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ErIog
Jul 11, 2001

:nsacloud:

Grassy Knowles posted:

Find a way to access the equipment necessary to implement solutions, Packet Tracer is not very good and has weird-rear end limitations that aren't worth bothering with specifically for learning the CCNA. To temper this, I've seen people do it with just GNS3, but if you can afford a kit or a community college course with a lab it's worth it just for the access to the lab--a good instructor isn't entirely necessary, but obviously helps.

Agreed.

Yeah, Packet Tracer will get you through CCENT, but CCNA requires real hardware or GNS3. It has too many bugs and the simulation isn't complete enough to cover the kinds of configurations that get tested on the CCNA.

If you do go a no-hardware route, also know that there are a few things with switches that might not be able to be done in GNS3 and require Packet Tracer.

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SamDabbers
May 26, 2003



As an alternative to eBay hardware or GNS3 with :filez: IOS images, Cisco offers a first-party emulator called VIRL (Virtual Internet Routing Lab) with access to all their major software platforms for routing, switching, and firewall for $200/year.

https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/virtual-internet-routing-lab-virl/cisco-personal-edition-pe-20-nodes-virl-20

SamDabbers fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Dec 14, 2017

Grassy Knowles
Apr 4, 2003

"The original Terminator was a gritty fucking AMAZING piece of sci-fi. Gritty fucking rock-hard MURDER!"

SamDabbers posted:

As an alternative to eBay hardware or GNS3 with :filez: IOS images, Cisco offers a first-party emulator called VIRL (Virtual Internet Routing Lab) with access to all their major software platforms for routing, switching, and firewall for $200/year.

https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/virtual-internet-routing-lab-virl/cisco-personal-edition-pe-20-nodes-virl-20

Have you used it? Is it any good? I'm wary, seeing as

A. I don't believe they offer it to Cisco Learning Academies

B. It's built off of free labor and they're charging for it
"VIRL PE is a community supported product supported by 5000+ community members"

C. If that fully-functional hardware weren't on eBay, it would be dumpstered by Cisco. It might not be ethically sourced, depending on your view of the world, but it's better than the alternative in my opinion--and I'm pretty sure it's not criminally sourced, outside of contract law.

D. This make it sound like a pretty high barrier to entry w/r/t knowledge and resource usage.

Peachfart
Jan 21, 2017

I found a guy selling an old stack of equipment to make my home lab. It is old, but it works.

fordan
Mar 9, 2009

Clue: Zero

Grassy Knowles posted:

Have you used it? Is it any good? I'm wary, seeing as

A. I don't believe they offer it to Cisco Learning Academies

B. It's built off of free labor and they're charging for it
"VIRL PE is a community supported product supported by 5000+ community members"

C. If that fully-functional hardware weren't on eBay, it would be dumpstered by Cisco. It might not be ethically sourced, depending on your view of the world, but it's better than the alternative in my opinion--and I'm pretty sure it's not criminally sourced, outside of contract law.

D. This make it sound like a pretty high barrier to entry w/r/t knowledge and resource usage.

I have VIRL.

A. They actually got rid of educational discounts like a year ago. VIRL is them shrinking the modeling service they offer to enterprise customers to almost fit on personal computers.

B. It’s not built off free labor the way you mean, they’re just trying to say it has an active user community, which is good as I believe that’s your primary support path. I mean, it is built on free labor since it uses OpenStack and Linux and containers and such, but... anyways, this is the community they’re talking about : https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/groups/virl

C. Well dumpstered by Cisco customers. I don’t think anyone thinks eBay is a terrible option; lots of people build labs for learning, but it’s space and power that you may not want to dedicate and it’s not like it gets you access to newer iOS images. Still probably the best way to learn switching concepts since none of the virtual options emulate layer 2 well.

D. You’re going to want 16 gigs of RAM so you can give 8-12 gig to the VIRL VM and with that you’re not going to get close to the 20 node limit, depending on what router types you’re spinning up. It’s not lightweight. On the other hand, there often isn’t a need to spin up large numbers of routers for labbing. The setup instructions are good, the VM Maestro GUI is decent, especially if you aren’t trying to do complex things like interface the routers with VMs spun up outside of VIRL.

VIRL can make sense for people looking at CCNP, or especially CCIE. You get router images that are designed to be virtual vs fooling them with hardware emulation, and getting a virtual IOS-XR image beats trying to find something that runs IOS-XR on eBay since the cheapest is an ASR9k. You can also take the images and use them with GNS3; VIRL is where GNS3 points people to for Cisco code if they don’t have a support contract to download images that work with dynamips.

