ChickenNuggetz's CCNA Adventure!

I have been studying on/off for my CCNA for the last year or so. Now that I've landed my first networking gig in a NOC, I think its time to finish this and finally get my CCNA. I'm not really sure what the point of this post is, but its nearly 4am in the NOC, I need a break from studying and figured "why the hell not." So at the very least, this will serve as a nightly motivation for me to study and update this thread on thoughts, feelings, pitfalls, victories, and questions in my pursuit for the CCNA.

Here's what I'm currently using to study:

CCNA ICND2 Official Cert Guide by Wendell Odom
Packet Tracer 5.3.3
INCD2 CBT Nuggets by Jeremy Cioararaoaoa
freeccnaworkbook.com
subnettingquestions.com
caffienated drinks

I also have two 2950 switches, three 2610XM routers, and one Digi32 access server at home that I'll be firing up in the next couple of days. I'm thinking I'll probably procure at least on more 2950 switch...

Studying will consist of:

Nightly subnetting drills (subnettingquestions.com questions as fast as I can, no scrap paper, all in mah head)
Reading the chapter, highligting key concepts, important things, etc
Going through chapter again, this time taking down notes in my own words
Labbing concepts from chapter (both in PT and real equipment) with notes, if needed
Labbing again (no notes)
Making/studying flash cards of key concepts/IOS commands

The above worked rather well for me for my CCENT so it'll be interesting if it will work as well as it did last time. I'll also post a link to share my notes with you guys in a little bit.

According to the syllabus I made myself (yes, I made a syllabus; being a former educator has its advantages

), I'll be sitting for the CCNA exam NO LATER than the week of May 19. But at the rate I'm currently going, I think I'll be ready for the exam much sooner.

Anyways, any suggestions/comments/words of encouragement would be much appreciated!

And here we gooooo!

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Comments

webgeek

Your name has made me hungry.......................

Good luck!

ChickenNuggetz

Studying this week:
VLSM (which I'm already familiar with, so it should be a breeze)
Route Summarization (also familiar with, but could use a refresher)
Labbing it up for LAN switching review (VLANs, VTP, STP, Router-on-a-stick)

Already up to Ch. 5 or so in Odom's book. Moving fast through the material (which is good). Need to review LAN switching commands.

I've been labbing for the past 2 hours or so, mostly VLANs, VTP, and router-on-a-stick. Found some useful vtp debug commands so I could watch the VTP process as it was happening on neighboring switches. Unfortunately, Packet Tracer is limited with this (only debug sw-vlan vtp events worked). I'll have to replicate this lab exercise on real equipment to use the other debug commands.

Is VTP used actively in networks today? I can see the possible dangers/issues of using it so I'm unsure of how viable it is large production networks, especially ones that arent pure Cisco. Any thoughts on this?

jsb515

I'm sure some places do use VTP but at my work when we put all new switches in transparent mode and set all vlans manually. Honestly we usually copy configs from other switches into new switches for new areas since its basically the same which includes all the vlan info.

Iristheangel

Yes. We use VTP in our smaller campus networks (1 router and 15 switches) as a standard. It makes life easier when adding vlans but we wouldn't use it in our Core or corporate offices

d6bmg

Just go for it!!

Somnipotent

You have my number dude, let me know if you need help. Good luck! BTW, I would pick up a 3550 instead of another 2950. They're much cheaper now and if you pursue the CCNP, you'll have a MLS ready.

ChickenNuggetz

@jsb515 and Iristheangel: That's pretty much what I figured. I can definitely understand smaller networks and such utilizing VTP for the sake of ease. The place I'm working at now VTP is not utilized at all (transparent mode is configured) and its a pure Cisco network.

@Somnipotent: I will definitely hit you up if I need help, thanks! Good call with the 3550, I definitely will be shooting for the CCNP eventually so this makes sense!

ChickenNuggetz

Still working on some Lab exercises for LAN switching. VLANs and VTP are good to go. Router-on-a-stick isnt too bad either. Just about finished with Spanning Tree. Last thing I need to brush up on is STP conceptually, i.e., root bridge selection process and Hello BPDUs. I remember the jist of how they work but I'm having trouble recalling some of the finer details. I think I'll be making some flash cards to help with some of this.

