Best Form of Video Training?

MrPieMan82

I know there are a lot of forms of video training out there for this stuff. I already passed ICND1. I read about a quarter of the book, went through CBT nuggets for ICND1, and went through some of TrainSignal for ICND1. Of course, I labbed a bunch too.

Went through CBT nuggets for ICND2. I found it to be lacking in some places (Spanning Tree for example. PVST+ is just briefly mentioned).

Reading this stuff really isn't my kind of thing. I have both the Wendell Odom official cert guides (ICND1 and ICND2), but they're kind of hard to take. They put me to sleep. I'll admit, they're a bit easier to swallow after seeing the cbt nugget vids, but they're still hard to get through.

I've heard of Todd Lammle's book being used more often than not. Anybody with a perspective as far as comparison goes?

Also wanted to hear about training videos. Since I used those for most of what got me through ICND1, I'd like to use them again. Any suggestions as far as what the best are? TrainSignal was more to the point and thorough, but I know there are a lot more. I'd rather watch those and lab instead of reading.

eddie174

I found CBT Nuggets difficult to watch. I used YouTube searched for 200-120 and found
and watched Kevin Wallace's series. For ICND2 you will need to
know RSTP/STP pretty well, also eigrp and Frame relay.
Kevin Wallace did an outstanding job of explaining. There was no failed attempt at humor
like Jeremy attempted, just a straight out laymen's explanation. His ether-channel and FHRP explanation
were second to none

I also had access to packet tracer and also Cisco virtual labs. I also had some real
time router switch experience. No book substitutes for actual configuring, but Network Warrior
broke down frame relay, eigrp and ospf and STP pretty well.

MrPieMan82

eddie174 wrote: »

I found CBT Nuggets difficult to watch. I used YouTube searched for 200-120 and found
and watched Kevin Wallace's series. For ICND2 you will need to
know RSTP/STP pretty well, also eigrp and Frame relay.
Kevin Wallace did an outstanding job of explaining. There was no failed attempt at humor
like Jeremy attempted, just a straight out laymen's explanation. His ether-channel and FHRP explanation
were second to none

I also had access to packet tracer and also Cisco virtual labs. I also had some real
time router switch experience. No book substitutes for actual configuring, but Network Warrior
broke down frame relay, eigrp and ospf and STP pretty well.

Thanks for responding. I started out with the simulators when I was starting to go through the ICND1 stuff, but I decided I needed the real thing. I bought the stuff for a small lab (two routers and two switches, a rack and a couple of Wic-2T cards).

Jeremy's humor didn't bother me so much. I just hate the feeling that something is lacking. That's why I liked TrainSignal. He was straight to the point and thorough.

I know about a bunch of these topics but the questions are very specific.

MrPieMan82

I just looked that Kevin Wallace guy up. Apparently, he's a two-time CCIE and he sells videos under Cisco Press. He's got a series for CCNA that includes 26+ hours of instruction. I saw something something about this being all you need to pass the CCNA. This sounds like EXACTLY what I was looking for, so thank you for mentioning this guy. It doesn't sound like he leaves anything out. It's expensive, but I think I'll take the plunge. I'll let it be known whether it's worth it.

MrPieMan82

Just an update for anybody else wondering about this stuff. I did a search for this type of info, and I looked around the net, but I couldn't find what I was looking for; this is why I'm making things clear in this thread.

Ended up getting this video set. I'm halfway through the ICND2 track (75 videos in). Keep in mind that I already went through the CBT Nuggets track for ICND2 and took notes. So, I'm giving this explanation having watched half of Kevin Wallace's videos and taken notes as well.

Now, technically, I'm past the halfway part. The program is split into 8 parts altogether. The ICND1 track is 4 parts and the ICND2 track is 4 parts. Each part doesn't have a certain amount of videos or anything like that. They are just grouped together. Part one wasn't that long. Part two was almost 3 times as long as part one, and the remaining parts have about as much as part one had.

This is my opinion. I have to say, without a doubt, these are much better than CBT nuggets. When thinking about how to describe Kevin Wallace's mastery of this stuff, only one saying from Training Day came to mind. Kevin Wallace is "surgical with this ****". I mentioned that the CBT nuggets explanation of spanning tree seemed to be pretty lacking, because there was no configuration showing the implementation, and Jeremy only glossed very briefly over PVST+. Not only does this guy fill that void completely in those spots (he also talks a little about MSPT), he shows you so many more commands and thoroughly explains the output. I feel like my level of knowledge has truly risen to just about CCNA level right now.

