Just passed today!

notgoing2fail

Just a quick FYI, passed my exam this afternoon. Took pretty much all of my time just like the CCNA exam....

Huge relief off my shoulders as the security exam was getting a little boring and I really didn't want to look at SDM anymore... LOL...

nicklauscombs

congrats! that is awesome news.

*BB*

Congrats!

logicmyfoot

Congrats! i hope i get mine soon .Any particular topics you focused more on?what do plan on next?

alan2308

Congrats!

rogue2shadow

Congrats!

earweed

Congrats I like those up there..lol

Selfmade

Evidently you're living up to your name

What are your plans next? I'm guessing CCNP, maybe CCSP? Care to elaborate?

notgoing2fail

Thanks for the care guys....and I'm really digging the cheerleader icons up above. LOL....


I may consider the CCNA Voice, I need to do some research on how much equipment I need and the costs. God knows I've already spent enough recently.

If it's not the CCNA Voice, I was thinking possibly the CCDA. It would be nice to know what Cisco's methodology is for different types of architectures.

Other than that, if I don't do any "CCNA" level certs now, I'm just going to dive right into the new CCNP track, I already have the books for them and it might be time to stare directly into the beasts eyes....

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

Evidently you're living up to your name

You know, I've given myself unneeded extra pressure with this name. It was fun when I first made it up, but now I dunno about that...

Selfmade

I heard Wireless can be passed without actually doing any labbing, I might recommend you look into that. That'd be one more cert for ya.

I don't know much about CCNA Voice, but I heard it's expensive to get the equipment for it. Might not be worth it.

CCNP is definitely something you should do. CCDA seems boring (to me), and I don't really see the point of it, it seems like Cisco is hawking it's own wares in "best practice design models" from what I've been reading on here.

But that's up to you of course.

And now that you've passed CCNA Security, you can look into CCSP if you wanted.

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

I heard Wireless can be passed without actually doing any labbing, I might recommend you look into that. That'd be one more cert for ya.

I've heard that myself. My issue is that I'm hands on, there is no way I could have passed any exam without being touchy feely with the equipment.

Others who can pass the CCNA:W without the equipment to me are very very smart...

The worse thing is for me to start studying the CCNA:W and then in the middle find out that I'm just not good enough to pass this exam without the equipment, so that's my fear...and I would hate to start something and not finish it.

I already know I need to spend money for CCNA:V, there are some others here that are studying for it, so I'm going to bug them for their equipment list so I can see what they cost on eBay.

But yeah, now the doors are open for CSSP!!!

I'm more incline to get CCNP first though I think that's pre-requisite right?

Selfmade

no, only pre-req for CCSP is the CCNA Security.

CCSP teaches you how to do different things with securing Cisco devices on the internetwork. CCNP just teaches you how to implement, manage, maintain, and troubleshoot large scale networks, just like how the CCNA teaches you how to do the same for medium size networks.

CCSP just teaches you how to secure the networks. I have heard that the CCSP is not as hard as the CCNP, but obviously I don't know if that's true or not as I haven't either certificate.

It's just up to you what you want to do, but the CCSP's only pre-req is that you have the CCNA Security certification, then you can dive right in to CCSP without touching the CCNP.

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

no, only pre-req for CCSP is the CCNA Security.

CCSP teaches you how to do different things with securing Cisco devices on the internetwork. CCNP just teaches you how to implement, manage, maintain, and troubleshoot large scale networks, just like how the CCNA teaches you how to do the same for medium size networks.

CCSP just teaches you how to secure the networks. I have heard that the CCSP is not as hard as the CCNP, but obviously I don't know if that's true or not as I haven't either certificate.

It's just up to you what you want to do, but the CCSP's only pre-req is that you have the CCNA Security certification, then you can dive right in to CCSP without touching the CCNP.

Fantastic! Thanks for the info, I didn't know that....right now, I think I am completely burned out on security, I don't want to look at SDM, auto-secure, one-step lockdown or anything else right now. LOL....

A change of direction is probably needed....

Selfmade

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Fantastic! Thanks for the info, I didn't know that....right now, I think I am completely burned out on security, I don't want to look at SDM, auto-secure, one-step lockdown or anything else right now. LOL....

A change of direction is probably needed....

