Gearing Up - Opinions Please

Encrypt

Alright, I'm a former student of the CCNA Academy and have completed courses 1-4. Never took the test though, as we watch our instructor fail it twice (she was a bit of a flake though).

I have read post after post about this book or that book, this net sim or that net sim, and here is what I still find I am missing:

The CCNA Study Guide (Lammle) appears to be the most comprehensive, but almost every review I have read on the thing there is a complaint of no NAT info and people have failed the test on said subject...so what's the best book for that?

Also, what't the most comprehensive as far as sims go? What I'm trying to do here is help everyone out - it's the assumption we're all thinkers here and know how to study - so what can we say is the brass tax of the following:

"If you know Book(s) A and router sim B, you WILL know the necessary information to pass the test."

D-boy

Hi Encrypt,

Sorry I can't answer your question, but I couldn't help noticing you have your HDA helpdesk certification. How hard was the test? How long did it take to study for or did you take the course?

Thanks,
Daniel

Webmaster

Check out the following article at Cisco.com:Configuring Static and Dynamic NAT Simultaneously and the 'How NAT work' link in it.

Alright, I'm a former student of the CCNA Academy and have completed courses 1-4. Never took the test though, as we watch our instructor fail it twice (she was a bit of a flake though).

Your instructor for a CCNA Academy course was not a CCNA?

johnnynodough

I have found the Cisco Press books to be good, I have the Sybex as well but I refer more to the Cisco Press books by Owen somthing or other. As far as SIMS, I gave up on SIMS and just started buying hardware. It doesnt cost to much, and it really gives you a leg up, for example, I am trying figure out which IOS version I will use for my routers, finally decided on c2500-is-l.122-13.T14.bin, but I had to research all the possibilities so that I could get what I need. You cant get that kind of experience from a simulator. Sounds tediuos, and can cost you if you dont have CCO access, but I think it will pay off.

Then again, I am new to the board, so I may not know what I am talking about : )

yang11

It is strange that your tutor is not ccna.

but I did hear that one of the tutors in a training camp failed mcdst twice. and he is teaching A+.

luckily I was in their mcsa class.

anyway if sybex ccna is not enough, the cisco press wendell's INTRO + ICND should provide you with enough info.

regrards,

Encrypt

Yes, back in the early days of the Academy you were not required to be a CCNA to teach the course. This changed less than 90 days after I finished the class. Once again, we're talking almost 5 years ago, back in late 2000-early 2001.

I appreciate the comments and I have been looking around - seems that you can easily buy some equipment off eBay on the cheap - 2500 series routers going for 50-75 bucks.

I have pretty much decided to go with the CCNA Study Guide (Lammle) and then I will refer back to Cisco if I think I don't know enough. I will probably be buying some routers off eBay to do the more practical stuff. If I really think I need it, I'll get the cisco books as well. I just hate to spend that kind of money for one test. And then pay for the test. after equipment and books you're looking at probably close to $200.

Of course, that's still far cheaper than any training or boot camp.

johnnynodough

Wen all is said and done, the routers will end up costing you about 130 bucks a peice. First you get your 2501 router for 49.95 on ebay, tack on 15 for shipping. Then youll need an Ethernet Transciever, add 10 bucks. Then you will need your DRAM/FLASH ram upgrade kit so that you can run IOS 12, add 38 bucks. Then you most likely will need the Bootrom chips, add 10 bucks. Then a DCE/DTE cross over cable so you can simulate your serial links between 2 routers, add 10. Its worth it though.

Dont forget your console cable, but you can make one of those for about 3 bucks.

jon boy

The cisco press books are, in my opinion, about as thorough as it is gonna get. The author of the Cisco press "CCNA ICND and INTRO" is Wendell Odom, which i think is the auther who johnnynodough refferred to in an earlier post. If you haven't got access to the cisco versions then "Mcgraw Hill ''Cisco - The Complete Reference"' isn't a bad all rounder.
On the subject of equipment, you can pick up brand new Cisco routers for just a couple of hundred squid, probably even less on ebay.

