phoeneous wrote: » Nice, congrats. Did you have many nat and acl questions?
kalebksp wrote: » Congrats! I would do the CCNP before CCDA. BCMSN level knowledge is recommended for CCDA.
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
knwminus wrote: » I hate to ask this but what is the level of difficulty between CCNA/CCNA:S and CCNP/CCSP?
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.
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.
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...
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.
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
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
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
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Silentsoul wrote: » 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.
