"CCNA-Sec Rant...My Turn!"

Oh my god! It looks as if everyone finished the same book I was reading and began critiquing it. Let me add my two cents…I haven’t looked at the CD that came with the book yet as I am just about to finish the book, but let me just say this….This book is overkill. It is just words. It has redundant information in all the wrong areas, misspellings, incorrect IP addresses, and one other pet peeve of mine is this. When you have illustrations, try to have them on the same layout as the description. It is so difficult to read about an example and have to turn the page to view it back and forth – back and forth. I also found that most of the time the descriptions of the illustrated examples were vague as well. I have read Wendell Odom’s Intro and ICND set as well as the ICND1 ICND2 set. I have read Jeremy Cioara’s (CBT Nuggets Trainer) CCNA-Voice book about halfway and all of these Cisco Press books were well written. My head hurts from trying to obtain the CCNA-Sec knowledge in this one. I am very disappointed. I am taking the advice here on these posts and getting the other Self Study guide by Anne “somebody”. I hear it is well written. After I read it, I’ll check out the Boson CD, but not before. Oh, I just had a thought…Maybe we can talk Darril Gibson into writing a CCNA-Security book.

One other thing….Jeremy talks about grabbing a 850 model router in the beginning of the CBT Nuggsets to learn SDM…Later on he is using a 28xx router. Do you guys think an 850 model will be sufficient for lab work with this exam?

Thanks in advance for everyone’s help, and sorry to go on a “Dennis Miller-like Rant.”

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mikem2te

worldmac1 wrote: »

Oh my god! It looks as if everyone finished the same book I was reading and began critiquing it. Let me add my two cents…I haven’t looked at the CD that came with the book yet as I am just about to finish the book, but let me just say this….This book is overkill. It is just words. It has redundant information in all the wrong areas, misspellings, incorrect IP addresses, and one other pet peeve of mine is this. When you have illustrations, try to have them on the same layout as the description. It is so difficult to read about an example and have to turn the page to view it back and forth – back and forth. I also found that most of the time the descriptions of the illustrated examples were vague as well. I have read Wendell Odom’s Intro and ICND set as well as the ICND1 ICND2 set. I have read Jeremy Cioara’s (CBT Nuggets Trainer) CCNA-Voice book about halfway and all of these Cisco Press books were well written. My head hurts from trying to obtain the CCNA-Sec knowledge in this one. I am very disappointed. I am taking the advice here on these posts and getting the other Self Study guide by Anne “somebody”. I hear it is well written. After I read it, I’ll check out the Boson CD, but not before. Oh, I just had a thought…Maybe we can talk Darril Gibson into writing a CCNA-Security book.

One other thing….Jeremy talks about grabbing a 850 model router in the beginning of the CBT Nuggsets to learn SDM…Later on he is using a 28xx router. Do you guys think an 850 model will be sufficient for lab work with this exam?

Thanks in advance for everyone’s help, and sorry to go on a “Dennis Miller-like Rant.”

Fade-to-black

Nice rant.

I would say the 850 is not really suitable, it's fine for basic SDM but I don't think it supports zone based firewall and IPS (and probably a few other features as well). The 870 series is a much better bet although it'll probably need more flash and dram than supplied to run IPS.

28xx better again but expensive. A 2600xm router would probably be a good option as well.

worldmac1

mikem2te wrote: »

Nice rant.

A 2600xm router would probably be a good option as well.

Thanks Mike,

I have 2 or three 2620s, but maybe someone on here has a used 28xx for sale...for cheap of course.

Daniel333

I do love a good rant. Gonna be hard pressed to get a 28xx series router for a fair price. They are too mainstream still. These exams always do seem out of alignment with the training.

Kinda why I am sorta only half assly studying now days. I feel like "what's the point" I can read the books, know the concepts, do the labs, memorize the commands and then take exam and then there is a high percentage of questions and situations were not even addressed in the training. Or a question that is worded so poorly I have to guess just because of the language used.

Either way, I think CCNA:Sec is probably one of the better though. I also found the data in there VERY valuable in my work. It was more practical and straight forward than any other exam I have ever taken.

my method -
1) I read the official CCNA:Sec book cover to cover twice. Geneated 500+ flashcards
2) Worked through all of Jeremy's CBT from the videos. Everything he did, I did. From memory!
3) I also spent some time messing with the "using security tools" video series from vtc.com. I really had a lot of fun here.
4) Worked through every lab TWICE from the CCNA Security lab manual (Great book!!!)

Now, in terms of passing the test, you dont need, and I dont recommend a 28xx. A couple 2621xm/2651xm's, and an old PIX 501 should be enough. I did have to borrow a ASA from work to setup a SSL VPN though. That was the only thing I couldn't do. I also found that all the switching labs worked fine in packet tracer which saved me a great amount of time. Although a couple 2950's should be cheap enough. I had some 2924xm's that worked for most things.

I gotta tell you, I got the feeling the majority of the exam itself was taken more from the Lab guide than it was the book itself. Get yourself a copy of that. I used to straight off Safari books which also gave me access to some nice supplemental reading.

Bottom line these exams are a B$T@$#$%@ let me know if there is anythign I can do to help you out man.