I will admit I was torn between just using the images I had with GNS 3 vs renewing VIRL this year, but they offered a Black Friday sale so I hit and have it for another year. The images don’t have a subscription phone-home check like the VIRL server does.

fordan fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Dec 14, 2017

SamDabbers
May 26, 2003



Grassy Knowles posted:

Have you used it? Is it any good? I'm wary, seeing as
<words>

fordan posted:

You get router images that are designed to be virtual vs fooling them with hardware emulation, and getting a virtual IOS-XR image beats trying to find something that runs IOS-XR on eBay since the cheapest is an ASR9k. You can also take the images and use them with GNS3; VIRL is where GNS3 points people to for Cisco code if they don’t have a support contract to download images that work with dynamips.

Access to the latest Cisco code is the real value with VIRL, especially since it works with GNS3. Then you're not stuck with the old code you get on the old router from eBay or whatever :filez: IOS dump you find on the net. VIRL also includes IOSvL2, which is the version that runs on switches, so you should be able to lab out most of the switching concepts just fine.

Colostomy Bag
Jan 11, 2016

:lesnick: C-Bangin' it :lesnick:

Holy cripes, information overload and I appreciate it all.

I'm just laughing at the fact that setting up a 3 switch environment along with a router in my den will cause my wife and my electric bill to experience displeasure. Should have held on to on the 2950's. But hell, who knows if they did IPv6. Or the old 1721 router with the T1. Firmware updates, etc. to be somewhat up to date is another question.

MrBigglesworth
Mar 26, 2005

Lover of Fuzzy Meatloaf

ErIog posted:

Agreed.

Yeah, Packet Tracer will get you through CCENT, but CCNA requires real hardware or GNS3. It has too many bugs and the simulation isn't complete enough to cover the kinds of configurations that get tested on the CCNA.

If you do go a no-hardware route, also know that there are a few things with switches that might not be able to be done in GNS3 and require Packet Tracer.

Say what? PT Was perfectly fine for me to pass.

FogHelmut
Dec 18, 2003

Colostomy Bag posted:

It's 4,500 hours if you have a 4 year degree, 7,500 without one. They only accept experience in the past 7 years. Also need 35 hours of classes but there are online ones that are cheap and accepted.

So once you submit all that on your app (don't lie, because they can audit you) and they approve it you have one year to pass the exam which is 200 questions within 4 hours. You get three attempts per year. Then after that you need 60 credits every three years.

It's not cheap either.

Does it open more doors and pay more salaries?

I have the experience, but not the classes. Looking for somewhere to get this education. $555 doesn't seem THAT expensive. What are the 60 credits? More education?


This seems to be the cheapest - https://www.brainbok.com/plans $120 gets you your 35 hours.

FogHelmut fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Dec 20, 2017

vanity slug
Jul 20, 2010

Has anyone done any of the HashiCorp training? We're considering it but can't find any experiences (we're specifically interested in Terraform) and it's kinda expensive for a virtual class.

Colostomy Bag
Jan 11, 2016

:lesnick: C-Bangin' it :lesnick:

FogHelmut posted:

Does it open more doors and pay more salaries?

I have the experience, but not the classes. Looking for somewhere to get this education. $555 doesn't seem THAT expensive. What are the 60 credits? More education?


This seems to be the cheapest - https://www.brainbok.com/plans $120 gets you your 35 hours.

Yeah, look at udemy.

FogHelmut
Dec 18, 2003

I'm a little vague on the 4,500 hours - I just have to have someone like my boss sign a paper that says I did it?

Colostomy Bag
Jan 11, 2016

:lesnick: C-Bangin' it :lesnick:

FogHelmut posted:

I'm a little vague on the 4,500 hours - I just have to have someone like my boss sign a paper that says I did it?

No, no one really needs to sign anything. Unless they audit you.

So on the application which is online, they'll ask you dates and you describe the projects you were working on. It helps in the narrative of each one to break it down via the process groups. You will also have to break down how many hours you spent on each project within the 5 process groups. You can google how you should write each project description. Fill out an excel spreadsheet listing project hours over your past 7 years to give you a guide.

Not sure what your line of work is. But basically if you managed any project you toss it in and make it reasonable.

