CCNP - advice

Author

advice

ne0-reloaded

2004-01-27, 5:29 pm

i passed my ccna on 1-10-04 and see no point in takin a break (besides, the MS test seem 2 damn easy compared to Cisco's). any way, i dont have any routers or switches yet, but i want to study for my ccnp. i know having a real life lab will greatly help me, but will usin a router sim be good enough til i can afford a real one, and if so which ones would yall recomend (i got boson and netsim ones). also the 4 book cisco press book set is the best ccnp books out right? im prolly gonna start with the bsci test, so if anyone got any input, plz share

thanks

Dude

2004-01-28, 2:47 am

Router sim is good, if money is lacking. That is what I did. Cisco recommends the following order: Routing, Switching, Remote Access, Support.

bloodshotx

2004-01-29, 12:48 pm

CCNP is very hard and requires alot of work. If you plan to do this stuff in the future you must do it hands on. If you either buy some routers or pay money to rent routers for a day etc that is your best bet.

I spent nearly 5 hours a week in the lab just for remote access. A chapter a week. I took BCRAN and BSCI last semster together and nearly spent 20 hours a week on the routers...

Just trying to help

dumfart

2004-01-30, 7:37 pm

Simulators are only useful for CCNA level material; they are a waste of money for CCNP. I have seen just about all of them, and they all suck. There is no way that you can simulate true CCNP level situations. If there is no way that you can afford any equipment, try and find rental equipment. Obviously, renting a full-blown CCIE rack may be a little excessive; there must be companies out there that offer CCNP racks for a lower price.

ne0-reloaded

2004-01-30, 10:54 pm

how many routers and switches u think i need and what series.

dumfart

2004-01-31, 1:45 am

I would start with three 25XX series routers. As far as what models to buy, that would depend on your budget. Any 25XX routers with at least one ethernet interface would do the job. Depending on your budget, it might be nice to buy 2 2514s (two ethernet interfaces) plus another router (perhaps a 2501). Of course, a couple of 2503s (one ethernet, two serial, one bri) might be nice as well if you decide to add an ISDN simulator some day. Then again, if you can't afford those options, something along the lines of three 2501s would do you just fine. Shop around and see what you can find. Try and buy 25XX routers with 16D and 16F, if you can swing it; that way you can support any version of IOS that you need to. You can probably avoid routers like the 2522 if you are strapped for cash because you don't need a router with umpteen serial ports for most CCNP-level labs. After that, at least one IOS-based switch (two would be ideal). In order from highest price to lowest price would be 3550, 2950, 2924XL. The 2950 is nice because as far as layer two goes, it is very close to the 3550; there are only a few minor differences in commands. The 2924XLs are still a good choice due to their lower price; just be aware that even though 2924XLs are IOS too, not all of their commands are the same as the newer switches, for example: the commands to perform tasks such as channeling are different than 2950/3550s. I would also recommend the Cisco Press "CCNP Practical Studies" series of books to go along with your studies. Simulators will only help you with entering general commands; you will not get a true feeling of how the equipment really operates together with any simulator.

ne0-reloaded

2004-01-31, 1:54 pm

a friend of mine has some 2501's he said he'd sell me for cheap, i can probably get 3 for like 200. as for switches, ill look on ebay and see if i can find some.

u said to get some 25xx's with 16d and 16f, what exactly is that?
thanks

dumfart

2004-01-31, 2:15 pm

16mb DRAM 16mb Flash. You can always upgrade them later as long as they have new enough Boot ROMs. "New enough boot ROMs" will sometimes be different for different brands of memory. There are some great threads on Groupstudy about this; if you do a search over there, you will find all kinds of information about this. Good luck in your studies.

ne0-reloaded

2004-01-31, 2:23 pm

can someone link the site for the exam objectives covered in the ccnp exam? id like to know what ios version and which type of routers/switches are covered so i can buy items that'll best suit me. i checked out cisco's site but couldnt find anything.

thanks

bloodshotx

2004-02-02, 12:05 pm

It all depends on what you want to do in the CCNP.

For BSCI you need like 6 routers to complete some of the final labs. They integrate OSPF, RIPV2 RIP, EIGRP, IGRP, and different BGP AS's.

For Switching you need 2 2950's or any switch really, and a switch that supports MLS which is like a 4006. the newer 3500's support it I think. They need to support multicasting if you want to attempt that. Cisco AVVID is also in this I believe.

for BCRAN you need like an ADTRAN or some type of Frame relay, POTS emulator . Few routers, modems, isdn wics, and all sorts of stuff.

I haven't been to support yet but I assume you would use partialy all these for debugging.

All in all you would have to spent a good chunk of money if you want to do the labs. You could get away with a few 26xx or 25xx series routers and do about half of the labs.

ne0-reloaded

2004-02-02, 4:15 pm

damn thats a lot of shit to buy. u think i can get away with just 3 2501's and 2 switches? money's real tight right now (collge).

thanks

dumfart

2004-02-02, 9:43 pm

Three 25XX routers and a switch or two are all you need in order to practice most CCNP concepts. You don't need to run wild with equipment to learn most of the concepts. Do yourself a favor and look at the CCNP Practical Studies series of books from Cisco Press. Relax and enjoy the ride; CCNP is not all that hard if you approach it with the right attitude; you sound like you will do just fine.

ne0-reloaded

2004-02-02, 9:50 pm

ok cool. bloodshotx made it seem like i needed half of cisco's stock to complete the lab

ne0-reloaded

2004-02-03, 1:30 pm

whats the likelihood of cisco updating the ccnp exam in the next year or so? i wanna buy the 642-xxx series of cisco press's ccnp book (4 in the set), but im afraid they'll upgrade the exam real soon and add a bunch of new objectives.

thanks

bloodshotx

2004-02-03, 4:51 pm

They just got done updating all there exams...proabbly won't update for atleast 3 years I would say.

richhillkc

2004-02-09, 11:47 am

In preparing for my CCNP, I used several Cisco Interactive Mentor discs, mostly the Link State and BGP discs. I hadn't dealt with OSPF or BGP in work life, so the CIM's gave me a lot of good hands-on practice with the necessary IOS commands. The narrative is a little slow, but if you can forgive that, the CIM CD's work well for visual, tactile and auditory learners. They're no longer supported by Cisco, so you may need to work to find them, but I found them to be excellent.

ne0-reloaded

2004-02-09, 2:23 pm

2 questions. 1) where did u get the cd's from, and 2) howd u get pictures/icons under ur name?

thanks

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