There are plenty of articles out there about how to prepare for the CCNA exam. However, there are also things you can do to increase your chances of success on exam day during the most important part of the entire process — the time that you’re actually taking the test.
I’ve taken many a certification exam [...]

Continue reading " Cisco Certification: Five Things To Do DURING Your CCNA Exam "

Cisco certification candidates, particularly CCNA candidates, must master binary math. This includes basic conversions, such as binary-to-decimal and decimal-to-binary, as well as more advanced scenarios involving subnetting and VLSM.
There’s another conversion that might rear its ugly head on your Cisco exam, though, and that involves hexadecimal numbering.
Newcomers to hexadecimal numbering are often confused as to [...]

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From the CCNA to the CCIE, ISDN is one of the most important technolgies you’ll work with. It’s also very common in the field; ISDN is frequently used as a backup connection in case an organization’s Frame Relay connections go down. Therefore, it’s important to know ISDN basics not only for your particular exam, but [...]

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General Certifications and Focused Certifications
Cisco offers three levels of general certification representing increasing levels of expertise: Associate, Professional, and Expert (CCIE). Different tracks across these levels align with varying career needs. A variety of focused Cisco Qualified Specialist certifications are available as well to show knowledge in specific technologies, solutions or job roles.
CCNA
The CCNA certification [...]

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Configuring PPP PAP Authentication
Now we know how the ISDN link comes up (interesting traffic), and some scenarios that might cause the link to stay up, we need to look at ISDN authentication schemes. The two methods Cisco certification candidates must be familiar with are PAP and CHAP.
Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) sends the username and password [...]

Continue reading " Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part III "

The major reason I recommend getting your hands on real Cisco equipment rather than a simulator is that real Cisco routers give you the chance to practice and learn show and debug commands.
The knowledge you acquire from debugs is invaluable. Frankly, it’s this knowledge that puts you above the ‘average” CCNA who doesn’t have that [...]

Continue reading " Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part V "

CCNAs and CCNA candidates hear it all the time: ‘Get some hands-on experience’. From my personal experience climbing the Cisco certification ladder, I can tell you firsthand that there is no learning like hands-on learning. No simulator in the world is going to give you the experience you will get cabling and configuring your own [...]

Continue reading " Cisco Certification: Building Your Own Home Lab, Part I "

In the first part of this home lab tutorial, CCNA and CCNP candidates can see that there are a LOT of choices when it comes to what to buy to build your own Cisco practice lab.
Having been there myself, I know it’s confusing to decide how many routers or switches to buy, and what I [...]

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You’ve studied hard; you’ve practiced your configurations; you’ve used your flash cards over and over again; and finally, the big day is here. Your first certification exam!
For many Cisco certification candidates, their first exam is the CCNA Composite exam or one of the two exams that make up the CCNA, the Introduction To Networking exam [...]

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As with any field, there are good technical training schools, and bad ones. When you sign up with one of these schools, you’ve made a significant investment in time and money. You deserve to know everything about the school and your job prospects after leaving that school before you put down your hard-earned money. The [...]

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