The CCNA/Cisco Certifications Thread

ChrisD. · 11 Jul 2017 at 08:49

Online/virtualised labs are good, but sometimes it's nice to have kit in front of you, especially if preparing for the lab exam.

The 'packs' seem to still sell on eBay, Gumtree, and Facebook, so it's worth a look at sold listings to get an idea of price.

matthab · 24 Jul 2017 at 13:08

Well just come back after passing the 200-105 exam this morning

. I will say I found the 100-105 far easier as the 200-105 was worded a bit weird in places.

Start working on the CCNP next year.

Vanquish-Storm · 25 Jul 2017 at 11:43

Might be a stupid question but when I was at college we used Packet Tracer to virtually setup networks, is this still going or is there a new version? Or would something like Vagrant be better to use?

matthab · 25 Jul 2017 at 16:32

I use VIRL for my lab, only because work has paid for it

.

DJMK4 · 26 Jul 2017 at 10:57

Vanquish-Storm said:
Might be a stupid question but when I was at college we used Packet Tracer to virtually setup networks, is this still going or is there a new version? Or would something like Vagrant be better to use?

I have used mainly GNS in my time for most routing and dumb switching stuff (you cant really emulate switches properly) - GNS3 got me through general labbing for work stuff, ICND1, ICND2 for the CCNA, and the Route exam for CCNP, I then had to switch to using real physical switches and packet tracer for the CCNP Switch exam. and a mixture of GNS3 and packet tracer for the CCNP TSHOOT exam.

Vanquish-Storm · 27 Jul 2017 at 21:43

DJMK4 said:
I have used mainly GNS in my time for most routing and dumb switching stuff (you cant really emulate switches properly) - GNS3 got me through general labbing for work stuff, ICND1, ICND2 for the CCNA, and the Route exam for CCNP, I then had to switch to using real physical switches and packet tracer for the CCNP Switch exam. and a mixture of GNS3 and packet tracer for the CCNP TSHOOT exam.

Excellent that's the kind of thing I wanted to hear. Did you did any of the GNS3 courses?

DJMK4 · 28 Jul 2017 at 06:48

Vanquish-Storm said:
Excellent that's the kind of thing I wanted to hear. Did you did any of the GNS3 courses?

No worries,

Not done GNS3 courses/modules nope although want to explore what you can do with it more.

leigh_boy · 25 Oct 2017 at 12:38

Is any one doing CCNP R&S at the moment? iv just passed switch and needs some guidance on route
i have 2 routers to play around with , 2821 and 2921 do i need any others? also is the cisco press book any good?

ChrisD. · 25 Oct 2017 at 12:40

All you need is packet tracer and/or GNS3.

agw_01 · 25 Oct 2017 at 18:56

On the topic of Packet Tracer, has anyone had any problems with it randomly crashing?

Can't remember the exact version off the top of my head, 5.5 I think. I have updated to 6 IIRC and had the same issue... Multiple PC's too.

agw_01 · 25 May 2018 at 22:34

Attended a CCNAX course a year ago and only recently realised I'd got a free exam voucher which expired at the end of May.

Studied hard the last few weeks and sat the 200-125 today. I passed!

My CCNA had expired in 2016 while I was trying to pass the 210-260. Thinking I might try to tackle that again before starting on my CCNP.

Feels good to be back!

Shawreyboy · 29 May 2018 at 09:49

Slightly off topic - probably more General Hardware related, but I'm looking to do ICND1 and ICND2 in the coming year.

Can anyone recommend a decent performance laptop to run Packet Tracer and later GNS3 on? I understand GNS3 is a hardware resource hog and needs atleast 8 to 16GB of RAM and a fast processor so i5/i7. Laptops seem to wildly vary in price to spec/performance so any recommendations outside of the usual DELL/XPS or some other Gaming spec system would be appreciated.

Shawrey

ChrisD. · 29 May 2018 at 10:30

You can achieve ICND1 and ICND2 using Packet Tracer only, which doesn't need anything particularly powerful.

Shawreyboy · 29 May 2018 at 10:43

ChrisD. said:
You can achieve ICND1 and ICND2 using Packet Tracer only, which doesn't need anything particularly powerful.

Thanks for confirming my research into ICND1 and 2 RE: use of Packet Tracer. I'm mainly looking at something for GNS3 later. I may just run Packet Tracer on what I have currently which should suffice and look at a more powerful machine later for GNS3.

Shawrey

DJMK4 · 29 May 2018 at 11:20

Got through my ICND1 and ICND2 with GNS3 alone.

CCNP I used a combination of GNS3, 3 x physical switches (added a 4th to play around with creating a loop in the network) and packet tracer.

I prefer to use GNS3 where possible but obviously useful for the routing part and some switch elements (not all) (unless they have updated it recently)

Thats a good question is there any good way to do switching in GNS yet?

leigh_boy · 31 May 2018 at 08:04

just need to to Tshoot to get my CCNP R & S Now.. i found the rout exam harder then the switch one even though i failed switch 2 times.

Mr.Shabz · 31 May 2018 at 10:30

Slowly making my way through ICND2 revision, Chapters 1 and 2 make up 55% of exam questions so don't want to skim.

Mr.Shabz · 8 Oct 2018 at 12:50

Mr.Shabz said:
Slowly making my way through ICND2 revision, Chapters 1 and 2 make up 55% of exam questions so don't want to skim.

Passed my ICND2 last week, really enjoyed the revision and glad to be back on the Certification path. CCNP will be my aim next year.

DJMK4 · 11 Jun 2019 at 13:53

HI all,

Bit of a revival,

My CCNP Routing and Switching needs to be renewed by Jul 2020, however just seen that Cisco certs are changing in feb 2020

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/train...rtifications/certifications/professional.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/train...ions/professional/ccnp-routing-switching.html

Those that are in a similar situ and need to re-certify, are you going to go for the updated exam, or just try and take one of the three current exams to re-certify before the change? and then just check over any updates in your own time?

ChrisD. · 11 Jun 2019 at 14:04

Just do T Shoot on the current exam, easiest option.