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I just got my CCNA after getting my Network + earlier in the year and am not sure what to start working towards next. I don't particularly like getting real in-depth with networking so I don't want to pursue any of the other Cisco certs unless it's to keep my CCNA current. I've thought about CWNA because I like installing wireless bridges and the sort but that seems pretty narrow. Right now I do general sysadmin/helpdesk stuff for a small non-profit. I'm interested in virtualization to a degree but that seems to require a ton of prerequisite knowledge to get into that I don't currently have. I'm also interested in storage/backup but really only have experience with imaging software like Fog or Clonezilla and using BackupExec for some of our servers. Are there good backup certs that are worth investing the time in or will it all be vendor specific type stuff? I guess I just really don't know where to go from here cert wise.
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Aug 12, 2013 19:57
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The Third Man posted:Passed my ICND1 this afternoon with a 912. I know the one you are talking about, and there is actually a correct answer but the question is phrased super strangely. I was stumped for a couple of minutes on that one.
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Aug 12, 2013 23:25
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bluediamondalmonds posted:I just got my CCNA after getting my Network + earlier in the year and am not sure what to start working towards next. I don't particularly like getting real in-depth with networking so I don't want to pursue any of the other Cisco certs unless it's to keep my CCNA current. I've thought about CWNA because I like installing wireless bridges and the sort but that seems pretty narrow. As a CWNA, CWSP and CCNP Wireless, if you're interested in infrastructure deployments, those are not the certs for you. If you're interested in site surveys, wireless voice, mobility services and enterprise security, there is stuff in there for you.
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Aug 13, 2013 14:28
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Hey dudes! I work InfoSec at a small bank, and one of the things I mentioned in my interview (and bosses agreed with) was that I wanted to get some certificates under my belt. Here we are a year later-- I'm due for a raise at the end of this month, but I'm going to defer* and ask if in the mean time they'll pay for me to get A+ and S+. I believe they will; after that, I'd like to go for N+ because I really enjoy networking more than security, but I'm not sure if they'd pay for that since it's out of my field. I'm reading through the thread to learn a little more, but I just wanted to post and say  .*Wife and I are building a house with help from a government grant, and I'm literally 6 bills below the maximum allowed annual income. I'm free to make however much once we start construction, but until then I can't make any more than I'm making now.
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Aug 13, 2013 16:57
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I feel like I've posted this before, but I think you're aiming too low. The A+ cert is for people with no IT experience whatsoever wanting to get their foot in the door for that first job. If you already have IT of any kind on your resume, don't bother. No one cares if you can rattle off every CPU socket ever used since the 8086. If you really like networking and have at least a basic understanding of it, think about the CCENT/CCNA rather than Network+.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:07
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Problem there is, I don't think the bank would pay for Network certs since I don't (and won't ever with this company) do anything network related besides resetting user passwords in AD. I worked helpdesk/network/hardware at a University for 3 years as a student worker, but apparently that's not very impressive on a resume. Honestly, I want to eventually get out of banking, but I figure I might as well get those basic certs to pass the HR filters while it's paid for. Based on a few practice tests, I could take the A+ tomorrow and pass no problem, but I'd still study some before I took it for real. E: I do have a BS, but it's got nothing to do with CS. Major in Aviation, minor in physics.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:19
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CloFan posted:Hey dudes! I work InfoSec at a small bank, and one of the things I mentioned in my interview (and bosses agreed with) was that I wanted to get some certificates under my belt. Here we are a year later-- I'm due for a raise at the end of this month, but I'm going to defer* and ask if in the mean time they'll pay for me to get A+ and S+. I believe they will; after that, I'd like to go for N+ because I really enjoy networking more than security, but I'm not sure if they'd pay for that since it's out of my field. I'm reading through the thread to learn a little more, but I just wanted to post and say What are your job duties as they stand today? If you want to get some networking background, that is a really good thing for an infosec professional to have on hand. OSI model, packet captures, etc mean you're more well rounded. As Docjowles said, the CCNA is a hell of a lot more relevant than the N+. Trust me, you'll be interested in networking and then back to security. For some reason it is part of the unholy trinity of career progression that myself and a lot of my friends seem to be following. Systems -> Networking -> Security.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:28
