CCENT then CCNA SEC? What can you say about it?

jayskatajayskata Member Posts: 97 ■■□□□□□□□□
Hi All,

as what the topic says...I would appreciate if you can let me know what you think about it or am I better off taking CCNA R&S instead? I am more interested in building my career into InfoSec and Network Security but I'm not sure if I need to have the CCNA R&S or would my CCENT knowledge be enough? Again, I would really appreciate if you can enlighten me moreicon_rolleyes.gif


Thanks,
Jay

Comments

  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    I wouldn't say you need to get the certification, but the knowledge will surely help you.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
  • RouteMyPacketRouteMyPacket Member Posts: 1,104
    I think Cisco's new model of CCENT->Specialty Tracks is one of the worst things they have done when it comes to certification.

    How can you secure a network if you don't truly understand how a network functions? Anyone going for a CCENT is new to networking so jumping from there to Security, Voice, Wireless is odd. Well, to each his own right? This is why good employers have solid technical interviews. :)

    Ok, now that my rant is done. I would highly suggest finishing your CCNA R/S first. One thing that would make your journey through Security more enjoyable would be to have a good understanding of R/S. In a perfect world, I would say CCNA->CCNP R/S->CCNA Security->CCNP Security

    Then again, how experienced are you with R/S? If you have worked for years then you could easily study and pass the CCNA then jump over and start Security.

    I take it you are relatively new eh? I will say this, invest in yourself..not some certification. At the end of the day, it is you who will be performing the work, not a piece of paper with four letters on it. Again, I would at the least advise you to finish your CCNA first.
    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?
  • theodoxatheodoxa Member Posts: 1,340 ■■■■□□□□□□
    200-101 (ICND2) Topics
    • Spanning-Tree (RSTP, PVSTP)
    • EtherChannel
    • Router Basics (Boot Process, IOS File Management, IOS Images, Boot Preferences (boot system command???))
    • Serial WAN (Frame Relay, PPP)
    • Licensing (show, change)
    • Routing Protocols (Administrative Distance, Split Horizon, Metric, Next Hop)
    • Multi-Area OSPFv2 & v3 (States, RID, LSA Types, Timers, Topology Table, MTU Size)
    • Single AS EIGRP (FD, FS, AD, Feasibility Condition, Metric, RID, Auto Summarization, Path Selection, Load Balancing, Passive Interfaces, Split Horizon)
    • High Availability (VRRP, HSRP, GLBP)
    • Syslog
    • SNMPv2
    • SNMPv3
    • Netflow data
    • Inter-VLAN Routing
    • WAN Technologies (MetroE, VSAT, 3G/4G, MPLS, T1/E1, ISDN, DSL, Frame Relay, Cable, VPN)
    • PPPoE
    In Red are the topics of most importance to Security. I included Spanning-Tree and EIGRP because these are subject to Man in the Middle type attacks and need to be properly secured (Neighbor Authentication, Root Guard, BPDU Guard, etc...) I left off OSPF, because Single-Area OSPF is covered in ICND1.
    R&S: CCENT CCNA CCNP CCIE [ ]
    Security: CCNA [ ]
    Virtualization: VCA-DCV [ ]
  • JuliusgJuliusg Member Posts: 35 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Taking you CCNA first will give you most of the foundation you will need for the CCNA:Sec. If you have the knowledge already, then is won't be hard for you to take and pass the CCNA exam. If you're new to the topics in the ICND2, then some of the material in IINS will be unfamiliar to you and will require you to obtain the underlying mechanies. I think the route RouteMyPacket is suggesting is the best way or tackle the CCNA:Sec after the CCNA.
    Goals: Updated 14 Mar 2014
    2013: CCNA R&S COLOR=red]X[/COLOR 2014: ​
    CCNP Switch[ ], CCNA-Voice[ ], CCNP Route[ ] 2015: CCNP Tshoot [ ], CCIE Written[ ] 2016: CCIE Lab [ ]
    WGU Progress: EUP1 CDP1 TBP1 CIC1 TCP1 TJC1 AGC1 TJP1 BVC1 CLC1 COV1 CQV1 CUV1 CWV1 DEV1 DHV1 GAC1 CJC1 CDC1 UBT1 EAV1 EBV1 WFV1 UBC1 EUC1 AJV1 BNC1 BOV1 CSV1 CTV1 CUV1 IWC1 IWT1 TPV1 AHV1 AIV1
    Start date: 4/1/2014 Transfered To do Currently Working On Completed
  • TechGuru80TechGuru80 Member Posts: 1,539 ■■■■■■□□□□
    Cisco having specialty tracks is not the issue...that is how the industry is evolving however at the associate level they probably should still require CCNA. Op, the CCNA:Security was created based on the old style where CCNA:R&S or a CCIE was a prerequisite. Basically you will have gaps of knowledge if you don't complete the R&S first making things more difficult at some point.
  • theodoxatheodoxa Member Posts: 1,340 ■■■■□□□□□□
    TechGuru80 wrote: »
    Cisco having specialty tracks is not the issue...that is how the industry is evolving however at the associate level they probably should still require CCNA. Op, the CCNA:Security was created based on the old style where CCNA:R&S or a CCIE was a prerequisite. Basically you will have gaps of knowledge if you don't complete the R&S first making things more difficult at some point.

