Passed CCNA (ICND2), CCNP/Labbing & beyond
dontstop
Member Posts: 579 ■■■■□□□□□□
in CCNA & CCENT
Hey all!
I passed my ICND2
It was a fair exam a little harder than I expected and definitely revealed a few holes in my study strategy.
Some things I've identified:
The last point has driven me to bite bullet and I've decided on building out a lab for the CCNP. I found that during my ICND2 studies I became way too detached from the physical side of networking. I also only really discovered how cool GNS3 was at the very end of my ICND2 so I'll be utilising both a physical and virtual lab for CCNP Route.
The virtual equipment is great for testing and knocking out labs quickly but something feels missing. I've almost become a little intimidated by real equipment after not having used it for the longest part of my studies (and not having any industry experience). My strategy for the CCNP will be both utilising the physical lab and GNS3 but with a focus on forcing myself to spend time tinkering and playing with the physical lab (as if it was my own personal production environment).
Below is a build list which I spent compiling over the past few weeks, most of the equipment has been purchased. I'm pretty happy with the build and happy to have passed ICND2. I'll be going onto ROUTE next.
(All prices are in $AUD so this ends up being around USD $360)
I passed my ICND2
It was a fair exam a little harder than I expected and definitely revealed a few holes in my study strategy.Some things I've identified:
- More time required reading Cisco documentation
- More time required on self-driven study (deeper reading into certain 'describe' topics)
- More time getting familiar with the technologies (aka living with them) versus. configure/test/move-on/forget
The last point has driven me to bite bullet and I've decided on building out a lab for the CCNP. I found that during my ICND2 studies I became way too detached from the physical side of networking. I also only really discovered how cool GNS3 was at the very end of my ICND2 so I'll be utilising both a physical and virtual lab for CCNP Route.
The virtual equipment is great for testing and knocking out labs quickly but something feels missing. I've almost become a little intimidated by real equipment after not having used it for the longest part of my studies (and not having any industry experience). My strategy for the CCNP will be both utilising the physical lab and GNS3 but with a focus on forcing myself to spend time tinkering and playing with the physical lab (as if it was my own personal production environment).
Below is a build list which I spent compiling over the past few weeks, most of the equipment has been purchased. I'm pretty happy with the build and happy to have passed ICND2. I'll be going onto ROUTE next.
(All prices are in $AUD so this ends up being around USD $360)
Comments
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WastedHat
Member Posts: 132 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats! I know what you mean about the Cisco docs, they really helped me when I was studying for my resit. Have you found related work or are you going to dive into CCNP either way?
Have you came across this guy? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP7WmQ_U4GB3K51Od9QvM0w
His voice is unbearable at normal playback speed but theres loads of inspiration for GNS3 labs. -
greg9891
Member Posts: 1,189 ■■■■■■■□□□
Congrats! the time will soon come when i have to go down the ccent track.:
Upcoming Certs: VCA-DCV 7.0, VCP-DCV 7.0, Oracle Database 1Z0-071, PMP, Server +, CCNP
Proverbs 6:6-11Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep, So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler And your need like an armed man. -
tunerX
Member Posts: 447 ■■■□□□□□□□
2960-24TT-L is kind of limited in L3 features.
I would look at getting a couple 3560G-24TS, 3750G-24TS-1U or 3750V2-24TS. Those are the cheapest of the of the older multilayer switches that can still run 15 IOS. 15.0.2-SE10a(MD) -
dontstop
Member Posts: 579 ■■■■□□□□□□
2960-24TT-L is kind of limited in L3 features.
I would look at getting a couple 3560G-24TS, 3750G-24TS-1U or 3750V2-24TS. Those are the cheapest of the of the older multilayer switches that can still run 15 IOS. 15.0.2-SE10a(MD)
Got it covered! In that build list I've got 2 x 3560's as distribution which can do 15.0 and 2 x 2960's as a cheap access.
