Passing The Cisco CCNA Exam: An Illustrated Guide To Router Modes

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

When you're getting started on your CCNA studies, learning the different router modes is key to passing your Intro and ICND exams. But keeping those modes straight can be very difficult. (At least it was for me!) Let's take a look at the various router modes you'll need to know about to pass your CCNA, [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Home Lab Assembly Case Study

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Part of your CCNA / CCNP education is deciding what network topology to use when you're putting together your home lab. Some of you are starting with one or two routers or switches, while others are starting with more. A customer recently sent me a list of his Cisco routers and switches that [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Using 2520 Routers

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

I know from experience that part of the excitement and anxiety of putting together your own CCNA / CCNP home lab is deciding what to buy! While you can make a workable home lab out of almost any combination of Cisco routers and switches, some routers are better suited for home lab work than [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: The 2503 Router

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

I know from experience that part of the excitement and anxiety of putting together your own CCNA / CCNP home lab is deciding what to buy! While you can make a workable home lab out of almost any combination of Cisco routers and switches, some routers are better suited for home lab work than others [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Planning Ahead For IE Study

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Candidates preparing to pass the CCNP exams are putting together Cisco home labs like never before. With CCNA and CCNP home lab equipment more affordable than ever, candidates have realized the importance of working on real Cisco routers and switches on the way to earning their certifications.
One question I get often from CCNP candidates [...]

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: The Passive Interface Command And OSPF

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

To pass the BSCI exam and become a CCNP, you have to be aware of the proper use of passive interfaces. You learned about passive interfaces in your CCNA studies, but here we'll review the basic concept and clear up one misconception regarding passive interfaces and OSPF.
Configuring an interface as passive will still allow [...]

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: RIP Update Packet Authentication

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

When you earned your CCNA, you thought you learned everything there is to know about RIP. Close, but not quite! There are some additional details you need to know to pass the BSCI exam and get one step closer to the CCNP exam, and one of those involves RIP update packet authentication.
You're familiar with some [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Troubleshooting Direct Serial Connections

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

A prime topic of your CCNA and CCNP CIT exams will be connecting Cisco routers directly via their Serial interfaces, and while the configuration is straightforward, there are some vital details and show commands you must know in order to pass the exams and configure this successfully in production and home lab networks. Let's take [...]

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Not All Static Routes Are Created Equal

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

As a CCNP candidate, as a CCNA, and in getting ready to pass the BSCI exam, you may be tempted to breeze through your static route studies, or even skip them! That's because static routes are easy enough to configure, and as long as you remember the syntax of the ip route command, you're in [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Frame Relay Encapsulation Types

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

When you're studying to pass the Cisco CCNA and CCNP certification exams, you quickly learn that there's always something else to learn. (You'll really pick up on this in your CCIE studies, trust me!) Today we'll take a look at an often-overlooked topic in Frame Relay, the encapsulation type. You don't exactly [...]