The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

psydude posted:

When I took ICND1 in 2011 they had a few questions about SX and LH MM/SM fiber standards.

On IPv6:
The ROUTE book goes pretty far into depth on it, but from what I can tell (and maybe someone can confirm) the test doesn't waste your time by making you figure out the number of possible addresses. In fact at one point in first chapter on it Odom pretty much says that none of us will live to see IPv6 address exhaustion.

Currently 42 undecillion addresses (of a total 340 undecillion) are allocated for internet use. So, maybe.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 18:03

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 14:20

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Sylink posted:

I want each article of clothing I wear to have an IP address.

Lets say every person on earth has 100 pieces of clothing (no way is this correct)

672 billion addresses. That's 1.62*10^-24th percent of the total number of internet allocated addresses.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number+of+people+on+earth*100%2F+42+undecillion

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 19:51

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

hackedaccount posted:

Turnquiet posted:
Yes. You could review the entire test again and change all your answers if you wanted as long as you were within your 90 minutes. The scenarios even gave you a reset button in case you wanted to wipe and start fresh in your configuration.

Neat, thanks.

This is incorrect, you cannot go back on Cisco tests.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2013 18:55

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Just passed my TSHOOT which makes me officially CCNP, wooooooo! Looking at my test history I took my last CCNP test almost a year ago in may, talk about cutting it close...

For some reason I was thinking the individual tests expired after one year not 3, yeah, nope.

Fatal fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Apr 19, 2013

# ¿ Apr 18, 2013 22:44

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

psydude posted:

You have to take and pass all 3 within a year? I thought it was 3?

Thought it was that but it's not.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2013 06:29

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Mugaaz posted:

Gonna retake it next week.

Don't mean to doubt, but I'd honestly wait more than a week to retake. In my experience and those of my co-workers, you want to wait a bit, solidify your knowledge and then reattempt especially if you're certing into a field you don't have live experience with. Basically getting sucked into the mentality of "I know what I messed up, I won't make that mistake again

" and rushing into the test after failing it most likely won't work. I dunno though, just my experience with these things.

# ¿ May 14, 2013 02:00

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

psydude posted:

Thanks. The practice exam I took last night had a metric fuckton of IPv6 on it too, holy poo poo.

IPV6 is alot simpler than you might think. Just realize everything is optimized for point to point links and know what :: is and you should be fine. At least, that's my take on it. The current CCNP tests are 5-10% IPV6 so enough to screw you if you have no idea, but not enough if you can fudge your way through it.

# ¿ May 31, 2013 17:38

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

This explains so much for some of my clients.

"Yes, VLANs are necessary"
"Yes you might have to log into a switch to confirm a config"
"And yes, this is much better than a flat network"

Fatal fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jun 14, 2013

# ¿ Jun 14, 2013 06:16

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

MJP posted:

I have a section for Certifications. Boldface the cert, tab to the edge (or however you set up your resume) and list the month/year. One single-space line below, list the vendor and a quick description. Kinda like this:
code:
[b]Certifications[/b]
--------------------------
[b]Network+[/b]                             July 2013
CompTIA              Cross-Vendor/Platform Networking 

[b]ICND1[/b]                           September 2013
Cisco Systems               Cisco-specific Networking

[b]ICND2[/b]                             October 2013
Cisco Systems               Cisco-specific Networking

[b]Cisco Certified Network Associate     October 2013
Cisco Systems          Completion of both ICND1 and 2
I did something like this to show my individual MS exams demonstrating the time span for me to get each cert. Also, some of those MS exams give a separate MCTS cert upon completion. I hate to sound jaded, but if it helps your resume stand out without lying, pad it like a pillow.

I would just go with CCNA, no need to mention ICND1/2 since they're essentially sub tests of the main cert (yes, I know ICND1 is technically CCENT) just as you wouldn't mention passing ROUTE/SWITCH/TSHOOT just that you were a CCNP. In general for Cisco certs I would just mention your highest cert in each category (SEC/R&S/etc) and I wouldn't even mention CompTIA networking certs if you have at least a CCNA (baring SEC+ as that can be a special req)

# ¿ Jul 16, 2013 05:14

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Protokoll posted:

quick as you can schedule a test.

This is actually a subtle but important part of any Cisco test (no idea on other vendors). I live in the greater Seattle area and if you've never scheduled a test you're in for a surprise on how long you might have to wait. I've had guys prep and get ready for a test and then go to schedule and find the earliest test slot is 3 weeks out.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2013 06:06

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

QPZIL posted:

I'm starting my ROUTE studying and I'm learning cool new commands that are going to save me a million years' worth of tediousness. "tclsh" is awesome I can write a script for my list of pings!

IOS XE will blow your mind

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 03:46

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

psydude posted:

Failed SWITCH, but still did pretty damned well considering I spent maybe 3 hours studying for it. I agree with whoever said the questions are terribly written.

