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I work in networking and have a CCNA already, but I was thinking of taking a deeper dive and pursuing a CCNP R/S to set myself apart a little more. Is there an accepted set of books for these exams? Lammle doesn't appear to offer any, and the last time I looked at an official Cisco book was about ten years ago and I wasn't very impressed with it then.
guppy fucked around with this message at 17:02 on May 5, 2018 |
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May 5, 2018 16:32
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Is there a respected set of books for the MS Server 2016 exams? Amazon has the Sybex/Wiley one and the MS Press one, and reviews for both are poor.
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May 22, 2018 20:33
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Vadun posted:Yes, as long as it's a full cert of the same level, and not just the first exam. The final exam of a cert path your eligible to take also works This reminds me, I'm not especially near expiration, but if I start working on my CCNP R/S, do I have to do all three tests (ROUTE, SWITCH, TSHOOT) within the three-year window to renew my CCNA, or just one? (This is a regular CCNA R/S, if that wasn't clear.)
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May 24, 2018 11:10
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Okay cool that's what I thought, just wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding the situation. Thanks.
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May 24, 2018 11:15
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Lets Get Patchy posted:That's great, because I totally skipped it and went straight to RHCSA and it's kicking my rear end. Jang's book is good, but does anyone have any other study materials that doesn't include RHCE? With the caveat that I don't have my RHCSA -- I was thinking of getting it and if I don't bother at least I'll have learned -- I have this book by van Vugt, which was recommended to me. I like it so far. It has both RHCSA and RHCE material, but they are separated and you don't have to go into the RHCE material if you don't want to.
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Jun 19, 2018 11:46
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AlternateAccount posted:No, it's basically all trivia and memorization. If you want to pass it, you should I agree that not having anything on grep is weird but some of this is useful and important. sed and awk are very powerful and it's important to know how to use them. I used to find vi incomprehensible, but I learned from the van Vugt book, and the reason he gave for teaching it makes sense to me: according to him, vi is the only text editor guaranteed to exist in every Linux environment, so you better know how to use it in case it's your only option.
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Jun 20, 2018 10:51
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my bitter bi rival posted:Agree with just about everything in this post. I started out with a lot of personal computer experience but no job experience and no certs, got a job in customer facing call center support for a web product, moved to internal IT helpdesk, to Jr. SysAdmin, to SysAdmin, to some specific BS title now within the span of a few years, and each step was helpful for setting me up for the next opportunity. You learn a ton doing helpdesk that can help you as a SysAdmin, and in turn, you learn a ton about how things operate and how services are run and managed as a SysAdmin that will make you a good Security Person. Some of it will be grunt work and suck, but its a good way into the industry and that experience will probably open more doors than just collecting certs. Additionally: you have to put in your time with the grunt work before people will trust you with bigger stuff, and if you look like you think you're too good to do that it may reflect poorly on your attitude. I get that you want more autonomy but you generally won't get it until you have some experience under your belt. Certifications are good and earning a CCNA with no experience is impressive, but all paper certifications and no experience is a red flag past a certain point; I would suggest getting some industry experience before chasing more certs. It will also give you a chance to find out what you like. A CCNP R&S is great but if you don't actually like doing networking I can't imagine bothering. And on the infosec side, IIRC at least the CISSP requires relevant work experience to get.
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Jun 30, 2018 11:25
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Space Racist posted:While on the topic of career pathways... CCENT is better than nothing and I know at least one person whose job required a CCENT specifically, but I think a CCNA is much more valuable. You also don't want to forget the material from ICND1. I don't know if this is you, but I've seen a lot of people talk about studying for months and months for the CCNA, and while it's a difficult test -- particularly for where it's aimed in terms of experience -- I think that's overkill. If you're studying for than a month or so I'm not sure how much good it's doing you.
