Passed SECURE

gregorio323gregorio323 Member Posts: 201 ■■■□□□□□□□
This is just an update I recently passed my CCNP SECURE exam on 11/30/13. Just thought I'd share some of the useful materials I found.

- Majority of my study was based on skillsoft (MUST READ TOPIC NOTES!). I do highly recommend if available use skillsoft. Took plenty of notes and re-read god knows how many times! it also has built in labs (annoying part is you must type EXACTLY what they expect if not you get an error).
- Read CCNP SECURE OCG - It was okay there was lots of errors as mention by the reviews in the amazon post.
- Read CCNP SECURE Quick Reference (did not finish) - More of a high level overview on stuff I wanted to do a quick review.
- Read Network Security Technologies - I actually enjoyed this book there was some good stuff in here that helped me pass the SECURE section.
- Watched INE SECURE videos and CBT Nuggets SECURE videos - Kinda hard to choose I loved both of them :) but INE did take a deeper dive. CBT Nuggets was mostly like a CLI tour of the material.

Overall I'd say if possible use skillsoft ( fortunately I have an account from my previous employer and I get tons of free up to date skillsoft training. account hasn't been disabled ;) ). Next I'll be working on the FIREWALL exam on my spare time for fun I'll try to write a much better review and details. Other than that hope you guys all have a great day and Happy Holidays!

Comments

  • Master Of PuppetsMaster Of Puppets Member Posts: 1,210
    Congrats on the pass and thanks for the tips. I'm doing IPS at the moment and SECURE after that.
    Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.
  • FloOzFloOz Member Posts: 1,614 ■■■■□□□□□□
  • gregorio323gregorio323 Member Posts: 201 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats on the pass and thanks for the tips. I'm doing IPS at the moment and SECURE after that.

    I've been seeing your posts :) Gratz on the VPN/FIREWALL pass. I'm aiming for FIREWALL myself but with work and upcoming projects that are geared towards the SP realm so I'm strapped into the SP materials. I'll definitely have my fair share of affairs with FIREWALL to spice things up in my life.
  • Master Of PuppetsMaster Of Puppets Member Posts: 1,210
    If you have done what is on the FIREWALL exam in production, it is going to be a breeze. I found both exams to be pretty straightforward. Also, I'm really enjoying the IPS studies even though they are still at the early stages.
    Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.
  • DAVIS NGUYENDAVIS NGUYEN Member Posts: 1,472 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats on the pass icon_thumright.gif
  • Orion101Orion101 Member Posts: 5 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Congrats man!!
  • gregorio323gregorio323 Member Posts: 201 ■■■□□□□□□□
    If you have done what is on the FIREWALL exam in production, it is going to be a breeze. I found both exams to be pretty straightforward. Also, I'm really enjoying the IPS studies even though they are still at the early stages.

    I've had my fair share with ASA. Majority of my firewall deployments happened to be Palo Altos.
  • gregorio323gregorio323 Member Posts: 201 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Thanks all! hope you all the best of luck in exam/studies/work!
  • RouteMyPacketRouteMyPacket Member Posts: 1,104
    Nice, I thought SECURE was a tough exam..challenging at least. Looking back I think the following wqould be an ideal arrangement for the CCNP Security exams

    SECURE, FIREWALL, VPN, IPS

    Reason being and MoP has probably already noticed, there is some redundancy across the material.

    If you have worked with DMVPN, IPSec/GRE solutions, and ISE/dot1x in production, SECURE will be fun. Oh, gotta love ZBF's too.
    Modularity and Design Simplicity:

    Think of the 2:00 a.m. test—if you were awakened in the
    middle of the night because of a network problem and had to figure out the
    traffic flows in your network while you were half asleep, could you do it?
  • gregorio323gregorio323 Member Posts: 201 ■■■□□□□□□□
    That's the exact path I'm going

    SECURE, FIREWALL, VPN, IPS

    I do agree it was challenging learning the SECURE topics.
    Nice, I thought SECURE was a tough exam..challenging at least. Looking back I think the following wqould be an ideal arrangement for the CCNP Security exams

    SECURE, FIREWALL, VPN, IPS

    Reason being and MoP has probably already noticed, there is some redundancy across the material.

    If you have worked with DMVPN, IPSec/GRE solutions, and ISE/dot1x in production, SECURE will be fun. Oh, gotta love ZBF's too.
  • RouteMyPacketRouteMyPacket Member Posts: 1,104
    That's the exact path I'm going

    SECURE, FIREWALL, VPN, IPS

    I do agree it was challenging learning the SECURE topics.

    Nice, FIREWALL is tough from what I can remember, VPN was downright fun, loved the material and labbing.
    Modularity and Design Simplicity:

    Think of the 2:00 a.m. test—if you were awakened in the
    middle of the night because of a network problem and had to figure out the
    traffic flows in your network while you were half asleep, could you do it?
  • gregorio323gregorio323 Member Posts: 201 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Nice, FIREWALL is tough from what I can remember, VPN was downright fun, loved the material and labbing.

    Any tips? on what you think would help me be more prepared for the exam. I do have a good amount of experience with firewalls as mentioned before but its not in the ASA platform.
  • RouteMyPacketRouteMyPacket Member Posts: 1,104
    Any tips? on what you think would help me be more prepared for the exam. I do have a good amount of experience with firewalls as mentioned before but its not in the ASA platform.


    I honestly don't remember, just for some reason remember it being kinda tough. Sorry...been too long. I chose the order of FIREWALL, VPN, SECURE, and IPS.
    Modularity and Design Simplicity:

    Think of the 2:00 a.m. test—if you were awakened in the
    middle of the night because of a network problem and had to figure out the
    traffic flows in your network while you were half asleep, could you do it?
  • Dakinggamer87Dakinggamer87 Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Congrats!! icon_thumright.gif
    *Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
    *Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
    Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

    Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63
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