Pass!!!!!

Bl8ckr0uter

Well guys (dynamik) I am now a CCNA. I passed with an 874. I should have did better but I just got done doing a double (16 1/2 hours in the noc).
I will give a full write up later.

On to CCNA:S/S+/L+

phoeneous

Nice, congrats. Did you have many nat and acl questions?

Bl8ckr0uter

phoeneous wrote: »

Nice, congrats. Did you have many nat and acl questions?

I think I can say this: A few. Mike can I post my percents?

Review nat and acl decently. Review switching and subnetting. Also review any random fact you can think of. Seriously. What I did was I went through the objectives and just studied from them.

mikej412

Congratulations!!

Yes you can post your % from your score sheet.

billscott92787

Congrats on the pass and good luck on future studies

elegua

Congratulations
As a Mike always says, don't forget the celebration

ConstantlyLearning

Well done man.

Bl8ckr0uter

Can anyone tell me what the typical path is to CCNP.

I was thinking CCNA:S/CCDA/CCNP. Is this a normal path?

kalebksp

Congrats!

I would do the CCNP before CCDA. BCMSN level knowledge is recommended for CCDA.

Bl8ckr0uter

Ok here is my full write up.

I got 4 100% sections (WAN, VLAN, Sec,WLAN). I got 84, 75, 71, 33 on Router op, NAT/ACL, Network Works, IP scheme respectively. I am really mad about the Ip scheme but I was having some issues subnetting because I was and still am extremely tired from pulling that double.

All in all the test wasn't that bad, The last time I took the test, I had a 743 or so. I studied only the areas I felt weak in (NAT, WAN,VlAN) and I killed it. Honestly if I had been a little more rested, I probably could have gotten a 900+. I used transcender and for the past couple of days I was getting 70s+ and the day before the test I was in the 84-87 range. IMO transcender was WAY harder than the test, in fact (besides the sim) I would say that it (the exam) felt like a weak transcender test. Transcender is well worth it and I hope it is just as good for the CCNA:S and S+ as well as ccda and ccnp down the line. I finished about 40 minutes early because I was flying through it, I really had to use the restroom.

I think if you are getting 70s+ on transcender AND can lab out everything in the objectives, you will be fine.

Materials used:
CCNA Study guide - I didn't feel like this helped while studying but i do feel it was ok
Network Warrior
CCNA Security study guide - to look up some aspects on security
Transcender
Wikipedia for some things in security and wireless
Labing in PT while at work and on my home lab when at home

Bl8ckr0uter

kalebksp wrote: »

Congrats!

I would do the CCNP before CCDA. BCMSN level knowledge is recommended for CCDA.

So how about this CCNA:S BCMSN CCDA CCNP CCSP?
I hate to ask this but what is the level of difficulty between CCNA/CCNA:S and CCNP/CCSP?

E1or0

Congrats knwminus I can imagine the feeling...Nice JOB I will definitely throw the house out the window when I go for mine

Bl8ckr0uter

E1or0 wrote: »

Congrats knwminus I can imagine the feeling...Nice JOB I will definitely throw the house out the window when I go for mine

It is weird like I'm happy to be done, but I'm not satisfied, you know? I need MORE!!!!

dynamik

Congratulations slacker!

knwminus wrote: »

I hate to ask this but what is the level of difficulty between CCNA/CCNA:S and CCNP/CCSP?

I think I saw someone say the CCNA material is about 10% of the CCNP. From what I've seen from my BCMSN studies, it's definitely more in-depth.

Are we still racing towards something? I'm going to take a shot at CCNA:S in a few weeks and hopefully have BSCI and BCMSN done by June before they stop offering them. There's more in the works, but that's about all the Cisco stuff I can handle.

Bl8ckr0uter

dynamik wrote: »

Congratulations slacker!



I think I saw someone say the CCNA material is about 10% of the CCNP. From what I've seen from my BCMSN studies, it's definitely more in-depth.

Are we still racing towards something? I'm going to take a shot at CCNA:S in a few weeks and hopefully have BSCI and BCMSN done by June before they stop offering them. There's more in the works, but that's about all the Cisco stuff I can handle.

When you say a few weeks do you mean like 2-3 weeks or like a month or I plan to take the CCNA:S on Jan 9th and Security+ maybe a week or 2 after.

I think you pretty much killed the "race" but that is fine with me. I was going to ask you if you had completed the oscp. I tried to get the osce invite (by hacking that site) and FAILED . Something else for me to study...

dynamik

knwminus wrote: »

When you say a few weeks do you mean like 2-3 weeks or like a month or I plan to take the CCNA:S on Jan 9th and Security+ maybe a week or 2 after.

