Cisco CCNA Certification: Error Detection vs. Error Recovery

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Passing the CCNA, Intro, and ICND exam is all about knowing and noticing the details. (Which makes perfect sense, since becoming a master networking administrator or engineer is also about noticing the details!) One such detail knows the difference between error detection and error recovery. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, [...]

CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Assembling Your Cisco Home Lab

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

A CCNA or CCNP candidate who wants to be totally prepared for their exams is going to put together a home lab to practice on. With used Cisco routers and switches more affordable and plentiful then ever before, there’s really no excuse to not have one!
With the many different models available, there is some [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Frame Relay BECNs and FECNs

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

BECNs and FECNs aren’t just important to know for your Cisco CCNA and CCNP certification exams - they’re an important part of detecting congestion on a Frame Relay network and allowing the network to dynamically adjust its transmission rate when congestion is encountered.
The Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN, pronounced “feckon”) bit is set to zero [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Using 2520 Routers

Wednesday, January 7th, 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: Routing On A Frame Relay Switch

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

When you’re preparing for CCNA and CCNP exam success, the best investment you can make is to put together your own home lab. There is no better way to learn Cisco technologies and prepare for the CCNA, BSCI, BCMSN, CIT, and other exams than by working with the many protocols and services you’ll need [...]

Passing The CCNA and CCNP: Home Lab Shopping On Ebay

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

Whether you’re just getting ideas for your Cisco home lab or adding to your existing lab, ebay is a great place to get ideas for your lab as well as pick up some great bargains.
Of course, the internet being what it is, there are always going to be a few people looking to take your [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Labs: Developing Troubleshooting Skills

Friday, August 1st, 2008

CCNA / CCNP candidates are going to be drilled by Cisco when it comes to troubleshooting questions. You’re going to have to be able to analyze configurations to see what the problem is (and if there is a problem in the first place), determine the meaning of different debug outputs, and show the ability [...]

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Tutorial: Home Lab Assembly Case Study

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

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: Cabling Your Access Server

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

A Cisco home lab is an invaluable study tool when you’re preparing for CCNA and CCNP exam success. Once you’ve gotten a couple of routers and switches, you’ll quickly get tired of moving that blue console cable every time you want to configure a different device. The solution to this problem is purchasing [...]

Cisco Certification: The “Secret” Key To Getting Your CCNA And CCNP

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Whether you’re working on your CCNA or CCNP, Cisco certification exams are the most demanding computer certification exams in the IT field. Cisco exams are not a test of memorization, they’re a test of your analytical skills. You’ll need to look at configurations and console output and analyze them to identify problems and [...]