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Jul 1, 2018 11:11
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I find the official Cisco way of subnetting impenetrable. I learned the block method from Todd Lammle's books and I found it way, way easier. It has now been too long since I've had to actually do any subnetting and I don't think I can explain it without reviewing it myself, which I don't have time to do right now, but that alone is worth picking up his ICND1 book for. Alternatively, someone with it fresher in their minds might be able to explain.
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Jul 26, 2018 11:05
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Okay I spent some time yesterday refamiliarizing myself so here we go. I'm going to assume that you already understand binary and how subnet masks are represented in both base 2 and base 10 (e.g., 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 is the same as 255.255.255.0) and you're just looking to do subnet calculations more easily. Basically you should be able to identify five things for a given IP address and subnet mask (in either dotted decimal or CIDR; you should be able to convert them): 1. Subnet address (and other valid subnets with that mask) 2. Broadcast address of that subnet 3. Range of valid hosts in that subnet 4. How many subnets are possible with that mask 5. How many hosts per subnet with that mask You mainly care about the "significant octet" for most of this, that being the one that isn't all 1s (so for 255.255.240.0 you would mainly care about the third octet, the 240). The first thing you want to do is to find out the "block size," which is the frequency within that octet, as you count up, where new subnets begin. So if your block size were 32 in octet 3, your subnets would begin at 255.255.0.0, 255.255.32.0, 255.255.64.0, etc. To get that number, subtract the subnet mask (in dotted decimal) from 256. As an example, let's try the host 172.16.23.45/20, which is subnet mask 255.255.240.0. 256 - 240 = 16, that's your block size. So your subnets are going to be at 172.16.0.0, 172.16.16.0, 172.16.32.0, 172.16.48.0, etc. Question 1: Our host is 172.16.23.45/20. That's in the subnet 172.16.16.0, because the next subnet is 172.16.32.0 and the third octet isn't that high. Question 2: the broadcast address is the last address in the subnet, so just find the next subnet -- 172.16.32.0 and go one host down. 172.16.31.255. Boom. Question 3: valid hosts. You can't use the network address or the broadcast address for hosts, so add one to the former and subtract one from the latter. 172.16.16.1 through 172.16.31.254 are your valid hosts. Question 4: Available subnets. Take the number of 1's in the mask (11110000.00000000 -- four) and raise 2 to it 2^4 = 16. That's your number of subnets. Question 5: Hosts per subnet. Take the number of 0's in the mask (11110000.00000000 = 12) and raise 2 to it. Then subtract 2 because you can't use the network or broadcast addresses. 2^12 is 4096, minus 2 is 4094 valid hosts. Hopefully I haven't screwed up this explanation. Please correct me if I have anything wrong, I don't want to mislead people who are exam prepping. I strongly recommend writing out powers of 2 in order and also additively as a reference: code:Lammle's ICND1 book especially is good, I would recommend it as a study guide.
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Jul 27, 2018 11:35
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Configuring new switches and maintaining existing ones is a huge part of my job and I do it a lot both remotely and in person. I always keep a console cable in my field bag but if your data closets are secure I also suggest just leaving one plugged into the console port of each stack/chassis and coiling the cable up on top of the switch. That way if you forget or lose yours there's one handy. Even if I didn't forget mine the one I left in the switch is more convenient. The switches come with console cables so if you have any significant install base you'll have more than you know what to do with; if you don't, order a dozen or so as spares. Although the CCENT/CCNA have lots of good information, I am actually annoyed by how little overlap there is between the exam material and the day-to-day of building or modifying a switch configuration. The Venn diagram of what I needed for my CCNA and what I do at work is almost entirely separate circles.
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Aug 4, 2018 15:50
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Yeah I was asking a while back for recommendations for MCSA books too and no one had any. Everyone appears to hate all the books available on Amazon. I guess I will pick up the cat book, thanks.
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Aug 31, 2018 11:32
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zharmad posted:Well I just went and managed to pass my MSCA Windows Server 2016. At this point I wish I could have talked my company into paying for the MCSE but that was like 2k more for the boot camp. Congratulations! What did you use to study for it? I'm interested in working towards it but no one seems to like any of the books for it.
