The CCNA/Cisco Certifications Thread

Soldato
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@Matthab....
How did you get into a job that involves networking as im in IT, have a degree but have found it difficult to break into it.

I started as a NOC analyst straight out of college. I studied the CCNA passed all 4 modules but didnt take the exam, thats where I went wrong...

In that time I kind of fell into Networking. My advice would be find a good company who offers progression and training. Now I am on track to Senior Network Engineer with a team of 3 below me, just need the certs which I am working on over the next 12 months.

Virl has been great, done every lab with ease in it. I used CBT Nuggets and Jeremy is fantastic, just need him to complete 200-105 now :D.
 
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Soldato
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Not done security but yeh Jeremy is an awesome teacher.

You cant really. You can do some.switch features in GNS3 by using a router with etherswitch module installed. But it doesn't give you all the features you will need to cover in the CCNP switch exam.

GNS3 itself is good and there are new features being added recently which iv not tested yet.

You need to setup a virtualbox server, obtain some IOU layer 2 & 3 and a license. I have switched running in GNS3 now and can pretty much cover most things :)
 
Soldato
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FYI - You can simulate proper layer-2 switching inside Cisco VIRL (there's a layer-2 virtual switch) it does spanning tree and everything else,

Cheers will check this out :)

You need to setup a virtualbox server, obtain some IOU layer 2 & 3 and a license. I have switched running in GNS3 now and can pretty much cover most things :)

Im running esxi host at home so will be looking to see but will check that out too :)
 
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Permabanned
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I started as a NOC analyst straight out of college. I studied the CCNA passed all 4 modules but didnt take the exam, thats where I went wrong...

In that time I kind of fell into Networking. My advice would be find a good company who offers progression and training. Now I am on track to Senior Network Engineer with a team of 3 below me, just need the certs which I am working on over the next 12 months.

Virl has been great, done every lab with ease in it. I used CBT Nuggets and Jeremy is fantastic, just need him to complete 200-105 now :D.

Thanks mate
 
Soldato
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Attempted the 200-105 exam today, failed with a score of 801 with a pass of 811 :(.

Taking a week out and then will go over the study material again hoping Jeremy has completed it all.
 
Soldato
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Unlucky.

Don't rely solely on Jeremy. Read blogs.web articals, find where you lost ℅ and read up on it more

I'm halfway through CCNP TSHOOT jeramy videos. I have packet tracer TSHOOT labs setup and Keith Barker's CBT TSHOOT VM running on my ESx box. But I'm going to get more videos out the way before I start labbing.

Anyone been through Barker's labs? Did you find it ok ? Hoping there are not too many GNS bugs or config issues that are not part of the ticket so I can concentrate on troubleshooting
 
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Soldato
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Please don't interpret this in any way other than curiosity....

How come in the networking world you need to have valid certifications?

In the Linux world, although certs are not a bad thing, experience is king and it's only very rare scenarios where the company you work for is required to have for example RHEL certified engineers that you need certs.
 
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Please don't interpret this in any way other than curiosity....

How come in the networking world you need to have valid certifications?

In the Linux world, although certs are not a bad thing, experience is king and it's only very rare scenarios where the company you work for is required to have for example RHEL certified engineers that you need certs.

You don't really need certs but it helps employers know you have passed a qualification. I had some new guy who said on his CV he had CCNA, however couldn't program a switch when I asked him too. :)
 
Man of Honour
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I've been doing CCNP level work for about 5 years now on various projects and I finally got round to sitting ICND1 last May and passed without revision. I've been saying since that I need to do ICND2 to get my CCNA but I lack the motivation. I really don't have any excuse, I have a decent home lab, I'd need about a week of revision and my lodger is a CCIE!
 
Soldato
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Hi guys. I've been working in IT for the last 10 years and have gone from the helpdesk, too second line support, Infrastructure Engineer and now Datacentre Supervisor. I've got decent skills with server hardware and servers(Virtual and Physical), Citrix, Windows Server from 2003 to 2012 and now licencing. But I've never really gained enough networking knowledge over the years. I have basic network troubleshooting skills but would like to boost them and have certification to prove it. Am i right in saying i should do the following:

CCENT - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 100-105 ICND1
CCENT - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 200-105 ICND2

1 being a kind of intro and 2 turning that into a CCNA? If so what kind of hardware will i need? I'll be building a server at home, is there any free network virtualisation/lab stuff i can buy or preferably get for free? Learning wise i think i'll start with CBT nuggets and Jeremy as he always seems to get glowing reviews. Work could pay for this but ideally i'd like to do it of my own back financially. If i need a nuggets subscription its not the end of the world as i'd like to re-certify my Citrix qualifications anyway. Any help you guys can give me would be great. :)
 
Soldato
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leigh_boy;30494541 said:
Passed CCNA security today - was seriously hard but im glad its over with for now!

Nice one! I failed it twice last year.

What material did you use? And what score did you get?
 
Soldato
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Quick question - I've been CCIE certified for ~6 years, and the time has come to sell off my lab kit. Career has moved on and I just don't need to bother with certs anymore.

Numerous 2600s (various models), layer 2 and 3 switches, a few 3700 routers, loads of WICs, serial cables etc.

Is there still a market for these, where is the best place to sell?
 
Soldato
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Quick question - I've been CCIE certified for ~6 years, and the time has come to sell off my lab kit. Career has moved on and I just don't need to bother with certs anymore.

Numerous 2600s (various models), layer 2 and 3 switches, a few 3700 routers, loads of WICs, serial cables etc.

Is there still a market for these, where is the best place to sell?

I ended up giving away most of my kit years ago, as the cost of postage ended up being more than the value of the items, funnily enough - I used to have one of those old 2500 series terminal servers, they're still like worth £200 or so last time I checked :p

I spin up VIRL on to of baremetal using Vagrant now, on packet.net - whole environments loaded in 20 minutes - don't know if you've seen it, but it's good for dev work - I gave upon certs years after doing an CCIE like yourself.. cba to recert it :|
 
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