Thinking of CCDA/NP: The material

So I have finally decided to head down the CCNP path:

For my materials I am thinking of the following:

Foundation learning library:
Amazon.com: CCNP Routing and Switching Foundation Learning Library: Foundation Learning for CCNP ROUTE, SWITCH, and TSHOOT (642-902, 642-813, 642-832) (Self-Study Guide) (9781587058851): Diane Teare, Richard Froom, Balaji Sivasubramanian, Erum Frahim

Old lab manuals:

BSCI (for route):

Amazon.com: CCNP Building Scalable Internetworks (BSCI 642-901) Lab Portfolio (Cisco Networking Academy) (9781587132131): David Kotfila, Joshua Moorhouse, Ross Wolfson: Books

BCMSN (for Switch):
Amazon.com: CCNP Building Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN 642-812) Lab Portfolio (Cisco Networking Academy) (978158713214

: David Kotfila, Joshua Moorhouse, Christian Price, Ross Wolfson: Books

ONT/ISCW (for Troubleshoot and general understanding):
Amazon.com: CCNP Optimizing Converged Networks (ONT 642-845) Lab Portfolio (Cisco Networking Academy) (9781587132162): David Kotfila, Joshua Moorhouse, Ross Wolfson: Books

Amazon.com: CCNP Implementing Secured Converged Wide-Area Networks (ISCW 642-825) Lab Portfolio (Cisco Networking Academy) (9781587132155): David Kotfila, Joshua Moorhouse, Ross Wolfson: Books

Also I plan to pick up WANNABECCIE videos (no he isn't paying me for this):
Bowler CBT Labs items - Get great deals on ccna, ccnp items on eBay Stores!

I also need to pick up Top down network design and the new CCDA book.

I already own routing TCP/IP vol 1. I may pick up volume 2.

I also might pick up a general TCP/IP guide just for the sake of completion.

Sound like I have enough material?

I want to try to get done by October (by the time I am finished with my A.A.S in Network Engineering)

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Comments

vinbuck

You've got a pretty stout list there...you should check out the newer CCNP lab manuals on amazon too. There are tons of free labs out there if you google what type of technology you want to lab. i.e. EIGRP Troubleshooting, OSPF to EIGRP redistribution, IPv6, etc..

ROUTE
Amazon.com: CCNP ROUTE Lab Manual (Lab Companion) (9781587133039): Cisco Networking Academy: Books

SWITCH
Amazon.com: CCNP SWITCH Lab Manual (Lab Companion) (9781587133046): Cisco Networking Academy: Books

I just started my CCNP journey at the beginning of the year and have been working on ROUTE for a month solid. It's a big step up from the CCNA, but at the same time, it's much more focused and the depth on each topic far exceeds CCNA level. I don't know how the guys who have actually passed this stuff have studied, but i'm doing way more labbing than I am reading with this track. I've racked up close to 40 hours labbing and I still feel like I have a long way to go.

lrb

I recommended the OCG for ROUTE: Wendell Odom's book for ROUTE is as a good as the OCGs you probably used for the CCNA

CCNP ROUTE 642-902 Official Certification Guide CCNP Route Exam Preparation: Amazon.co.uk: Wendell Odom: Books

If nothing else.. it gives you the best way for memorizing the first 9 BGP path selection criteria: N WLLA OMNI

Good luck on your journey

shednik

Kevin,

Other than what you have listed already. If you can swing it the CNT Nuggets for ROUTE are amazing. Jeremy really did a great job on them and has helped me a lot in my job and studies. I also bought the INE CCNP bootcamp, I will let you know what I think of that. Beware of the SWITCH exam though, it is bad with how poor the content is. I told my systems engineer about the terrible experience and he luckily escalated it so maybe it has been looked at by now...either way they gave me a free re-take.

HTH
joe

QHalo

Amazon.com: CCNP lab manual

At least the ROUTE and SWITCH ones. These are the new ones.

Undy

shednik wrote: »

Beware of the SWITCH exam though, it is bad with how poor the content is.

Can you elaborate further without breaking any Cisco disclosure rules? Are you saying the content on the exam is poorly laid out? Just curious. Studying for the SWITCH exam.

lrb

Not that I can speak for Shednik but it he's like me then he means that the study materials don't properly cover the content in the exam. David Hucaby (author of the SWITCH OCG) has a blog with a lot of the extra material that wasn't in the book, like IP SLAs, netflow, etc

shednik

Undy wrote: »

Can you elaborate further without breaking any Cisco disclosure rules? Are you saying the content on the exam is poorly laid out? Just curious. Studying for the SWITCH exam.

I'd say to a point yes lrb is right, it didn't affect me as much because I'm familiar with what the book left out.

The exam itself I think is terrible. Spelling and grammatical errors in the questions and answers. I had a drag and drop question where two answers were identical in mean and I had to use one of them. Some of my sims were worded so poorly that I wasn't sure if I was understanding what they were asking. Needless to say I wasn't happy I had to waste time and money on the exam, I wasn't far from passing but for the money we pay for the test it should be more professionally done.

I talked to my SE from Cisco about it and I know he was able to get in touch with someone from the test development area and they identified the issues I brought up and said they would be fixed. I'll see when I retake the exam later this month. They did give me a voucher to re-take thought which is nice.