The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

«‹›10 »

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

OP Updated 7/26/13

Whether you love them or hate them, certs are a part of working in IT. Even people who have managed to survive on pure skill and neckbeardery alone will probably find themselves being shanghaied into picking one up at some point in their career.

Why should I spend my precious WoW and cheeto time on this?

The most common answers to this are money and employment. While certifications are no substitution for experience, they generally allow you to get past HR and give you a bit more room for salary negotiations.

For me, personally, they�re a structured way of learning material that I wouldn�t otherwise get routine exposure to in my current position. In this way, it also helps during job interviews with handling technical questions.

My nerd sense is tingling. Tell me more.

Certifications are divided into two broad categories: Industry Certifications and Vendor Certifications. The biggest name in Industry Certifications is CompTIA, which produces the likes of A+, Network+, and Security+. Vendor Certifications are just that: certifications from vendors. Among these, the two most prolific are Cisco and Microsoft, which produce the CCNA and MCSA/E, respectively. This list is anything but exhaustive; we�ll get into many more vendor certifications below.

Okay, but what should I get? And how do I get it?

This question gets asked a lot in this thread. If you�re new to IT and are struggling to find a job in helpdesk, the answer is probably A+ and N+ (I�ll cover these first). Otherwise, the answer is largely based upon which track you�re on, so I�ve grouped the write-ups into the following: Networking, Systems Administration, Security, Virtualization, Storage, Database, Project Management, and Policy. There are a billion specialty and subsidiary certifications, so I�m only going to list the major ones for now.

Networking:
Cisco: CENT, CCNA, CCNP, CCDA, CCDP, CCIE
Juniper: JNCIA, JNCIS, JNCIP, JNCIE

Systems Administration:
Microsoft: MCSA 2008/12, MCSE 2008/12
RedHat: RHCSA, RHCE, RHCA
Unix: Neckbeard Measurement

Security
Security+
CISSP

Virtualization:
VMWare: VCP, VCAP

Storage:
EMC: EMC Proven Professional

Database:
Microsoft: MCSA SQL2012

Project Management:
PMP
Scrum

Policy
ITIL
Six Sigma

Okay, please tell me more about all of these in this OP so I don't have to ask later!

Well I'm glad you asked, since that's why I spent 50 long minutes compiling this OP.

A+ and Network Plus

Sylink posted:

Both of the A+ and Network+ are pretty easy entry level certs. If you know nothing about computers, they are a decent start but no match for experience. If you are already at a tinkering/fixing your granny's PC level, then they might add some new information but it should be easy to pick up.

I had some experience prior to getting both the A+ and Network+ but was having trouble getting interviews. As soon as I got these, my responses from recruiters and other employers shot up dramatically. As long as you aren't retarded, these will help get you past resume/HR screens and in the door.

The A+ consists of two exams detailed here

One is mostly just practical knowledge which varies depending on when they have last changed the test (if they updated it recently then expect newer technologies) but its generally stuff like what are the basic standard sizes for motherboards etc.

The second exam is practical application and its usually a lot more troubleshooting or situation based questions like "A user reports their PC is running slowly , what should you do?" then choose from the various answers.

The Network+ is very similar to the A+ knowledge/essentials exam. There isn't very much troubleshooting and it is mostly questions about networking standards and practices. Expect to know all the types of network cabling, connectors, maximum bandwidths and maximum cable lengths from CAT5 through the various fiber optic cables. I found this to be harder simply due to the amount of memorization. Wireless tech is also included and I think there may be a few encryption questions related to WiFi.

CompTIA info here

For studying,there are big books on either that you can get. I found the Sybex books to be pretty straightforward but there are others.

The best online resource I found was here. I know this site is kind of annoying and ugly, but the study guides are great (even if they are outdated slightly). I primarily used the guides there to study for both exams and I passed with flying colors. They also have sample tests with 240 questions for the A+ and 100 for the Network+. If you study up and repeatedly go through the questions until you are getting 85% or better each time you should be able to take the test.

The test prices are worth it, but the A+ is pricy due to being 2 exams. They don't take long to take and you can do it at any Prometric or whatever local testing companies you have.

Networking

CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate

The CCNA is kind of the go-to certification for network administrators and junior network engineers. Cisco claims that the certification is entry level, but it's assumed that you are already familiar with basic networking principals (cabling, connectors, and the difference between an IP and a MAC address) when you start out.

