What materials do I need for CCNP?

chinaman

What materials do I need for CCNP?
Is CCNP difficult?

What routers and switch do i need for setting up a Home LAB and any idea where to buy and deliver it here in Qatar, near Dubai.

Humper

a chinaman living in dubai? thats interesting!

the_return_of_the_Ring

chinamen are everywhere in the world now, don't you think?

chinaman

Nope, I am working here I am not really a full chinese I am half Filipino and half Chinese. But I look like a chinese.

Anyway can you answer my question

EdTheLad

Different forum same answer, ebay...
Read the numerous threads already devoted to this topic.

Humper

CCNP is definitely not an 'easy' cert to attain. The Self-Study BSCI book is around 1000 pages...There are 4 other exams

Be prepared to spend lots of time studying.

mikej412

chinaman wrote:

What routers and switch do i need for setting up a Home LAB and any idea where to buy and deliver it here in Qatar, near Dubai.

What do you think you need?

Check out eBay -- and all the links to the different eBays around the world. The kits can be overpriced compared to buying your own pieces -- but because of the shipping hassles, it may be worth it. See if CiscoKits.com ships to you.... but no 1900 switches!

The best way to figure out the equipment might be to get the practical studies books and see what they are using.... I went through the labs in the old Osborne/Mc-Graw Hill Cisco CCIE Lab Study Guide (and tried some of them in NetSim) before I even made the decision to go for the CCIE (and before I signed up for the CCNA Network Academy).

The quick list:
5 routers -- 1 for frame-realy switch, 1 for router-on-a-stick
3 switches -- 1 3550, 2-2950s (modify if your budget doesn't allow this -- 1 3550 and 1 2950 and 1 29xx, 1 or 2 2950s and 1 or 2 29xxs enterprise and NetSim -- worst case 1 2950 & 1 29xx and NetSim )

ISDN is annoying -- but if its still in the blueprint, then 2 routers should have BRI ports and get one of the cheap ISDN sims (or use Wildfire's Cisco-Engineer.com lab)

There is always the rack rental option for things you don't want to buy (or can't afford to buy and/or ship). It is nice to have a little hardware to touch to check out command options and do configurations -- and then you upload them to a rental rack to try out.

You'd need an IOS with encryption for your first taste of VPNs... Multicast, QoS, and Security could place additional requirements on your hardward/software.

Hopefully this gets you started in the right direction....

chinaman

Thanks mike, I will search for this hardware as soon as possible.
I am excited after passing my first certificate in IT career and the good news is that I am the only certified here in our company and yet no body knows.

Our network guy is not certified and he thinks that he is the best in our company and he said he knows everything.

Let see, by the way is the boson netsim still okay to use for ccnp?

mikej412

chinaman wrote:

Our network guy is not certified and he thinks that he is the best in our company and he said he knows everything.

Experience still beats certification for doing the job.

The only advantange the certification gives you is greater odds of having your resume pulled out of an electronic stack of resumes because of a keyword search when applying for a job.

Your network guy may be great at the job (or maybe he is great at marketing himself) but some companies wouldn't even interview him because he lacks those four little letters.

chinaman wrote:

Let see, by the way is the boson netsim still okay to use for ccnp?

Don't delete it from your hard drive... Unless you have a 3550 at work you can play with or the $$ to buy one (or rent one, or rent rack time) -- the 3550 in the sim may be the only one you see.

The CCNP is harder then the CCNA, and it's even harder if you don't have real equipment to work with.... and without any hands on experience it could be hard to get even an entry level job. And if you did get a job, then it could be funny (to the CCNAs with experience) when you don't know which end of the router is up.

darkuser

never trust anyone that SAYS they know everything .....

i guess he could go out tomorrow and pass the lab with no prep .....

and I'm suprised cisco hasn't made him a cisco fellow yet ....

chinaman

The problem with him is that he will ask questions to me regarding the CCNA exam. He attended a ICND training and I think he understand some but when I asked regading the concept of opsf and EIGRP he only knows how to configure but the theory 00000...

So, I need to spend more time reading like what I did 5 hours a day 1 hor for SIM and 5 times I watch the CBT nuggets video I purchased.
By the way I purchased the CBT nuggets CCNP do you think this video will help me and I also bought CCNP press and sybex

EdTheLad

I prefer the nuggets to the learnkey but still after about 10 minutes i start to fall asleep.If you can stay focused the videos should halp a little and they can be a good review before the exam.