You might have several projects that are just 200 hours that you overseen. Might be 10 hours of initiating, 40 hours of planning, 100 hours of executing, 40 hours of monitoring and controlling, and 10 hours of closing to reach the 200 hours for that particular project.

You list them separately. And then you tack on your supervisor on the end of each one if they need to verify.

I listed over a dozen for my application.

I know this might sound confusing. They don't gently caress around.

And the test is changing in March. They will be including Agile techniques somehow into the PMBOK.

Colostomy Bag fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Dec 21, 2017

FogHelmut
Dec 18, 2003

Colostomy Bag posted:


Not sure what your line of work is. But basically if you managed any project you toss it in and make it reasonable.

I'm a BSA - so half of my job is IT project management. I can probably just run a report on our project tracking system and use that.



quote:


And the test is changing in March. They will be including Agile techniques somehow into the PMBOK.

So get the cert before March, got it.


So I shouk

Colostomy Bag
Jan 11, 2016

:lesnick: C-Bangin' it :lesnick:

Hope I was helpful, anymore questions just ask. Focus on risk and quality. Quality is somewhat confusing. Along with costing and contracts.

vyst
Aug 25, 2009



Colostomy Bag posted:

No, no one really needs to sign anything. Unless they audit you.

So on the application which is online, they'll ask you dates and you describe the projects you were working on. It helps in the narrative of each one to break it down via the process groups. You will also have to break down how many hours you spent on each project within the 5 process groups. You can google how you should write each project description. Fill out an excel spreadsheet listing project hours over your past 7 years to give you a guide.

Not sure what your line of work is. But basically if you managed any project you toss it in and make it reasonable.

You might have several projects that are just 200 hours that you overseen. Might be 10 hours of initiating, 40 hours of planning, 100 hours of executing, 40 hours of monitoring and controlling, and 10 hours of closing to reach the 200 hours for that particular project.

You list them separately. And then you tack on your supervisor on the end of each one if they need to verify.

I listed over a dozen for my application.

I know this might sound confusing. They don't gently caress around.

And the test is changing in March. They will be including Agile techniques somehow into the PMBOK.

They released the pmbok 6. PMI is finally starting to realize agile is becoming the predominate project management methodology

Colostomy Bag
Jan 11, 2016

:lesnick: C-Bangin' it :lesnick:

vyst posted:

They released the pmbok 6. PMI is finally starting to realize agile is becoming the predominate project management methodology

Thank heavens I can deal with that over the next 3 years.

DotyManX
Aug 9, 2004
Yeah I drive a minivan, big deal, wanna fight about it?
Hey everyone, I mostly just lurk around the forums, but I just passed my CCNA this morning and was able to get myself a new job; going from a guard in a jail to a system support tech. This thread has been great for advice and motivation, so thanks goons! :toot:

sh1fty
Jan 22, 2004

Wqwedftyyyuujuujjjjljnhjtca,Z:-!O:-)

Dr. Arbitrary
Mar 15, 2006

Bleak Gremlin

sh1fty posted:

Wqwedftyyyuujuujjjjljnhjtca,Z:-!O:-)

I feel ya

YOLOsubmarine
Oct 19, 2004

When asked which Pokemon he evolved into, Kamara pauses.

"Motherfucking, what's that big dragon shit? That orange motherfucker. Charizard."

DotyManX posted:

Hey everyone, I mostly just lurk around the forums, but I just passed my CCNA this morning and was able to get myself a new job; going from a guard in a jail to a system support tech. This thread has been great for advice and motivation, so thanks goons! :toot:

Congrats! The NA isn’t a trivial test and it’s a really good cert to get your foot in the door and quickly move up to better things.

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

DotyManX posted:

Hey everyone, I mostly just lurk around the forums, but I just passed my CCNA this morning and was able to get myself a new job; going from a guard in a jail to a system support tech. This thread has been great for advice and motivation, so thanks goons! :toot:

This is hopefully going to be my move in the next year or so. Congrats!

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Working in support tech you have at least a 50% less chance of being shanked by an angry lunatic :v:

KillHour
Oct 28, 2007


Yeah, you're more likely to be the one doing the shanking.

Garrand
Dec 28, 2012

Rhino, you did this to me!

Are there any reputable voucher resalers or anything? I've heard of getting vouchers for cheaper because they are near expiration and I'm looking to take my ICND1 soon but money's tight so it would be nice if I could get some discount to it. I just don't know if those exist for the cisco exams.

