The CCNA/Cisco Certifications Thread
- Thread starter kalvindeane
- Start date
I've still yet to do my exam 
Just too busy at work and at home. Short staffed, wedding coming up, plus a few personal projects, I just haven't had the time. I'm hoping after my wedding and honeymoon, I can sit down and bang out the CCENT.
Just too busy at work and at home. Short staffed, wedding coming up, plus a few personal projects, I just haven't had the time. I'm hoping after my wedding and honeymoon, I can sit down and bang out the CCENT.As part of my redundancy package (Feb '15) my employer is offering up to £800 towards retraining. I'm thinking about a total career change and thoughts of something in networking spring to mind. However, with nothing more than a DIY/home background in the subject, I could do with some suggestions on reading material, videos, etc from which I can decide if it's for me/what direction to go in.
I've been searching OCUK on CCENT, CCNA, etc and it's all be helpful, but I was hoping someone could offer some advice specific to my needs, e.g. what books can I buy to get a general overview?
Is it worth using some of the money to sign up to the learning material offered on Cisco's website?
I can apply for a course in one hit, or chip away at the £800 fund. But it has to be applied for before I leave. (A course could start Sept 2015, but has to be paid for before I leave, i.e. Feb 2015.)
I'll also have a respectable fund available post-redundancy. So this can be used to further the training.
My only worry is what to do post-qualification. I'm 41 and will have no professional experience in the field. I'm worried this makes it a non-starter.
I've been searching OCUK on CCENT, CCNA, etc and it's all be helpful, but I was hoping someone could offer some advice specific to my needs, e.g. what books can I buy to get a general overview?
Is it worth using some of the money to sign up to the learning material offered on Cisco's website?
I can apply for a course in one hit, or chip away at the £800 fund. But it has to be applied for before I leave. (A course could start Sept 2015, but has to be paid for before I leave, i.e. Feb 2015.)
I'll also have a respectable fund available post-redundancy. So this can be used to further the training.
My only worry is what to do post-qualification. I'm 41 and will have no professional experience in the field. I'm worried this makes it a non-starter.
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depending on what you already know you may find it very hard.
Hi all
Just wondering if there is anyone who had problems with VLANS and trunks in GNS3,
I have the very simple topology below
Basically all switches have 2 VLANS created (VLAN 10 SALES, VLAN 20 FINANCE)
WESTSW01 interfaces where PC's are connected to, are access ports, one on VLAN 10, one on VLAN 20, I added a third PC there WESTPC5 on VLAN 10 also, just so I can see if I can ping from WESTPC1 to WESTPC5 (on the same VLAN) which I can.
There are NO VLAN INTERFACES configured here, this is just a layer2 LAB, not layer3 switching.
Switches in between all trunked, and on the other side again 2 PC's connected, one on VLAN 10 and one on 20 access ports.
I seem to be having major issues with something not working with the trunking, now the trunks dont seem to be accepting switchport trunk encap dot1q in GNS. Also, I want to make sure this is not a red herring, but trunks should be allowing ALL vlans down them.
Is there some sort of bug or something in GNS3 which has issues with some switching ?
The problem I get is, nothing on the left side, can communicate with anything on the right side.
Just thought I would post this here why I go through the process of elimination
Just wondering if there is anyone who had problems with VLANS and trunks in GNS3,
I have the very simple topology below
Basically all switches have 2 VLANS created (VLAN 10 SALES, VLAN 20 FINANCE)
WESTSW01 interfaces where PC's are connected to, are access ports, one on VLAN 10, one on VLAN 20, I added a third PC there WESTPC5 on VLAN 10 also, just so I can see if I can ping from WESTPC1 to WESTPC5 (on the same VLAN) which I can.
There are NO VLAN INTERFACES configured here, this is just a layer2 LAB, not layer3 switching.
Switches in between all trunked, and on the other side again 2 PC's connected, one on VLAN 10 and one on 20 access ports.
I seem to be having major issues with something not working with the trunking, now the trunks dont seem to be accepting switchport trunk encap dot1q in GNS. Also, I want to make sure this is not a red herring, but trunks should be allowing ALL vlans down them.
Is there some sort of bug or something in GNS3 which has issues with some switching ?
The problem I get is, nothing on the left side, can communicate with anything on the right side.
Just thought I would post this here why I go through the process of elimination
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Edit: ignore the above, great success
For some reason it wasnt encapsulating the packets properly over the trunk using dot1q
Deleted the trunks, recreated them and its working.
I've noticed, in Packet Tracer at least, that the command 'switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q' isn't available. Mostly likely due to the switches that it uses no longer support ISL, so I guess the command becomes redundant.
Not used packet tracer in a while, but yeah there are restrictions on there (there is still stuff you cant do with GNS3 anyway and you have to test with real switches) so swings and roundabouts really.
In GNS it works fine, although remember the newer switches, ISL is redundant, because of this, when creating trunks you wont need to use switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q. Just go ahead and create the trunk (switchport mode trunk).
