Enough for CCNA (Self-Study)?

fbernar

I want to do self-study to learn the CCNA material required to pass the CCNA exam. This is the equipment I have acquired (either through purchase or trade) so please tell me if I am lacking anything or if something I have is outdated.

2 Cisco 1760's
2 Cisco 1841 (one with a 32mb card and the other with a 64mb card)

I will be purchasing 2 Cisco 2950 switches from Amazon as well as a USB comm plug (male) as I already have the female plug.

Is this enough? Do I need/not need anything?

I also have access to the curriculum because a cousin of mine just started the courses at a community college. I will also be buying Todd Lammle new CCNA study guide book as this is what I am reading is the highest recommended book.

Thanks in advance!

ChooseLife

My vote goes for "enough"

jtdk985

Todd Lammle's book is awesome. I honestly feel like I wasted a lot of time going through Odoms book..

gl!

QHalo

1841's are overkill (I like overkill though) but yeah you should do just fine sir.

JaCkNiFe

jtdk985 wrote:

Todd Lammle's book is awesome. I honestly feel like I wasted a lot of time going through Odoms book..

Ironically I felt the same way about Lammle's book and practice tests being a waste of time in contrast to Odom's library.

To be fair I did find the subnetting chapter in Lammle's book quite helpful.

Daniel333

I think you need 1 more switch. You can't do spanning tree labs without at least 3 switches.

If you have the cash, a 3550 with power will be VERY helpful after you finish your CCNA, and thus worth the investment. But if you don't a 2950 would be fine.

Don't forget to snag a half dozen cross over cables, and some small patch cables.

I'd also recommend the cheapest hub you can get your hands on. It's nice for certain labs down the road just to be able to play around with.


As far as learning materials the LAB GUIDES! Are SOOO valuable. Pick up all 4 of those.

fbernar

Daniel333 wrote: »

Don't forget to snag a half dozen cross over cables, and some small patch cables.

Can you link me to exactly what cross over cables and patch cables you are referring to please? Thanks!

Daniel333

monoprice.com is fine.

HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

fbernar

Oh wow. I was about to buy serial crossover cables... Patch cables cat5 or cat6? Thanks in advance.

ccnaomkar

jtdk985 wrote: »

Todd Lammle's book is awesome. I honestly feel like I wasted a lot of time going through Odoms book..

gl!

both are good

but use todd lammle as a second source

ya its get boring to read odoms book but must read for certification point of view(as cisco press book)

QHalo

fbernar wrote: »

Oh wow. I was about to buy serial crossover cables... Patch cables cat5 or cat6? Thanks in advance.

No reason to buy anything less than 5e or 6 unless you're concerned with cost but monoprice has dirt cheap cables so just do it. You can use them for other things after you're done.

lon21

Daniel333 wrote: »

I think you need 1 more switch. You can't do spanning tree labs without at least 3 switches.

If you have the cash, a 3550 with power will be VERY helpful after you finish your CCNA, and thus worth the investment. But if you don't a 2950 would be fine.

Don't forget to snag a half dozen cross over cables, and some small patch cables.

I'd also recommend the cheapest hub you can get your hands on. It's nice for certain labs down the road just to be able to play around with.


As far as learning materials the LAB GUIDES! Are SOOO valuable. Pick up all 4 of those.

Where can I get these Lab guides from?

alan2308

lon21 wrote: »

Where can I get these Lab guides from?

start here:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/6434-ccna-faq-please-read-before-posting.html

dave330i

Personally I found simulators more useful when I was studying for CCNA. You can get a lot more repetition with a simulator since there's no setup involved.

Watch CBT Nugget video series by Jeremy. Extremely useful. Probably has the easiest subnetting method.

fbernar

Daniel333 wrote: »

Don't forget to snag a half dozen cross over cables, and some small patch cables.

I'd also recommend the cheapest hub you can get your hands on. It's nice for certain labs down the road just to be able to play around with.

OK. I now have access to Cisco Academy, I have the new Lammle CCNA guide book which everyone has been recommending and I have the previously mentioned routers and now have 2 2950 switches (they arrived today).

As far as cables go I have:

2 USB to COMM here Amazon.com: Cables To Go 26886 USB To DB9 Male Serial Adapter, Blue (0.45 Meters/1.5 Feet): Electronics

I am buying 6 (half dozen) of 7 ft cat6 (500mhz) crossover cables from For only $1.38 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 7ft Cat6 500MHz Crossover Ethernet Network Cable - Red | Cat 6 Crossover Cables

I want to be sure the crossover cable that you referred to is cat5/6 and not serial.

I am somewhat new to most of this so I want to be sure I'm 100% correct in my preparation to begin learning. A patch cable is a regular cable that I would use from connecting my cable modem to my Linksys router correct? If so I have like 4 of these. Crossover is different from this if I recall correctly.

Thanks for any return feedback in advance!

fbernar

bumpety bump! just need some quick feedback to finalize the order to finish my lab!

alan2308

fbernar wrote: »

I want to be sure the crossover cable that you referred to is cat5/6 and not serial.

You will want the cat5 or cat6 crossover cables when connecting switches to one another, but you will also require serial cables if you're connecting routers via serial interfaces. Which specific serial cables you will need depends on which type of serial interfaces your routers have.

switchrat

alan2308 wrote: »

You will want the cat5 or cat6 crossover cables when connecting switches to one another, but you will also require serial cables if you're connecting routers via serial interfaces. Which specific serial cables you will need depends on which type of serial interfaces your routers have.

GENDER benders work great