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Sep 17, 2018 11:39
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zharmad posted:I used the Sybex book, the 3 Microsoft press books and watches videos on pluralsight. Only had about 2 weeks to study before I went to the boot camp, which was concerning since I've been a Linux admin for the past few years and haven't touched windows server since 2007, but I was really surprised how little the base concepts have changed. Thanks, my AD experience is limited but growing and I bought the O'Reilly cat book. I have a Network+ and a CCNA and work in networking daily so hopefully -741 shouldn't be too bad.
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Sep 17, 2018 22:29
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Yeah, given the option, I would much rather take a test that will get me closer to something new than just re-taking the test for the credential I already have. I'm studying for CCNP Switch now, no real interest in just re-certifying my CCNA. Have you already done Route and Switch? Not that I have any firsthand experience but I was under the impression that Tshoot was normally the last one of the three people did.
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Oct 17, 2018 22:02
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Broken Record Talk posted:After trying and failing, seemingly forever, to get through self-studying for Network+, I'm going to finally bite the bullet and just take a drat class for the thing. It's been years since I've been there but UMBC Training Centers offered a solid Network+ class and it is or at least was run by some really good folks. It is an auxiliary facility, not part of the university proper, so you do not need to matriculate, just pay them and show up. It is not especially cheap but you said you don't care about that.
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Oct 19, 2018 00:48
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My employer doesn't pay for me to take exams but reimburses me when I present the certification, which is nice. No one has to know I'm taking it til I passed it. I don't even tell coworkers I'm taking exams until I have the paper.
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Oct 30, 2018 20:23
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Lord Rupert posted:Any recommendations for getting through, studying for, and completing the CCENT? My manager and I agreed it's time to have me start in on this, have yet to get the confirmation from our HR/Business people, but rest assured it's a happening thing. I used Todd Lammle's books for both ICND1 (CCENT) and ICND2. I liked them. CCENT book here: https://www.amazon.com/CCENT-ICND1-...dd+lammle+icnd1 It's not perfect -- I've found errors like a duplicated answer in an answer key for a different question (so the answer to that one is missing), and there are typos -- but overall I thought it was a good experience. It sounds like you have some experience with this stuff already; I was in the same position and passed on my first try just going through the Lammle book at about a chapter a night. I don't know that I'd say it's enough if you have no hands-on experience. My experience with a older version of the Cisco Press book was pretty poor; I thought it was extremely dry, and didn't always teach things the best way. Most notably, Lammle's approach to subnetting is a thousand percent better than the "official" Cisco methodology. I'm doing some studying for CCNP SWITCH now and I wish Lammle had a book for it. I have the Bryant book but it's nowhere near as good.
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Jan 14, 2019 03:36
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Kazinsal posted:Passed CCNP Switch, 300-115. 825/1000, passing score is 790. Whew. I'm working on this with the Chris Bryant book, and it's not half as good as the Todd Lammle book I used for CCNA. Any advice? Also, pretty sure we covered this a while back, but I can renew a CCNA with just CCNP SWITCH (or any other CCNP exam), right? I don't want to do SWITCH and then find out I actually needed to do ROUTE and TSHOOT too. I mean, I plan to do those, but it would be nice to know the renewal is covered if I don't get to it.
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Jan 15, 2019 11:23
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Eschatos posted:Hey folks, would you consider it acceptable to still list expired certifications on a resume(with disclaimer)? My A+, Network+ and Security+ just ran out last year, so the only active cert I'll have on my resume is ICND1. I don't really feel like keeping those certs is much of a resume booster, but pointing out that I did pass the test and hold those certs in the past might be worth something? I would suggest listing them with the date you earned them.
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Jan 21, 2019 18:26
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I've been prepping for CCNP SWITCH, and I used Chris Bryant's book and Boson's practice exams, and my conclusion is the Bryant book is not nearly complete enough. This is a lot of material as it is and I'm feeling pretty intimidated. Any advice on alternative study materials, or general advice? I think I'm resigned to paying for more study materials, so if your advice costs money so be it.
