Check out the responses to the question Valleyboy posted on 1/12/01. The thread number is 473-46672. I think it will help answer your question. s-) -Bobby
bwgunn@icqmail.com
I guess it depends if you want to be a *paper* CCNA or a *real* CCNA. It is possible to pass the test without a router, I've seen it done BUT, these people are virtually useless since they lack the hands on. It's highly recommended that you invest some money in your education and get 2 routers. Hook them back to back either by a custom cable or by a back to back T1 crossover cable( depends on your configuration) Now you can emulate most of the real world with the exception of ISDN and a few other choice parts.
The other option is to get some lab time on some site like Mentor where you telnet to the site and have "lab time" with actual labs to complete. Almost as good as being there. But after 4-6 labs, you could have paid for at least one router
Dont make the mistake of selling your lab once you have the CCNA. I use mine ALL the time to test things BEFORE I stick it on a production network. No I'm not paid for it but I get some bennies and the happier my boss is at raise time, the more I get paid so it evens out.
Mike S
"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin
If you are serious about pursuing a career as a CCNA or CCNP do not attempt
to become certified using e-trainers or other simulators. Take the course through a Cisco Regiona academy in your area. This will supply you with opportunity to be taught by Cisco qualified Instructors. There are too many paper CCNA's out there
devaluing our certifications and costing all of us respect and income. If you going to do something do right or don't do it at all.l
I'm within a month of being a CCNA I personally own a Cisco 2000 kinda pathetic for learning to be a CCNA but it has helped some degree but i'm enrolled in the cisco acadamy and it is very good, its at the local votec, it cost 750 a year, and they have a real router lab unlike anything you can reasonably buy thats the way i would suggest you go.
Either cough up for a couple of switches ( 1900/2900XL) and a 5000 or equivelent. there is not way to do the CCNPO without hands on for the BCSM without it.. even if you memorize all the commands enough to answer the questions, you will end up looking like the fool in front of the customer. There are 3 different interfaces to learn. The older menu only ( which showed up in my friends CCIE lab two weeks ago), the IOS based switches and the SET based switches. Ideally you will have a 2600 router with at least a single fastether port to work the trunking and routing between VLANS. I'm using a 2900XL to do that except for the routing. No TokenRing hardware is required per say as you can make virtual rings with 12.x I'm still going to find a used TR router just because there is still quite a bit fo out there running the older IOSs and I need to know how to make it play.
Get ready learn more about spanning tree then you thought you wanted to know And a tip here is find, beg or borrow a sniffer and get a trace of the actual BPDU packets and take them apart. The text will make more sense with the packet in front of you.
In someways I think the CCNP is harder then the CCIE only because you are doing a huge jump from your level of knowledge with a CCNA to the CCNP. If you have not yet picked up the CCDA, think about it as I find it to VERY helpful in giving a head start to many of the design concepts the CCNP coursework will teach you.
Just my thoughts at 6am ...
Mike S
"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin
I used this in conjunction witha self study and passed the test with flying colors.
The key things that I thought were important to know was
1. IP addressing
2. Familiar with the IOS commands, and how to move around a device and making sure you do a write terminal or a copy running-config to startup config
3. Be familiar with the different debug statements and understand how to read them. <-- I had about 3 questions on my ccna test showing 3 different debugs.
4. Practical usage etc. I had a couple of actual lab scenarios that I had to do which were not difficult at all.
The actual tests had about 900 questions from the ccna exam (some were redundant and just worded differently) but I was surprised that about half of my questions on my ccna actually were on the self study.
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