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CloFan posted:Problem there is, I don't think the bank would pay for Network certs since I don't (and won't ever with this company) do anything network related besides resetting user passwords in AD. I worked helpdesk/network/hardware at a University for 3 years as a student worker, but apparently that's not very impressive on a resume. Honestly, I want to eventually get out of banking, but I figure I might as well get those basic certs to pass the HR filters while it's paid for. Based on a few practice tests, I could take the A+ tomorrow and pass no problem, but I'd still study some before I took it for real. Explain that the CCNA covers a lot of things that are important in the security arena. As for your own personal growth, getting a background in networking is important if you want to stay in security and aspire to be anything other than a thumb drive cop.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:34
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CloFan posted:Based on a few practice tests, I could take the A+ tomorrow and pass no problem, but I'd still study some before I took it for real. Again, the A+ is what you get if you have never worked in IT and want to start at tier 1 help desk. It is not going to teach you anything helpful, nor will it add the slightest value to your resume. You're asking your employer to withhold a raise in return for something worth $0. Just because it's the most entry level cert doesn't mean you have to start there; it's skippable. As everyone else says, a strong networking background is invaluable in security, the two go hand in hand. If they totally refuse to go for it, maybe look into the MCSA: Windows Server track or something. But a networking cert for the security guy shouldn't be an awfully difficult case to make.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:50
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CloFan posted:Hey dudes! I work InfoSec at a small bank, and one of the things I mentioned in my interview (and bosses agreed with) was that I wanted to get some certificates under my belt. Here we are a year later-- I'm due for a raise at the end of this month, but I'm going to defer* and ask if in the mean time they'll pay for me to get A+ and S+. I believe they will; after that, I'd like to go for N+ because I really enjoy networking more than security, but I'm not sure if they'd pay for that since it's out of my field. I'm reading through the thread to learn a little more, but I just wanted to post and say I'm somewhat confused that you're in an infosec position and looking at entry level generalist certs. What kind of job duties do you have?
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Aug 13, 2013 17:54
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workape posted:What are your job duties as they stand today? If you want to get some networking background, that is a really good thing for an infosec professional to have on hand. OSI model, packet captures, etc mean you're more well rounded. All networking and helpdesk is outsourced-- I don't even have f'in admin privs on my PC. I administer users on the bank side, putting users into roles that allow them to access only the applications and customer information they need. I also administer web application users. I do any and all IT risk assessments and maintain IT policies, disaster/pandemic recovery and testing, vendor reviews, maintain hardware and software inventory, administer RDC (remote deposit capture, like taking a picture of a check and depositing it remotely), ACH electronic payments/drafts, and web banking. I maintain a customer education page on the website, but I don't have anything else to do with the site. That's really only the infosec part; I also do ID theft help / debit cards / fraud / garnishments & levies / report monitoring / billpay / general higher-level support. I'm on a team of three people who do all this, and the lines are really blurred between actual InfoSec and fraud dept. Thanks for all the advice! I'll start looking into the more advanced certs and see if I could convince the bank to pay for them. psydude posted:aspire to be anything other than a thumb drive cop.  Docjowles posted:Just because it's the most entry level cert doesn't mean you have to start there; it's skippable. This is the part I didn't understand, but I got it now. CloFan fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Aug 13, 2013 |
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Aug 13, 2013 18:02
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Just passed my N+ exam. Starting off, I had no IT experience and almost no knowledge of networking. What's an IP address? Who knows! Here's what I did to prepare. -Watched all ~180 of the Professor Messer youtube videos -Read the entire Lammle N+ book -Did the the Gibson N+ practice exam book until I could pass it every time and understood all of the explanations -Read the first half of the Lammle CCNA book (since Im going for that soon) -Did the Boson N+ practice exams until I could pass
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Aug 13, 2013 21:59
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Well, I'm officially a CCNP now. I feel underwhelmed; I thought I was going to pass the TSHOOT and feel infinitely better about myself because I had validated the fact that I knew |XXXX| much about networking. What I ended up realizing is that I actually know nothing in the grand scheme of things and I have so much work to do before I'm comfortable with my network knowledge. It doesn't help that my job is becoming more and more undefined. Data sales now reports to the CIO because the business realized that the 'pre-sales engineers' they hired actually know nothing about what they're selling -- "Oh, 140 branch offices with managed services? Yeah, we can do that!". Guess who has to design, implement, and maintain the solution?! Hooray! But in the next six months I will have my hands on everything from configuring VRFs/turning up circuits on ASR 9Ks to maintaining and expanding the Nexus infrastructure in our data center, to voice, to security, etc. I want to be an expert in all of the technologies I touch, but it's just not feasible. I'm at a crossroads where I either forsake everyone and everything I love for two years to get a 5 digit number, or I gently caress around with CCDP/CCNP Data Center/CCNP Security/CCNP SP. I need to draw up a development plan and have my director look it over, but he basically said don't go for your CCIE it's not worth it, so I think I know what he will want me to do. That being said, I'm going to start reading Routing TCP/IP because I hate myself.