The interesting thing about the exam is that it can either be taken in one sitting, or in two different parts. If you choose the two-part option, you actually receive an additional certification, the CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry-level Networking Technician) for passing the ICND1 exam, and the full CCNA upon completion of the ICND2 exam.

The CCNA curriculum is heavily focused on basic networking theory: knowing how to properly create an IP scheme and develop subnets is an integral part of the exam, as is fundamental knowledge of the common enterprise interior gateway protocols. You will encounter some simulators in the exam, however beyond basic configuration, they too are mostly grounded in the theory aspect. With that said, knowing IOS commands and functionality IS an important part of the test, and if you haven't touched it before, you will probably fail.

The book that I and many other people personally recommend is the "CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide" by Todd Lammle. Many people also like Wendell Odom's take on the exam; I've been using him for my CCNP: ROUTE studies and find him a bit dry, but he might be up your alley.

Since a solid understanding of basic router and switch operations is key to the exam, you will probably be tempted to build a lab. For the most part, a full scale lab is somewhat overkill for this exam: GNS3 is an incredibly powerful network topology simulator that can run IOS images and allows you to quickly and easily design different topologies without having to change cabling around and drop the money on an entire lab. With that said, you'll still need to get an IOS image to put on there in the first place. For this, you can buy a 2600 series router for cheap off of eBay. While you're at it, I'd pick up an old 2950 switch just to get used to the switch functions, as the only major drawback of GNS3 is that it lacks the ability to simulate the ASIC processors used in switch fabrics. You can actually assign a virtual interface to the NIC on the back of your computer and merge your virtual topology from GNS3 with your physical switch. Pretty cool!

Obviously, you need to know everything that's in the book; however, as you continue your studies, be sure to pay extra attention to the following:
IPv6 addressing, OSPF and EIGRP operations, Spanning Tree Protocol (all of it), VLANs, NAT/Access Control Lists

Systems Administration

Linux

Bhodi posted:

For Linux certifications, there is only one thing companies care about - Red Hat. Canonical offers something called the Ubuntu Professional Certification but I have literally never heard of anyone wanting it ever. If you're fairly new to linux but think you might need to become versed in ubuntu or another flavor, these certs still provide useful grounding which is easily ported while being a great resume booster. A lot of the knowledge even carries over into the other *NIXes like HPUX, Solaris, and *BSD, since they all have similar roots.

Basic Red Hat Certs are offered at basic (Administrator) and senior (Engineer) levels, as well as a third level which is given after passing separate exams for all the various middleware / software offerings that Red Hat provides. Notably different from other certs such as CompTIA, the RHCSA & RHCE exams are taken within a lab format where you install/configure/troubleshoot a real system. Because of this and limited test time, you need to be familiar with linux and have put in some *NIX OS time to have a chance at passing. It would be difficult to get a study guide and rote-memorize your way through it. The tests aren't grueling but they are most definitely hands-on.

RHCSA

Basic sysadmin stuff that is comparable to 1-2 years or junior admin experience. Be able to install, boot, configure the OS. Use the command line. Start & stop processes, install packages, handle files/directories/users, quotas, local and logical volumes, partitions, networking, ACLs, SELinux & iptables. Be able to use VI and edit config files. Basically, know your way around /etc and be able to troubleshoot configuration file fat fingering.

RHCE

Senior level admin stuff that is comparable to 3-5 years or mid-senior level admin experience. It builds on the RHCSA but gets into more specifics. Expect basic kernel tuning, building RPMs, static routes, NAT, system logging, cron, installation and configuration of common services (apache, squid, SSH, samba, NTP, SMTP, cups). Additionally, basic shell (bash) scripting. Notably absent is postfix/sendmail and bind because they are split off into a separate test at the RHCA level. Basically, know your way around /var and /proc as well as /etc.

RHCA

It's not CCIE difficulty, but it's still a fairly rare thing to come across because you have to pass 5 separate exams (network services, enterprise systems management, enterprise clustering & storage management, system monitoring & performance tuning, directory services & authentication, and virtualization). I've never taken it so I can't speak, but there's more info at that link. I've never seen it as a job requirement. A lot of it is RH-centric and uses their clustering service, their package management service, stuff like that.

Someone else will have to give resources since I got sent to a 5 day boot camp and didn't get a study book.