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Feb 3, 2019 05:40
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CCENT is the first half of the CCNA and I would not describe it as trivial. It's not crazy or anything but I would recommend buying a study guide and prepping. I like Todd Lammle.
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Feb 6, 2019 02:48
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ilkhan posted:So would it be better to learn Network+ and then go CCNA? With or without experience? N+ is probably the best of the CompTIA exams and I got mine before my first "real" job and I thought I got some value out of it, but a paper CCNA with no work experience is usually not very effective. Sometimes people want to get a CCNA to try to skip their careers over doing entry-level desktop support work, but my experience has been that those people are not up to the job. It's great to know how OSPF works, but you also need to know that USB-A cables will fit into copper network interfaces and that people are idiots. I have found that it's particularly important in networking to understand things top to bottom at at least a basic level since people will blame the network for everything. If you do have significant working experience, the Network+ will probably be mostly review and I don't know that I would bother. EDIT: Stuff that is covered in Network+ that I know for sure I still use today: T568A/B standards (you can look this up but you need to know how it works), the OSI model (also covered in CCNA, but less in-depth). guppy fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Feb 7, 2019 |
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Feb 7, 2019 11:51
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Yeah, the CCENT is much more rigorous than Net+, so there is not a lot of point in going back for a Net+ if you've passed ICND1. I agree that a CCENT should impress any hiring manager who knows anything more than a Network+, but CCENT has only existed since 2007 or so and kind of has a rep as half a CCNA rather than a meaningful certification in its own right. I think plenty of people don't even know it exists. If a job is deemed complex enough that Network+ isn't a good enough requirement, they will probably want a full CCNA instead. I do have one friend who was specifically required to earn a CCENT as a condition of employment, but it's rare.
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Feb 7, 2019 22:30
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More is always better, yes, but you have the time cost of prepping and the financial cost of the exam. It won't hurt you to have both.
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Feb 7, 2019 23:08
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There is no longer an advantage to doing the composite CCNA exam, so you may as well get your CCENT along the way. It used to be you had two options: either you took the ICND1 and ICND2 exams separately, or you took the composite CCNA exam which had roughly the same number of questions and the same time limit as either one of the ICNDs. But now the composite exam is twice as many questions and twice as long so there's no real upside unless you're just trying to knock out a renewal in one sitting. You might as well take ICND1 first and that way if you fail the ICND2 you at least still have the ICND1 completion to show for it. Don't stop at the CCENT, though. Study for ICND2 and finish your CCNA. It's a much more respected certification.
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Feb 7, 2019 23:17
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I have had a CWNA (not Cisco, this is the vendor-neutral wireless one) book sitting on my shelf for a few months now because I bought it blind on Amazon and my jaw dropped when I took it out of the box and it was drat near 1000 pages. I finally cracked it open and it's pretty good so far but man that is a lot of material, especially when the test is only 60 questions. I can't imagine they can cover any significant portion of this material. Anyone gone through it and have anything to say about it? I looked at the CWS and CWT marketing blurbs (they're killing CWTS, so those are the only options lower than CWNA), but I already do a fair amount of wireless stuff and it looks like most of that might be stuff I already know.Jedi425 posted:Speaking as a network guy myself I really fuckin' appreciate when a non-network guy knows enough to speak sense to me. Saves us both a ton of time. Prepping for CCNP SWITCH still myself, never did get any recommendations on study materials. Any advice?
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Feb 20, 2019 04:46
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Jedi425 posted:Advice Thank you!
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Feb 20, 2019 13:37
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I don't have a PMP but my understanding is you don't actually need to have that many hours of project management under your belt -- just those hours working on projects, which is so vague that basically everything counts. Having a list is probably good enough?