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Aug 13, 2013 22:31
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Protokoll posted:Well, I'm officially a CCNP now. I feel underwhelmed; I thought I was going to pass the TSHOOT and feel infinitely better about myself because I had validated the fact that I knew |XXXX| much about networking. What I ended up realizing is that I actually know nothing in the grand scheme of things and I have so much work to do before I'm comfortable with my network knowledge. Congratulations, welcome to the club, if Cisco stopped adding NPs I might have finished my matched set by now, just missing Data Center, SP Operations, and Service Provider. Now if I can just remember what I was thinking back in '06 when I thought would be a good idea.
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Aug 14, 2013 01:04
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Scheduling ICND2 for next Monday. Getting nervous again.
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Aug 14, 2013 01:46
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Protokoll posted:I need to draw up a development plan and have my director look it over, but he basically said don't go for your CCIE it's not worth it, so I think I know what he will want me to do. Your director either knows nothing or is actively misleading you.
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Aug 14, 2013 02:02
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Protokoll posted:I need to draw up a development plan and have my director look it over, but he basically said don't go for your CCIE it's not worth it, so I think I know what he will want me to do. This is the worst advice I have ever heard.
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Aug 14, 2013 04:03
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It's not worth it... to your boss because you'll peace out for a job that pays 150k and he'll be stuck with no one.
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Aug 14, 2013 04:24
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How do you find the Microsoft books? Or can you access them without a course? I'm taking Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (341) in October but I'd like to also get the book for Advanced Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (342). The instructor said he'll give me access to the book for 341 but where can I find the book for 342 without taking the course? You used to be able to find them on Amazon but the instructor said that Microsoft has gone to an ebook style about 4 months ago and I don't see anything anywhere. IT Guy fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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Aug 14, 2013 13:53
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Tasty Wheat posted:if Cisco stopped adding NPs I might have finished my matched set by now, Ugh, you had to take all those NA tests. That must have been completely horrible.
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Aug 14, 2013 14:11
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workape posted:Ugh, you had to take all those NA tests. That must have been completely horrible. I woke up one morning and checked my email, Cisco gave me a NA Voice in the middle of the night, got it when the CCVP retired. I rolled my CCSP over to a NP Security, never got a NA Security. Right now I can get a NP Service Provider without getting the NA Service Provider due to the QOS exam being on the requirements list. But I do admit a IE R&S looks like a better route at this point.
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Aug 14, 2013 15:56
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IT Guy posted:How do you find the Microsoft books? Or can you access them without a course? I think they've been moving away from (official) books period and exam-centric ones especially. There's always a lag time from major release to exam availability to exam book availability, so it's not surprising to see a 2013 book not available yet. I'm not well versed on Exchange, but over in SQL land there's almost 10 months just between exam release and class availability for the 2012 MCSE stuff and the MCSM isn't even available yet. You may suddenly run into a brick wall if you're relying on classical book/classroom training, and if MS holds to their ~2 year release cycle plan then those resources just won't keep up. I've been "prepping" for my own primarily via twitter feeds of notable voices and articles/white papers on the exam topics but I don't know how viable that is for Exchange.
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Aug 14, 2013 17:40
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AboveAndBeyond posted:Dang new employer wants me to have the paper that says I know windows 7&8 rather than vouching for me since that looks better to potential clients. I passed all my MCSA server exams with ExamPrep (2k3) and Sybex (2k3/2k8) if you're okay with books. My only MS desktop exam was install/config/admin XP, so I can't really speak for Win 7/8, but the books are awesome if you go through them to study, go through them again to work through the items in a VM, and go through them again to highlight and take notes. I would be extremely wary of an employer that wants you to take five exams, though. This is something like a year's worth of studying if you study fast.
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Aug 14, 2013 20:00
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I'm scheduling my 70-642 next week. Any last tips or advice?
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Aug 14, 2013 21:21
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MrBigglesworth posted:I'm scheduling my 70-642 next week. Any last tips or advice? Yes. Know the everloving loving poo poo out of DNS. You should be able to know exactly what kind of zone does what, and when to use each kind of zone. STUB ZONE STUB ZONE STUB ZONE. Like this poo poo needs to be burned into your memory. Microsoft loves to load the test up with new feature questions. If it existed in 2003 you probably won't see much on it, if it's new to 2008 or 2008R2 expect to see lots of it. Go through the exam objectives, if you're iffy on more than 1 or 2 categories you may fail. https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-642.aspx REMEMBER! Anything new to 2008(R2) is going to be more prevalent. Know that poo poo cold because you will get questioned on it.
