ICND2 Pass

xengoreth

INCD2 Pass- 881/1000

I passed the ICND1 back in November but finally had time to focus on ICND2 just in the last month. As such, about a solid month of time was dedicated to study averaging maybe 15 hours per week.

The Odom book, GNS3, and VIRL made up my main modes of study. I labbed everything out using various topologies suggested by others and ones I dreamed up on my own.

Finally, I spent the last two weeks doing Boson tests and restudying the weak areas. I was a little discouraged by Boson at first-- I thought I was ready to take the test and got a bit of a wakeup call when I failed their test with a 62%. But I'm glad I didn't start with the practice tests until the end and though they really helped. WGU also gave me access to the Transcender tests and I think they are garbage in comparison.

By the time I was done I was passing studying I passed the Boson test at nearly 100%. It only took a few retakes to get there. The most important thing is not getting the right answer, obviously, but understanding why you are wrong!

JoJoCal19

Congrats on the pass! great accomplishment. So what's next?

xengoreth

Thanks! I'm going to sidetrack from my WGU BSIT - Sec degree for a few weeks and finally knock out the VCP5-DCV, since I already have the class done and years of experience with VMware. I'll probably weave in the A+/Net+ since I already have half of the A+ and the Network+ is somewhat redundant at this point.

After that, it's CCNA: Security and Linux+! Long term goal is CCNP: R/S.

fuz1on

Congrats on the pass!!!

stunnedsoup

Awesome job man! Congrats!

This is a very encouraging post. I'm wrapping up studying and doing Boson's now. Glad to hear it worked out for you!

steelodon

Congrats on the pass! I was wondering about using VIRL as a resource for studying. Did you have to use any physical hardware along with GNS3?

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats!

Queue

Congrats! Good Job!

toasterboy1

Congratulations! Encouraging to hear that even after some time away it can be done. Having problems finishing up the Lammle book and I know I will need some serious lab time. Good luck on your other certs.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats!!

xengoreth

steelodon wrote: »

Congrats on the pass! I was wondering about using VIRL as a resource for studying. Did you have to use any physical hardware along with GNS3?

Thanks!

I am currently running the VIRL appliance on an ESXi host, although I'll likely switch to bare metal, since VIRL is a resource hog. I have a pair of 3560G's for my "data center" and an 8-port 2960G sitting in my office as my access layer switch. I can set up the VIRL topology such that the virtualized devices have connectivity to the physical devices on my network, which can be pretty useful for leveraging IP services on the network (ntp, syslog, tftp, etc.)

GNS3, of course, has the same capability but I tend to use GNS3 for quick labs oriented targeting a specific technology (FHRP, a specific IGP, Frame Relay, etc.)

Additionally, I have some other Cisco gear I've picked up along the way sitting in my rack, but the majority of the labbing is with virtual devices, either through GNS3 or VIRL, just due to how long it takes to run downstairs and re-cable everything. For example, I have three 1841s that I haven't powered on in months and a number of other 100 Mbps 2960s and 3560s I just probably won't use and will likely just sell.

I deal with a lot of Cisco equipment at work, so I suspect for others having hands on with a couple different models of devices would be much more valuable.

Most of the "labbing" that gets done with the physical equipment I do use is in support of my home network needs: appropriate configurations for my wireless access points and ESXi hosts, port security, portfast and bpduguard for all of my edge ports, redundancy for my SVIs with FHRPs, etc. By this point, my poor wife has gotten used to my experiments that sometimes lead to breaking access to the internet! I think labbing can be a lot more fun if they have a more real-world goal in mind and the needs present themselves as I get my hands on more lab equipment.