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May 26, 2019 19:54
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My big question is whether the class hours for that requirement can expire. Work sent me to a class a couple years ago and I've had other priorities, but I've done everything except the exam, and if I ever have time I'd love to get the paper.
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May 28, 2019 21:45
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I got my CCNA last year and I've been getting ready for CCNP SWITCH, and this has kind of caught me flat-footed. I read fully through a Chris Bryant book for SWITCH and didn't feel at all prepared and am using some official Cisco materials now, but I also have a new baby and little time on top of being busy at work. I'm not sure if I should try to get through SWITCH and ROUTE before February, or just wait and try to take the new exam. Any advice?skooma512 posted:drat, I procrastinated all the way through this exam cycle. I used Todd Lammle's books and prepped for each test in the span of a week or two. I actually scheduled my exams further out and then moved them forward because I was ready earlier than expected. I am reasonably good at standardized tests and have some experience as well but 8 months is extremely doable. Lammle's subnetting method is also a jillion times better than what Cisco teaches officially.
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Jun 14, 2019 03:08
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In the US the usual word is "proctor."
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Aug 26, 2019 10:46
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You might be somewhere that requires you to maintain your certifications, but if not, it is pretty common to just list the certification you got and the year you got it and not bother to renew it.
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Sep 19, 2019 09:50
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apropos man posted:gently caress. Either I get a move on, or I just use it as a book of general knowledge, then! If you have networking experience, you have plenty of time to get it done before the exam is retired. The process for taking the exam is that you schedule and pay for it through the website, choosing the time and a test center near you, then you show up a bit ahead of the scheduled start time to get signed in and whatnot. They will take you to the testing room, seat you and sign you in, and you take the exam on the PC in there. They'll give you some scratch paper (for me it was a dry erase board and marker). You aren't allowed to have anything else. The registration website will tell you all of the policies and procedures. You can reschedule the exam with a little bit of notice -- you can move it later, but you can also make it earlier if you gave yourself more time than you need. I scheduled mine a few months out and ended up rescheduling it sooner because I had finished my studying and didn't want to forget everything I studied. My experience is in the US, but I assume it's the same in the UK.
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Oct 24, 2019 10:15
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Nairbo posted:1) How plausible is it to get a remote help-desk position either with A+ or without A+ and would CCNA qualify me for a job like that? It's my understanding I could work remote for a Canadian or other non-US company and collect income on a TD Visa but not a local one. I don't think there are a lot of remote entry-level positions because no one trusts entry-level people, but I could be wrong. Even at a more senior level remote isn't as common as it should be. That said, A+ is a worthless certification but is absolutely required to get past many HR resume screenings -- remember, there is an avalanche of applications, mostly from incompetents, at that level, so they need some kind of screen -- so you probably do want to flush the money and time down the drain to get one. quote:2) Would volunteer or non-paid charity experience work for real world job experience if I want to eventually become a Jr Network Addmin, Admin or Engineer long-term? If I can't get paid while I'm down there I'd like to accelerate my eventual goals. And do charities even have volunteer options for newbie A+/CCNA/N+ cert people with a chance to get hands on with networking equipment? Volunteer work is what got me into the industry. It has to be actual, real work though. No idea about what's available, but most nonprofits are chronically underfunded, so my guess is they would love to have volunteers. quote:3) With a year to kill in mind, should I even consider taking A+/Network+ before CCNA? A couple of considerations: - The CCNA may be the "entry-level" Cisco cert -- technically, I guess that's the CCENT, but almost nobody cares about the CCENT and the CCENT isn't easy -- but it is difficult. If you have no hands on experience, getting a CCNA can be very tough, and CCNAs with no experience aren't particularly attractive job candidates IMO. Everything in the CCNA curriculum is correct information, but there's more to the work than what's on the test. - Network+ is a surprisingly non-worthless CompTIA certification, IMO. Even with a Network+ and a CCNA, though, to get past the helpdesk level you are probably going to need some experience. - All of the Cisco certifications are being revamped somewhere in the next 