The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

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rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

^^ It's easy enough to watch some videos and think to yourself "Yeah, that seems straightforward, I got this" (I know this because this is me like every time I start studying something) and then you go and actually try to do it and it's not quite as easy as you thought. See: the difference between reading through all the CCNA material and actually doing the simlets and such in them.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2015 03:35

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 04:36

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Contingency posted:

Things must have changed since I've taken either exam, because there's a significant leap between "when should a fiber cable be used" and "calculate the STP path cost for Switch E."

STP is on the icnd2.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2015 16:02

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Not to mention they toughened it up some a year and a half ago or whatever. From what I understand, they moved some stuff off of the CCNP and on to the CCNA.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2015 23:23

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Personally, I'd say the ccna entirely supplants the network+

# ¿ Jul 1, 2015 21:00

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

https://www.reddit.com/r/networking/comments/3cvmr8/cisco_hasnt_officially_said_anything_but_theyre/

Not even remotely official, but interesting.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2015 15:13

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Yeah, I liked Jeremy's CCENT/CCNA videos better than Keith's CCNA Sec/CCNP Sec stuff just from a listerning POV.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2015 15:43

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Ahdinko posted:

logging syn (this is the best command in the world)

It is, along with

no ip domain-lookup

In fact, no ip domain-lookup might slightly win out since logging syn is QOL while stupid dns lookup on mistyped commands is just obnoxious.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2015 15:15

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Just a CCENT was enough for me to get a bunch of responses for NOC jobs from recruiters and callbacks from direct hire job applications I put in, so I dunno what to tell you there.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2015 05:17

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Spanning tree, and especially per VLAN spanning tree were my personal bane on the ICND2 fwiw. Agreed with the above poster that you should focus on that if you don't feel comfortable.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2015 20:01

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Mrit posted:

The CCENT is more respectable than the Net+(kinda), and its 50% of the CCNA. Downsides: I've done both, the CCENT is harder. CompTIA wants memorization, Cisco wants understanding. And the tests reflect that.

Which... is why the CCENT is more respected.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2015 18:32

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

swampcow posted:

Hey guys, what's your opinion on this?:

https://www.certificationkits.com/lab-suggestions/cisco-lab-suggestions/

Has anyone used their materials to study? Or bought a shitton of switches and routers as that article suggests? I don't mind messing around with emulators if it saves me a couple hundred bucks, but I would like some familiarity with the hardware.

Regardless of what they say there, you do not need physical hardware to prep for the CCENT/CCNA. While they're certainly correct that there are things you can only encounter when actually working with the equipment, none of that is relevant to the exam.

That said, for the goal of learning beyond simply passing a test, by all means build a small lab. A couple of routers and a switch are easily obtainable for a couple of hundred bucks, tops.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2015 03:48

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

I've been slowly going through the book, and it would be kinda nice to see a refresh. Is CCP even still used widely? I've only worked with ASDM, because I only work on ASAs, but I've never even heard someone reference CCP until I started reading the book.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 14:23

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

The CCNA was just refreshed two years ago. How often do they update them?

# ¿ Oct 16, 2015 02:47

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Use a bunch of virtual machines?

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 03:34

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Grawl posted:

So what's the best general idea right now? Microsoft, Cisco or something else?

Well, those are two very different tracks so you probably want to decide if you like the idea of sysadmin or network admin first. Either one has plenty of demand and can be lucrative.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2015 01:10

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

Man we really should consolidate about 10 of these threads into general "I work in IT, let's talk" threads. I have no idea where to post this question. It's going here.

If I want to put together a basic CCNA lab, I go buy a couple of switches, couple of routers, it's all good. Or, I do it in GNS3. Easy. Here's my question. How do I know which version of IOS to run on each device? There's so many options and flags that I'm at a loss.

God, post it here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3561669

:ducks:

# ¿ Dec 9, 2015 03:21

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Has anyone here taken the Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE), or even know anything about it? I don't think I've seen it mentioned here before. We're rolling out support for Palo Alto's in the near future and I'm wondering if that cert is worth studying for, difficulty, and whether or not it's something in demand in the market in general?

# ¿ Dec 15, 2015 01:45

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

psydude posted:

If you're working for a partner, it's required for gold status. It's fairly difficult (slightly harder than the CCNA); it's also similar to the Microsoft certifications in that you're certified indefinitely for a version (6, 7, etc.) as opposed to having to recertify every few years. It's not super widely recognized, but the classes for it are worth taking just for the exposure, if nothing else.

Good info, thanks!

# ¿ Dec 15, 2015 23:56

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

beepsandboops posted:

Hoping to get my ICND2 before the end of the month. I've got Odom's book and have been watching CBT Nuggets, and will probably just use the sample test that came with the Odom book and GNS3.

Any tips on the test? I'm getting tripped up by all of the different costs for all of the different routing protocols / STP stuff, but conceptually it all makes sense to me.

The different flavors of spanning tree and the ways they are implemented were what gave me the most trouble, so I'd say double down on that.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2016 08:09

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Alder posted:

Eh out of curiosity how do you afford the certs in the first place? Looking at my crystal ball it's extremely expensive for the most entry-level (I'm halfway done with A+) exams.