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Aug 14, 2013 21:32
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The book and practice stuff is pretty heavy on R2 material.
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Aug 14, 2013 22:29
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skipdogg posted:Yes. Know the everloving loving poo poo out of DNS. You should be able to know exactly what kind of zone does what, and when to use each kind of zone This is good advice in general. I've run into a lot of "IT people" who have no drat idea what the difference between forward and reverse DNS is, or say an A record and a CNAME. If you gently caress up DNS, your entire infrastructure might as well be down so it's kind of important.
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Aug 14, 2013 22:31
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Docjowles posted:This is good advice in general. I've run into a lot of "IT people" who have no drat idea what the difference between forward and reverse DNS is, or say an A record and a CNAME. If you gently caress up DNS, your entire infrastructure might as well be down so it's kind of important. You can't be a competent windows admin without this knowledge.
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Aug 14, 2013 22:56
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Docjowles posted:This is good advice in general. I've run into a lot of "IT people" who have no drat idea what the difference between forward and reverse DNS is, or say an A record and a CNAME. If you gently caress up DNS, your entire infrastructure might as well be down so it's kind of important. This is true, I would hope an average MS admin would know basics like that, but someone who walks into an established setup might not have to ever deal with a secondary or stub zones which the 642 goes into a fair bit. In my first 3 years of IT I never thought about primary/secondary/stub zones or zone transfers or anything else the 642 might ask you about
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Aug 14, 2013 23:18
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I'm trying to decide which certification to go for first. I'm interning with a company doing network engineering, and am going into my senior year of a B.S. in Management and Information Systems. I have been reading up on the Network+ exam, but it seems that a lot of people consider it less worthwhile than a CCNA? The company I work for is an all-Cisco company, so I was thinking about going for my CCENT, and then the CCNA right after. That said, aside from the couple months I've been working there, I don't have any networking experience. Am I crazy for aiming to get either my Network+ or CCENT before affirming my basic foundation with something like the A+? I am under the impression it would be more valuable for me currently to go the Cisco route, but I've read some opposing points that vendor-neutral certs are preferred by some companies. Does it really matter, or will the CCNA cover everything I would learn anyway?
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Aug 15, 2013 00:50
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If you have a somewhat competent grasp on networking, shoot for the CCNET and/or CCNA. N+ is great if you are totally new, and still have a bit of trouble grasping private vs public addressing, subnets, routers and switches etc.
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Aug 15, 2013 00:56
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Senturion posted:I'm trying to decide which certification to go for first. I'm interning with a company doing network engineering, and am going into my senior year of a B.S. in Management and Information Systems. I have been reading up on the Network+ exam, but it seems that a lot of people consider it less worthwhile than a CCNA? The company I work for is an all-Cisco company, so I was thinking about going for my CCENT, and then the CCNA right after. The N+ is somewhat like being given a 1000-piece puzzle, but the majority of the pieces are missing. They only gave you the corner and edge pieces in a plastic bag and you have no idea what you're building, but you can figure it out because, logically, there is only one way that the pieces interconnect. For me, learning the N+ material was not worth it, but it was required by my employer. Anything and everything you learn in the course of studying for the N+, you will learn ten times over studying for the CCNA. You will learn the OSI model, well know port numbers, a ton of classful concepts -- it's very much a trivia exam and it doesn't present complex scenarios that require you to apply concepts. For example, I taught a TCP/IP troubleshooting class to our help desk two weeks ago: all of them are N+ certified and not a single one of them knew that VLANs are a layer 2 concept. None of them actually know subnetting; they still convert to binary and try to borrow bits in their head and it never ends well. If you're planning on making a career out of networking because it interests you, absolutely just dive right into the teal pool. I will buck the trend and recommend studying for the new CCNA: the 200-120. The way Cisco breaks up the new exams, the ICND2 material is pretty much applying the ICND1 material to troubleshooting scenarios. It includes very few new topics (more advanced Spanning Tree concepts, Frame Relay, and EIGRP are the only new topic domains) and it is a natural extension of ICND1.
