Passed icnd 2 :D but what next?

As stated above I have finally passed the icnd 2 exam after a few tries and few months of studying! I couldn't recommend the cbt nuggets videos enough for this. On that subject I want to keep pressing on with Cisco studies while I still have my subscription with cbt but not sure which path to take next. I want to take the ccnp as alot of jobs I have looked at require knowledge of mpls and bgp which was not covered at ccna level. However having not worked on Cisco asa kit (our company uses sonicwall/netgear firewalls) thinking I need ccna security before I tackle the next level up. Has anybody been in a similar situation to this about not being sure which path to take? and if so I'd be interested to hear what path you decided to take first.

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Comments

pinkiaiii

your right on mpls,also recently visited one data center,and topic on security came up that they were looking for future candidates to have it,also not sure if correct but was told to pass security one needs to score 87% on exam dont know is it for ccna security or data center security cert thou.Then also if going for ccnp amount of gear needed surpases way that required for ccna,since in class of 20 people with 5 full racks,was told college would take up to 8 people at most to do ccnp-since materials alone are 1--- pages on topics such as bgp.But since your working already with some gear and have your ccna,then ccnp sounds like a good idea career wise,specially if your using what you gained from ccna now.

Cisco Inferno

New CCNA has BGP fundamentals in it. It seems that they are making it harder with every revision!

Take a look into BGP. its totally different.

volfkhat

I believe that MPLS is not covered in the CCNP (R&S)...

OctalDump

volfkhat wrote: »

I believe that MPLS is not covered in the CCNP (R&S)...

Not currently in any great depth. But at CCNP level, you should probably be at least aware of what it is. I think that MPLS is covered in much greater depth in the Service Provider track.

OctalDump

There's not much ASA stuff at all in CCNP R+S. I think not much more than needing to know that it exists.

The CCNA Security is definitely easier than CCNP. For one, it's just a single exam where CCNP R+S is 3 exams. But they do complement each other reasonably well. Apart from the ASA stuff, and some VPN stuff, most of the CCNA Sec content is covered in CCNP R+S, although perhaps not as deep.

MPLS isn't in CCNP R+S. BGP is covered fairly substantially. There's a tiny bit of both (very tiny) in the new CCNA R+S.

BGP is covered also in CCNA Service Provider. MPLS is well covered in CCNP Service Provider (along with more BGP). In fact MPLS topics are about 25% of the CCNP Service Provider objectives. For a smaller company, you can probably get away without knowing much about BGP or MPLS. But BGP and MPLS are much bigger deals in the Service Provider world. Possibly the CCNA/CCNP Service Provider track is a better fit for you if those are the roles you are looking at.

So, me specifically, I did CCNA Security and some wireless stuff (non-certification and non-Cisco) before deciding to do CCNP R+S, which I am still studying for. Hopefully, I'll have CCNA/CCNP R+S, CCNA Sec, and CCNA Wireless by the end of the year.

volfkhat

Great insight :]

doctorlexus

Probably a good idea to get a couple other CCNA's before moving to a CCNP. From what I've read and heard, it's not that useful to have a CCNP without experience to back it up. But also, a CCNA Security, CCNA Wireless, etc. will renew your CCNA R&S for 3 years from the day you pass each exam. Then, if you take any CCNP exam, it will renew all of your CCNA certs.

But if you go the other way, and say get a CCNP first, and then decide to do a couple other CCNA's, those extra CCNA's won't renew your CCNP. So just for longevity's sake, it makes more sense to do several CCNA's first.

Tman87

Thank you so much everybody for your replies. I think given the info above maybe getting an additional ccna would be more beneficial is the short term given the advice about renewal of ccnp renewal. I was not aware mpls wasn't is ccnp rs (started looking at the material for switching exam first) and thank you for letting me know about The service provider certs. It's an area I definitely want to move into so I may take a look at that one first now even before security

aftereffector

I would recommend getting CCNAs if you need the specialization - for instance, if you work with Cisco firewalls or telepresence or wireless technology - but I would also recommend continuing forward with CCNP R/S studies to keep developing that knowledge. You don't have to sprint towards a CCNP within six months, but definitely pick up a couple of books and lab guides for SWITCH or ROUTE and keep pressing. Don't be like me and get a couple of CCNAs and forget about core route/switch technologies for a year or two, or it will be very painful when you go back!