Bl8ckr0uter

You can also do everything you need to do on a cisco 1721 (the IDS portion is the only thing that will differ slightly as the 1721 does not support the mkdir command and you will have to it a little differently...more on that later)

I was able to get it done in about 2 months (which should have taken me 3-4 weeks) with 2 1721s and a 2950. The lab manual is good. I used the Self Study Guide, ISCW cert guide, CBTs for ISCW and the CCNA security Lab manual.

Compared to the NA, the NA:SEC was cake AND it was pretty fun to study for.

worldmac1

You guys rock!!!

I will look for the CCNA-Sec lab book today and I can't wait to check out the VTC.com site.
I think my work as a 1700 series router, not sure about which model exactly. Maybe they will let me borrow it for a while...

mattrgee

Awful book. As mentioned above, the redundant information contained within the book was simply appalling. Glad it's over.

tiersten

1841s are significantly cheaper than 2800s if you want something that'll run everything you need without needing to remember differences or having to compromise.

mikem2te

tiersten wrote: »

1841s are significantly cheaper than 2800s if you want something that'll run everything you need without needing to remember differences or having to compromise.

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about the 1800 series, probably cause they don't do voice (apart from the 1861). Besides I recently picked up a couple of 2801's reasonably priced

tiersten

mikem2te wrote: »

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about the 1800 series, probably cause they don't do voice (apart from the 1861).

Yeah. I've been trying to find a cheap 1861 or UC500 for voice but it is surprisingly difficult. They rarely appear on the secondhand market and when they do, they're really expensive.

mikem2te wrote: »

Besides I recently picked up a couple of 2801's reasonably priced

Nice! Maybe I should change my scouting missions and get some 2800s instead

Stotic

Do you guys recommend the Self Study Guide vs the Exam Certification Guide?

mikej412

Stotic wrote: »

Do you guys recommend the Self Study Guide vs the Exam Certification Guide?

Usually both.... people originally made it through the exam with the CBT Nuggets and the Exam Cert Guide (since it was the only one available).

Based on recent reviews, some brave souls may want to try the Self Study Guide and Nuggets instead and report back their findings (results).

I'd guess people would have just as good or even better luck.

Anyone want to volunteer to try just the Self-Study Guide with no Nuggets?

worldmac1

mikej412 wrote: »

Anyone want to volunteer to try just the Self-Study Guide with no Nuggets?

uuummmm..Not me. In fact I'm going through the nuggs a couple more times after I upgrade my routers.

CiskHo

mikej412 wrote: »

Anyone want to volunteer to try just the Self-Study Guide with no Nuggets?

I'll be using the SSG along with Trainsignal videos. Will report my success or failure within a few weeks

Kind of concerned about the fact that I haven't seen anything lab related in the book (Watkins/Wallace) yet and I am 3/4 of the way through it

I'm wondering if this means the exam is less focused on CLI sims than the CCNA exam or if this just means the book is just falling short of what will be needed to pass the CCNA:S. I guess time will tell

slayer3

worldmac1 wrote: »

Oh my god! It looks as if everyone finished the same book I was reading and began critiquing it. Let me add my two cents…I haven’t looked at the CD that came with the book yet as I am just about to finish the book, but let me just say this….This book is overkill. It is just words. It has redundant information in all the wrong areas, misspellings, incorrect IP addresses, and one other pet peeve of mine is this. When you have illustrations, try to have them on the same layout as the description. It is so difficult to read about an example and have to turn the page to view it back and forth – back and forth. I also found that most of the time the descriptions of the illustrated examples were vague as well. I have read Wendell Odom’s Intro and ICND set as well as the ICND1 ICND2 set. I have read Jeremy Cioara’s (CBT Nuggets Trainer) CCNA-Voice book about halfway and all of these Cisco Press books were well written. My head hurts from trying to obtain the CCNA-Sec knowledge in this one. I am very disappointed. I am taking the advice here on these posts and getting the other Self Study guide by Anne “somebody”. I hear it is well written. After I read it, I’ll check out the Boson CD, but not before. Oh, I just had a thought…Maybe we can talk Darril Gibson into writing a CCNA-Security book.

One other thing….Jeremy talks about grabbing a 850 model router in the beginning of the CBT Nuggsets to learn SDM…Later on he is using a 28xx router. Do you guys think an 850 model will be sufficient for lab work with this exam?

Thanks in advance for everyone’s help, and sorry to go on a “Dennis Miller-like Rant.”

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Which CCNA security book are you currently reading?

worldmac1

slayer3 wrote: »

Which CCNA security book are you currently reading?

I was reading CCNA Security Official Exam Certification Guide (Exam 640-553) by Michael Watkins and Kevin Wallace, but now I am reading; Implementing Cisco IOS Network Security (IINS): (CCNA Security exam 640-553) (Authorized Self-Study Guide) by Catherine Paquet. The format and outlining seems to be much better so far, however I'm only on chapter 1 right now though. I think the other book does have it's positive side. It still asks you questions before each chapter, and the Boson testing software is on the CD. The book by Catherine has no CD with it, but it does ask questions at the end of each chapter.

CiskHo

worldmac1 wrote: »

The book by Catherine has no CD with it, but it does ask questions at the end of each chapter.

My only beef with the Watkins/Wallace book so far (I'm on Chapter 13) is that it has no end of chapter review tests, the same info in repeated several times (as if they got paid per word), and it doesn't seem to have any lab scenarios anywhere in the book. Other than that it seems ok. Guess I'll find out how good it was once I take the test. I have heard the book by Catherine was easier reading but I haven't had a chance to get my eyes on it yet.