Cisco CCNA course

scamalert

Now sure if its best section to post,but feel that majority here would know a bit.If wrong section Gms feel free to move.

Basically got accepted into cisco ccna part time course for a year,but now have some doubts,Since i never worked with switches or networking that involves configuring more then 3 pcs.Im good with pcs in general can troubleshoot most issues,know ins and outs of when working with different devices,but took a look at some classes on youtube concerning ccna and simply to say got lost in the middle,while i can get over concepts of ip classes,converting to binary,concepts like firewalls and other stuff,but parts where it comes to subnetting ,network broadcast id IPs thats where i got like really lost,not to mention setting up networks.

So question will ccna be tought from beginning up or should one be pretty much familiar with routers/switches etc beforehand.

areidy

Hey scamalert, don't worry about having to know about switches/routers. They literally start from scratch. It's a great course to get introduced to the networking world. I took this a long time ago and it started me on the track to being a network engineer:) Go for it...

scamalert

Thx,course also has work experience once completed for 3 months since got in trough springboard.So it would be nice career change,since my main worry is 2 exams at the end,since i can get around any setups issues with pcs,but never had need to acquire switches or build any servers-so there is good bit of lack in that field.

Spear

Moved from Net&Comms.

horgan_p

Don't be intimidated by it. I wont say it's easy , but it's not the leaving cert.
Lots of people pass it without having the benefit of spending XX hours a day dedicated to it. I did mine while working a full time job and planning a wedding.

scamalert

Thanks for great advises,yeah i jumped a bit,after watching classes on youtube i actually like the stuff being explained,since when working on pc one doesn't realize processes involved inside software and structure the data is managed when being sent,since one doesn't account for layers it goes trough then all gear that does all the switching/routing work to get it where its supposed to go

TallGlass

Get the book from Cisco by Weldom its an excellent book if your worried about not knowing the detail, he explains everything great. Try get a copy of packet tracer for when needed (if you going part time, I assume its an acadamy connection, you'll be provided with packet tracer along with the CCNA curriculum). Cisco have a great way of explaining things not only in basics but giving you real life examples/explanations of why they do things.

For example, you mentioned classfull IP addressing Cisco will explain this and explain why we have NAT and VLSM. So its in a way kinda hard to get lost.

The only things I am finding hard at the moment are some maths, commands or forgetting little details. But studying and testing yourself and watching videos will get over this.

You mention two exams at the end, you can take a one exam approach which is what I will be doing.

Once your dedicated and commited you'll be fine, its actually pretty interesting.

Before your course starts learn off the OSI and TCP/IP models and the different layers, CCNA focuses on Layers 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 and also learn what happens at each layer to the data via encapsulation, From Layer 3 Packets, Layer 2 Frames and Layer 1 Bits. You'll get a good head start if you get an understanding of it, now mind you just learn it to the level CCNA requires don't go too much into it.

championc

I'm looking at doing the CCNA in Dorset College or CCNA.ie. Anyone done theirs there ?

Or any other suggestions for a location in Dublin ?

scamalert

got place for mine in ITB blanch,you can try email:martina.vahey@itb.ie
shes a head of admissions office,to see if theres any places left if location suits you.Course starts before end of September,but yet to receive registration link-week or two,so still probably could get in.hope its any help.

Corcaigh84

Hi guys - I'm also attempting to get CCNA certified. I'm currently in a Software support/implementation role and have started applying for jobs that will allow me do these qualifications simultaneously, since I'm looking for a career change. Networking has always interested me since college.

Assuming I don't get hired without already having a cert, where is the best place to find the source material before taking an exam? I'm based in Cork and the only course I can find is a 5 day boot camp that costs about three grand that I can't afford right now. Any help / PMs appreciated!

horgan_p

The cisco book itself is pretty good.
I used that and then a book called something like CCNA in 60 days or similar.
Youtube has videos covering almost every topic that'll be on the exam.
Also I got a simulator I think called GNS3 which is similar to Cisco's own packet trace , which lets you simulate various labs. There are a lot of labs available to download as well , which I found great.

Corcaigh84

Thanks for that bud, I'll give my local Waterstones a call and see if they've got stock. Otherwise I'm off to Amazon.

scamalert

type into youtube CCNA day 1 there's 14 classes it explains most topics in most basic way if you need to refresh on some stuff or get started.

