Passed

mattrgee

Hi all,

Passed CCNA Security today, although I became slightly disillusioned towards the end of my studies. I found the official certification guide a massive disappointed having read the excellent Odom books during my CCNA studies. Bad grammar, repeated text and lacking concise information were the main problems I found.

The exam went ok, I was nervous as always and rushed through the first 30 questions, with a final score of only 811. I passed by the skin of my teeth with 20 minutes to spare! I thought the exam had some badly worded questions and difficult to navigate sims.

I used GNS3 for all my router labs and a single 2950 switch for the layer 2 security topics.

For other test takers in the Manchester area, I took the exam at Pitman Training in Stockport. The exam centre was very well organised with polite staff who followed the correct procedures. They actually took my photograph, unlike other 'cattle market' test centres I've been to. They were open on a Saturday too, which is always a bonus. I will use them again.

Not sure where to go now, the material for the CCNA Security exam has put me off the security track somewhat. I need to have a look at the exam topics for CCNP and CCSP and see which are the most relevant.

Bl8ckr0uter

mattrgee wrote: »

Hi all,

Passed CCNA Security today, although I became slightly disillusioned towards the end of my studies. I found the official certification guide a massive disappointed having read the excellent Odom books during my CCNA studies. Bad grammar, repeated text and lacking concise information were the main problems I found.

The exam went ok, I was nervous as always and rushed through the first 30 questions, with a final score of only 811. I passed by the skin of my teeth with 20 minutes to spare! I thought the exam had some badly worded questions and difficult to navigate sims.

I used GNS3 for all my router labs and a single 2950 switch for the layer 2 security topics.

For other test takers in the Manchester area, I took the exam at Pitman Training in Stockport. The exam centre was very well organised with polite staff who followed the correct procedures. They actually took my photograph, unlike other 'cattle market' test centres I've been to. They were open on a Saturday too, which is always a bonus. I will use them again.

Not sure where to go now, the material for the CCNA Security exam has put me off the security track somewhat. I need to have a look at the exam topics for CCNP and CCSP and see which are the most relevant.

Congrats. I found the exam pretty interesting and I know I want to do the SP in the next year or so but my next cert goals are the CCNA:Voice and Wireless followed by the Route exam.

laidbackfreak

Congrats on the pass.

Looking forward down the SP track keep in mind its fairly new and continually developing area. As such some of the current study material can be found wanting. That’s not always the fault of the training suppliers tho.
While it can take the edge off studying for certifications I still think its one of the most stimulating areas of study.
I would expect similar weaknesses in the study material for the new TShoot exams for NP route.

mikem2te

mattrgee wrote: »

Hi all,

Passed CCNA Security today, although I became slightly disillusioned towards the end of my studies. I found the official certification guide a massive disappointed having read the excellent Odom books during my CCNA studies. Bad grammar, repeated text and lacking concise information were the main problems I found.

Congrats on the pass.

I agree about the book, very poor - badly edited and reviewed. I can't even put it down to it being the first edition either. I guess it was just rushed to get it out in time for the new exam. I bought the Cisco self study guide in the end, much much better.

Don't let the one book put you off CCSP though.

mattrgee

Thanks guys.

I'm tempted to do the Securing Networks with ASA Foundation (SNAF) exam next as I look after a couple of ASA's at work and there is a possibility of a larger ASA deployment in the next 12 months. Having the knowledge to support this would be very beneficial.

I really enjoyed the CCNA and miss the broad range of topics that it covered, however my job touches more on security than it does on routing as our routers are managed by a different company, which sucks for keeping skills alive. Use it or loose it.

The amount of material for the CCSP tracks appears sparse at best Where as the new CCNP track has the awesome Odom writing the material.

I guess the SNAF exam/CCSP relates better to my job whereas the CCNP exams relate more to my personal interests. A tricky decision.

mikej412

Congratulations!!

Because of different authors, editors, and probably printing deadlines, the quality can vary even between the Self-Study and Cert-Guide books for the same exam.

CBT Nuggets seems to have a good set for most of the current CCSP. But the Cisco Press books are a different story -- you'd have to spend a bunch of time looking at the exam blueprints and the "old CCSP" books trying to decide which ones are still useful.

Bookwise it may just be easier to get some of the great (and good) books that get recommended for the products/devices/software. Read those and then use the blueprint and Cisco Docs to hunt down the specifics you'd need to know for the exam. The Cisco Press Quick Reference hopefully would be good along with the exam blueprints to guide you to the topics/configurations you need to concentrate on for the exam. Without dedicated certification books it may take longer, but it's still doable <no dynamik's mom joke allowed>.

btowntech

Congrats!!

Bl8ckr0uter

mikej412 wrote: »

Congratulations!!

CBT Nuggets seems to have a good set for most of the current CCSP. But the Cisco Press books are a different story -- you'd have to spend a bunch of time looking at the exam blueprints and the "old CCSP" books trying to decide which ones are still useful.

Bookwise it may just be easier to get some of the great (and good) books that get recommended for the products/devices/software. Read those and then use the blueprint and Cisco Docs to hunt down the specifics you'd need to know for the exam. The Cisco Press Quick Reference hopefully would be good along with the exam blueprints to guide you to the topics/configurations you need to concentrate on for the exam. Without dedicated certification books it may take longer, but it's still doable <no dynamik's mom joke allowed>.

Man he is not lying. I have talked to a few folks and I think that this book list will be good for the SP

IPS
Amazon.com: CCSP IPS Exam Certification Guide (9781587201462): Earl Carter: Books
- Even though this book is slightly old people have still said this is good


SNRS
Amazon.com: Router Security Strategies: Securing IP Network Traffic Planes (978158705336: Gregg Schudel, David J. Smith: Books

Amazon.com: LAN Switch Security: What Hackers Know About Your Switches (9781587052569): Eric Vyncke, Christopher Paggen: Books

http://www.amazon.com/End-Network-Security-Defense-Depth/dp/1587053322/ref=pd_sim_b_3

ASA exams

Amazon.com: Cisco ASA: All-in-One Firewall, IPS, Anti-X, and VPN Adaptive Security Appliance (2nd Edition) (9781587058196): Jazib Frahim, Omar Santos: Books

Amazon.com: Cisco ASA Configuration (Networking Professional's Library) (9780071622691): Richard Deal: Books

Amazon.com: Cisco ASA, PIX, and FWSM Firewall Handbook (2nd Edition) (9781587054570): David Hucaby: Books


With the cisco docs and the CBTs for CCSP I think this will be fine for the exams. There are a couple of other books (IPV6 Security, Voice over IP security and WLan Security) that I would want to add to my reading list just for kicks.

impelse

Congrats