Security

CompTIA Security+
This is CompTIA's entry level cert for the security world. Unlike A+ and N+, however, it is considerably more involved and actually contains a good bit of basic, useful information for all IT people. The exam covers a pretty wide range of security principles and schemes, including actual physical security, but the core of it goes into various encryption algorithms and standards, types of attacks, and best practices for backing up data. Like the CCNA, Security+ assumes you already have a fundamental understanding of networking, particularly with regard to the OSI model and common ports.

Anyway, the only book you need for this exam is this one. Buy it, read through it a few times, practice copying the port chart from memory (just like it suggests), and you'll pass the exam with zero issue.

Finally, it's important to note that S+ is a requirement for all DoD IT personnel and contractors. Other parts of the federal government may require it for individual positions or departments, but the DoD is the only one I know of with a hard and fast requirement.

Virtualization

quote:

Corvettefisher wrote on Nov 28, 2012 21:59:

VMware has a good amount of certs which can all be found here . I am only going to cover over the main 3 I am getting or already have.

IMPORTANT NOTE VCP/VMware exams are not like other exams such as cisco where you are primarily tested on one area of IT, you will be expected to know on their VCP what Vlans are how networks work, OS layer such as linux/windows and how it interacts with hardware, hardware, and last but surely not least storage. While you may not be the one configuring Vlans, setting up EMC VNX's, or OS tuning within VMware I can guaranteeing you will be interacting with each area to some degree and the more you know the easier your job is.

Prior to a VCP you will probably want to have a CCNA/CNET level understanding of networking, Strong storage understanding, and solid OS/Hardware understanding.

VCP - This is the first in a line of VMware tests I am going to cover. Before you ask, yes you can take the VCP test before the class however if you pass it means jack swat. The VCP test, in order to be valid, requires a completed course, this is not only to keep the value high but also to make sure you know what you are doing after you get the cert. VMware also understands not everyone has 3k or a business wanting to fork out that and offers which is why vmware has the academic alliance program that will offer it usually for 1/10th the price. The school I attend and help out at gives VCAP/VCP training, the full list is here. The VCP as stated before requires knowledge of storage, networking, Hardware, and OS's, please make sure you feel comfortable in each area prior to jumping into VMware because it will be a struggle and probably screw you if you are not keen in each.

For example you will be expected to know:
What Vlans are and why you would use them.
FC/FCoE/ISCSI/NFS and how they interact with storage/network and pro's and con's of each.
RAID options, as well as IOPS.
Hardware and how it interacts with software.
OS symptoms of hardware issues such as problematic CPU/RAM/Storage resources.
and it goes much, much deeper.

Resources
Scott Lowe's VMware 5 provides both a great study guide and excellent resource for daily administration, helped me pass my VCP5 exam.
Official Certification BluePrint guide great book to study all the key points that will be tested on in the exam.
vSphere Admin, Planning, and Tshoot More of a textbook based approach to the VCP5, has a decent amount of labs and videos by trainsignal as well as some Q&A stuff

Storage
Reserved

Database

OCA - Oracle Certified Associate

Graves posted:

I've got Network+, Security+ and Oracle Certified Associate (Database 11g Admin). I'm going to take the OCP when I have the time to throw at studying a bit more.

The OCA is broken down into two tests, SQL Fundamentals and Admin I. They're both pretty serious compared to the CompTIA tests. The SQL test includes some seriously convoluted statements and "trick" questions. It has a pretty high failure rate from what I've heard, even though it is unproctored. I would guess this is due to the fairly lengthy questions and time limit. You need to really know your general syntax as well as some nitty-gritty details about functions. You will not have time to look them up as you go.

The Admin I centers around core Oracle RDBMS functionality. It's a pretty serious test as well, and is proctored. You need to know pretty much the full range of basic admin tasks and concepts: physical and logical storage architecture, user creation and management, memory structures, networking and a lot more. For me, this test was easier than the SQL test, but that is likely because I have a lot more Sys Admin experience than direct development.

As I said, I should be taking the OCP very soon. It looks at some more in-depth concepts of the core RDBMS, but mostly concentrates on obscure recovery processes and ancillary systems. The breadth of topics involved in it is daunting to say the least, and on top of that it requires a paid ($3000) class from Oracle to qualify. I can say, without question, that that class was the worst technical training I've ever received, by far.