Can I ask what materials you used to help you take the CCNA Security exam? Me and a classmate want to take this, he's passed his CCNA and is working on Security+, I am taking my CCNA exam soon, and I have already ordered Catherine Paquet's CCNA Security book and I also have Kevin's book and the lab book.

How long did it take you to study and pass it?

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

Can I ask what materials you used to help you take the CCNA Security exam? Me and a classmate want to take this, he's passed his CCNA and is working on Security+, I am taking my CCNA exam soon, and I have already ordered Catherine Paquet's CCNA Security book and I also have Kevin's book and the lab book.

How long did it take you to study and pass it?

I used Catherine Paquet's CCNA Security book, which is very well written.
I also used CBT Nuggets CCNA Security and Trainsignal. That's about it.

The trainsignal is more thorough than CBT Nuggets but more dry, Jeremy at CBT Nuggets makes it fun...so it really depends on how much time you want to spend..

I spent about 5-6 weeks studying for this thing, and I put in a heck of a lot hours, about 10 hours a day. No weekends off...

peanutnoggin

CONGRATS!!! Hard work pays off! Enjoy the rest of your week!!!

notgoing2fail

peanutnoggin wrote: »

CONGRATS!!! Hard work pays off! Enjoy the rest of your week!!!

Ohhh there are no days off....well sorta.

When I passed my CCNA, I gave myself one day off, then quickly hit the CCNA Security books the very next day and haven't stopped till today.

That's why I'm trying to figure out real fast what my next exam will be so I can begin the studying process all over again....


In order to avoid burnout, I jump on my PS3 from time to time and just blow things up!!

Selfmade

I can't focus for that long, it's just not in me, I need breaks, I take the time to play games or watch movies or TV, I simply cannot do only one thing for 10 hours, god damn lol. I do have that much time to devote to it over the course of this summer, so I might as well take advantage of it

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

I can't focus for that long, it's just not in me, I need breaks, I take the time to play games or watch movies or TV, I simply cannot do only one thing for 10 hours, god damn lol. I do have that much time to devote to it over the course of this summer, so I might as well take advantage of it

Well to be fair, I am on this website a lot throughout the day, those are my breaks....typically it's about 10 hours a day, but it's not like I'm reading chapter to chapter literally....

I might jump on my PS3 for 30 minutes then jump back into studying....or come here and ask questions or help other people out...stuff like that...

I try to watch a movie in the evenings, doesn't have to be weekends only...whenever I'm in the mood...

I actually haven't seen Avatar yet so I'm thinking of getting the movie and checking it out finally.....

chmorin

Good job, you going a CCSP route?

notgoing2fail

chmorin wrote: »

Good job, you going a CCSP route?

Definitley. But not at the moment. I'm looking at my CCNP books that are just asking me to READ them... LOL...


I'm a little weary of getting started on the CCNP track because I don't know how difficult it's going to be. SWITCH first though, then ROUTE and then TS.

*BB*

notgoing2fail wrote: »

I don't want to look at SDM, auto-secure, one-step lockdown or anything else right now. LOL....

For real. I'm taking mine on Friday. One last studying binge this week. I'm tired of dealing with SDM.

Selfmade

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Definitley. But not at the moment. I'm looking at my CCNP books that are just asking me to READ them... LOL...


I'm a little weary of getting started on the CCNP track because I don't know how difficult it's going to be. SWITCH first though, then ROUTE and then TS.

on that note, I feel exactly like you do, I found the Switch portion of my CCNA studies to be the easiest to learn, I took 4 semesters of CCNA at my community college. I kind of am glad I did it, but I also kind of regret it, I wish I had focused more while I was there, it wasn't untill this CCNA 4 semester that I realized I had squandered a lot of time in there.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken CCNA 1 by itself, and then Routing and Switching in the same semester, and then finished with CCNA 4 WAN Technologies.

I found switching to be easier to learn than routing. Routing is pretty much straightforward with some extra elements thrown in depending on what you want to do, and it has a LOT more information to deal with than Switching did. Switching is just easy to do, everything builds on top of what you did previously. If you can do everything you did up to your current progress point, then all you're really doing is adding on the new material.

With Routing you had to learn a different routing protocol and it's intricacies and then you learned a different one and so on and so forth. Nothing really builds on top of each other with Routing, the only thing they share in common is the whole addressing and subnetting thing, and the basics. Other than that, they are all stand alone.