No, it will be in December. 1/9 is my birthday, so that's going to be a very rough night (especially since it falls on a Saturday this year). Regardless, I might take a stab at the GPEN around that time. I might have to push that back a couple weeks though.

knwminus wrote: »

I think you pretty much killed the "race" but that is fine with me. I was going to ask you if you had completed the oscp. I tried to get the osce invite (by hacking that site) and FAILED . Something else for me to study...

No, I'm still working on it. There's a lot to it, and I'm taking my time. I originally purchased one month of lab access, and I'm going to purchase another when I can really dedicate myself to it. There's plenty to work on outside of their labs, and I like to work on a few things at once, so I don't burn out in any one area.

I have a pretty solid web development background, so I got through the OSCE challenge pretty easily. That was just the first part though... I actually did the right thing for the second step right off the bat, but I skipped an intermediary step that prevented it from working. I walked away for like a half hour then took another look at it before I went to bed and then had the "Aha!" moment.

They said I could register for it any time, but there's an enormous gap between the OSCP and OSCE. I'm going to try to get through Gray Hat Hacking, Gray Hat Python, The Art of Exploitation, and The Shellcoder's Handbook before I even think about taking that one on. You need to be very savvy when it comes to exploit development (which I'm not remotely). However, I put like 15 minutes into breaking the challenge, so now I have to commit or that would just be a waste

Bl8ckr0uter

dynamik wrote: »

No, it will be in December. 1/9 is my birthday, so that's going to be a very rough night (especially since it falls on a Saturday this year). Regardless, I might take a stab at the GPEN around that time. I might have to push that back a couple weeks though.

Don't party to hard. And let a stranger drive you home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jqZTJk30qg

dynamik wrote: »

No, I'm still working on it. There's a lot to it, and I'm taking my time. I originally purchased one month of lab access, and I'm going to purchase another when I can really dedicate myself to it. There's plenty to work on outside of their labs, and I like to work on a few things at once, so I don't burn out in any one area.

I have a pretty solid web development background, so I got through the OSCE challenge pretty easily

I don't and I didn't . But I saw it a few months ago and it looked really cool, but then I realized I had no idea what I was doing and I quit after like 15 minutes. I wasn't mad at all because I wasn't expecting to get it

dynamik wrote: »

They said I could register for it any time, but there's an enormous gap between the OSCP and OSCE. I'm going to try to get through Gray Hat Hacking, Gray Hat Python, The Art of Exploitation, and The Shellcoder's Handbook before I even think about taking that one on. You need to be very savvy when it comes to exploit development (which I'm not remotely). However, I put like 15 minutes into breaking the challenge, so now I have to commit or that would just be a waste

Thats cool. I think I want to spend some time learning security and shell scripting before I start even thinking about oscp so maybe 2011 or beyond.
At any rate *nix, security and cisco are going to be my life for a while.

impelse

Congrats

mikej412

The CCNP will help you more with the CCDA than the CCDA will help you with the CCNP.

The CCNA:S should be "easier" than the CCNA. As always, the more hands on lab work you do while studying, the easier the exam will be.

I'd say the CCNP is "easier" than the CCSP -- since odds are it will still have Cisco Press books available for self-study even if the exams/CCNP gets updated/upgraded in January. The CCSP exams have been getting updated/upgraded/changed faster than the authors could update the old books or write new books.

Silentsoul

knwminus wrote: »

Ok here is my full write up.

I got 4 100% sections (WAN, VLAN, Sec,WLAN). I got 84, 75, 71, 33 on Router op, NAT/ACL, Network Works, IP scheme respectively. I am really mad about the Ip scheme but I was having some issues subnetting because I was and still am extremely tired from pulling that double.

All in all the test wasn't that bad, The last time I took the test, I had a 743 or so. I studied only the areas I felt weak in (NAT, WAN,VlAN) and I killed it. Honestly if I had been a little more rested, I probably could have gotten a 900+. I used transcender and for the past couple of days I was getting 70s+ and the day before the test I was in the 84-87 range. IMO transcender was WAY harder than the test, in fact (besides the sim) I would say that it (the exam) felt like a weak transcender test. Transcender is well worth it and I hope it is just as good for the CCNA:S and S+ as well as ccda and ccnp down the line. I finished about 40 minutes early because I was flying through it, I really had to use the restroom.

I think if you are getting 70s+ on transcender AND can lab out everything in the objectives, you will be fine.