I was told by an Oracle University trainer that they intentionally make this certification track difficult and expensive in order to make it exclusive. I don't doubt the truth of that, at all.

Project Management

quote:

Sarcasmatron wrote on Dec 5, 2012 10:08:
PMP: Project Management Professional

PMI:

The Project Management Institute is the governing body for all things project management certification. This is important because they publish the book that all of the tests are based on - The Project Management Body of Knowledge, or PMBOK. While jargon-heavy, it's the handbook the PMP is based on. PMI updates it every 2 years, so it's very important to make sure that you're using the current edition if you're studying for the test. PMBOK is currently 4th edition, and will be cutting over to 5th edition Q5 of this year, so plan accordingly.

Books:

Four Books:

PMBOK - previously mentioned Project Management Body of Knowledge, 4th edition.

Head First PMP - Head First is O'Reilly's "For Dummies" series - it's really helpful for getting your brain around some new concepts and a lot of jargon, and it's only mildly irritating. I find it a helpful reference if I'm stuck on a given topic.

Rita's Course-In-A-Book - I haven't read it, but this is the book that was the defacto must-read study guide for the PMP, at least until recently.

The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, Fourth Edition - Andy Crowe is the new contender for must-read PMP guide. He also runs a training program - Velociteach - that I will be getting my hours from next month, so I will file a trip report as I go.

Training:

You need PMI-recognized training hours. After spending far too much time researching training providers, I went with Velociteach - https://www.velociteach.com/

- Most integrated offering: Book, Classroom, Online.
- Mid-range cost.
- Well documented success rate, and they back it with a very simple guarantee program.

Again, I'll be doing the online live class next month, so I will file a trip report.

quote:

Sarcasmatron wrote on Dec 5, 2012 09:51:
Certified Scrum Master

There are a lot of poo poo instructors out there and the Scrum Alliance is currently arguing over a better certification method for training centers. In the meantime...

Books:
Essential Scrum - Perfect title. If you read one book on Scrum, this is it.

Coaching Agile Teams - Best way to master a subject is to teach others about it. This book is really helpful in both regards.

User Stories Applied - Mike Cohn wrote the book on Scrum. Several of them in fact. This is a great nuts and bolts book about the importance of a well-structured user story, and how to write a well-structured user story.

Training:

Scrum Master Certification has a required classroom component. There are some truly terrible trainers and I've managed a few teams where people had terrible trainers: you end up spending more time deprogramming them and coming to an agreement on terminology than you do getting any actual work done.

As I noted above, Mike Cohn has written several very useful books on Scrum and is very active in the community. If you can take a class from him, I strongly recommend doing so. If not, contact him and get a recommendation on best trainers in your area. He's happy to help - http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com

Policy
ITIL - Reserved

Hey guys, I found this great website that has all of these actual questions from the test! Cool, huh?
Congratulations, you've found a brain dump. But let's stop and think about this for a second: what was it called in school when someone who had taken a test in the class before you gave you all of the questions ahead of time? Oh yeah, it was called cheating.

I mean, in the end, it's your money you're spending. But as I mentioned in the OP, certifications are no substitution for experience and only indicate to an employer that you have an established baseline of knowledge upon which they can build. So if you show up to a job interview with your brain dump cert, never having learned the material, how well do you think you're going to do if they go into a technical interview?

Don't use brain dumps. Spend the time to learn the material for real.

psydude fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jul 26, 2013

# ¿ Dec 6, 2012 03:06

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:33

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Additional Resources

Networking
Cisco IOS Printable Cheat-Sheets
Documentation of Cisco Supported Routing Protocols - Contains case studies similar to the ones found on their exams. Incredibly useful for CCNA/NP candidates. Maybe IE, too?

Systems Administration
Learn Windows PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches -- Powershell is rapidly becoming the basis of Windows Server iterations. This book is one of the easiest ways to learn it.

psydude fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Jun 4, 2013

# ¿ Dec 6, 2012 03:08

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I want to build a lab! What kinds of stuff should I get?
This question comes up like once per page here.

Check out this thread for ideas and information!

psydude fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Jul 26, 2013

# ¿ Dec 6, 2012 03:08

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

So I'd like to keep expanding the OP with writeups as much as possible. We could definitely use a MCSA, ITIL, and CISSP writeup. Of course, I'm open to including the specialties (CCVP, etc.), but I figured more people will be asking about the general certifications than anything else.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2012 03:12

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I'm glad to see the girl from the Odom cover is still employed.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2012 21:52

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Inspector_71 posted:

Cisco people, how would you answer this:

What Cisco 802.1d extension stops BPDU from being transmitted out a port?

