Failed ICND Exam :(

Hi All -

Well I failed my ICND exam with a 783

I got caught up with a simulation question that had 5 different questions associated with it and I knew then and there that would be the question that failed me because I knew it was going to be close at the end.

I wish you could go back to previous questions in this exam...its pretty crappy they don't allow you to do that.

Anyways, the question was asking about switch stuff.

I couldn't do it, the show etherchannel command wasn't "supported" and I have no clue how to figure that out. What show command will give you this information so i don't get tripped up with that again. I know i was only 4-5 questions away from passing, so i know this question ultimately failed me.

I am also worried about the sub-zero command with subnetting. This just means you can use the .0 and the .255 network right?

let me know. im sooooo close!

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Comments

Rearden

show vlan brief

will tell you a summary of what port is in what vlan.

show interfaces trunk

might be the other command that you were looking for.

Sorry to hear about the failure. Now that you know what to expect of the exam, you'll kill it next time

mysql1988

When I was studying for the CCNA my instructor told me regarding simulation questions, "if you can use the show run command, CCNA should be a piece of cake.

I think people fail the CCNA because they think way too much. If you get a question and they want you to find which ports are in a vlan and assuming you don't know show vlan, A show runnning-config can give you that information, if you want to find which ports are configured as a trunk for a Vlan, a show running-config can also give you that info

just make sure when you take the test don't make it harder that it is on youself and by the way if you can't answer a subnetting question in less than 60 seconds, you are not ready for the test. When I was taking CCNA I knew subnetting at the back of my hands I can tell you a broadcast, network, and the range of a subnet by just looking at the IP address and the subnet mask.

I am not saying everyone should be like that but if you can't answer a subnetting question in less then a minute you are not ready for the test.

Another question for you, do you have any real equipments or simulators?

If you don't I would advice to get some real equipment or some simulators like network visualizer 5.0 . The more you play with cisco routers and switches, the easier the test becomes.

jason2713

thanks guys, i mean i sat on that question for 11-12 minutes because I was so quickly going through the problems.

I did a show running-config, it showed fa0/6 in trunk, but no other ports, and fa0/6 wasn't one of the choices?! I was very confused, so then i used show startup config, still same..it said fa0/6 switchport trunk. No other port was used in the trunk.

i tried show vtp, nothing, I tried show vlans, i tried show vtp detail

I even went as far as doing a "show ?" and just going through EVERY show command available to me.

I was so mad! Ah well, what can you do.

jason2713

mysql1988 wrote:

just make sure when you take the test don't make it harder that it is on youself and by the way if you can't answer a subnetting question in less than 60 seconds, you are not ready for the test. When I was taking CCNA I knew subnetting at the back of my hands I can tell you a broadcast, network, and the range of a subnet by just looking at the IP address and the subnet mask.

I am not saying everyone should be like that but if you can't answer a subnetting question in less then a minute you are not ready for the test.

oh the subnetting and planning portion of the exam was a piece of cake, I scored 85% and 83% on those 2 portions. Before I started the exam I wrote on my wipe board they gave me all the subnetting information, all the ports (tcp, udp, ftp, http) for access lists, and I wrote down an octet to help me decide the drag and drop ip subnetting questions.

However, when I got to my question, and it said like 11 hosts on one network, and that's obviously a 240 subnet (4 bits needed for 11 hosts), but sometimes the /28 isn't there, so I chose /27 (cuz it was there) was that the right way to do that? Sometimes that subnet zero command messes with me because what I expect the subnet to be wont be available.

mysql1988 wrote:

Another question for you, do you have any real equipments or simulators?

If you don't I would advice to get some real equipment or some simulators like network visualizer 5.0 . The more you play with cisco routers and switches, the easier the test becomes.

yeah no simulators, but do have train signals CBT videos, and have watched them through and through. I definitely hurt on that aspect (scoring 55% on that section) so I gotta get that down better. I know the concepts cold, i know IP subnetting cold, i know troubleshooting commands cold, but if i gotta go in a simulator and write an ACL (which i had to do) I'm dead in the water.

mysql1988

http://www.learntosubnet.com/

for the subnetting go to this website and lean subnetting IT IS FREE

And if you plan on nailing the sims the only way you can do that is by buying equipment or a router simulator like this one http://www.routersim.com/CCNA5_home.html
Get some real equipment or some advance simulators not just for the test but also for the real world. At my job a CCNA got hired and fired the same day! Our network engineer gave him an assigment to set banner info on a router and guess what..........he couldn't do it. Don't just learn the CCNA just to pass it. Learn it also for the real world.

jason2713

mysql1988 wrote:

http://www.learntosubnet.com/

for the subnetting go to this website and lean subnetting IT IS FREE

i think i know subnetting pretty well. I just need to get that one detail (ip subnet zero) ironed out.
I will take a look at this site, thanks!

mysql1988 wrote:

And if you plan on nailing the sims the only way you can do that is by buying equipment or a router simulator like this one http://www.routersim.com/CCNA5_home.html
Get some real equipment or some advance simulators not just for the test but also for the real world. At my job a CCNA got hired and fired the same day! Our network engineer gave him an assigment to set banner info on a router and guess what..........he couldn't do it. Don't just learn the CCNA just to pass it. Learn it also for the real world.

i can do the banner, lol! I've done what my net engineer calls routing 101, by resetting it, configuring ports, doing trunking with switches, pinging across vlans, using vtp, etc. but i know what you mean, we had a guy come in as a helpdesk guy, he didn't know how to join a computer to the domain or set NTFS settings....and he had an MCSA. he was paper certified to say the least.

Cucumber

At my job a CCNA got hired and fired the same day! Our network engineer gave him an assigment to set banner info on a router and guess what..........he couldn't do it

LOL, I remember once a CCNA dude was complaining a router was not working, he was trying to connect his laptop to the Router's ethernet interface using an straight cable. He was even blaming me, and I was like "wtf, you need a cross over cable to do that!". He was dumbfounded. did not even understand what was I saying.

malcybood

jason2713 wrote:

Hi All -

Anyways, the question was asking about VLAN info, and what particular ports were in the trunk between switches, what ports were in particular vlans, and basically had to figure that out.

I couldn't do it, the show etherchannel command wasn't "supported" and I have no clue how to figure that out. What show command will give you this information so i don't get tripped up with that again. I know i was only 4-5 questions away from passing, so i know this question ultimately failed me.

Along with the other commands that others have suggested you should also know the different variations of the sh spanning-tree command

Just do a sh spanning-tree ? and learn what the outputs give. This is valuable for the switching part of the CCNA

borumas

You should be able to see etherchannel info on a config file (using sh run to see the config) as someone said earlier, here's an example of an etherchannel setup I was messing with awhile back:

vlan internal allocation policy ascending
!
interface Port-channel1
!
interface Port-channel2
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface Port-channel3
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/2
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/3
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/4
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/5
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/6
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/7
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/8
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/9
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 2 mode on
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/10
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 2 mode on
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/11
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 3 mode on
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/12
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 3 mode on

at the begining of the config it tells you what channels had been setup, then on the individual interfaces like 11-12 it tells you what channel-group they are in, hope that helps. On that config I had originally assigned a channel 1 but deleted it later.

borumas

I am also worried about the sub-zero command with subnetting. This just means you can use the .0 and the .255 network right?

yeah, that command just means you can use the .0 subnet, lol, never knew about that command till I saw it in your post.

Darthn3ss

it means you can use the first and last subnets.