Of the 3 CCNP tests, Switch was by far the worst for esoteric crap. I think it has to do with all of the crazy poo poo that has been carried over from the early years of networking that we still use today.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2013 21:51

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Edward_Lapine posted:

Okay, so this is my first time posting in this sub forum, and I apologize for asking a dumb question regarding CCENT/CCNA.

From age 6 I've loved computers and was a computer geek all the way up to adulthood. Lots of stuff happened and I ended up as a paramedic. I'm starting to get sick of healthcare, and now that I'm older and more mature I can devote time to study networking and have the motivation to do so. For a good month now I've been studying for the CCENT/CCNA with a handful of resources such as CBT Nuggets videos, "CCNA in 60 Days", and a friend who's in networking to rack his brain. I've been studying hard for the past month or so and I've learned so much. I gathered taking the two test route is better than the combined option. So, already getting bored with the book reviews, breezing through subnetting, and just swiftly maneuvering around in labs in Cisco Packet Tracer, I decided to schedule the ICND1 test 2 weeks from now and bought practice tests off of MeasureUp.

From doing the practice tests and finding "dumps", they're covering a lot of topics I thought was reserved for CCNA like access lists, IPv6, STP, routing protocols like OSPF, EIGRP, and more complicated Vlan set ups. I never learned any of that from the study content I was learning from and needless to say I'm getting anxious that I won't be ready for this test. The practice tests do give detailed rationale for answers which helps learn about the topics I didn't learn but I fear that's almost as bad as just dumb memorization brain dumps.

Will I be okay for ICND1? Did I learn from terrible sources? Any suggestions?

If you're coming from a non-technical (in a professional sense) background, have you been studying for the past month like it's a job or just off and on? These certs aren't meant to be a cakewalk, especially if you don't have an experience. I would highly suggest delaying your test a bit and really go over what you're trying to learn.

Consider that certs are just to get you through the door (past HR). Honestly, if you're not intimately comfortable with the subject matter (especially if you have no experience) your technical interview will not be very fun...

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 01:15

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Edward_Lapine posted:

Wow, thanks for the responses!

I suppose I'll delay the exam some then and focus on the things I mentioned I had no clue about. Perhaps I am learning from older material. I'll look into the book the OP mentions.

I have been studying hard for this, usually devoting 4+ hours everyday like the "CCNA in 60 Days" instructs you too, and with being a paramedic I do get a decent amount of downtime to read from the book, watch videos, and do the labs on my netbook. Aside from working in a Staples as a teenager, fixing friends/family's computers, and getting the A+ cert way back in 2004, I never had a legit IT job.

Keep at it, depending on where you land it's either a great field or a great way to learn how to drink scotch! (sometimes both)

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 17:45

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Comradephate posted:

CCDA is one you can probably knock out in a week of studying, and it will refresh your CCNA, if you don't feel like doing ROUTE under a time crunch.

From what I've heard the new CCDA is completely rewritten and not the cakewalk everybody expects it to be. Just FYI in case anybody else is taking it. Much more focused on technical design instead of best *sales* practices.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2013 00:08

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

It really wasn't bad to me, but I wallow around in switch land pretty regularly now (especially compared to when I got my CCNA, green as poo poo). Good path though, I went switch -> route -> tshoot and by tshoot I barely studied at all.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 08:12

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Martytoof posted:

The Train Signal CCNA videos were like the watching paint dry, FWIW. More in depth than Jeremy's, but hoooly poo poo.

I guess Chris Bryant is no longer with Train Signal though, which in itself got bought out by Pluralsight or whatever. I don't really keep track. INE's are good from what I've seen. I'm actually considering buying their CCNP series because I kind of need some videos and I don't think Jeremy is going to gel with me.

If there a way to preview the CCNP videos do, specifically ROUTE which Jeremy covers using GNS3. I typically followed along with what he was doing on-screen in GNS3 and it worked out excellent. TSHOOT not so much but still pretty good, don't remember much about SWITCH.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2014 10:21

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

QPZIL posted:

As far as I can tell, the Express 520 switch doesn't have a console port on it, so you can't actually do any IOS commands. Granted, there's not a LOT of switch console configuration stuff in the CCNA exam (compared to routing), but it would still be a hindrance.

You can get a couple 2950 switches for around $20 each on Amazon or eBay.

For routing, the 2610xm is a good router for the CCNA, as is most of what you can find on eBay or wherever. Jeremy Ciaora actually recommends the 871w router, since it has built-in wireless and you can integrate it more into your home network, if that's what you're looking to do. Personally, I have my test lab segmented off of the main network because my wife gets pissed when I accidentally take the internet down for a couple hours

And hey, half the fun of this black hole we call a hobby is acquiring new gear! Start off with a couple basic switches and routers, and soon you'll add wireless access points, wireless LAN controllers, servers to run ACS/WCS/ISE/UCS/CUCM/CUPS/whatever, ASAs, PIXs (or not), layer 3 switches, more routers, IP phones... etc...

