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Contingency posted:Anyone take the new CCNA:Security exam (640-554)? Plan on taking it in the next two weeks, and am curious if it is as CCP-heavy as the Boson practice exams make it out to be. I took it about a month ago, and it was for me. Cisco loving loves that drat GUI. Know your syntax, but be ready to have to deal with a ton of GUI stuff.
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May 16, 2013 13:28
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Passed my CCNP Firewall today. Man, Cisco loves their virtual firewall. And their thrice-damned GUI. I thought I was quit of that thing after CCNA Security.
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May 20, 2013 16:22
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Gap In The Tooth posted:Any books you would recommend for CCNA/P Security? Work provided the Cisco week-long class, which for my money was the best help; the books they give you for that class have everything you need and not too much added BS. The Cisco Press book is not bad by any means, but it goes into a ton of detail about every topic, honestly to the point of overload. If you can read the Cisco Press books without self-concussing when you fall asleep and put your head through your desk, they're a good option. The CBT nuggets are also tops for the CCNP Firewall; there were several points he made in the video that were especially germane to the exam. For CCNA Security and CCNP Firewall people: make totally sure you're comfortable in the GUI (CCP or ASDM respectively). You will be seeing a TON of the GUI. I already mentioned it, but it really shocked the hell out of me how GUI-heavy a CCNP Security exam ended up being.
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May 21, 2013 06:59
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Haydez posted:642-637 (CCNP Security SECURE) in the books today. Yay. Glad to hear that SECURE sticks to the same "never use the Cisco Press book" stance that FIREWALL did, I'm going to have to take that in the near future. Protip for FIREWALL: you're going to be shocked at how heavily the test emphasizes ASDM over CLI. Be sure to get hands-on with ASDM a bit just so you know what is where.
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Jun 21, 2013 05:23
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NippleFloss posted:As a storage guy a CCNA is an pretty valuable cert. Assuming that you have competent network admins who can configure their switches properly for your network attached storage is a good way to end up getting blamed when your storage doesn't perform properly. This is equally true on the OS side. Speaking as a network admin, this is 100% correct. Don't trust us. Don't trust anyone. (We try, but every team has that jerk whom you know braindumped his way in. We try to get that guy to bomb out as fast as we can.) By and large I agree on the CompTIA point, with the exception of your government types who need Security+ to meet some random DoD requirement. Aside from that, I know when we hire, CompTIA certs mean little to nothing at this point.
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Jun 29, 2013 09:43
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kewld00d posted:What's the general consensus on the CompTIA Linux+ then? That nets you LPIC certs in addition to the CompTIA one – but then is it best to just go for, say, the RHCSA instead? Personally, and take this with about a dumpster's worth of salt, I don't know a single Linux admin who has it. But not being a Linux guy myself, I can't say there's no one with them. Just no one I've met.
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Jun 29, 2013 12:59
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Haydez posted:Woo. 642-618 FIREWALL is down. Studied for two weeks -- at least 5 hours a day. I work with ASAs but still thought I would barely pass but I almost got a perfect score. Let us know how IPS looks; I have to choose between that and VPN next, and we don't use IPS modules on ASAs at all where I work, so it's going to be a bear to study for.
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Jul 4, 2013 11:18
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Martytoof posted:Oh neat. For some reason someone told me the new CCNA Sec. is heavy on ASA. I should probably do my own research before jumping to conclusions, huh. It's heavy on CCP, basically. Get hold of CCP and know it in and out. All my sim questions on the CCNA Sec. were set in CCP rather than the CLI.
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Jul 9, 2013 05:10
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rock2much posted:Todd Lammle's CCENT Study Guide (where this question came from, Ch4 Review Questions) and Chris Bryant's ICND-1 Study Guide. Bryant's book has a weird composition to it and some errors but the last chapter on subnetting and finding host/broadcast/VLSM solutions has a lot of useful practice questions. Lammle's book has a lot of good practice questions in it as well. I'm going through that book again and taking notes this time, hoping it sticks so I can finally take this exam after dragging my feet for about 2 years or so. Coming in to pimp http://subnettingquestions.com/ again. Best way to study subnetting.
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Jul 7, 2014 16:01
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psydude posted:Is the Cisco security track even worth pursuing these days? ASA is a piece of poo poo and they bought Sourcefire to replace their terrible IPS offerings. I'm wondering if it might be better to just go for straight R&S to complement the CISSP and master's degree I'm getting. I had to get my CCNA Security for work, and I feel like it was an OK experience, but I don't know that I'd bother with the CCNP Security track unless you are being required to get it by your employer.
