I am preparing to take my CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) in the next few weeks. I've been preparing for this for about 60 days now, and with summer coming up I'm feeling the pinch to do other things besides sitting in front of this computer with emulated routing and switching labs. But this needs to be completed soon, so I'll bear with it.
Right now I'm using a really excellent study tool called GNS3, and this is a real money saver. It's an emulation environment for Cisco IOS that runs actual IOS images as opposed to running simulated IOS. I found that, although some other router sims were quite good, they lacked in flexibility and completeness of the IOS command set. It is good to follow a canned lab, executing the required commands and nothing else. It's a whole other thing to set up a lab yourself and emulate a real-world environment. I have a number of labs created that I'm planning to put the finishing touches on and upload to GNS3-labs, which has been a really great tool for learning how to make GNS3 perform at its highest.
I'm in the final days of cramming, as I"ve already been thorough the majority of the material. I'm hoping to blog here about my topics of study to clarify what I'm learning for myself and perhaps to assist others in their own attempts. I find that there is a lot of material on the web pertaining to the CCIE, but not as much for the entry-level certs. (For that matter, I'd recommend not using Paul Browning's web site, book or racks. His material is lacking depth, his book is full of errors and his racks didn't function well. When I asked for a refund, he became condescending, insulting and childish. I'd be happy to show my correspondence with this unprofessional individual should anyone care to see it).
So, at any rate, on to the books and a little WAN theory tonight.
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