15 months or so. I assume the new CCNA or equivalent exam will be broadly similar, but be aware -- you don't want to study the old materials and then go take the exam and find out everything's different. quote:4) If I'm down there for 2-3 years anyway without the means to collect income, I would be able to do school full time. Is an associate's degree in IT considered no better than self-taught certs and work experience in the US, Texas specifically? This very much depends on the employer. We prefer a bachelor's to an associate's and an associate's to no degree, but community college on its own is not super respected generally. It can't hurt and community college is cheap, so I would say go for it if you find yourself in that position. It's never a bad thing to have a potential positive distinction from other candidates. Also, if you want to get a bachelor's at some point, the credits from an accredited community college can generally be transferred to an accredited 4-year institution and then your bachelor's is half done on the cheap. As with anything else, you'll want to do your homework (no pun intended) to make sure your credits will be accepted. quote:5) Given my "experience" in territory management would I be better off going down a Salesforce Cloud route or are there some transferable skills I can use to bolster a resume up in IT? I have pretty solid soft skills and interview quite well but I don't know how much that'll translate into the IT world. No idea about this, sorry. I can't speak to any of the visa issues, either. I don't think you can have a better basic plan than A+/Net+/CCNA, but the important part of IT is having the ability to troubleshoot, combined with the ability to not be an anti-social rear end in a top hat. Past that, there are a ton of people who want to get into IT, and many of them are grossly incompetent, and you just kind of have to find someone you can convince to take a chance on you. Or know someone. Good luck.
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Dec 6, 2019 11:56
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MF_James posted:All good advice, but this I think is untrue? I thought it was like Feb/Mar 2020 :fakeedit: https://www.cbtnuggets.com/blog/career/career-progression/cert-news-new-cisco-ccna-coming-in-2020 You're right, sorry. I mixed up the revamp date with my personal timeframe in which mine will expire if not renewed. The revamps are happening in a couple of months. In that person's shoes, I recommend waiting for the revamps and doing the new certifications.
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Dec 6, 2019 12:26
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So with the impending changes to the Cisco certifications starting to draw near, I went back to look at all the details, and I think there's something major that I and maybe others haven't noticed. I'm pulling primarily from here: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/training-events/training-certification-faqs.pdf If I'm reading this right, here are some major takeaways that I think people haven't really understood:
This is huge for me and I think for a lot of people, especially the first one. I'm sure it's a business decision on Cisco's part -- less money per exam but more people taking them, fear of competitors like Juniper eating their lunch, and so on -- but I think it's also a huge win for certification candidates. I've been waiting for the new material to drop so I can start studying in earnest for CCNP Enterprise Core to renew my CCNA, but I'd only have had a little over a year to pass it or my CCNA would expire, and I was wondering if I should consider doing a different CCNA exam instead (I hadn't realized they were doing away with the different CCNA tracks). But I don't actually care about maintaining my CCNA except as a path to CCNP, so now that time pressure is just... gone, which is a huge worry I just don't need to have anymore.
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Jan 17, 2020 23:34
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Oyster posted:Was gearing up to get the CCNA before the test changed. Got my tax return, went to buy the voucher. Can you just register for the exam on the Pearson website?
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Feb 7, 2020 12:04
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Glad it worked out. Break a leg!
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Feb 7, 2020 22:59
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Pretty much for me -- I wanted out of my position and a networking position was available. Turned out I loved networking and the team, but of course it doesn't work out that way for everyone. Like you said, I just didn't have the exposure to know what I liked before I got into networking; I was just lucky that the opportunity was such a good fit. Even within a discipline like networking, there are lots of opportunities to specialize -- maybe you'll like wireless, for example. One thing I would say is that there isn't necessarily One True Path for you. Maybe you'll like lots of things. I certainly find lots of other stuff interesting. I'm glad to be in the area I am, though. You'll never really regret having some networking knowledge -- the material covered by Net+ and CCNA are valuable to know no matter what you end up doing.
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Apr 8, 2020 03:44
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