Passing Cisco’s CCNA and CCNP Exams: Five Tips For Exam Day Success

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

As you get ready to pass the CCNA or CCNP exams, you can feel quite a bit of stress as you enter your last week of study. Let's take a look at a few ways to reduce that stress.
1. Do not stay up late cramming. The CCNA and CCNP are not exams you're going to [...]

How To Become a Cisco CCNP

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Congratulations on your decision to earn your CCNP certification! As a CCIE, I can tell you that Cisco certifications are both financially and personally rewarding.
To earn your CCNP, you first have to earn your CCNA certification. Then you're faced with a decision - take the three-exam CCNP path, or the four-exam [...]

Four Important Commands For Your CCNA / CCNP Home Lab

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

More CCNA and CCNP candidates than ever before are putting together their own home practice labs. It's more affordable than it ever has been, and I receive emails daily from new CCNAs and CCNPs who say it's the best thing they could have done to improve their studies.
There are some commands you can configure [...]

Cisco Certification: Recertifying Your CCNA and CCNP

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Once you get your CCNA and CCNP, you can't just rest on your accomplishment. You've got to continue to study and add to your skill set - and then prove to Cisco you've been doing just that by recertifying.
Recertification sounds like a pain, but it's actually one of the best things to ever happen to [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam Tutorial: Floating Static Routes

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

To pass the Cisco CCNA and CCNP certification exams, as well as becoming a world-class networker, you've got to know how and when to use floating static routes. And if you're wondering what makes them "float" -- read on!
In this example, R1 and R2 are running OSPF over a Frame Relay network, 172.12.123.0 /24. They're [...]

Cisco Certification: In What Order Should You Take Your CCNP Exams ?

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

When you choose to pursue your Cisco Certified Network Professional certification, you've got some decisions to make right at the beginning. Cisco offers a three-exam path and a four-exam path, and you select the order in which you'll take and pass the exams.
While every CCNP candidate has to make their own decision, I'd like to [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Setup: How To Configure Reverse Telnet

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Occasionally, during your CCNA and CCNP studies, you'll run into a term that just doesn't quite make sense to you. (Okay, more than occasionally!) One such term is "reverse telnet". As a Cisco certification candidate, you know that telnet is simply a protocol that allows you to remotely connect to a networking [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification: Introduction To BGP Attributes

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

BGP is one of the most complex topics you'll study when pursuing your CCNP, if not the most complex. I know from personal experience that when I was earning my CCNP, BGP is the topic that gave me the most trouble at first. One thing I keep reminding today's CCNP candidates about, though, is that [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Same Command, Different Results

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

As a CCNA or CCNP, one thing you've got to get used to is that change is constant. Cisco regularly issues new IOS versions, not to mention the many different kinds of hardware they produce! While it's always nice to have "the latest and the greatest" when it comes to routers, switches, firewalls, etc., we [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Caller ID Screening And Callback

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

As a CCNA and/or CCNP candidate, you've got to be able to spot situations where Cisco router features can save your client money and time. For example, if a spoke router is calling a hub router and the toll charges at the spoke site are higher than that of the hub router, having the [...]