Hope that helps

nothing_pt

Webmaster wrote:

Your instructor for a CCNA Academy course was not a CCNA?

In the Academy I attended (only mods 1 and 2 and then i leaved because i wasn't satisfied) one of the instructors did not have CCNA. He were in an academy but failed the test.

I think it cisco academy instructor should have an CCNA at least...

porengo

In New York City high schools that teach Cisco Academy semesters 1 and 2, the requirement for teachers is that they know the curriculum, and are certified to teach it by a Cisco certified trainer. However, they do not have to be Cisco certified themselves to teach it. Then again, the students are only learning information for their INTRO exam, and not ICND.

shadown7

nothing_pt wrote:

Webmaster wrote:

Your instructor for a CCNA Academy course was not a CCNA?

In the Academy I attended (only mods 1 and 2 and then i leaved because i wasn't satisfied) one of the instructors did not have CCNA. He were in an academy but failed the test.

I think it cisco academy instructor should have an CCNA at least...

I agree with you on that!!

But,

To teach at a Cisco academy you have to take the final and skills test for every semester you want to teach. So, in other words, in order to teach semesters 1-4 you would have to take all the finals and skills test for those semesters. If you only passed the first two semester that is all you would be able to teach.

nothing_pt

shadow7,

Is that for sure? Can you point a link @ Cisco that says that? If that's true i'm gonna to the school and demand they refund what i've payed in those two modules or i notify Cisco about the situation.

Encrypt

I went ahead and bought the Lammle study guide, as overall I see more people finding it better and easier to read than the Cisco books. Not to discredit the Cisco books by any means, as I will probably have to refer to them for NAT since it's appears generally concepted that the Lammle guide doesn't cover it very well, or at all.

I also bought a 2502 router from eBay, but I haven't gotten to playing with it yet. If this one works out OK I will probably purchase multiples so I can actually build a WAN. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.

johnnynodough

why 2502? That will get you the basics of configuring and playing with IOS, but you wont be able to build a scalable lab without investing in some token ring cards for pc's, and you wont be able to play with ethernet or FAethernet switches, so no VLAN or STP labs to play with.

2501s are what you should be looking for, ethernet not token ring. Also look for 2501's with 16/16 memory so that you can run the later IOS releases. 12.2 and above is what the CCNA tests on.

I was going to sell my equip on Ebay when I finished with it, but my boss wants me to expense all my purchases so that we can have a CCNA lab at our office. Hes letting me buy and expense 3 2900 EN series switches

matthucke

johnnynodough wrote:

why 2502? That will get you the basics of configuring and playing with IOS, but you wont be able to build a scalable lab without investing in some token ring cards for pc's, and you wont be able to play with ethernet or FAethernet switches, so no VLAN or STP labs to play with.

The token ring stuff is incredibly cheap, though... you can get a MAU (hub) for about ten dollars. 2502's and the like are also a good choice for those experiments where you only care about the serial connections.

johnnynodough wrote:

2501s are what you should be looking for, ethernet not token ring. Also look for 2501's with 16/16 memory so that you can run the later IOS releases. 12.2 and above is what the CCNA tests on.

I also recommend the 4000 series. These are modular, and sometimes can be found for less than the 2500's - perhaps because they aren't as well known. I have two 4500s and a 4700. The 4700 was a great deal - it has 32M RAM, 16M flash - I paid only $21 plus shipping for it because it had only a token ring module installed. I ordered two NP-4T serial modules for it later the same day. Now I have an 8-port frame relay switch at a total cost of less than $100.

johnnynodough wrote:

I was going to sell my equip on Ebay when I finished with it, but my boss wants me to expense all my purchases so that we can have a CCNA lab at our office. Hes letting me buy and expense 3 2900 EN series switches

Wonderful!