But back on track, here's what I'd recommend for the CCNA dude on a budget (this list may not be up to date with the new CCNA exams, but I imagine they'd work fine):

2x Catalyst 2950 Switches (~$20 each)
2x 2610 routers (~$30 each if you get a deal on eBay)
2x WIC-1T cards (~$5 each used on Amazon)
1x RJ45-to-DB9 console cable ($5 new on Amazon)
1x serial-to-USB adapter ($5 new on Amazon)
1x DCE/DTE DB60 crossover cable ($7 new from Monoprice)
At least 2 straight-through Ethernet cables (should be free because I mean come on)
At least 1 crossover Ethernet cable (steal one from work)
---------Total: around $120, you can probably find good deals around, or mix in some gear you steal/borrow from work.

Then you can go

[Router] ---serial--- [Router] ---ethernet--- [Switch] ---crossover--- [Switch]

That's basically how I had my CCNA lab set up.

If you want gear for having gears sake this is good advice. However if you really don't want to waste money/storage just use GNS3 and maybe buy a L3 switch like a 3550. 2950s don't do L3 so they really don't apply to any modern network you'll be working with IMO.

Edit. That came out a bit harsh. I just wanted to reinforce that alot of us have a pile of outdated gear in the attic because we wanted physical gear. Last time I turned it on my physical lab was 2011 when I was going for my CCNA and wasted more time trying to setup some DCE/DTE cable between two 1601s (or whatever). GNS3 lets you move past the physical issues into some very complex setups. Yes knowing how to plug some cable in to some port is important knowledge but the investment into physical gear is barely worth it unless you literally have never touched a box with a console port before.

Fatal fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Feb 5, 2014

# ¿ Feb 5, 2014 01:52

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Martytoof posted:

only real world experience gained was figuring out which end of a cable is DCE and which is DTE.

I swear I hadn't read your post when I made my edit

# ¿ Feb 5, 2014 02:55

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Frag Viper posted:

For example, normally a /27 would have 32-2 = 30 hosts. But on the VLSM table it lists 25 hosts. I'm sure it obvious, but I cant figure it out.

That's wrong, definitely 30 hosts. What book & edition, worth it to check out the errata.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2014 02:01

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Invest in the Cisco learning labs, great value if you don't have much in the way physical hardware and/or want some pre-made stuff to bang around on. I think for the price they can't be beat.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2014 00:36

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

.0 isn't always network and .1 would just be the 2nd address (.0 being the first)

There would not be a directed broadcast for that subnet only global (255.255.255.255)

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/routing-information-protocol-rip/13790-8.html#using31bit
http://packetlife.net/blog/2008/jun/18/using-31-bit-subnets-on-point-point-links/

# ¿ Apr 14, 2014 22:39

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Fag Boy Jim posted:

What's everyone's go-to for online/video training these days? Was thinking of trying to knock out CCNA Security in a month since it's now DOD 8570-approved, and I've heard it's not difficult to get with R+S knowledge.

Just for the other side of the fence I just passed my CCNA Security using CBT Nuggets as my primary source of study. Also have some experience setting up ASAs so it wasn't exactly my first foray into the Sec topics but it was pretty good for rounding out my knowledge. Now to forget everything I saw about CCP, ugh...

Definitely going to check out PluralSight, company just sprung for a membership so my co-worker can start working on his CCNP Wireless. CBT doesn't even have a series on that. Seems like both are still behind on CCNP Security but it is understandable as the old tests expired two weeks ago.

Fatal fucked around with this message at 23:18 on May 2, 2014

# ¿ May 2, 2014 23:15

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

While it's not bad to have certs it does stand out to have a CCNP with zero experience (not in good way). Can you give an example of what types of jobs you are applying for? If I had to guess, you might be shooting too high for something entry level, experience speaks for alot in this industry and hiring can be warry of somebody with a cert like a CCNA without anything live to back it up.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2014 01:16

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Fag Boy Jim posted:

I'm testing for CCNA Security which is DOD-8570-approved next week.

I was pretty perplexed about this when I got a letter saying as such. Welp, guess I've got some sort of security clearance now, I feel like a secret agent :coal:

# ¿ Jun 17, 2014 02:39

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Yeah, I think the sim questions try to complicate really simple problems. Most things can be "fixed" or configured using just a few lines of config.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 19:36

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

TeamIce posted:

Pretty sure there's no difference between the Prometric and Pearson tests - same question bank for either of them. But seconding what everyone says - Transcender's stuff is generally useless, and nothing like what you'll encounter on the exam.

Yeah, the testing center just runs the test that Cisco provides to them, nothing different other than the environment itself.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2014 02:42

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 14:20

Fatal: Jul 29, 2004; I'm gunna kill you BITCH!!!

Yep, that's a great choice (book & time). My experience is pre-ICND for CCNA but in general the concept stands. Knowledge level for CCNA is very wide in terms of topics but is surface level. In general this makes it quite hard to pass as you have to know bits and pieces for so many *different* topics. For some people that's no problem but for me passing the CCNA took 3 tries whereas all of the CCNP tests only took 1 attempt to pass due to to them covering a much more specific set of topics.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2014 00:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA