SWITCH foundation book delayed.

DevilWAH

tanix wrote: »

*chuckle*

Yeah, when I was teaching myself C++ way back when, I picked up an advanced data structures book and it was like reading Greek. I went over and over it slowly learning things. It was frustrating and I thought I hadn't learned anything in it because of it. I decided to pick up an introduction to C++ book and everything they were teaching was beyond basic and simple. It made me realize I learned a heck of a lot more than I thought from the book and had a much bigger picture of the language as a whole.

It's defiantly the way to learn, I spent 3 years before I got in to certs learning networking the "hard" way. (dumped with one to mange before I new anything about the subject), spent the time with google and cisco documents.

Then came to do my CCNA and now CCNP and they are introducing such simple stuff. When I started studying for my SWITCH exam it was like.. hold on I thought this was a professional level exam... It feels good though because I feel so much close to my goal of a senior network engineer than I did a year ago, it seems with in easy reach and just a little bit further to go.

notgoing2fail

tanix wrote: »

Have you been reading the switch foundations much yet? I am on the last chapter and while a lot of it was repeat from the official cert book, there was a lot more topics in it that weren't covered clearly in the official cert.

For me, most of the concepts are simple and straight forward, I just haven't burned them in yet to be able to run through scenarios in my head concerning conflicts, configuration issues, and concept application. Also, lacking any devices to practice with some of the newer features has made remembering commands a bit more difficult.

Its ok though, due to that lacking, its making me break down the concepts to the lowest level. I usually sit at the white board mapping out how traffic flows, what is evaluated at each hop, its transition and how configuration changes will effect it. In the end, it may make my practical troubleshooting skills much stronger. Time will tell.

Almost on the 2nd chapter. The first chapter alone is already a lot more in depth than the certification guide. This is exactly the kind of book that I was hoping to have started reading a month ago, too bad it just came out now.

If you don't have equipment, you can take advantage of that like you said and go over the concepts and really dig into the why, the how so that's good that you're doing that....

I was going to take the switch exam pretty soon so I'm just going to skim through this book in about a week. Then cross fingers and take the exam.

But now that I have the book, I might as well read it through once and pick up anything new....

notgoing2fail

DevilWAH wrote: »

hold on I thought this was a professional level exam...

I've felt the same way with SWITCH. Can't say for ROUTE or TSHOOT but honeslty, it just feels like CCNA with more topics.

The switch security, vlans etc, doesn't really get THAT much more in depth. It's just more "features" really....

But I totally agree, it makes me feel like I am getting that much closer to being a CCNP/sr. engineer....

I'd say being in the industry for 10 years I am already a sr. engineer in certain ways, but not a sr. engineer as far as day in and day out time with Cisco gear....

DevilWAH

WOW this switch book is tiny compared to the ROUTE one... and it still has not much about the SONA infrustructure.

But it give me hope that I can book the exam in the next 4 week easy

Can I mange all 4 this year

new house,
new baby,
new job
and CCNP ???

DevilWAH

wow the typos in this book

how about this for a review question

In the context of the CCNP Switch and this book, what number of end devices or users quantifies a medium size campus network?

A. A message digest encrypted with the sender's private key.

b. up to 200 users,

c up to 2000 users ......


I'm going for A

and in the same section questions 2 and 3 are identical....

For a book that cost this much I really expect a bit better!! I am beginning to agree that CISCO have really rushed this exam and this is shown in the course books that have been written to accompany it..

networker050184

DevilWAH wrote: »

wow the typos in this book

how about this for a review question

In the context of the CCNP Switch and this book, what number of end devices or users quantifies a medium size campus network?

A. A message digest encrypted with the sender's private key.

b. up to 200 users,

c up to 2000 users ......


I'm going for A

and in the same section questions 2 and 3 are identical....

For a book that cost this much I really expect a bit better!! I am beginning to agree that CISCO have really rushed this exam and this is shown in the course books that have been written to accompany it..

Keep in mind the books from Cisco Press are not the official course material. If you can go to a class (or have a coworker that went) you can get your hands on the course material. A lot of times this is the best study for the exam and some of the diagrams and stuff are directly from this material.

NoChance

What do you mean by official course material?

I was looking into the new Cisco Academy classes for CCNP and read that they were dropping the Online Training portion for the Foundation Series Books. Something about being able to get the Academy Classes going faster without having to do a separate online training CBT.

A quick peek at Cisco Press seems to confirm this.

Customers and Markets > IRC - CCNP Curriculum

How dry is the material? I loved the Online Training offered through the Academy because it seemed to be more succinct than the books.

networker050184

I'm speaking of the material they give you when you go to one of the official Cisco courses. It looks like the new ones aren't available yet though.

ROUTE v1.0

SWITCH v1.0

TSHOOT v1.0

chmorin

I'm just happy I get my switch book tomorrow hopefully

notgoing2fail

I'm going to have to really spend more time on the PPDIOO chapter. I suggest everyone do the same before they take the test....

416_guy

I just received my book a few days ago, haven't had time to start reading it but I glanced through it. Can't wait to start

So far I have two 2950's and one 3550. Just picked up a 24U rack today, next thing I need is an access server and maybe if budget allows me another 3550 and I should be set...I think...

DevilWAH

notgoing2fail wrote: »

I'm going to have to really spend more time on the PPDIOO chapter. I suggest everyone do the same before they take the test....

I'm finding even this chapter does not really prepare you for the EXAM as I remember it.

there where to many questions like

what are two benifits of ......

A. incress relibility
b. lower cost.
c better security
d easier management

And you just look at it and unless you can recall the wording of the chapter you are stuck, becuse in all honest any of the answers are correct. Its just what cisco have decided they want you to say.

In the CCNA I rember if you understood a topic with a bit of locical thinking you could work out the answers. But with the SWITCH exam for the design part of it you just need to be a Parrot.

Its a pity casue I really liked the simulation and more tecy questions as the do really test you knowlege.

peanutnoggin

notgoing2fail wrote: »

I'm going to have to really spend more time on the PPDIOO chapter. I suggest everyone do the same before they take the test....

NG2F,

That's good to know. I just got my SWITCH (Foundation Learning Guide) book in the mail today. With an upcoming trip... I'll have some good reading on the flight.

-Peanut

mella060

So has this book been published / released as yet ? I checked with a local bookshop (Australia) and apparently it is not out until 28/07/10

Where are you guys buying your books from ? Can i order the book off amazon or cisco press and have it sent to Australia ?

peanutnoggin

mella060 wrote: »

So has this book been published / released as yet ? I checked with a local bookshop (Australia) and apparently it is not out until 28/07/10

Where are you guys buying your books from ? Can i order the book off amazon or cisco press and have it sent to Australia ?

Yes it's published. Here's the link to the US Amazon. I'm not sure if you can order it and have it shipped to Australia. HTH

-Peanut

DevilWAH

Or go direct to cisco press web site and order it from there. www.ciscopress.com

the shippings a bit more but it gets released there first and will ship anywhere.

notgoing2fail

DevilWAH wrote: »

I'm finding even this chapter does not really prepare you for the EXAM as I remember it.

there where to many questions like

what are two benifits of ......

A. incress relibility
b. lower cost.
c better security
d easier management

And you just look at it and unless you can recall the wording of the chapter you are stuck, becuse in all honest any of the answers are correct. Its just what cisco have decided they want you to say.

In the CCNA I rember if you understood a topic with a bit of locical thinking you could work out the answers. But with the SWITCH exam for the design part of it you just need to be a Parrot.

Its a pity casue I really liked the simulation and more tecy questions as the do really test you knowlege.

Absolutely agreed, and I'm seeing a lot of gripes about this exam from people who've taken it. My take on it is that you MUST figure out how to decipher Cisco's questions and what they want the answer to be, that is tough when the question isn't technical. I look at those options and any of them could be correct in my eyes.

It's a crapshoot!!!

peanutnoggin wrote: »

NG2F,

That's good to know. I just got my SWITCH (Foundation Learning Guide) book in the mail today. With an upcoming trip... I'll have some good reading on the flight.

-Peanut

Pay attention to it, it will help, but as others have stated, the questions on the exam are kinda difficult to decipher.

It's easy to answer a technical question because you know the rules/fundamentals.

But when you're asking me about business needs and planning/preparation, it's all point of view to me. But in this case, Cisco's point of view...

I'm not complaining so much about PPDIOO on the exam, it's just that I do not have the ability to decipher what is considered the BEST choices...

chmorin

notgoing2fail wrote: »

It's easy to answer a technical question because you know the rules/fundamentals.

But when you're asking me about business needs and planning/preparation, it's all point of view to me. But in this case, Cisco's point of view...

I'm not complaining so much about PPDIOO on the exam, it's just that I do not have the ability to decipher what is considered the BEST choices...

Cisco best practices will exist in all of their exams, but there is always an exception with every rule. It is still important to know though. We are going through a really big network re-do in our current network and we are almost 100% cisco, so the best practices are taking place and on topics frequently. One would assume that if cisco mentions a way to do something in the book, that is how you should state it on the exam.

Or do they not tell you? I always encounter questions in the book that give me a "But it really could be that too..." feeling, but csico does tell you that they want it a particular way.

notgoing2fail

chmorin wrote: »

I always encounter questions in the book that give me a "But it really could be that too..." feeling, but csico does tell you that they want it a particular way.

That's exactly what I encountered. I've read the PPDIOO section in the book as well as Cisco online docs!!! I thought I was prepared *enough* considering there were so many other topics to cover.

The questions I got made me say, "What the heck? Come on! They all look right!" And I felt that way on every one of the questions I got regarding PPDIOO.

Perhaps I'll do much better next time, I don't know, I'm not sure exactly what to study. I've seen the test, and I've read the chapter.

So now what?

chmorin

notgoing2fail wrote: »

So now what?

Try, try again.

mikej412

notgoing2fail wrote: »

I'm going to have to really spend more time on the PPDIOO chapter. I suggest everyone do the same before they take the test....

Just drink the Kool-Aid and everything will become clear.