Other than me waiting for free college in the next few yrs :bernget:

It's just like anything else, really. Either save up for it if the price is too high to just pay out of pocket, or have your workplace pay for it if that's an option. They are definitely kinda pricey if you're in debt and have a poo poo job currently, but just try to set aside some money every week for it if possible. If you're living paycheck to paycheck and can't even afford that, maybe ask your parents or something if that's an option.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2016 03:21

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Alder posted:

Yes that sounds like the latter for me

Mostly I feel like I could pass them but let's start with getting enough funding to buy vouchers & food/rent first.

I've been there (recently) and it sucks. It can get better though. Keep hanging in there and don't be afraid to reach out to family for help to advance your prospects. 2015 turned into an amazing year for me after I finally maxed out my credit card, emptied my bank account and had to move in with my parents for a couple of months while I crammed for the CCNA. After just passing the CCENT (first half of the CCNA), I got a job in a NOC at the end of 2014. Keep plugging away and get your resume out there.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2016 03:52

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

crunk dork posted:

Non cert classes are a joke imo and you can knock each one out in a week or two depending on how much time you can dump into them daily.

Just failed 210-260 with a 760, lots of poorly worded and vague questions coupled with a few areas that weren't touched at all in the OCG or even Keith Barker's updated videos. I wouldn't even bother retaking it if I didn't have to for my degree. This is the last class before my final paper too

All these stories are making me glad I've been slacking on studying for the ccna sec.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2016 22:06

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

crunk dork posted:

Studying for this seemed tacky the whole time because the emphasis was on ASDM and not making sure you know the CLI equivalent.. Makes me feel dirty.

Cisco got back to me last night wrt my open case with them and said everything works how it should and that I just needed to study more or something.. Punk motherfuckers

Not disagreeing with you, but in case anyone itt doesn't know, there's an option in ASDM, which is disabled by default, that pops up a box with all the commands that are about to be run when you apply changes to a box. If you're practicing with ASDM, I'd highly recommend turning that on so you at least see exactly what it's doing and you can compare it against how you think you'd do it.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2016 16:56

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

That's been asked a few times recently, either here or in the IT thread.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2016 01:40

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Those of you that have taken the new CCNA security, what did you use to study for it? I know there was plenty of chatter about that bugged simlet, but I'm still thinking about taking it in the next couple of months.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2016 04:38

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Nice, thanks.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2016 06:00

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Woo, passed the Sec+ with an 858. On to the CCNA Sec next.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2016 17:55

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

There was like one question about encryption on mine, and that's the thing I spent the most time on :/

# ¿ Apr 1, 2016 17:58

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Docjowles posted:

Congrats You've come a long way from a year ago.

You were a big part of getting me off my rear end two years ago and getting my resume together to gtfo of Target.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2016 15:09

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

DropsySufferer posted:

My CCNA certification is going to expire in a year. This is a bit of an annoying problem. Right now in my career CCNP certification would not be that helpful so I'd rather do this later. What's my best option here? Should I just get CCNP route done or is there maybe an easier way to recertify? How hard is ROUTE exactly? I'm cringing a bit because I really don't want to work on something harder than the CCNA was at this point in time. I'm just hoping ROUTE won't be as hard/take as long the CCNA did was because CCNP is cut up into three different parts.

I guess I need to just suck it up and get working on ROUTE, really hoping this one will be easier than the CCNA was. That's my big worry I'm getting set up for a test that will be harder then CCNA. I prefer to want to do certifications not have to.

What about doing the CCNA security or one of the others?

# ¿ Apr 16, 2016 00:34

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Jedi425 posted:

Passed with an 828. Death to PPPoE, death to IPv6, BGP is great.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2016 01:30

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Yeah, I use telnet when netcat isn't available to test ports.

# ¿ May 4, 2016 23:50

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Contingency posted:

You're that guy that tests port forwarding with ping, and the bane of my existence.

Confirmed. The number of customers that I have freaking out telling me the firewall is blocking their application because they can't ping it drives me crazy.

# ¿ May 5, 2016 02:46

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

If you really want a class, a lot of community colleges do them and I imagine it's a drat sight cheaper than $5000.

# ¿ May 16, 2016 18:05

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Didn't they just revamp it in 2014? Or was it 2013?

# ¿ May 17, 2016 11:52

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Broletariat posted:

Well at least i didnt pay for a test date and only wasted 30 on these books for CCNA/CCENT

fuckin hell

Just take the existing one?

# ¿ May 19, 2016 15:27

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Spambort posted:

for people that have taken the ICND2 test, are they're any IPv6 questions?
I'm wondering if it is similar to ICND1 where IPv6 is good preparation for the future but not on the test.

I vaguely remember there being one or two.

# ¿ May 21, 2016 22:41

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

It's been awhile since I took it, do you have to subnet poo poo by hand on the ICND2? I know the ICND1 had plenty of it.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2016 17:43

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Yeah, I deal with subnets all day every day, but I don't do them by hand. If I'm not sure if they will overlap, I just punch them into a calculator. I learned how to do them by had for the ICND1 but it's been a year and a half since I did that.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2016 21:03

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 04:36

rafikki: Mar 8, 2008; I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD

Interesting. I wonder how a brand new cert that relatively few people will have heard of, even though it's Cisco, will look on a resume.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 01:59

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