Torn between CCNP and CCNP Security. Self Study material questionable

I currently have my CCNA and CCNA Security and my job is more dedicated on the Security side. It seems like both tracks have issues with self study material not being 100% defined, which is no surprise. I believe the CCNP Security OCG books will be released in August and most people are using the CCNP simplified series for CCNP Route\Switch after reading various posts. My weak side is routing, which is why I am interested. Just wanted thoughts and input on both tracks and self study material. Difficulty between the two and if it matters, which to obtain first.

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fredrikjj

superman100 wrote: »

It seems like both tracks have issues with self study material not being 100% defined,

I don't think that's true when it comes to the RS exams as the cert guides have been released. If I were in your situation with both CCNAs already completed, I'd spend 6 months to knock out the RS and then move on to Security. By the time that you've completed RS more books for Security should be out (only 1 book has been released so far afaik).

JustFred

Listen to the other Fred, he makes sense.

ande0255

If I may ask just to gain insight on your situation, as I am sort of in the same boat but leaning CCNP R/S, what type of work do you do? Are you working solely with ASA's? I do a lot of security things at my work as well like NAT / ACL / VPN setup on ASA's, but being that I work for an MSP I get the occasional ticket where I'm looking at security functions on routers which have subtle differences in their operation and configuration than an ASA.

superman100

Thanks for the input Gentleman. @ande0255 My primary role is working on Security Products - Firewalls, VPNS, NAT, ACL etc etc etc...very similar to what you do.

ande0255

I'd be interested to see more responses, I figure I'd go for the CCNP R/S first just to get that solid foundation of routing and switch, though I mainly work with switches in my job role. Glad to see I am not the only person struggling with which path to take

wonkle22

Thought I would add my 2 cents to this one!

I also work for an MSP within a security remit. We do do networking stuff but largely basic switching like VLAN creation. Like a previous poster, I consider routing to be my biggest weakness.

I actually started the CCNP Security track and got FIREWALL out of the way. While I was doing that, Cisco announced the retirement of that version of the CCNP Security track, much to my disappointment. I would have been so much happier if I had managed to get VPN done.

I started looking at the new CCNP Sec but other than SENSS (which I don't need to do) and SIMOS, the rest of it really doesn't interest me very much, and even after all this time, the learning resources available for self study are lacking in the extreme (something which I find very frustrating!)

So, I decided to go down the CCNP R&S track and I have not regretted it. I have several years of experience in network roles so this helped enormously. I did SWITCH first and passed ROUTE last month - leaving just TSHOOT to get the CCNP.

After that I plan to do SIMOS and then I guess eventually I will get round to SISAS/SITCS but very little of this is relevant to my role so I think these exams will be a bit of a long slog and generally unrewarding. I actually feel the current CCNP Sec is trying to be a bit too broad...I much preferred the content of the previous incarnation, though I appreciate times change.

The CCNP R&S on the other hand is a very good addition to your CV, shows a solid level of knowledge in networking, and bridges the gap on your CV with routing knowledge to a degree.

One thing I will say though - make sure you know the blueprint of CCNP R&S and do NOT just spend all of your time on the major topics - know the whole thing

E Double U

I think doing CCNP R&S before Sec is a good idea because the routing can come in handy. The only reason I didn't do CCNP R&S is I started studying for CCIP QoS exam and then switched to routing while I was on the configuration/migrations team. That team got outsourced and I joined the SOC so I had to focus on Check Point, Bluecoat, and ASAs. I've done fine without CCNP R&S, but sometimes I still kick myself for not completing it when I had the chance.