Next up for me will be VLSM (easy) and Route Summarization (going to need to review this). I used to have a link saved for VLSM/Route summarization practice questions: does anyone have any recommendations or know of any good sites?

ChickenNuggetz

Work has been ramping up as my company is starting to take over the contractual obligations in our NOC. I was made shift lead (wahoo!) so this has made studying a little bit tougher the last couple of days...

Regardless, I've put in some study time: flash cards and LAN switching labs complete! Going to continue to brush up and practice VLSM and Route Summarization. I've decided to dedicate this weekend to getting my lab up and running so I dont have to use Packet Tracer as much anymore. I think i'm also going to go ahead and book my exam date just to help light the fire of motivation!

darkerz

Chicken Nuggets, with a Z.

VSLM? For him, it's E - Z.

Awesome notes

ChickenNuggetz

Well folks, I've gone ahead and scheduled my ICND2 exam: May 22 at 6:15pm. That gives me a solid month and a half to study and really get this stuff down. To help get more organized, I've also created a more detailed syllabus for myself that gives me daily study tasks to complete. The syllabus now highlights study goals for me to hit each day of the week. This helps to keep me on track and studying everyday. So far this new plan of action is working out well!

My lab is up and running now. I had to remember how my Digi CM32 was configured, so it took me about an hour longer than I had thought. I've connected everything, crimped some new crossover cables for the switches and fired it all up. I wiped the config on each router/switch and am going to setup a simple TFTP server to save configs to so I can reload basic configs to work from when labbing.

Lastly, I found some VLSM and Route Summarization practice sites and thought I'd share with everyone:
subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online
Practice Subnet Skills: Design a VLSM Network
Practice Subnet Skills: Summarize a VLSM Network

The last two links are really great as they give you different scenarios and addresses to practice VLSM and summarization!

STUDYING THIS WEEK: VLSM and Route summarization practical. I'm going to be hitting the above links a lot as well as going to apply these concepts in a lab with VLANs and STP (more review).

ChickenNuggetz

Finished out VLSM and Route Summarization with a bang. Here's screenshot of a practical lab I put together in Packet Tracer:

The lab exercise consisted of the following:

Given a single IP with mask and needed to split it up (VLSM) with enough addresses for 5 additional subnets.
All routes needed to be summarized
4 seperate VLANs needed to be configured
VTP needed to be configured (with domains and passwords)
RIPv2 configured on at least one router
Static routing needed to be configured on at least one router

All in all, I was able to knock out the configuration portion pretty quickly (without the need for any notes!), so I'm fairly pleased with myself. I also managed to accidentally screw up my IP addressing scheme (assigning the wrong gateways to the wrong subnets) and was able to troubleshoot it fairly quickly to determine what I did wrong.

New week and new study topics! Up this week is: Routing Protocol Theory, OSPF, and EIGRP. Here's what the syllabus is looking like this week:

Sunday: Subnetting practice; Routing Protocol Theory Notes; STP flash card drills
Monday: Subnetting practice; OSPF notes; make Routing Protocol theory flash cards and drill
Tuesday: Subnetting practice; OSPF practical lab #1 in Packet Tracer; make OSPF flash cards and drill
Wednesday: Subnetting practice; EIGRP notes; OSPF, VLAN, STP flash card drills
Thursday: Subnetting practice: Subnetting practice; EIGRP practical lab #2 in Packet Tracer; make EIGRP flash cards and drill
Friday: Subnetting practice; REST
Saturday: OSPF (multi-area) and EIGRP practical lab #3 with guest stars VLANs, Router-on-a-stick

This weekend I'll be placing an order for my Raspberry Pi (future TFTP server) and my 3550 L3 switch.

PTLabScreenshot.jpg

Cisco Inferno

Good inspiration! Keep up the good work! Get some air when you can.

a little off topic but something to keep us smiling.
Chicken nuggets only come in 4 shapes

dwcoffin

ChickenNuggetz,
Your goals and current situation are similar to my own. I will be following along on your adventures. I am taking Network+ within next 2 weeks; I hope by end of this week. Currently enrolled for CCNA courses and some summer credits for CIS Associates with approximately 27 credits remaining. Really motivated to get the CCNA by end of Sept. before changes to course requirements change.

