CCNA Thread

veritas_libertas

earweed wrote: »

Keep it up dude. I'm gonna start studying for this as soon as I get my MCITP out of the way. Get 'R done.

Working on it! I would be mad if you finished and than got the CCENT done before me

How's NASA treating you

veritas_libertas

Another night of Subnetting. I'm becoming sick of seeing 1s and 0s like I have never been before... It seems to be sinking in though.

I tried Boson a little yesterday and was frustrated by some of the networking questions. That is some hard stuff!

veritas_libertas

I've learned a valuable lesson tonight that I would like to pass on to every other Cisco newb. Don't try to avoid binary! Once you learn to subnet using binary everything starts to make sense! I'm getting to the point where I can look at an IP address and see 1s and 0s.

veritas_libertas

I have the rest of this week off. I'm going to take full advantage of this time and study commands and subnetting.

Exam is scheduled for 4/13

j-man

I'm gearing up for the exam as well. At the point where I'm starting the practice exams and hitting the labs hard. Hopefully will schedule the ICND1 before months end.

Keep on keepin on but make sure you give your brain a little rest here and there.

gonX

Good luck I think you will do well

Radiant9

I'm also trying to get as much study time in as I can and I, like you, have a family. I was working 2 junk jobs (50-60 hours a week) to make my ends meet. When we got our taxes back I payed 2 months of bills in advance and quit my day job so I can spend my days studying. It's great right now but man, I better make this work QUICK!

Anyways, as far as subnetting goes, here's what I found. Learn the binary first! You HAVE to understand that. Once you "get" the binary part, then the thread on this forum "Subnetting made easy" really made most everything click for me. And as far as it not covering the "hosts/subnets" questions, it actually does. Just read like 4 comments down. Infact reading that entire thread is well worth it. After 4-5 days of practicing I can now go to IP Subnet Practice and do them in my head and get them right every time.

Anyways, again, good luck. I'm taking the 1 part test the first week in May.

veritas_libertas

I'm finding my ability to add quickly is lacking...

Anyhow, I'm going through the ExamCram book and than plan on hitting the Chris Bryant chapters on commands. Practice time here I come...

veritas_libertas

Just realized I don't need to add every stinking number...

Yes, if you know the power of two it just works!

LOL, you guys have been trying to tell me this stuff for a while, but now it just makes sense. I feel like it all just fell in place now.

mattlee09

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Just realized I don't need to add every stinking number...

Yes, if you know the power of two it just works!

LOL, you guys have been trying to tell me this stuff for a while, but now it just makes sense. I feel like it all just fell in place now.

Congrats, you've arrived. It's funny how we can all express a sentiment similar to this about the "clicking" effect.

veritas_libertas

Finishing off reviewing the Todd Lammle's book. Going to look through the ExamCram after that than finish with Chris Bryant. I have to say that of three I've used Chris Bryant's material is the best.

My weaknesses:

• Frame Relay
• WAN configuration
• Troubleshooting network (Improving my subnetting skills has helped with this)

CodeBlox

Man... I finally got to some hardware at school in the lab and boy was I in for a treat with Frame Relay. I hadn't had a chance to configure it it it was one of those things I STILL have to get used to. Seeing as you can't turn a router into a Frame Relay switch in Packet Tracer, I gave GNS3 a try and spent A WHILE configuring the many different options. While I have only used GNS3 for a very short time, I feel that I am not really as held back as I was when all I had was packet tracer.

chmorin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Finishing off reviewing the Todd Lammle's book. Going to look through the ExamCram after that than finish with Chris Bryant. I have to say that of three I've used Chris Bryant's material is the best.

My weaknesses:

• Frame Relay
• WAN configuration
• Troubleshooting network (Improving my subnetting skills has helped with this)

When I was taking my CCNA, WAN was my weakpoint. Frame Relay dominated me. It is worth taking the time to get down, the best solution for all of those is to LAB LAB LAB!

j-man

Oh man, don't you just love it when the light bulb pops on above your head when it all makes sense?