BPDUguard.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2012 23:11

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

If I'm not mistaken, filter and guard do the same thing, but one shuts down the port completely while the other brings it out of port fast.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2012 13:36

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Looking at it, BPDUguard/filter have go to have almost zero use in a large enterprise environment because nobody is going to look at a SFP uplink port and go "Yeah, let's totally enable portfast on that."

# ¿ Dec 14, 2012 15:31

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Xenaero posted:

So I have to buy two $160+ vouchers for the A+ test? That seems pretty greedy, why is it split into two exams?

Because CompTIA is a greedy rear end in a top hat of a company that basically survives off of defrauding the government.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2012 13:12

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I think the very nature of Linux is what makes it a lot easier to get by without certifications.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2012 19:25

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

S+ can be done very, very casually in a month. If you're feeling rather spry, it could definitely be done in a week. CCNA will probably take 4-5 months if you're coming into it with no prior network or Cisco experience.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2012 22:24

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I felt S+ contained a lot of good, basic information about encryption standards and algorithms as well as their general strengths and weaknesses that the CCNA and MCSA fail to cover.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2012 17:07

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Docjowles posted:

I used to work at an ISP and the network engineers all worked exclusively in the CLI on Cisco switches/routers. They did sometimes use the GUI on the ASA firewalls.

I'm a network engineer working with fairly large infrastructure and I configure all of my switches and routers through the CLI. ASDM is a lot easier to use than the CLI commands on the ASA, though. You can still configure them through CLI, and I have, but for list modifications I just use ASDM.

psydude fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Jan 7, 2013

# ¿ Jan 7, 2013 04:31

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Manta posted:

I'm thinking about getting some certs to hopefully get more interviews and actually get a job. I haven't got any certifications before. Thing is though, I have a CS related bachelors degree. Should I bother with A+ and Network+, or just go strait for CCNA in this case? Will probably take a CCNA training coarse at my community college if I go for it.

Get the A+ just to get past HR, but skip Network+ and go straight for the CCNA.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2013 19:23

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

How much rote memorization is required for ROUTE? I'm hearing that it's basically nothing but configuration simulators. Will I need to remember obscure details about random crap like for the CCNA, or is the lab book pretty much what's actually going to make or break me?

# ¿ Jan 11, 2013 17:32

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Thanks. That's good to hear; I didn't think the lab material was particularly difficult and I barely touch any layer 3 stuff aside from static routes and the occasional ACL/NAT.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2013 20:02

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Jelmylicious posted:

Just make sure you know most of what is on the relevent ones of these: http://packetlife.net/library/cheat-sheets/

Thanks for this. Adding it to the OP.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2013 21:29

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Canadian Maniac posted:

I definitely had a question about T568A/B on my A+ when I took it last summer. I also had two questions about it on my Network+, but it was far more expected that time.

Seriously, CompTIA? Who the gently caress still uses T568A. That's like asking for a network diagram on a token ring network.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2013 04:09

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I'll occasionally find A on some older Cat 5 drops that were run in the 90s. But everything else is strictly B.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2013 20:28

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Actually, being asked about a pinout on a test is stupid because everyone just pulls that poo poo up on their smartphone until they've done it enough times to memorize white orange, orange, white green, blue, whiteblue, green, whitebrown, brown.

e: But yes, I get your point. I've still never seen A in the wild aside from the few cases I've mentioned.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2013 05:09

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

hooah posted:

In the Lammle Network+ chapter on networking devices, he shows network diagrams that have some switches connected to another switch, with the hosts connected to the secondary switches. He doesn't explain this (at least not in this chapter), so what is the reasoning here? Why wouldn't you just connect the four hosts to one switch, instead?

As others have said, that's a simple diagram to model access and distribution switches. In a reality, there could be a number of reasons for that arrangement. The most common scenario is physical separation of the host machines: different floors or hallways. There's also the issue of the physical limitations of copper. You generally want as short of a distance as possible from your hosts to the access layer switch, because copper can only carry a decent signal around 300 feet (and that's pushing it). From there, you'll have a fiber uplink to your distribution or core switches, which in large buildings and campuses can be several hundred to several thousand feet away.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2013 14:44

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

trunkwontopen posted:

They did add some questions while removing some aging questions from the pools. I think more on wireless technologies and IPv6, as well as removing some in-depth RIP material. Someone that I talked to that took their test around a year ago said that they added questions touching on Fiber and OC technologies, but I don't know how truthful that is.