Best of luck!

sixtyten

New week and new study topics! Up this week is: Routing Protocol Theory, OSPF, and EIGRP. Here's what the syllabus is looking like this week:
Sunday: Subnetting practice; Routing Protocol Theory Notes; STP flash card drills

Monday: Subnetting practice; OSPF notes; make Routing Protocol theory flash cards and drill

Tuesday: Subnetting practice; OSPF practical lab #1 in Packet Tracer; make OSPF flash cards and drill

Wednesday: Subnetting practice; EIGRP notes; OSPF, VLAN, STP flash card drills

Thursday: Subnetting practice: Subnetting practice; EIGRP practical lab #2 in Packet Tracer; make EIGRP flash cards and drill

Friday: Subnetting practice; REST

Saturday: OSPF (multi-area) and EIGRP practical lab #3 with guest stars VLANs, Router-on-a-stick

Thanks for the inspirational post. I need to make my own study habits. I like how you planned out each day with different topics and study aids. Did you have help planning this out? Any suggestions?

ChickenNuggetz

sixtyten wrote: »

Thanks for the inspirational post. I need to make my own study habits. I like how you planned out each day with different topics and study aids. Did you have help planning this out? Any suggestions?

Nope, no help; just me! I came from a career background in education, so making a syllabus and planning everything out seemed like right thing to do for me. Giving myself a track to run on actually helps with my motivation and holds me accountable for the studying; I'll feel guilty if I dont complete the things on my daily list and I'll feel awesome if I complete everything for the day.

The tough part will be figuring out what works best for you. I'd say give the daily syllabus thing a try, see if it works for you! It might take some time to figure out your limits. Dont over-schedule yourself! Keep it varied and keep it interesting, this will help with your motivation to study! Simple and quick study items (like flashcard drills) can be done everyday as those exercises only last about 15 minutes; things like reading and note taking will take longer amounts of time, so try and mix those up!

Good luck studying!

ChickenNuggetz

The 3550 switch and the Skeletek C12U rack that I ordered finally arrived! I've gone ahead and hooked everything up and its running great! Here's a pic of the completed construction and attempt at cable management:

Here's what I'm now running: 2x 2950 switches; 1x 3550 switch; 3x 2610 routers; 1x Digi 32m access server.

Up this Weekend: Lab, Lab, Lab, and more Lab. Oh, did I mention I'm going to lab!?

I ended up a bit behind schedule this week due to some extra work duties so I'll also be finishing up EIGRP. Hopefully I'll be able to knock it all out this weekend!

lab1.jpg

ChickenNuggetz

Here's a screenshot of one of the labs from early this week:

The lab consisted of OSPF with two areas; STP, VLANs, VTP and Router-on-a-stick for the small switched network at the bottom. I also worked out an IP scheme with VLSM for everything.

Up this week: Access Control Lists!

Sunday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review; Finish EIGRP notes, OSPF/EIGRP flashcards
Monday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review, EIGRP, VLAN, STP Lab
Tuesday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review, Basic ACL notes, OSPF, VLAN, STP Lab
Wednesday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review, Basic ACL Flashcards, Basic ACL w/ OSPF Lab
Thursday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review, Advanced ACL notes, Advanced ACL Flash cards
Friday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review, Advanced ACL Lab w/ OSPF, VLAN, STP
Saturday: Subnetting and Flash Card Review, Advanced ACL Lab w/ EIGRP, VLAN, STP

Tid-bit for the week: Review is key! I need to really start working the flash card rounds into my daily schedule. I'm not reviewing some of the major concepts enough. I'm dedicated the first 30 min of each study session to subnetting practice and a random flash card topic.

EIGRPLabScreen.jpg

ChickenNuggetz

Its been a while since I've updated this thread. I've been busy at work doing some pretty lame projects to be honest. Plus the night shift hours have been screwing with my sleep cycle and its been tougher to focus at work and study in my downtime.

I'm two chapter shy of finishing (NAT and IPv6) I'm feeling pretty confident in most areas like VTP, VLANs, OSPF, EIGRP, ACLs and could use some more practice with PPP, Frame Relay and STP, which in my opinion are the harder topics. I'm able to subnet like a champ now, most questions I can answer within seconds, so I feel pretty good about that.

