Which CCNP Books Would You Recommend?

djchitown

I am new here and this seems like a great forum. So thanks for having me.

I just passed my CCNA in June of this year and feel that I need to get the CCNP in order to acquire the skills that employer are demanding.

I used CBT Nuggets as supplemental study material but Lammle's book was what I used for the core study. Unfortunately, Lammle doesnt' have a CCNP book and was wondering what would you all recommend that is not so just black and white like the Official Cisco books appear to be? I don't want a book that reads like the White Pages.

I do have CBT Nuggets CCNP Route videos but I don't see how anyone can pass the exam just watching those videos. So what books do you all recommend and why?

Iristheangel

I would highly recommend the CCNP Route Simplified and CCNP Switch Simplified books. Very very very thorough and detailed.

twill713

Do the books mentioned above cover the new material that will be present in exams after January 20th, 2015 ?

OfWolfAndMan

twill, the following is a brief list of the addons to the new CCNP tests (From what I've read):
-VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding). This was covered in the Simplified book briefly using VRF lite
-CEF (This was in the SWITCH books but now appears in the ROUTE books apparently)
-EVN (Never heard of this one)
-DMVPN (This was in the ROUTE material well in the VPN section. The depth may not be enough though)
-Stackwise (Making several physical switches as one logical. Eliminates the issues of daisy chaining access switches. Also was covered briefly in the Simplified books).

These seem to be the bigger additions. I'd supplement with some Cisco documentation (Or Google posts). I highly recommend the Simplified series for CCNP as well. You can either wait until December when they release the new books or get a head start now and look through the present material. Your choice.

azaghul

As its that close to the release date of the new books, probably best to wait till then, providing they are released on time.

In the meantime, get a subscription or purchase the videos for the current R&S exams from either INE or IPExpert and start watching them. Most of the content is staying the same, and I believe both vendors will include the updates for the new exams free(?) after the new exams go live.

xnx

I use both Official certification guide and the foundation learning guide for CCNP Route