Materials used:
CCNA Study guide - I didn't feel like this helped while studying but i do feel it was ok
Network Warrior
CCNA Security study guide - to look up some aspects on security
Transcender
Wikipedia for some things in security and wireless
Labing in PT while at work and on my home lab when at home

I see you used Network Warrior, I am starting my studies for the CCNA and just recently ordered that book, it will be here next week. What did you think about it?

Bl8ckr0uter

Silentsoul wrote: »

I see you used Network Warrior, I am starting my studies for the CCNA and just recently ordered that book, it will be here next week. What did you think about it?

I think it is great and alot of it I see in the noc/dc but I did not see it on the ccna exam if you catch my drift. I think I can say that Net Warrior went deeper into wan than the ccna.

Bl8ckr0uter

mikej412 wrote: »

The CCNP will help you more with the CCDA than the CCDA will help you with the CCNP.

The CCNA:S should be "easier" than the CCNA. As always, the more hands on lab work you do while studying, the easier the exam will be.

I'd say the CCNP is "easier" than the CCSP -- since odds are it will still have Cisco Press books available for self-study even if the exams/CCNP gets updated/upgraded in January. The CCSP exams have been getting updated/upgraded/changed faster than the authors could update the old books or write new books.

Great, that makes since. I didn't realise that the CCSP was moving so quickly. I was thinking about the ASA specialist, do you know if the objectives are changing up for those test as well.

I already have the CBTs for the current CCNP so I might just study/listen to them, for educational purposes, no matter what happens with the ccnp. Hopefully I will be able to complete the Route test next year.

dynamik

knwminus wrote: »

I think it is great and alot of it I see in the noc/dc but I did not see it on the ccna exam if you catch my drift. I think I can say that Net Warrior went deeper into wan than the ccna.

Yea, most people consider that to be the "real world" extension of the CCNA.

Forsaken_GA

knwminus wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what the typical path is to CCNP.

I was thinking CCNA:S/CCDA/CCNP. Is this a normal path?

The normal path from CCNA to CCNP is CCNA and then... CCNP.

The CCNA specializations are recent additions, so the institutional inertia has usually been to just go straight for the CCNP. If you want to do some CCNA specializations first, go for it, it's all up to you.

And honestly, study the CCNP and CCDA materials together. They're very complimentary.

I'll give you a tip for the real world - I don't think it's any secret that Cisco exams don't really prepare you for the real world. They're great for theory and best practices, but deployments are rarely that clean.

Learn ARP inside and out. It is absolutely STUPID how many problems ARP can be the root cause of, and Cisco doesn't hammer it nearly enough.

Whatever you study, pick up a copy of W. Richard Stevens TCP/IP Illustrated Vol.1. This should be required reading for anyone who wants to even think about touching a live IP network.

Bl8ckr0uter

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

The normal path from CCNA to CCNP is CCNA and then... CCNP.

The CCNA specializations are recent additions, so the institutional inertia has usually been to just go straight for the CCNP. If you want to do some CCNA specializations first, go for it, it's all up to you.

And honestly, study the CCNP and CCDA materials together. They're very complimentary.

I'll give you a tip for the real world - I don't think it's any secret that Cisco exams don't really prepare you for the real world. They're great for theory and best practices, but deployments are rarely that clean.

Learn ARP inside and out. It is absolutely STUPID how many problems ARP can be the root cause of, and Cisco doesn't hammer it nearly enough.

Whatever you study, pick up a copy of W. Richard Stevens TCP/IP Illustrated Vol.1. This should be required reading for anyone who wants to even think about touching a live IP network.

I guess I should have said what would be a decent path, not what is a typical path. I think CCNAS/CCNP/ then either starting the DA/P path or SP path would be best for me. I don't work with wireless at all and I am not interested in voice.

Thanks guys.

Forsaken_GA

knwminus wrote: »

I guess I should have said what would be a decent path, not what is a typical path. I think CCNAS/CCNP/ then either starting the DA/P path or SP path would be best for me. I don't work with wireless at all and I am not interested in voice.

Thanks guys.

Well, that's the thing, a decent path for you is harder to track now. We're not you. I mean, as little as five years ago, there weren't many options, so this was an easy question. Now, it's not nearly so clear cut, because there are so many choices.

