CISCO Novice Training?

LarryDaMan

Here's the deal. I work in a Cryptography Lab. We just received some CISCO equipment to set up a small test bed with (2960 switch, 7800 series server, Communications Manager software)... No problems here, we just test and evaluate equipment, no users or live production environments.

Now with this equipment in here, we have the opportunity to justify some training and spend some money...

What are some basic classes and which companies provide them? Not even necessarily certification oriented. Just some basic hands on stuff for people with limited experience. I have a few guys that have never even touched a CISCO box, so we are not even talking CCNA level.

Do such classes exist? We would not have enough participants to justify calling CISCO for official training or anything like that. However, with the end of the fiscal year approaching, I have some money to burn.

I checked on Global Knowledge, Training Camp...etc. Very certification oriented and I am not sure if that would be too advanced or not. We would definitely need hands on training to be a part of the package.

Thanks for any suggestions.

dynamik

The ICND1/CCENT is probably about as basic as you're going to find.

nicklauscombs

CCNA/CCENT is as basic as it gets, I would recommend just going for CCNA training over CCENT

nel

dynamik wrote:

The ICND1/CCENT is probably about as basic as you're going to find.

Do as dynamik said and then you can do the icnd2 and gain ccna status.

If i were spending money on training i would go for the full ccna course. but if you have no experiance you will prob find some of it over your head, especially with icnd2. so if you dont want this to happen i would probably start doing some self studying before you attempt any paid for course because those courses bomb through the material over 5 days or so, so i think it would be better to do training after you get ground knowledge thus meaning the training will be more useful to yourself.

LarryDaMan

nel wrote:

dynamik wrote:

The ICND1/CCENT is probably about as basic as you're going to find.

Do as dynamik said and then you can do the icnd2 and gain ccna status.

If i were spending money on training i would go for the full ccna course. but if you have no experiance you will prob find some of it over your head, especially with icnd2. so if you dont want this to happen i would probably start doing some self studying before you attempt any paid for course because those courses bomb through the material over 5 days or so, so i think it would be better to do training after you get ground knowledge thus meaning the training will be more useful to yourself.

Maybe I wasn't too clear. The training would be for the guys in my lab (4 or 5 people), not me specifically, although I would likely attend.

I guess CCENT would be the way to go. It's tricky because when you plan group training, you have to make it acceptable to a wider range of people who may be less technical or familiar with the equipment.

I get to spend the money, but not all on myself.

nel

Well i would buy the ccna study guide first, take a look over it and you'll see that the ccent is mainly theory work and little hands on practical.

For me you wont be able to learn all the theory in a few days anyway (on the course) so your guys mayswell self study and do the small practices in your lab. Then i would spend the big bucks on the icnd2 or whole CCNA side of the course as the icnd2 side as a ton more practical elements to it.

IMO your money would be better spent that way.

Seen as though your splashing the cash you may want to look into other things like CBT's and some lab preps...

LarryDaMan

nel wrote:

Well i would buy the ccna study guide first, take a look over it and you'll see that the ccent is mainly theory work and little hands on practical.

For me you wont be able to learn all the theory in a few days anyway (on the course) so your guys mayswell self study and do the small practices in your lab. Then i would spend the big bucks on the icnd2 or whole CCNA side of the course as the icnd2 side as a ton more practical elements to it.

IMO your money would be better spent that way.

Seen as though your splashing the cash you may want to look into other things like CBT's and some lab preps...

Thanks. I am looking for classroom training. 2-5 days and done, it would be pushing it to have guys reading and studying at work thoughout the day since it is not a job requirement. I thought of it as a great way to use up excess training funds while gaining some knowledge.

Thanks for the input Nel.

nel

Hi Larry,

Sorry i was assuming that they would be doing self study at home

famosbrown

I took two courses at New Horizons computer Learning Center.

ICND1 and ICND2.

ICND1 is preparing you for the first exam and it does have a lot of theory and a lot of switching stuff. It was the offical Cisco course, so the Student guide came with two thick books and a thick lab book that I'm using with the equipment I bought for home.

ICND1 sounds like the class you might be looking for. It is 5 days LONG.

ICND2 book material was quantitatively shorter, but but qualitatively harder. The books aren't as thick, but it introduces all of the MEAT of CCNA, OSPF, EIGRP, SDM, etc., etc.

There are some places that still offer the ICND course for one week and I have co-workers who took that course. The course came with the Cisco CCNA books that you can buy at the store and they tried to cram everything in one week. My co-workers hated it and when I came back from mine, I was talking about stuff that they didn't even remember or didn't get a chance to go through during their training. New Horizons and others have broken the class into two due to the change and new additions to the current CCNA.

Good luck!!