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Oct 13, 2014 18:42
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Contingency posted:For anyone planning to do the new CCNP, Cisco Press still has a Black Friday sale going on--55% off list price for 2 or more items. I picked up the new CCNP three book set and another book, and the set worked out to $65 before tax. The set retails for $133 on Amazon right now. Thanks for this, I've been waiting for the new CCNP books to land.
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Nov 30, 2014 06:56
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ChubbyThePhat posted:It took me forever to remember the encapsulation order... They go in order based on number of letters, so if you're moving from Physical to Transport, start at bit and work up. As long as you remember one's position, you know 'em all.
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Nov 2, 2015 21:37
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Taking my CCNP Route in a few days, and I'm having a little freak out. I took the Cisco class a few months ago (the five-day one), I've watched the whole CBT Nuggets series, and I still feel like I've barely gotten into the stuff I'm going to be tested on. The test practice engine (Pearson's) that came with my OCG is terrifyingly written. Am I about to waste $250 bucks, or does the Cisco class literature do a good job of covering everything? Anyone who's taken the test recently have any advice? Hopefully my test doesn't bug out; I've never been to this testing center before, so I don't know how lovely the hardware is.
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Feb 11, 2016 21:24
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I don't know that I've ever felt that way about a Cisco exam, and I've done CCNA/CCNASec/CCNP Firewall.  Part of it's probably just my head messing with me.
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Feb 11, 2016 21:35
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gooby pls posted:Keith Barker's cbt nuggets hands on route labs were probably the most important thing that helped me pass route. If you master those labs then the sims will be easy points. Thanks for this, I have those labs so I feel better about my chances. I also got an extra week to study, since thanks to this ASA fiasco I'm not getting time off this week!
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Feb 13, 2016 23:00
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ROUTE test today. IPv6 found me and did terrible things. 699, needed 790. I took the goddamn Cisco class, and the instructor never even touched on some of the poo poo I got questions on. I spent so long doing poo poo like memorizing metrics, the OSPF LSAs, and the BGP attributes, and it feels like half my questions were on dumb IPv6 nitpicks or dumb CEF nitpicks. Hate getting pool-hosed.  EDIT: At least whoever recommended the CBT labs was right; they were good prep for the sims I got. I felt pretty good about almost every sim and simlet. EDIT EDIT: Goddamnit, Cisco Easy Virtual Networking isn't even in the goddamn class manuals.
Jedi425 fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Feb 20, 2016 |
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Feb 20, 2016 21:17
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Marshall Louis posted:I have avoided this book because of the comments and ratings on Amazon...what has your experience been? I bought the Official Cert Guide rather than the FLG. It too had like, a page about Cisco EVN, but I remember multiple questions on it. (Multiple might have been like, 2, but I am salty as hell about that test.) The OCG is just like most Cisco books in that it contains a shitload of detail about everything. And then you get a pool of questions where there's only one that's even about BGP, and multiple questions about IPv6 poo poo. It was my fault for not getting better on v6, but there was little time spent on it in the class, so I figured on it having a much smaller showing in the question pool. I was wrong, this time. I had a feeling this would be how it went down; I spend most of my day on ASAs and first/second layer switches, so I do very little with routing. I had counted on this test being the hardest of the three. SWITCH will mostly be a matter of me relearning STP, and TSHOOT is what I do all day every day.
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Feb 21, 2016 04:54
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Dennis Kucinich posted:Editing this post because I accidentally posted a lengthy one to the wrong thread... 12 hour shifts will do that to you. Speaking as a guy who is currently getting his butt kicked by the ROUTE, I'd say get some real experience on routers first. It's rough for me because I spend all my time on switches and ASAs. Second fail yesterday, in fact, 762/790. New bullshit, different day. I'm getting a little tired of seeing multiple chapters on BGP in every book I read, then then only getting one drat question about it the whole exam. Meanwhile I get multiple questions about PPPoE, which has nothing except a handful of glossary entries in the goddamn OCG. If it's the official certification guide, Cisco, I expect it to at least goddamn mention everything on the exam for the cert.
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Apr 21, 2016 23:56
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psydude posted:Part of the CCNP curriculum is becoming jaded and cynical about Cisco and their products. Ain't this the goddamn truth. Problem is, I have basically a month before my certs expire, so I need to pass this thing. So I guess I'm retaking it next week, and every week until I get it right.
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Apr 22, 2016 01:56
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ROUTE take three tomorrow. I think this time I've seen all the bullshit that's not in the OCG/FLG, so I have some hope. If nothing else, maybe I'll get all the same sims again.
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Apr 26, 2016 04:46
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Passed with an 828. Death to PPPoE, death to IPv6, BGP is great.
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Apr 27, 2016 00:21
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Japanese Dating Sim posted:Congratulations, you are now A+ certified! Get out there and start applying for those entry level password reset help desk jobs! Every call he takes is one I don't. He's a goddamn hero.  Starting to get into CCNP SWITCH now that ROUTE is down. How do people feel about the FLG and/or OCG for that one? I'm really hoping to avoid wasting as much time and money on this test as I did on ROUTE.
