full-duplex, to show him you're tech-savvy. Well, yes, quality of courses does vary. The 300-level Comp Sec class I was in took apart the attacks on the original Diebold voting machines, which was pretty interesting and a really concrete example of security in action.
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Feb 14, 2013 07:19
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:e: Oh, you're into EIGRP? Yeah that was pretty cool before it went all mainstream. Nah, man. I am so next gen, I run RIPng. Nothing goes better with IPv6 than trusty old RIP! (I once had an admin tell me he ran IPv7 on his backend. All I could think of was: wow, that's even older then IPv6 and actually deprecated.. (actually, I just thought: idiot). To the guy wanting to get into security and also fancies linux, you could look into an entry level linux cert, like LPI. But the best course is probably to start sec+ to get your feet wet and to also see wich part of security interests you the most. Or just go for what you will be working with, so you can practice on the job.
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Feb 14, 2013 07:34
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The CS courses I took in college have definitely helped me in understanding how various security appliances play into things like parameter validation, method screening, and other application-level threat mitigation techniques. It also lets me know how loving lazy developers are when they don't secure their own application against stupid poo poo like SQL injections.
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Feb 14, 2013 16:21
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I had my first networking instructor pop his head into our class one night to ask the department head if "the internet is down". He'd seen the same thing as the rest of us: a message from a fresh Apache installation on the campus server. So even forgetting for a moment that IP had to be working for us to see said message, he had actually walked away from a computer and came over to our class to interrupt and ask this rather than try pinging or loading any other web page anywhere, which would've shown him the problem was isolated to the campus server. This is the guy who teaches people basic troubleshooting, ping, tracert etc. probably 4 or more times every year.
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Feb 14, 2013 19:15
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Remy Marathe posted:I had my first networking instructor pop his head into our class one night to ask the department head if "the internet is down". He'd seen the same thing as the rest of us: a message from a fresh Apache installation on the campus server. So even forgetting for a moment that IP had to be working for us to see said message, he had actually walked away from a computer and came over to our class to interrupt and ask this rather than try pinging or loading any other web page anywhere, which would've shown him the problem was isolated to the campus server. Maybe they blocked outbound ICMP requests. Not that it excuses his dumbness.
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Feb 14, 2013 19:28
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I don't think so, at least I've never had a problem pinging the outside world from the classrooms when everything's working properly. I suppose anything is possible in a networking classroom and maybe he had some unusual setup going on over there, but they generally separate the real infrastructure & outbound connection to the internet from the structure used for labs.
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Feb 14, 2013 20:11
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I'm studying for my CCA XenApp 6.5 cert. Anyone else gone down this path? I manage XenApp/Presentation Server 4.5,5 and 6 farms everyday and I am comfortable with it in our mid to large envirnoment. I'm just curious how the tests measure up against day to day management and deployment.
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Feb 14, 2013 20:27
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psydude posted:Maybe they blocked outbound ICMP requests. Not that it excuses his dumbness. Is there a legitimate reason to block ICMP? I've seen a few large corporations do this I cannot fathom why...
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Feb 14, 2013 23:12
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Tab8715 posted:Is there a legitimate reason to block ICMP? I've seen a few large corporations do this I cannot fathom why... Harder to discover hosts on a network. Network scans use ping sweeps. There are some web servers. Such as 4.4.4.4 that get pinged like crazy by tons of people to see if the internet is up and working. If this starts happening to a box you are paying for you may want to turn it off. Edit: By web servers I mean servers on the web. 4.4.4.4 is a DNS iirc.
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Feb 14, 2013 23:15
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BobSaget posted:Harder to discover hosts on a network. Network scans use ping sweeps. I don't know what you mean? Like, finding that a computer is pingable doesn't really mean much... Other than it exists.
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Feb 15, 2013 00:03
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Tab8715 posted:I don't know what you mean? Like, finding that a computer is pingable doesn't really mean much... Other than it exists. -There's also obscure hacking techniques (which I don't really understand) that rely on ICMP's ability to return a payload. I've seen it used to bypass login screens at an internet cafe. -Old school DDoS used pings, I figure that's probably been patched by machines made after 2001. In general hide the ping on poo poo you don't want to be found (with exceptions), and allow pings where applicable. It's not a massive breach of security, though.
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Feb 15, 2013 00:30
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