CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator

CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator - $149.99

Has anyone else seen this, and/or considering buying it? Now that I have ICND1 out of the way I'm considering pre-ordering this since it sounds like ICND2 requires a good deal of hands-on practice/experience.

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Comments

BadBoy House

personally I'd recommend actual Cisco hardware instead of router/switch simulator software. it's not as expensive as you might expect. nothing beats configuring actual hardware.

Siushaga

BadBoy House wrote: »

personally I'd recommend actual Cisco hardware instead of router/switch simulator software. it's not as expensive as you might expect. nothing beats configuring actual hardware.

Don't have any room for a rack, and really don't need all the wires sprawled across my apartment to get connectivity. I wouldn't be able to use it in my room and I don't think my roomate would appreciate it anywhere else in the apartment

.

I could see how it would be helpful in the long run for my Cisco studies, but for just the scope of CCNA I think I'm better off with something like this that provides labs and hands-on tasks to study with. I've used real hardware plenty of times in the past during my Cisco acadamy courses, so I'm fairly comfortable with them already anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

BADfish10

i got a free sim with my mcgraw hill CCNA book (bosen i think) that was all that was needed.
£40 at the time including book and test questions coin-age well spent i feel.
but as bb-h says for $149 in the USA you could have a nice few routers and possibly a switch this would all sit onto of each other out of the way.

Cheers

J

captobvious

BadBoy House wrote: »

personally I'd recommend actual Cisco hardware instead of router/switch simulator software. it's not as expensive as you might expect. nothing beats configuring actual hardware.

+1

You can't always count on a simulator acting like real hardware. Plus you don't get to practice saving, moving and updating IOS to flash. Fun when you mess it up!

GNS3 is good if you have access to IOS. Can't beat the price either!

Siushaga

Doesn't the CCNA exam just use simulators though? I'm more worried about using a tool similar to that where I can still get hands-on practice. I have real world experience with hardware for a job scenario, but the exams don't make you use real hardware and a lot of times don't allow to use certain commands that are available on the real hardware.

dynamik

Siushaga wrote: »

Doesn't the CCNA exam just use simulators though? I'm more worried about using a tool similar to that where I can still get hands-on practice. I have real world experience with hardware for a job scenario, but the exams don't make you use real hardware and a lot of times don't allow to use certain commands that are available on the real hardware.

Yea, but the goal is to master the material, not just pass an exam.

Siushaga

dynamik wrote: »

Yea, but the goal is to master the material, not just pass an exam.

Maybe, but I'm one step at a time. Just as you are saying, I plan to master the material, but only the CCNA material at this time. Which is what this simulator focuses on. People that have posted so far obviously prefer the hardware, I'm just saying I'd prefer the simulator since it will do basically the same thing and also prepare me for what the exam will use pretty much.

Anyway, we are getting off topic. I created this to see if anyone else saw that or if anyone else planned on buying it.

tiersten

Siushaga wrote: »

Anyway, we are getting off topic. I created this to see if anyone else saw that or if anyone else planned on buying it.

It should be fairly comprehensive since it is made by Cisco and they've had prior experience with making sims with the NetAcad PacketTracer app.

However, it is a fairly new product. The CCENT version was released not that long ago and as you can see, the full CCNA version hasn't even been released yet. If you purchased the CCENT version before June, you got a free upgrade to the CCNA version but that offer has expired now.

I don't think anybody on here has purchased the CCENT version. If they have, they've kept it quiet.

rwwest7

tiersten wrote: »

It should be fairly comprehensive since it is made by Cisco and they've had prior experience with making sims with the NetAcad PacketTracer app.

However, it is a fairly new product. The CCENT version was released not that long ago and as you can see, the full CCNA version hasn't even been released yet. If you purchased the CCENT version before June, you got a free upgrade to the CCNA version but that offer has expired now.

I don't think anybody on here has purchased the CCENT version. If they have, they've kept it quiet.

I did this, and still can't download that "free upgrade". Please tell me I'm not the only one.

This CCENT simulator was pretty good. Basically loads a network setup, opens a PDF file instructing you to do various things. It's worth the money to me. But I only paid $75, I don't think I would pay $150.

jscimeca715

rwwest7 wrote: »

I did this, and still can't download that "free upgrade". Please tell me I'm not the only one.

This CCENT simulator was pretty good. Basically loads a network setup, opens a PDF file instructing you to do various things. It's worth the money to me. But I only paid $75, I don't think I would pay $150.

I can't download the free upgrade either. I used the CCENT one and enjoyed it thoroughly. I'll be using this to learn the processes and then I combine it with Packet Tracer to get a real world type feel.

rterrasi

Instead of paying for a simulator, why not research into getting some rack time? I used Chris Bryant's resources for this when doing my CCNA. Just a thought

dynamik

rterrasi wrote: »

I used Chris Bryant's resources for this when doing my CCNA. Just a thought

Yep, and you can buy rack time as a bundle with his ebook; it's a great deal.

rwwest7

It's not just a "simulator" like PT5 is. It's a bunch of labs, written by the same company that makes the actual exam I presume. All the labs are broken down by topic, so if you're weak in one area you can go straight to those labs and do them over and over.