Lab, Lab, Lab and keep up on the subnetting.

hiddenknight821

So, the 13th has passed, so did you pass yet?

veritas_libertas

I ended up pushing it back. Life keeps getting in the way...

earweed

Veritas,
Hopefully you're busy celebrating. I'm up to chapter 9 in the Odom ICND1 book and finding packet tracer sorely lacking to learn switch configs. I've got a couple 2950 switches but work is hectic right now. Actually some days we're busting a@@ and other days I have my book with me to fill the idle time. I'm trying to finish up my Capstone during my free (what there is) time. Can't take a laptop to work or use the internet there as I'm not clearedso all my off time is used to try to finish WGU.
I don't actually work for NASA but I'm a contractor hired by a recruiting firm that subcontracts through CSC and we're doing work at a DHS datacenter that's at the Stennis space center. They tested a rocket engine on site yesterday and the building where I'm at (probably a couple miles from the test site) was shaking a little.

MickQ

Nice job earweed.
Guys, if you need any help learning the stuff, just give me a shout. Apparently I'm not a bad teacher.

veritas_libertas

Well I'm back on board. I skimmed Todd Lammle's book yesterday to see what I remember. I've decided to start with Subnetting, and then move into commands, etc. OSI, TCP Three-Way, etc. I still remember well from Network+ and college.

veritas_libertas

My tactics and tools have changed a bit for the CCENT:

Reading:

• Todd Lammle - CCENT from Sybex
• Chris Bryant's Ultimate CCNA Guide

Practice Tests:

• Boson

Home lab:

• 2x 2651XMs with additional WIC 1Ts that I got off of eBay.
• 2x 2501s that I'll probably only end up using for Frame Relay I imagine.
• 1x 2950
• GNS3 for studying during down time at work, or if my wife kicks me out of the office where the lab is at On that note I should consider setting up one of the old PCs so I can RDP into my lab

veritas_libertas

Studied Subnetting some more last night, and was surprised by how much I still remember. I actually feel like being away from it for a while helped me see it from a slightly different angle.

veritas_libertas

Worked on some detailed notes yesterday, and was surprised find myself less knowledgeable of OSI model than I thought.

veritas_libertas

Made it to the subnetting chapters. Yikes.

veritas_libertas

Didn't get into Subnetting as much as I have wanted to. The last two days have been much to busy. I have Friday off, so I should be able to study hard on Subnetting and read through some more chapters. I feel like I'm digesting the CCNA material much better than when I tried last year.

veritas_libertas

You know you are studying for the CCNA when you see a license plate starting with CSU, and your brain finishes it for you with /DSU.

veritas_libertas

It hit me a few minutes ago that I won't have ANY type of calculator during the exam

Ah well, time to memorize these numbers

veritas_libertas

Hitting subnetting again today. I don't want to move on until I get the subnetting down, and a few other areas in the earlier chapters.

Webmaster

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Hitting subnetting again today. I don't want to move on until I get the subnetting down,

Sounds like a good idea as subnetting is an essential foundation for other topics such as routing and ACLs. If you haven't yet, try my 10-question subnetting test, it contains rather long explanations that may help it stick. I also suggest focusing on class C or in particular prefix /25+ networks till you can do those easily, then the rest becomes just more of the same. Good luck with the rest of your CCNA voyage!

veritas_libertas

Worked on Subnetting some more today. It's starting to become natural. I also made a list of things that I need to memorize such as: Port numbers, TCP/IP and ISO layers (What each layer does), Cisco Three-layer hierarchical model (Understand each layer). Overall I feel like I'm making good progress.

veritas_libertas

I have developed a deep dislike for counting by 16. It messes with my brain.

Subnetting is going well and I've started reading an additional chapter while soaking in Subnetting. Sometimes it's not about how quickly you read the book, but about how much of it you have truly digested.