On the older models you obviously do the dot1q encap before you create the trunk
The IOS I am using in GNS still have the dot1q and ISL selectable
Congrats, how much of the knowledge did you have prior to revision?
Pretty much none. Very basic idea of network classes, OSI model and TCP/UDP from Uni but that was about it. No idea on subnetting, router/switch config or routing protocols. Learnt far more in the last 2 months than I did in that module from Uni.
Cool not bad 
I am booking mine in a week, prob sit it end of Sept, right at beginning of Oct.
Unfortunately I was going to sit it around June/July but major projects kicked off at work so time was thin on the ground.
Am I right in thinking that your exam questions
- You had lots of subnetting (based on networks, based on hosts, reverse engineering, VLSM)
- Lots of OSPF S
- Not much natting (colleque said he had no natting)
- Not much access list? (As above, said he had no real ACL qs)
Was there any other areas to concentrate more on more than others (other than what I have put above)
This is generally what I hear other people saying.
I am booking mine in a week, prob sit it end of Sept, right at beginning of Oct.Unfortunately I was going to sit it around June/July but major projects kicked off at work so time was thin on the ground.
Am I right in thinking that your exam questions
- You had lots of subnetting (based on networks, based on hosts, reverse engineering, VLSM)
- Lots of OSPF S
- Not much natting (colleque said he had no natting)
- Not much access list? (As above, said he had no real ACL qs)
Was there any other areas to concentrate more on more than others (other than what I have put above)
This is generally what I hear other people saying.
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There was a lot of subnetting. Basic stuff like what is the broadcast, subnet number, what hosts from the list fit within this subnet etc. No VLSM, route summarization or anything.
There was an OSPF sim, troubleshooting adjacencies, neighbouring issues etc.
Couple of questions on NAT/PAT, but no configuration. More like, what is overload, what does this config line do.
No ACL from what I can remember.
There was no configuration involved at all, just show commands to find errors or info.
OSPF is a good one to focus on. Know the show commands for it and you'll be grand. This video is great for OSPF troubleshooting imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQoqa-jItg
I seen a lot of questions on forwarding frames, like what will the switch do with this frame with this source and destination MAC address. There were some scenarios like, here is a network setup, what can you find wrong with it (subnet mask allow the required amount of hosts? Point-To-Point links wasting IP addresses?)
There was an OSPF sim, troubleshooting adjacencies, neighbouring issues etc.
Couple of questions on NAT/PAT, but no configuration. More like, what is overload, what does this config line do.
No ACL from what I can remember.
There was no configuration involved at all, just show commands to find errors or info.
OSPF is a good one to focus on. Know the show commands for it and you'll be grand. This video is great for OSPF troubleshooting imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQoqa-jItg
I seen a lot of questions on forwarding frames, like what will the switch do with this frame with this source and destination MAC address. There were some scenarios like, here is a network setup, what can you find wrong with it (subnet mask allow the required amount of hosts? Point-To-Point links wasting IP addresses?)
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well done bud.
Did the ICND1 course at QA Mancs last week, moved on to ICND2 this week - wow!, theres a lot to take in.
Whilst I enjoyed ICND1 (and found it very useful) - ICND2 so far seems pretty boring just going into the protocols more in depth. Finding it hard to keep my eyes open this afternoon. Looking forward to more of the troubleshooting stuff later.
Thank God I don't have to do the certifications!
still struggling with subnetting though - seems every teacher has their own way of teaching it - just confuses me even more. Bring on IPv6!! (only two subnets lol)
Cool thanks
yeah I am just doing some labbing right now, I have created myself lots of labs based on the different subjects, aswel as a master lab, I have about 14 different LABS in GNSI took to the CBT way of learning subnetting, I mocked up some question examples to go through it, I also find that the practice CD, although I dont use it much right until near the end, I think the subnetting questions help a lot.
OSPF again yeah been through but going through again and labbing more.
One thing I am probably going to do when I get in to the exam is draw up a subnet table which I created
Very useful for those who want to use this, means you can do quick and easy look ups
Bah sorry, the format of the table didnt come out right when I entered in to the thread, but screenshot in paint
Hope thats useful for anyone, remember that and remember to make it the first thing you write down
Cheers for the youtube link, will give it a watch
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Ranet had a few, not sure if they included nat. English could be better on the instructions as well, but it's decent enough for some practice.
Although actually I think they only posted Packet Tracer labs, so could be a bit of an issue finding some for GNS3.
Although actually I think they only posted Packet Tracer labs, so could be a bit of an issue finding some for GNS3.
Yeah thats for packet tracer, I use GNS3, I have been making my own labs up not pre-made. My mate said there wasnt a lot of NAT on ICND1 exam, its more covered in ICND2, but its obviously worth going over anyway
I did find this lab for GNS3 which covers NAT so may give this a go, but didnt know if you had to emulate WAN in anyway
Pretty much got all labs that I need done, going back to the theory again and testing myself more
http://resources.intenseschool.com/gns3-labs-for-ccna-basic-nat-network-address-translation/
www.9tut.com is decent for examples.