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May 3, 2016 18:35
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Umbreon posted:Hey all, I'm looking to progress my CCNA into a CCNP. What are some good books that will cover everything I need to know for the CCNP? I just got done doing the ROUTE, and I can tell you that the Cisco Press books (the 'Official' Certification Guide and the Foundation Learning Guide) don't cover everything on the exam. I ended up doing a combination of the two, plus CBT Nuggets, plus searching the web for random bits that I saw on my first two attempts, and even then it took me 3 tries to pass. They cover the content of things you'll be seeing in sims and simlets very well, but there's a lot of weird questions about things like Cisco Easy Virtual Networking (it's just a goddamn trunk port you assholes), IPv6, and PPPoE that just aren't covered well (or hardly at all) in the books. The only real advice I can give you is to read the exam blueprint on Cisco's website, and then don't trust Cisco ever.
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May 24, 2016 06:56
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Umbreon posted:Well poo poo. Are there really no better alternatives? I found tons of great stuff back on my CCNA, but CCNP has been slim pickins so far. I think part of it is that the CCNP builds off the CCNA, and I took the 1.0 version of the test, so if they revised in some things I might not have seen them as much on the CCNA when I did it. Plus, in all fairness, I spend comparatively little time on routers and routing protocols, so I expected ROUTE to be the worst of the three. That being said, there's basically nothing on PPPoE or EVN in either of those books, and they're both on the blueprint. I'm not sure why that's the case. The CBT Nuggets Home Lab series for ROUTE was excellent, as recommended earlier in the thread; knowing that lab content will have you ready for just about any of the sims or simlets, and a good part of the test to boot.
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May 25, 2016 00:43
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beepsandboops posted:What's the go-to for simulators for Cisco certs? I know Boson is used quite a bit, are the Pearson products any good? If you have access to IOS images, GNS3 is free and very good, you just need a chunk of CPU and RAM adequate for it. If you take Cisco Academy classes, you'll use a program called Packet Tracer that is a simulator good enough for CCNA level stuff. Cisco also sells time on a web-accessed simulator called Cisco Learning Labs that comes with exercises and such.
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Mar 28, 2017 06:44
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siggy2021 posted:Woooo passed the ICND2 today. I'm officially a CCNA. I thought I hosed it up, and I nearly did. I passed on a razor thin margin (813, needed 811). I will say that as a guy who spends nearly all his time on ASAs, that I really can't recommend spending time on ASAs. Honestly, the CCNASec is mostly useful as a prerequisite for the CCNP Security, and it's nice that it's only one exam, I guess? You won't get a lot of CLI out of that cert, though, you spend most of your time in the ASDM or whatever. I'd say CBT is probably your best bet.
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Jun 16, 2017 07:18
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:For network, learning up to CCNA as a system administrator will help you when dealing with the network team. They'll know that you know sorta what you're talking about, and hopefully give you the benefit of the doubt when problems come up. Speaking as a network guy, I loving love it when sysadmins and such can talk to me in my language. I feel like network admins should get some experience in an OS, and sysadmins should get some CCNA. It makes things way faster when people at least have an idea what the other is about. It just seems to be easier for network folks to get some OS knowledge than vice-versa, probably because it's easier to ignore the network if you aren't a network admin, but even a network admin has to use an OS of some sort. So as not to waste this post, anyone around here taken the CCNP SWITCH recently that can speak to whether PoE is on it at all? It's not on the exam topics, but I don't trust those things after that shitshow I had doing the ROUTE, and the videos I have access to at work mention PoE as a topic.
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Sep 2, 2017 09:57
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Bigass Moth posted:If you’ve already done the first half there’s no reason not to finish. Speaking as a network guy myself I really fuckin' appreciate when a non-network guy knows enough to speak sense to me. Saves us both a ton of time. Passed my CCNP SWITCH this weekend, 868/1000. Why Cisco thinks I need to memorize the TCP port that TACACS operates on for every drat test is beyond me. At least now I only have TSHOOT to go. Anyone taken it recently?
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Feb 19, 2019 18:44
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guppy posted:Prepping for CCNP SWITCH still myself, never did get any recommendations on study materials. Any advice? The OCG is better here than it is on ROUTE, but they will still hit you with the ol' Cisco rope-a-dope. Know the different Etherchannel negotiation settings and which ones match which protocols. Know which protocols are open and which are Cisco, because the questions and sims will say things like ‘using an industry standard protocol' and expect you to configure accordingly. Know the different FHRP methods very well. I ended up taking the Cisco class with some about to expire training certificates and found the labs helpful, so I imagine the VIRL for SWITCH is decent. All the AAA stuff from ROUTE applies here too. Who knows why they care about what TCP port TACACS uses on a test about goddamn switches, but I did get questions about that and not as many as I expected about STP. 
