Book Help

ny2cali

I studied for the ICND1 and ICND2 for the CCNA R&S through videos but mainly by reading two great books from Lammle and Odom.

I'm now interested in getting the CCNA Service Provider certification. I'm simply unable to find equivalent great books for CCNA SP.

Would someone provide suggestions?

Thank you.

Simrid

I'm in the exact same boat, however I have found some good resources online:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/83641

INE do have a course coming out shortly, I did contact them and they cannot provide a date so the only way to access it is with the all access pass. It's also recommend you read the Cisco IOS XR Fundamentals and IPv6 Fundamentals.

Apart from that, I think it's going to be fun, innovative learning

ny2cali

I thought I was the only person who was looking for good information on SP. Thanks for the online resource.
While there may not be a great book dedicated to the CCNA SP, any thoughts on a great book just from a SP perspective? For example, what is the thought process of a SP in designing their network architecture? In selecting their technologies for WAN such as Carrier Ethernet? What limitations do they have to overcome? How do they scale their services?

I realize there's a fragmented online resources that cover such topics. But I'm just really looking for a good read on this fascinating topic.

Thanks!

Simrid

I think there's two sections to what you've spoken about there, the technology side (you will learn this in the SP track) and the design side (found in the design certifications).

Although the below Cisco post is aimed at CCNP level, it does look to provide some good technology based reading:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/42687

I have spoken with a CCDE trainer in the past and they have recommend this book for a good base of design knowledge:

Designing for Cisco Network Service Architectures (ARCH) Foundation Learning Guide: CCDP ARCH 300-320, 4th Edition

koz24

Hey Ny2cali,

I just certified for the CCNA SP this Friday so maybe I can be of some use to you.

As you have already noted, there is no formal training from CiscoPress in the form of OCGs and FLGs for this exam. However, you can still easily study for it!

Here's what I did:

I read:

https://www.amazon.com/Routing-TCP-Volume-2nd-Edition/dp/1587052024/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
https://www.amazon.com/Routing-TCP-CCIE-Professional-Development/dp/1578700892/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351100550&sr=1-1&keywords=Routing+TCP%2FIP%2C+Volume+II
Internet Routing Architectures, 2nd Edition
MPLS and VPN Architectures (Paperback)
https://www.amazon.com/Routing-Cisco-IOS-Understanding-Implementing/dp/1587144239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475968551&sr=8-1&keywords=iOS+xr

Read these 5 books, okay. They will help you ALOT for the CCNA SP and the CCIE R&S! You know what the biggest difference between CCNA R&S and CCNA SP is? CCNA SP is basically EVERYTHING CCNA R&S is PLUS MPLS, BGP, and IOS XR. So you should know MPLS, BGP, and IOS XR cold. Those books I linked cover all of those.

Also, and this is important, you should know Cisco's SP product line like the back of your hand for this exam. Know the models, what they can and cannot do, what OS they can run, things like that.

Lastly, print out a copy of the CCNA SPNGN1 and SPNGN2 blueprints and go through each and very topic referring to the books.

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccna_service_provider/spngn1_exam/exam-topics
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccna_service_provider/spngn2_exam/exam-topics

If you look at a topic on the blueprint and you don't know what it's asking, you're not ready. Basically you just want to be able to flip through the blueprints and know every topic. This is the strategy I used and I got a low 900 on the exam.

I hope that helps. Feel free to PM if you have any questions!

ny2cali

Simrid and koz24 thanks so much for such good information. I've started perusing the links and the information set looks very promising.
Just one more thing. Hope it's not too much trouble but two of the links on the https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/42687 don't work. They're
Metro Ethernet Network Architecture Framework Part 1: Generic Framework (PDF) and Metro Ethernet Services Definitions Phase 2 (PDF)

Would you or anyone have an updated link containing these pdfs?

Thank you again for the help!
ny2cali