When I took ICND1 in 2011 they had a few questions about SX and LH MM/SM fiber standards.

On IPv6:
The ROUTE book goes pretty far into depth on it, but from what I can tell (and maybe someone can confirm) the test doesn't waste your time by making you figure out the number of possible addresses. In fact at one point in first chapter on it Odom pretty much says that none of us will live to see IPv6 address exhaustion.

psydude fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Jan 23, 2013

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 16:53

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Not cert related, but just out of curiosity given the discussion at hand: do you guys plan on still using unique local/private addresses for your networks once you start rolling out IPv6? I can see where it would have some definite security advantages over just using the global unicast address.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 20:11

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

doomisland posted:

There are philosophical arguments that will state each device on your network should have a globally unique address while others will want to stick to how they've been doing networking and use private addressing. Unique addressing would be easier and I don't know what security benefits you would gain from private addressing.

I was thinking that one advantage it would have is making it harder for an attacker to map your network topology and determine the address of a target machine or machines.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 20:47

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

DropsySufferer posted:

Am I free to break the association between IP class and the subnet class from my head or there is a rule I missed?

Yes. This is one of the large criticisms of the CCNA: it teaches classful networking in an era where classful networks no longer exist, and doesn't do a good job of pointing out that CIDR is the only thing that matters. So go forth and enjoy your 192.168.5.0/23 address scope.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 20:57

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Inspector_71 posted:

I thought you can't do /31, at least not with IPv4? Also are you really "wasting" IPs since you need a network address and a broadcast address anyway?

/31 is supported for Point to Point links on a lot of commercial-grade hardware.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2013 01:51

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Jelmylicious posted:

Don't you mean 192.168.4.0/23 address scope? 192.168.5.0/23 is just an ip address.

Yeah, looks like I fat fingered that one.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2013 14:37

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Tab8715 posted:

With all the sub-netting talk going on, this is something I've never fully understood. Which leads me to ask - what did you guys read or watch to learn subnetting? There are unbelievable amount of resources but what did you find was the most helpful?

Lotsa practice. Also by remembering that /8 = 255.0.0.0, /16 = 255.255.0.0, and /24 = 255.255.255.0. From there, it's a lot easier to determine the hostmask and possible subnets.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2013 23:37

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

You can get by with GNS3 and an old 2950.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2013 21:15

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

DropsySufferer posted:

I can run GNS3 fine with nothing but the correct IOS image. Why would you even need the 2950 (feels like I'm missing something very obvious)?

The one thing that had me stuck for a day was getting the "cloud" or real connection to your PC to work. Note that if you have a wireless connection on your PC to router, you'll need to create a bridge with the loopback adapter and most importantly restart your PC. It sounds very simple but google searching for an answer did not help.

The switching portion of ICND2 has some things that can't be done with the switch card in the ISR IOS images. Lack of experience with switch configuration was one of the things that got me the first time I took it.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2013 03:18

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Contingency posted:

I recommend Cisco Learning Labs over GNS3 for the CCNA.

Isn't a buggy POS, does switches, don't have to "acquire" IOS images , provides scenarios so you aren't blindsided by exam objectives.

How expensive are those? Because I gathered he was trying to do it on a budget.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2013 03:49

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

ROUTE costs $200? Ugggghhhhh.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2013 16:29

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

The cost a certification is only relevant if you plan to fail it.

The ROI is definitely there. Per my contract, once I get the CCNP I get an automatic $3,000 salary increase.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2013 05:43

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

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.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 16:21

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

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.

This is the guy who teaches people basic troubleshooting, ping, tracert etc. probably 4 or more times every year.

Maybe they blocked outbound ICMP requests. Not that it excuses his dumbness.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 19:28

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I've seen a lot of systems engineering jobs requiring programming (not just scripting) knowledge for some reason.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2013 03:40

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I've been so busy basically working two positions that I have just completely stalled on ROUTE. Which is dumb because I've been using the knowledge from it a bunch more in recent weeks. Maybe I'll work up the motivation to study at night and on weekends in a month or two when things settle down.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2013 22:42