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Aug 15, 2013 01:22
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Thanks to both of you for your thoughts. Dilbert, From the studying I've done, I think I have a decent handle at least on the basics of routers and switches. Public vs private is something I should study a bit more, and I need to subnet until it's second nature. Protokoll, I think I'll follow your advice and focus on the cisco certs. My work is actually going to send me to an Understanding Network Fundamentals class in a couple months, and pairing that with my recently acquired books for the CCNA, I think I can go for it. I got the OSI model from school, still nailing it all down though. Port numbers are another thing for me to just beat into my brain. As I mentioned, I need to do subnetting more, but from the examples I have done I have only made a couple mistakes. Danscourses on Youtube actually did a very good job in explaining it, so I'm feeling a bit more comfortable with that. Just to verify something, Subnetting is in essence layer 3 VLANS, and vice-versa? Not that they are the same, but the end goal of what they accomplish is basically the same, just using the different layers?
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Aug 15, 2013 02:12
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Senturion posted:Just to verify something, Subnetting is in essence layer 3 VLANS, and vice-versa? Not that they are the same, but the end goal of what they accomplish is basically the same, just using the different layers? Basically, I'll elaborate just to clarify, but you're on the right track and more study will help fill in the blanks. VLANs break-up broadcast domains at layer 2. What you commonly refer to as a network or subnetwork is a set of all nodes on a segment or series of network segments that listen to broadcasts sourced by any node (in the same VLAN!) on that network segment. This is easier to consider using IPv4 as a basis because IPv6 wasn't designed to use broadcasts (although the FF01::1 all-nodes local multicast address serves a similar function). Subnetting is chopping a larger network into smaller network to reduce the size of broadcast domains and reduce IP address waste, among other things. The best way to think about how it works is if you ping 255.255.255.255. Say you source a ping to all 255s; your frame gets forwarded to the access switch (lots of other stuff happens before this, but let's just focus on the basics), if your source MAC address is not in the switch's CAM table then the switch will add your MAC address, source port, and VLAN (and mark it as DYNAMIC). Then, since it is a broadcast, it will flood the frame to all ports except the source port that are in the same VLAN and all trunks that allow that VLAN, where the VLAN is active and where STP is in a forwarding state and VTP is not pruning. The only nodes that will hear your broadcast as those in the same VLAN, so you could visualize it as hosts not hearing your broadcast as being on a different network (though that isn't actually true all of the time). In essence, what you're saying is sort-of true -- both VLANs and subnets break-up broadcast domains, but they do that for different reasons, at different layers and the way you design, configure, verify, troubleshoot and secure them are totally different. Protokoll fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 02:30
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Thank you. That is an awesome explanation, and helps a ton. Definitely more detail than I've had so far.
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Aug 15, 2013 03:37
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I know I say this every so often in this thread but I'm not sorry, I'm going to say it with more conviction each time. As a former CCNA tutor to adults, including former mechanics, arborists, and even convicts with no IT background, I would say the N+ is useless. I would only ever consider wasting time with the N+ on high school kids and I'm talking 13 and 14 year olds who are into computers and would be bored doing what I did in Computer classes (which was learn Office and get an ICDL), or maybe as a university elective course for non-IT track courses, in the same way you see business students taking Popular Music 101 for an easy A. The general advice in this thread is solid re the N+, that is if you are at all competent in using a desktop computer and are pursuing IT as a career, the CCENT/CCNA is where you want to start for networking. Sure, it does introduce you to a lot of networking concepts, but really you get told the same stuff when you start the Cisco track. If you are apprehensive about how hard CCENT/CCNA will be and want to 'start easier' by taking the N+ first you are wasting your time. It gives you bad habits, the stuff you learn gets covered later in your cert path so you repeat things, and hey, this poo poo is a cycle. I had taken 8 Microsoft exams before the CCNA and never shat bricks so hard as when I clicked END EXAM. And now here I am years later scoffing at how EZ the CCNA is compared to the NP stuff I'm learning at the moment. Climbs off high horse.
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Aug 15, 2013 08:02
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Do you have to get re-certified on your CCENT?
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Aug 15, 2013 18:01
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You shouldn't be staying at CCENT level long enough for that to become an issue.
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Aug 15, 2013 20:18
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What do you mean when you say "bad habits?"
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Aug 15, 2013 20:29
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As a full-time SysAdmin regularly working on Server 03/08 I'm planning on filling in the gaps to complete my MCSA for Server 2012 having no previous MCSA. I have the resources to get all the hands on experience I need through work, so I was hoping to just buy the right book(s) and read the right site(s). Going towards the 410 as someone who hasn't done any real studying in a number of years, what did those in a similar spot find successful for them?
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Aug 15, 2013 21:48
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