Corcaigh84

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cisco-CCNA-Days-Paul-Browning/dp/0956989292/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

Reviews for this seem pretty good - my one worry is that the labs will require actual Cisco hardware outside of just packet tracers etc... did anyone have experience with the labs, and are they achieveable from a home setting?

By the way I've found a local testing centre so doing the actual exam won't be an issue.

horgan_p

thats the one I used. After reading the cisco book.
packet trace or guns with that will get you through.
You won't need hardware, but you could reuse it for your ccnp

Cuddlesworth

You only really need hardware for the CCIE, packet tracer can do 90% of the CCNP with the switching modules.

scamalert

horgan_p wrote: »

thats the one I used. After reading the cisco book.
packet trace or guns with that will get you through.
You won't need hardware, but you could reuse it for your ccnp

Does ccna exam involve any testing on simulation software or actual lab or is it just pen and paper questions ?

horgan_p

There are Sim questions.

scamalert

Hi all started my course last week and really excited,got my first assignment and am a bit confused.

Basically it asks to draw your own concept of internet map-including ip,isp,destination,clouds.

now before hand did some tracing with visualRoute and tracert commands to see amount of hops to reach certain sites.

But VisualRoute also displays more details,and this gets confusing-since as ping leaves my router it get assigned ip- which says ntworld.ie ireland,then gets reverted to dynamic.upc.ie then to austria and eventually amsterdam.

most irish sites that are pinged do end up at amsterdam global infrastructure point.

So logically upc is leasing line from that ISP which would be tier1 and upc being tier 2.

But then why my ip is being supplied by ntworld before it gets to upc ?
And is Amsterdam ISP is DNS and data center at the same structure?

might be overthinking too much on this and getting ahead of myself,but sort of interested if anyone can give some explanation.

Btw sorry for posting in this section-but networking section seems more of troubleshooting place and discussing isps,rather then asking such question there.But if its not proper place will move post there.thx

Cuddlesworth

Its possible that UPC Ireland to Irish ISP's could route through Amsterdam, although its not ideal. UPC is part of Liberty Global and assigns first preference to any routes advertised through Liberty global networks first.

scamalert

thx for explaining,yeah seen liberty global and ntworld,while did look up more on ntworld i noticed on some page it mentioned assigning domain names to irish ISP or IPs-something alone the lines -think theres way more to it then that anyway,and went of course overthinking and making it more complicated then should really done it.

TallGlass

UPC could and more than likely is a tier 3 network along with Eircom.

Tier 1 are Verizon and AT&T; TIER 2 for Ireland could be BT.

Check out the below map and click international;

http://www.openeir.ie/Our_Network/

Basically depending on the destination public IP address, it will determine the best route to your location at that time. There's alot of factors taking into account with this, plus admins could decide to aggregate all traffic at one point, which would be a disaster if that site went down!

scamalert

well concerning assignment it was meant to be done from ones perspective since it was first week,just to see,so no one went into detail much about it.

Otherwise you brought good point-since i thought the likes of upc, eircom to be tier 2-since eircom resell's bandwidth to vodafone,same as three network,selling wireless bb but they just resell service-not sure whos thou.

and if looking at upc it points to liberty global-which wiki gives as :
Liberty Global plc is an international telecommunications and television company. It was formed in 2005 by the merger of the international arm of Liberty Media and UGC, and is one of the largest broadband internet service providers in the world. Wikipedia,

so unless upc is buying its lines from someone else before LIG it would make them tier 2

Joeyjoejoe43

I can also vouch for the Wendell Odom books. I found them excellent. I passed the full CCNA after 4 months of study in the evenins, whike working full time and juggling famile life. I do have 10 years Telecoms experience, so that obviously helped a lot, but I found the books great and I use the method of synosing the book into my own words, thus turning the 1600+ pages into 100-200 pages of self writ ten notes. Closer to the exam i further cut the 100-200 pages down to arpubd 50 pages concentrating on areas I was weak on. I am moving onto CCNP now, so looking to sell the books, which were only bought at Christmas. See link below.

http://touch.adverts.ie/other-computers/ccna-routing-and-switching-200-120-wendell-odom/10451264

scamalert

looks like you might have hard time selling them as of august 20th exam is changing on cisco.com website theres notification and some news whats being revised and taken/added-so far know that they gonna ditch frame-relay-wan,eBGP will be introduced,more in-depth ipv6,OSPF,switch stacking,etherchannell,QoS ,few items also removed like HSRP but that most item really that rarely showed up in exam either way