Unfortunately, because I'm not quite ready to test on my original date of May 22, I've decided to give myself an extra week of labbing and review before going in to sit the exam. Hopefully I'll be ready on May 29!!!

chX

Good luck and keep at it! I'm impressed by your methods of keeping notes and keeping to a time schedule. It's something I really need to apply to my own studying.

I just tried my hand at the VLSM link you posted above, and shockingly got it right after not looking at VLSM for about 3 years.

Donnelly82

ChickenNuggetz wrote: »

I have been studying on/off for my CCNA for the last year or so. Now that I've landed my first networking gig in a NOC, I think its time to finish this and finally get my CCNA. I'm not really sure what the point of this post is, but its nearly 4am in the NOC, I need a break from studying and figured "why the hell not." So at the very least, this will serve as a nightly motivation for me to study and update this thread on thoughts, feelings, pitfalls, victories, and questions in my pursuit for the CCNA.

Here's what I'm currently using to study:
CCNA ICND2 Official Cert Guide by Wendell Odom

Packet Tracer 5.3.3

INCD2 CBT Nuggets by Jeremy Cioararaoaoa

freeccnaworkbook.com

subnettingquestions.com

caffienated drinks

I also have two 2950 switches, three 2610XM routers, and one Digi32 access server at home that I'll be firing up in the next couple of days. I'm thinking I'll probably procure at least on more 2950 switch...

Studying will consist of:
Nightly subnetting drills (subnettingquestions.com questions as fast as I can, no scrap paper, all in mah head)

Reading the chapter, highligting key concepts, important things, etc

Going through chapter again, this time taking down notes in my own words

Labbing concepts from chapter (both in PT and real equipment) with notes, if needed

Labbing again (no notes)

Making/studying flash cards of key concepts/IOS commands

The above worked rather well for me for my CCENT so it'll be interesting if it will work as well as it did last time. I'll also post a link to share my notes with you guys in a little bit.

According to the syllabus I made myself (yes, I made a syllabus; being a former educator has its advantages ), I'll be sitting for the CCNA exam NO LATER than the week of May 19. But at the rate I'm currently going, I think I'll be ready for the exam much sooner.

Anyways, any suggestions/comments/words of encouragement would be much appreciated!

And here we gooooo!

That is the exact same lab I have running, apart from the server.. How interesting ...

Jayem

So, you got a NOC position with just ccent? Did you have previous experience?

ChickenNuggetz

Jayem wrote: »

So, you got a NOC position with just ccent? Did you have previous experience?

Yup, all I had was a CCENT and nope, didnt have any previous experience. To be honest, my NOC position is an absolute joke. I'm actually pretty upset over the whole thing. When I interviewed for the position I was told I'd be troubleshooting network issues, updating tickets, doing port security, and verifying the validity of alerts that come across my screen. My official title is Jr. Network Engineer and I do ZERO networking. I cant even log into a router or switch. If an alert comes across my screen or a port security violation pops up, all I do is forward the alert to a tier II/III engineer to handle. I'm the only guy in the NOC who's even certified and I'm the only one who's even attempting to pursue a CCNA.

Although the position affords me A LOT of study time, honestly I am STARVING for experience. I have pleaded with management to AT LEAST give us the ability to do "show" commands to verify alerts. Nope, nothing. I literally sit at my desk watching my email queue, fill out shift logs, and ticket queue reports with updated ticket info. Many of my coworkers play games and watch movies. Suffice to say, this job is killing my motiviation.

chX

ChickenNuggetz wrote: »

I'm the only guy in the NOC who's even certified and I'm the only one who's even attempting to pursue a CCNA.

At least if a position opens up in the tier 2/3 teams, you'll be the most qualified from your current team in terms of certification alone. Hang in there and keep studying!

Master Of Puppets

It sounds to me like you need to move somewhere else. Experience is what matters the most and since you're not getting any, no amount of studying can compensate for that.

Somnipotent

Everyone puts in their time. Trust me, I did. I finally managed to shim my way into a more technical role after doing alarms and monitoring. While I understand it may be killing your motivation, put your time in. A CCNA + experience will give you the leverage you need to get your next job. Chin up, crank it, and keep moving forward. I may have some leads for you with the TSA network ops if you're clearable.