    The topics most important to Security (ACLs, Port Security, Device Hardening) are on the ICND1 now. Of the ones I marked in red, only EIGRP and Spanning-Tree were even on the old CCNA (Syslog, SNMP, and Netflow were not covered). EIGRP shouldn't be too hard to learn given they already learned OSPF in ICND1 and OSPF is ALOT more complicated at the NA level (You don't run into SIA, etc...until NP). Personally, STP wasn't all that hard to understand (I hated Frame Relay, though). The new ICND1 is almost as comprehensive as the old Composite (just lacking WANs, EIGRP, and STP).

    Career wise, getting the CCNA: R&S couldn't hurt and it really isn't that much more information than the CCENT.
    R&S: CCENT CCNA CCNP CCIE [ ]
    Security: CCNA [ ]
    Virtualization: VCA-DCV [ ]
  • DoubleNNsDoubleNNs Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
    The new CCENT is almost comparable to the older versions of the CCNA.

    Edit: The post right above mine says the same thing.
    Goals for 2018:
    Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
    Learn: Terraform, Kubernetes, Prometheus & Golang | Improve: Docker, Python Programming
    To-do | In Progress | Completed
  • jayskatajayskata Member Posts: 97 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I think Cisco's new model of CCENT->Specialty Tracks is one of the worst things they have done when it comes to certification.

    How can you secure a network if you don't truly understand how a network functions? Anyone going for a CCENT is new to networking so jumping from there to Security, Voice, Wireless is odd. Well, to each his own right? This is why good employers have solid technical interviews. :)

    Ok, now that my rant is done. I would highly suggest finishing your CCNA R/S first. One thing that would make your journey through Security more enjoyable would be to have a good understanding of R/S. In a perfect world, I would say CCNA->CCNP R/S->CCNA Security->CCNP Security

    Then again, how experienced are you with R/S? If you have worked for years then you could easily study and pass the CCNA then jump over and start Security.

    I take it you are relatively new eh? I will say this, invest in yourself..not some certification. At the end of the day, it is you who will be performing the work, not a piece of paper with four letters on it. Again, I would at the least advise you to finish your CCNA first.

    Thank you so much for making this point, I do understand the value of cert. I'm just setting up my goals to give myself some direction in order to motivate myself more. It's kinda hard to learn/study things if you do not have an objective. So obtaining a cert for me is partially my goal and at the same time acquiring vast amount of knowledge and understanding of how things work. Thanks everyone for the feedbacks! Much appreciated.
  • jayskatajayskata Member Posts: 97 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I wouldn't say you need to get the certification, but the knowledge will surely help you.

    I totally agree with you on that. Experience/Knowledge beats certification. However for me and as we all know, IT employers today requires applicants to have this and that cert to get you through the HR interview and Tech interviews. I'm just making my CV looks good and at the same time surprise them of what I know.icon_study.gif It's hard to claim that you're good at this and that during interviews, unless you back it up with cert.
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