BigDave
Jul 14, 2009

Taste the High Country

Garrand posted:

Are there any reputable voucher resalers or anything? I've heard of getting vouchers for cheaper because they are near expiration and I'm looking to take my ICND1 soon but money's tight so it would be nice if I could get some discount to it. I just don't know if those exist for the cisco exams.

http://getcertified4less.com/ is a pretty reputable one, but i'm not sure if they have ICND1.

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
How difficult is the Security+ exam for those with non-technical jobs? I have a family member that has been offered a contracting job working with the Air Force, and they need to pass the Security+ exam within 1 year of being hired. My family member is not technical at all, outside of standard Windows workflows and specialized applications used in the Air Force.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
It's well within the 'read a book, pass a test' territory. Just make sure to actually read the book.

Dr. Arbitrary
Mar 15, 2006

Bleak Gremlin
Also memorize the top 10-15 or so most common ports, and learn all their names for Phishing. I felt like it was mostly common sense.

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

Also memorize the top 10-15 or so most common ports, and learn all their names for Phishing. I felt like it was mostly common sense.

Spearing, whaling, war spearing, war whaling, vishing, mo'ishing, and mantraps.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
You forgot smishing, 6/10

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!

Judge Schnoopy posted:

It's well within the 'read a book, pass a test' territory. Just make sure to actually read the book.

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

Also memorize the top 10-15 or so most common ports, and learn all their names for Phishing. I felt like it was mostly common sense.


Thanks!

skooma512
Feb 8, 2012

You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

Hughmoris posted:

How difficult is the Security+ exam for those with non-technical jobs? I have a family member that has been offered a contracting job working with the Air Force, and they need to pass the Security+ exam within 1 year of being hired. My family member is not technical at all, outside of standard Windows workflows and specialized applications used in the Air Force.

It’s the easiest cert you can get really. Read the book, memorise the bullshit, regurgitate, forget.

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer

skooma512 posted:

It’s the easiest cert you can get really. Read the book, memorise the bullshit, regurgitate, forget.

The test is terrible though. There are enough ambiguous answers that you really need to know everything to make it past the gotcha questions. But yes, it’s all memorization.

Colostomy Bag
Jan 11, 2016

:lesnick: C-Bangin' it :lesnick:

Good lord, looked up the price on that one...$320??

Geesus.

icantfindaname
Jul 1, 2008


Whoops, wrong thread, sorry

icantfindaname fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Jan 1, 2018

cage-free egghead
Mar 8, 2004
Scheduled for my Net+ exam in March so that gives me two months to prep which should be enough. I've got a bunch of random materials but many of the things I got from others pertain to the previous generation's tests (005), would those still be mostly relevant? Also any insight into sites like ITpro or Certmaster? I had a coupon code that made it a $100 difference between the standard and deluxe versions.

Oyster
Nov 11, 2005

I GOT FLAT FEET JUST LIKE MY HERO MEGAMAN
Total Clam

cage-free egghead posted:

Scheduled for my Net+ exam in March so that gives me two months to prep which should be enough. I've got a bunch of random materials but many of the things I got from others pertain to the previous generation's tests (005), would those still be mostly relevant? Also any insight into sites like ITpro or Certmaster? I had a coupon code that made it a $100 difference between the standard and deluxe versions.

I passed the N+ a few weeks ago, taking the 006. The 007 is coming out later this year, I think, and my study materials differentiated 006 and 007 content. I only studied the 006, just grazing the 007 before the test, and I barely passed because 007 stuff was all over the test. I'd imagine what's on the 005 is still relevant, but there are more things added to the current test. On the upside, I'm now studying for the Security+ and there is a lot of overlap.

DotyManX
Aug 9, 2004
Yeah I drive a minivan, big deal, wanna fight about it?
Good news everyone! CompTIA has just informed me that by earning multiple certifications you get "stackable certifications".
So before I just had the A+ and Network+, but now with their powers combined I'm also CIOS - CompTIA IT Operations Specialist.

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Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

DotyManX posted:

Good news everyone! CompTIA has just informed me that by earning multiple certifications you get "stackable certifications".
So before I just had the A+ and Network+, but now with their powers combined I'm also CIOS - CompTIA IT Operations Specialist.

Lol I logged in and apparently have 4 stackable certifications, each a different combo of my comptia poo poo. What worthless garbage.

Though I guess it's easier to put the "CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist" on my resume instead of A+ N+ S+

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