The CCNA and CCNP provide the routing and switching foundation. If this is what you're mostly interested in, then that should be your primary focus. If security is your thing, then CCNA:S and CCSP should be your path. As others have said, CCNP and CCDA/P are fairly interrelated, and the design track assumes CCNP level of knowledge on some subjects. Despite the fact that I have the CCDA/P, I think they're a waste of time for someone looking to stay dirty with hands on the technology. The Design track is really more for folks who want to go into Sales Engineering than Network Engineering. After finsihing the Design track, in retrospect, if I could go back and do it again, I probably would have skipped them and just gone straight on to the CCIP. I don't think the Design track is going to make you a better tech. If you just want some more letters to pad your resume with, have at it, otherwise, you can probably let it alone.

Bl8ckr0uter

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Well, that's the thing, a decent path for you is harder to track now. We're not you. I mean, as little as five years ago, there weren't many options, so this was an easy question. Now, it's not nearly so clear cut, because there are so many choices.

The CCNA and CCNP provide the routing and switching foundation. If this is what you're mostly interested in, then that should be your primary focus. If security is your thing, then CCNA:S and CCSP should be your path. As others have said, CCNP and CCDA/P are fairly interrelated, and the design track assumes CCNP level of knowledge on some subjects. Despite the fact that I have the CCDA/P, I think they're a waste of time for someone looking to stay dirty with hands on the technology. The Design track is really more for folks who want to go into Sales Engineering than Network Engineering. After finsihing the Design track, in retrospect, if I could go back and do it again, I probably would have skipped them and just gone straight on to the CCIP. I don't think the Design track is going to make you a better tech. If you just want some more letters to pad your resume with, have at it, otherwise, you can probably let it alone.

I sent you a message on my interest...

And as far as DA/DP I primary meant to use it as resume filler. My company looks highly at the CCDA/P track (they actually reimburse more money for the CCDA than they do for the CCIP, weird) because we do a lot of network design and redesign for customers. This may be due to your choice of words but when you said you don't think it would make you a better "tech" did you mean like an actual NOC tech or anyone in Network Engineer in general. Like do you think it would help round out someone at the Network Engineer level, even someone who is not a Sales or Design engineer?

Forsaken_GA

knwminus wrote: »

I sent you a message on my interest...

And as far as DA/DP I primary meant to use it as resume filler. My company looks highly at the CCDA/P track (they actually reimburse more money for the CCDA than they do for the CCIP, weird) because we do a lot of network design and redesign for customers. This may be due to your choice of words but when you said you don't think it would make you a better "tech" did you mean like an actual NOC tech or anyone in Network Engineer in general. Like do you think it would help round out someone at the Network Engineer level, even someone who is not a Sales or Design engineer?

The CCDA, no, not really. Alot of the material is 'well, duh' stuff that you pickup while doing the CCNP. I had a slight rant about the CCDA in that forum after I completed it. The CCDP, a little more so. There's some good operationally relevant material in the course, enough that you should probably at least read the ARCH book, but again, alot of it is 'well duh' stuff, and there's an awful lot of cheerleading for Cisco solutions. For example, ARCH pushes Cisco load balancing and firewall solutions pretty hard. The only way I would *ever* deploy those was if the customer made me. Otherwise, I would use different solutions to accomplish the same goals.

So yeah, the Design track contains a few good pearls here and there, but not enough that I feel it's worth pursuing unless you're going to be the guy making the sales pitch. This is, of course, my opinion - others mileage may vary. In your case, if gaining the cert would directly lead to a raise, then it may be worth it for you. That's certainly not the case in my situation.

Silentsoul

knwminus wrote: »

I think it is great and alot of it I see in the noc/dc but I did not see it on the ccna exam if you catch my drift. I think I can say that Net Warrior went deeper into wan than the ccna.

Yeah I didn't expect a lot of the information in the book to be on the CCNA i think they even say something like " this book will not help you pass any exam" I figure anything that helps me to better understand networking and the protocols within can't hurt anything.

Bl8ckr0uter

Silentsoul wrote: »

Yeah I didn't expect a lot of the information in the book to be on the CCNA i think they even say something like " this book will not help you pass any exam" I figure anything that helps me to better understand networking and the protocols within can't hurt anything.

Yea you are right. But I starting reading it during the CCNA to get me over the hump. I am going to continue to read it to help me during my CCNA:S and future CCNP studies as well as with my day to day job.

Silentsoul

knwminus wrote: »

Yea you are right. But I starting reading it during the CCNA to get me over the hump. I am going to continue to read it to help me during my CCNA:S and future CCNP studies as well as with my day to day job.

Excellent that is exactly what I am planning to do, hopefully it is a bit less dry/technical than the cisco press books and it will help me to take in the more technical stuff.