|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Passing The CCNA and CCNP Exams: Cisco Home Lab FAQThere is a real revolution today among CCNA and CCNP candidates. More and more of you are turning your back on "router simulators" and putting your own CCNA and/or CCNP Home Lab together, which is the best way to totally prepare to pass these tough Cisco exams.I get hundreds of emails every month from CCNA and CCNP candidate who are putting together their first lab or adding to their existing one. I'm always glad to help with suggestions, and I thought I'd list five common questions regarding home labs here. Do I have to spend thousands of dollars? No! There are vendors all over the web, as well as on ebay, who sell used Cisco routers and switches to Cisco exam candidates like you every single day. They sell kits that consist of multiple routers and switches, as well as single routers and switches. You can add one piece at a time, or make a larger investment. You can spend just a few hundred dollars and put together a very nice lab. What's an "access server"? It's not what it sounds like. When I first heard the term, I thought of a typical server like we see in LANs every single day. An access server is actually a Cisco router that allows you to connect to multiple other routers and switches without continually moving the rolled cable around. You don't have to have an access server right away, but once you add a few more routers and switches to your lab, you'll get tired of moving the rollover cable from console port to console port. (The console port is used to directly connect your PC to the router.) You'll find an access server is easy to set up and configure, and will save you quite a bit of time. What's a "frame relay switch"? Again, it's not quite what it sounds like. A frame relay switch is not a switch; it's a Cisco router that has been configured to serve as a frame relay provider in your home lab. This is very close to being a "must" for your home lab. You don't need it right away if your budget allows for only one or two routers to get started. To truly practice frame relay map statements and see the effect of different frame relay statements, you'll need a Cisco router to serve as a frame switch. Again, the configuration is easy, and having a frame relay switch in your home lab will give you practice that will be invaluable on exam day. Do I need a switch? What switch should I buy? I recommend you get at least one switch in your lab; two if your budget allows. Make sure that at least one of your switches has an IOS; 1900 switches do not have an IOS and while they're better than not having a switch, they're not going to give you the practice you need to pass the CCNA and CCNP. Look to the 2500 family of switches. I want to build my CCNP lab and then use it for the CCIE. What should I buy? It's impossible to tell what technologies and devices will be on the CCIE lab, even if you zip through the CCNP and then take the IE within six months. Cisco refreshing the CCIE lab blueprint every six months, and different technologies can be taken off the lab. While Cisco gives plenty of notice that these changes are going to take effect, it can be a big pain in your wallet if Cisco takes something off of the exam after you spend a bundle to add it to your lab. As an example, Cisco is in the process of removing ISDN and ATM from the CCIE Routing & Switching lab. If you bought an ATM switch for your lab, you've got an expensive paperweight right now. While you may be able to practice your core protocols on a CCIE home lab, it's going to be difficult and expensive to keep your home lab totally current with the Cisco lab blueprint. The decision to put together your own CCNA or CCNP home lab is the best decision you can ever make - and I speak from experience. With home labs becoming less expensive every day, it's becoming more affordable as well. Start looking into used Cisco router vendors today (ebay is a great place to find some vendors, as is Google), and you can be practicing on REAL Cisco routers and switches soon - and be totally prepared for CCNA and CCNP exam success. About the author: Chris Bryant, CCIE ##12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of FREE CCNA & CCNP tutorials and The Ultimate CCNA Study Package. For a FREE copy of my latest e-books, "How To Pass The CCNA" or "How To Pass The CCNP", request one at chris@thebryantadvantage.com! Circulated by Article Emporium Mistakes To Avoid In Your Ebay Auctions Online auctions continue to grow in popularity as an easy and efficient way to make money on everything from unwanted household items to rare and expensive collectables and even to bulky items like cars. Log on to eBay and you will see countless auctions on any item you ... 90s Web Design: A Nostalgic Look Back A nostalgic look back at 90s web design, and a warning to anyone whose website is an accidental anachronism. Remember the days when every PC was beige, every website had a little Netscape icon on the homepage, Geocities and Tripod hosted just about every single personal ho... How To Shop and Save On Website Hosting - by Jim Edwards (c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved http://www.thenetreporter.com ===================================== "What's your web address?" From small "mom and pop" home-based businesses to mega- stores, people ask this question... Is Your Website Blacklisted? A blacklist, as the name implies, is a list of people or companies who have met with the disapproval of others. In the online world a blacklist refers to those people who have been marked as responsible for generating spam in a very big way. Blacklists are also known as blocklists.... Choosing data recovery company Choosing a data recovery company. There are many different factors to consider when choosing a data recovery company. All of them may have strong advantages in some areas but be weaker or less efficient in others. If this is your first time choosing a data recover... The History Of Solar Power With the recent rise in energy costs many people have been looking to alternative sources of energy. One of the greatest energy sources (our sun) is readily available for the taking. We just need to be able to harness it's power. For those interested, below is a brief history of ho... DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) - Description DSL is a type of broadband technology that allows for digital data to be sent at high speeds along already-existing copper telephone lines, while allowing for the transmission of analog (voice) data at the same time. Some of the most common variations on DSL include ADSL, HDSL, SDS... M-Commerce Twice the Cash Value of E-Commerce Do you even know what M-Commerce is? Well you better learn fast. Predictions in Europe for M-Commerce, the second largest market behind Asia, are for a spend of €7.4 Billion in 2006 that's over $8 Billion. That's twice the predicted spend of traditional web services! ... SEO - What You Should Not Do SEO is one of the economic ways to get your url listed on the top of free search engines. That is why SEO become so important. There are tons of guidance in SEO on the internet. But in the other hand, there are also misguidance in SEO. They always say to optimize, optimize and opti... Passing The CCNA and CCNP Exams: Cisco Home Lab FAQ There is a real revolution today among CCNA and CCNP candidates. More and more of you are turning your back on "router simulators" and putting your own CCNA and/or CCNP Home Lab together, which is the best way to totally prepare to pass these tough Cisco exams. I get hund... Data-Recovery: What You Need Data recovery is something we hope that we will never need. Whether you simply make the mistake of deleting important software or you lose it all in a computer crash, that valuable asset of information may seem like it is lost forever. But, if you have complete and quality data-rec... Broadband TV a World of Choice Broadband television is a means of providing TV programs via the Internet. It is possible to view live terrestrial television channels, but it is more practical to us it to see programs that have already been transmitted, so avoiding the need to set your video recorder. To get Broa... Why journal writing on the Web? Blogs are journals giving anyone an identity, and an awesome forum for sharing thoughts and ideas with others of similar interests. Journal writing used to be a private, personal experience done late at night, scribbling hardly legible thoughts and daily occurrences down o... Register now to avoid disappointment Any successfully business person will tell you that one of the keys to a successful business is to plan ahead. With all the work and planing that has to be done, it can be easy to overlook some of the smaller points. Registering domain names is not something that traditionally has ... Protect Yourself with a Porn Filter The harmful affects of pornography use and addiction are well documented by science. As with most things in life, prevention is the most effective way to avoid ever having a problem with pornography. The internet is a wonderful place to access information, read updated new...
|
|
|||||
|
||||||