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Feb 20, 2019 06:52
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BaseballPCHiker posted:I'm studying to take CCNP Route soon and I'm still coming across a fair amount of frame relay and ATM stuff. Its annoying, I've never worked with it, I probably never will, and I'll study just enough to answer the gimme questions I come across on the exam. ROUTE is the goddamn devil, easily the worst CCNP test I have taken so far for that mess.
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Apr 23, 2019 18:48
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Contingency posted:I've heard similar. Uh, will a CCNA renew your NP, or do you only have CCNA-levels to renew? 
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Apr 23, 2019 20:28
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Contingency posted:Only CCNA levels, thankfully! Holy poo poo, for real? I was looking at the NP Security stuff too, then I finally got out of ASAs and never looked back. They still haven't released the OCGs? Wow.
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Apr 24, 2019 06:05
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Captn Kurp posted:Failed the CCNP: Route again, I read the official exam guide and the did the official practice tests and I still feel like I took a completely different test than the one I studied for. Routing protocols only attributed for about 10 of the questions, including the labs. I might just wait for the rework. Any tips? If it makes you feel any better, I took that piece of poo poo garbage test 4 times. The ROUTE test is the worst loving exam in the whole family of Cisco bullshit. I ended up just using brute force and as I failed I'd note those questions and go find the answers. Eventually I passed.
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Jun 13, 2019 14:52
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BaseballPCHiker posted:If you're failing on old tech, you could just wait until the new tests come out this February, although who knows what funky new stuff they'll have on that exam. On the other hand, it could be like the NP security certs that IIRC never got their OCGs published. I'm taking my TSHOOT and finishing this devil cert before the switch.
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Aug 20, 2019 03:28
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MF_James posted:Architect at my last job recommended the O'Reilly book "DNS and Bind" for really learning DNS, though I haven't cracked it yet, too much stuff to read. Seconded, that's basically the end-all book on the subject. I think they may have released a new edition?
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Oct 25, 2019 03:54
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Dandywalken posted:Hopefully posted to the appropriate thread this time! I'll throw in the obligatory Lammle recommendation; opinions may vary, but his guide was the one that made CCNA concepts make sense to me. Also hit up Subnetting Questions for practice once you get stuck in with subnet math.
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May 17, 2020 04:44
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Contingency posted:Thanks--I did a bunch of certification exams until about 2013, and the exams I've taken recently seem geared for braindumpers instead of demonstrated knowledge, like the "what is cloud?" foundational Azure exam was asking about availability zones in Asia or similar. Cisco's CyberOps exams were also out there, so I was getting discouraged. That's promising. I have the opposite problem, so I'm trying to decide which concentration exam I want to take. I passed ROUTE and SWITCH before the change. We're getting ready to make a big SD-WAN deployment where I work, so I might do ENSDWI. I'd be eager to hear how yours go.
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Nov 4, 2020 00:42
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Sneaky Wombat posted:CCNA is next on the docket, along with red hat on my other days. F5 has a certification program, but it's been years since I touched one. Honestly, anyone with a CCNA can do the basics on an F5 with a little training.
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Nov 20, 2020 20:10
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Famethrowa posted:Anyone got a quick snappy way to get mentally subnetting without paper down? It's basically my last barrier for the CCNA and I just can't internalize looking at a network range and mask and pulling out a host/subnet count. Practice helps too. I spent a lot of time on Subnetting Questions before my CCNA.
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Mar 17, 2022 05:20
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Devorum posted:Question: is going to school for IT worth it? I have the GI Bill burning a hole in my pocket, and am looking for a career change. Would I go for a CompSci degree, or is there something more suitable? Your calculus is going to be different, since you have the money already, but as a Network Engineer I can say that most of the Networks folks I've worked with have not had related degrees; most of us changed careers and got CCNAs, then other certs as needed. I was going to be a law student, then decided to get my CCNA instead of killing myself trying to get a good LSAT so I could drop six figures of student loans on myself. I know a lot of folks here have reported good outcomes from WGU, they have a lot of IT related degrees, most of which include picking up certifications as well. Their Network Operations B.S. for instance includes a CCNA, some AWS certs, and a mess of CompTIA. A CCNA and a willingness to work odd hours will find you a job in many data centers. A CCNA and a willingness to get cleared again will also get you a job with ease; the feel I get is the cleared job market is so tight right now that companies are a lot more willing to sponsor, especially if it's someone who was cleared before and just lapsed due to time.
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Apr 29, 2022 01:11
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