As for his presentation, I mentioned I went through 75 of his videos (I finished parts 1 and 2. Parts 3 and 4 remain, but there are fewer videos in this half). Kevin's videos are short and to-the-point. Most of the videos don't even reach 7 minutes in length. This is good, because all you have to do is look for the video titled the topic you want to learn about, "OSPF V3", for example.

He doesn't make jokes, but still manages to keep things from being dull. And he doesn't make mistakes. That's not such a bad thing when Jeremy does that in the CBT Nugget vids, but it's nice to be able to just see everything and understand the ins-and-outs before dealing with problems. Kevin will often include troubleshooting videos at the ends of topics. This is really nice, because you test your understanding, and he gives you the answers immediately. It's like a review.

The only thing I can think about that Jeremy mentioned that Kevin didn't was how etherchannel has to use a number of links that's divisible by 2, but then I think Kevin went and said there was a limit on how many links you could use per port-channel connection.

So, to sum up here, there are many videos here, but they're short (anywhere from 2 to 7 minutes in most cases). No issue with trying to get through 30+ minute videos like CBT Nuggets or TrainSignal (PluralSight). They're to the point. No mistakes here. About every single main topic he talks about (Think about anything that you'd need to configure) involves a configuration demonstration. You learn more commands and you learn how to interpret the output of those commands and other ones mentioned in CBT nuggets, and the official cert books, that aren't explained as well. It's really surprising how much more can be learned from this series. It really is looking like all I'll need is this video series and hands-on practice to take down ICND2.

NetworkNewb

Good review! Wish it was a little cheaper and I would've tried it out myself.

MrPieMan82

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Good review! Wish it was a little cheaper and I would've tried it out myself.

Thank you. I know people come to this site for help when prepping for certs, and I came here, so I wanted to do my part.

As Eddie said, there are actually some of those on YouTube. I checked out some of those videos before I bought in, some of the ones I bought are in that set on YouTube. I don't know if they're in order, but they're worth looking at if you have nthing to lose.

LeisureSuitLarry

Is this what you got? Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching ICND2 200-101 Complete Video Course

You mentioned 26+ hours, but that description said 8+ hours, so I wasn't sure if there was a different video series you're referring to. Thanks.

MrPieMan82

LeisureSuitLarry wrote: »

Is this what you got? Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching ICND2 200-101 Complete Video Course

You mentioned 26+ hours, but that description said 8+ hours, so I wasn't sure if there was a different video series you're referring to. Thanks.

Well, this is what I was talking about:

Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching 200-120 Complete Video Course

What you posted is included in that though, and that's what I based my review on. It is very expensive though, so if money is tight at all, buying things separately is probably good.

bym007

Sorry to wake up this old thread. However, I am currently preparing for CCNA 200-125, and was looking for video training. I tried CBT Nuggets, and then came across Kevin Wallace (Cisco Press). I found that although Kevin Wallace is highly respected in the training industry (double CCIE, whatnot), his training package on Cisco Press was hell expensive ($499 discounted to $399, as of today 06/01/17). However, I found out from watching his interview from CiscoLive that the same course is also hosted on Safari Books online. Which goes a lot cheaper. $39 per month or $399 for the whole year, and it includes CCNA and much more (basically all training videos and books online). So I guess this is a much cheaper option to go for.

Good luck!

Verities

bym007 wrote: »

Sorry to wake up this old thread. However, I am currently preparing for CCNA 200-125, and was looking for video training. I tried CBT Nuggets, and then came across Kevin Wallace (Cisco Press). I found that although Kevin Wallace is highly respected in the training industry (double CCIE, whatnot), his training package on Cisco Press was hell expensive ($499 discounted to $399, as of today 06/01/17). However, I found out from watching his interview from CiscoLive that the same course is also hosted on Safari Books online. Which goes a lot cheaper. $39 per month or $399 for the whole year, and it includes CCNA and much more (basically all training videos and books online). So I guess this is a much cheaper option to go for.

Good luck!

I've been telling people this for a while to jump on Safari Books since they have a partnership with Pearson Vue for the Live Lessons. Excellent videos series that are up to date and made by quality authors for super cheap.

Edit: Live Lessons cover a subset of exam topics and should be used in conjunction with labbing. Complete Video Courses cover all the exam topics.

dontstop

Check out INE's CCENT course, I haven't watched it personally but I was very close to buying it. I ended up with Kevin Wallace's video through Safari & ITPro.tv