Study Material!

samuel235235235

Hey guys,

Im starting to study for my ccna now (ccna is the first cisco qualification i should be going for, right?) Could you guys recomend things i need to get through this qualification, books, materials, physical items (modems, routers, switches, etc)

Would be very appreciated! Thank you guys!

alan2308

The best place to start is with the CCNA FAQ Sticky. There's a lot of great resources in there, many of which are free.

Start with a good book. Wendell Odom's Cisco Press book and Todd Lammle's Sybex book are the two most popular. See the previews on Google Books to see who's writing style you prefer, or better yet get both because you should have more than one study source. A lot of people also like supplementing their reading with either the CBT Nuggets or Trainsignals videos. There's previews of both of those also so you can get a taste of what they're like.

You can buy gear if you like, but you can use Packet Tracer or GNS3 if your budget doesn't allow. It's still preferable to pick something up off of eBay though if you don't have any real hands on (there's a lot of $10 beaters that are at least good enough for this purpose). There's plenty of home lab threads to look at for the specifics (exact models and configurations), but the basic answer is you want at least 2 good routers and 2 good switches if you want to study on real gear (this can be had for under $200). 2 is good, 3 is better.

You should also decide early on if you want to go the one exam route or the two exam route.

earweed

If you have the $$$ to spare I've heard good things about the Testout/ Labsim for the CCNA. A lot of people at WGU have been passing the test just using this and the Odom books along with GNS3 or packet tracer.
Your best bet is to get a real lab together and get some hands on. I'm starting my CCNA studies as soon as I pass my MCITP:EA and already have my home lab assembled.

samuel235235235

earweed wrote: »

Your best bet is to get a real lab together and get some hands on.

What do you mean by a real lab, whats in there/what setup would you do?

earweed

Like alan2308 said at least 2 routers and 2 switches. I have 3 of each. There are a lot of posts here about what switches and routers to get.

yapchinhoong2010

I have written the CCNA Complete Guide 2nd Edition, it is free for download and very useful for your CCNA exam revision.
Cisco CCNA Complete Guide 2nd Edition

CCIEWANNABE

Hello,

My suggestion would be to buy the Cisco Press books. Also for subnetting use learntosubnet.com

It is vital that you get hands on experience when studying for the CCNA. I would suggest GNS3 and packet tracer.

GNS3 can be downloaded from the following location for free:

GNS3 | Graphical Network Simulator

Personally, I have used GNS3 to obtain 80% of all my Cisco Certs and is by far the best free resource for performing labs in my opinion.

Hope this helps

ccnaomkar

read wendell odom book
additional book-todd lammle

lab practise on gns3 or packet tracer

more than enough

and last

subnetting practise

jtdk985

I gotta say I've had a rough road figuring out how to study for these tests, im probably going to schedule my ICND1 next week, and go extremely fast since ive found good reliable materials for ICND2.

- odoms book is a must. while its very drab, often provides too much information, and not all of it is necessary, its a must.
- cbt nuggets is good to watch. it helps you understand the main points of odoms book.
- the bryant advantage ultimate ccna study package so far is great. its a slimmed downed version of odoms book, slightly different from cbt nuggets, and hits on all the main parts. $25 for a practice test + all the info is a great deal.
- find flash cards, or make them yourself, and post them around your house. make sure you look at them religiously when moving about that part of the house, it will help memorize certain things.
-packet tracer for labs. you will never get a 100% great working lab, or be able to duplicate the questions from the test, so just make sure you are comfortable with the commands, and able to FIND the commands if needed. not everyone in the cisco world knows ever command 100%, using ? is always needed no matter what level you are at. so just being able to find the commands, and understand how to read them, is a great thing.

thats my study plan for icnd2, and hopefully icnd1

Dakinggamer87

I look forward to pursuing my CCNA after I finish my MCSA/MCSE certification track!!