I'll be interested in your progress, maybe you can make a thread over in CCNP section to keep us updated on your progress? It might be a nice way for you to not only track your progress, but ask questions and get feedback.

notgoing2fail

*BB* wrote: »

For real. I'm taking mine on Friday. One last studying binge this week. I'm tired of dealing with SDM.

Glad you feel my pain. LOL.... I was finally able to get SDM to work on my WinXP. I was then able to get SDM to work on Win7 using the same java files that worked on the XP.

Thought I got lucky, only to find that when I click on the top buttons in SDM, the wording and icons disappear!!! It just seems horribly designed.... let alone, how many times it asks you to log in....

Selfmade wrote: »

on that note, I feel exactly like you do, I found the Switch portion of my CCNA studies to be the easiest to learn, I took 4 semesters of CCNA at my community college. I kind of am glad I did it, but I also kind of regret it, I wish I had focused more while I was there, it wasn't untill this CCNA 4 semester that I realized I had squandered a lot of time in there.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken CCNA 1 by itself, and then Routing and Switching in the same semester, and then finished with CCNA 4 WAN Technologies.

I found switching to be easier to learn than routing. Routing is pretty much straightforward with some extra elements thrown in depending on what you want to do, and it has a LOT more information to deal with than Switching did. Switching is just easy to do, everything builds on top of what you did previously. If you can do everything you did up to your current progress point, then all you're really doing is adding on the new material.

With Routing you had to learn a different routing protocol and it's intricacies and then you learned a different one and so on and so forth. Nothing really builds on top of each other with Routing, the only thing they share in common is the whole addressing and subnetting thing, and the basics. Other than that, they are all stand alone.

I'll be interested in your progress, maybe you can make a thread over in CCNP section to keep us updated on your progress? It might be a nice way for you to not only track your progress, but ask questions and get feedback.

I feel the same way about switching. The concept seems so much easier. I think I am more of a switch guy than a routing guy. What you said about routing is spot on. Each protocol has it's own "rules" on how it functions, and it can get a little confusing. Which protocol has the dead timer? Which one has the hello timer? Some have hello timers but the default "seconds" are different....little things like that add up...

I would be more than happy to start my own little CCNP thread, of course there are a number of threads already in the CCNP forum, but again, I'd be more then glad to create one for anyone that just wants to follow along...

The CCNP forum doesn't have as much traffic as the CCNA unfortunately. It is probably true what they say, many who obtain the CCNA don't certify any further...

Although I do have the new CCNP track books, I am also waiting for the foundation books. The SWITCH one comes out in June. I can get started now as it'll take me a good month anyways to comprehend all the new SWITCH topics, then go back and read the foundation book when it comes out...

Selfmade

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Glad you feel my pain. LOL.... I was finally able to get SDM to work on my WinXP. I was then able to get SDM to work on Win7 using the same java files that worked on the XP.

Thought I got lucky, only to find that when I click on the top buttons in SDM, the wording and icons disappear!!! It just seems horribly designed.... let alone, how many times it asks you to log in....





I feel the same way about switching. The concept seems so much easier. I think I am more of a switch guy than a routing guy. What you said about routing is spot on. Each protocol has it's own "rules" on how it functions, and it can get a little confusing. Which protocol has the dead timer? Which one has the hello timer? Some have hello timers but the default "seconds" are different....little things like that add up...

I would be more than happy to start my own little CCNP thread, of course there are a number of threads already in the CCNP forum, but again, I'd be more then glad to create one for anyone that just wants to follow along...

The CCNP forum doesn't have as much traffic as the CCNA unfortunately. It is probably true what they say, many who obtain the CCNA don't certify any further...

Although I do have the new CCNP track books, I am also waiting for the foundation books. The SWITCH one comes out in June. I can get started now as it'll take me a good month anyways to comprehend all the new SWITCH topics, then go back and read the foundation book when it comes out...

I'm sure you'll do fine in CCNP, this is where your investment in all that real world equipment is going to pay off hugely. What's your exact setup if you don't mind me asking?

You do need a layer 3 switch for the CCNP, on that, i'm positive. I have also heard it's adviseable to have 3 or 4 routers, preferring 4. I've done a lot of research on this myself and I'm just waiting on the funds to make it happen!

It's interesting that you're choosing to do Switching first but I understand why, because it's what you feel is easiest, most people choose to do Route first. Honestly I felt like what I learned in Routing made learning Switching easier, but I'm positive I could have learned what I did in Switch easily regardless.

Don't think of it or worry about any part of CCNP as being difficult, simply just read the material and do it, don't think of any of the material as difficult, and then it won't be. People tend to focus on how difficult something is rather than just focusing on learning it and doing it, if you don't pay any attention to how difficult it is then you just learn it a lot easier and better. Why? Because you don't think of it as difficult or easy, or in between, you just learn it and lab it. Since you don't know any better, you just focus on the material and not the degree of difficulty, that's probably how you've managed to come so far so fast.

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

Don't think of it or worry about any part of CCNP as being difficult, simply just read the material and do it, don't think of any of the material as difficult, and then it won't be. People tend to focus on how difficult something is rather than just focusing on learning it and doing it, if you don't pay any attention to how difficult it is then you just learn it a lot easier and better. Why? Because you don't think of it as difficult or easy, or in between, you just learn it and lab it. Since you don't know any better, you just focus on the material and not the degree of difficulty, that's probably how you've managed to come so far so fast.

Extremely insightful! It goes very well with my quote too, "It's easy when you know how".

You're right, nothing really is all that difficult, just practice practice practice and most importantly get your fundamentals right. I am most definitely going to remember what you said....

Hopefully others can read and learn from this post as well....

Selfmade wrote: »

What's your exact setup if you don't mind me asking?

I'm a little switch heavy and will need to spend some $$ on more routers. I'm not entirely sure what routers I need yet so I'm just going to wait until I hit the ROUTE exam and find out.

For my routers I have: 1811, 3620, 1720, 2511, 2507 and 2501. Other than the 2511 which is my AS, the 2507/2501 are kinda useless. I know I can still do some scenarios with them, but they are quite limited, and IOS is old.

For my switches I have: (2) 3550's with PoE, (1) 2960G, (1) 2950, (1) 2924XL and (1) 2912XL. For the switch side, the 2900XL's switches are kinda useless as well.

And (1) PIX515e since I know there are still many networks out there that still use PIX......

If you are aware of what routers or even switches I may be lacking for CCNP, please let me know but that's pretty much all I have right now.

I hope that if I can pick up any new routers, they can also be used for other things like the CCNA:voice exam... it's kinda hard to think ahead and have all equipment covered that will cover all the various exams out there though....

Selfmade

I'm at work and I'm almost done with my work but I want to give you a quick hit

LAN Switch Topologies for the New CCNP | NetworkWorld.com Community

that right there is an excellent start. I would read Wendell's blog as a whole if you find the time, he also has a website where you can look up what kind of topologies and equipment you need for X amount of money

notgoing2fail

Selfmade wrote: »

I'm at work and I'm almost done with my work but I want to give you a quick hit

LAN Switch Topologies for the New CCNP | NetworkWorld.com Community

that right there is an excellent start. I would read Wendell's blog as a whole if you find the time, he also has a website where you can look up what kind of topologies and equipment you need for X amount of money

Thank you! I'll take a look, not sure where in the world you are but here it's getting late so off to bed for me...

Have a quick gig tomorrow to fix some network issues at a doctor's office tomorrow and will hit the books once I get back....

Have a great evening....

Selfmade

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Thank you! I'll take a look, not sure where in the world you are but here it's getting late so off to bed for me...

Have a quick gig tomorrow to fix some network issues at a doctor's office tomorrow and will hit the books once I get back....

Have a great evening....

in Arkansas, it's 9:40 here

CertSkills, LLC > Home

that's Wendell's site, he has some nice basic stuff on there, he just opened the site, but he has some useful info there, he's putting more and more up everyday.

this right here is what you really want

CCNP Build Lists

logicmyfoot

notgoing2fail wrote: »

I used Catherine Paquet's CCNA Security book, which is very well written.
I also used CBT Nuggets CCNA Security and Trainsignal. That's about it.

The trainsignal is more thorough than CBT Nuggets but more dry, Jeremy at CBT Nuggets makes it fun...so it really depends on how much time you want to spend..

I spent about 5-6 weeks studying for this thing, and I put in a heck of a lot hours, about 10 hours a day. No weekends off...

you know from my CCNA studies and CCNA:S studies i do feel sometimes that a combination of CBT and Train Signal is enough to get through CCNA:S without ever referring to any book ,i.e if you see those videos 2-3 times and with some practise as well.