CCDA Studies

I've been digging into network design specifically for the last two months now. I've started and completed the Top-Down Network Design book which was a a great primer to the certification material.

I'm now working through the CCDA FLG book which is really helping nail down the topics for the DEGN exam. I'm taking my time for this exam since I'm still fresh off of the CCNP R&S certification. Which is a nice change of pace since I wanted to knock out the CCNP cert before the new tracks started this year.

After the FLG book I'll finally hit the OCG book and then maybe finally prep for the exam itself. I'm on the fence on getting the CCDP Arch books and/or CCNA Security books for exam prep but we shall see. Along the way I'm going to constantly be hitting up the Cisco SRND documentations to so that I fully understand the topics I'm learning.

Design is very interesting to me and something I've wanted to do but was always scared of. Hopefully over the next few months I can flesh out my blog more with the topics I've been learning. It's been years since I've really talked about my progress due to the countless other blogs out there.

CCNP Passed!

As of October 28th 2014 I'm officially a CCNP! After my ROUTE exam I jumped right into the SWITCH material. SWITCH was a lot easier for me to digest as I work with Layer 2/3 switches almost on a daily basis. This exam alone helped my day to day tasks tremendously along with giving me the confidence I need to tackle a few data center projects currently going on. The SWITCH exam took me 3-4 months to complete.

Today I finished up my CCNPby taking the TSHOOT exam, which was actually pretty fun. This is basically a lab simulation that tests your troubleshooting skills using CCNP level knowledge. If you aced ROUTE and SWITCH than this exam should be a breeze for you. I studied for about 2 months for this exam. I reviewed ROUTE topics since there was the 4 month gap between diving into the routing material.

With the SDN craziness on the way, I'm going to spend the next 3 months digging into Python. This will also give me a much needed break from certifications. After that I'm going to start hitting the Cisco designs certs for the rest of the year. I acknowledge that my design skillset is my biggest weakness. While I do not expect to walk away being able to take on a Network Architect type position, I do believe this will give me the foundation I need to head in that direction.

CCNP Route Test: Yes it's Hard, and Yes I Passed (Barely)

I've completed the CCNP Route exam yesterday. Yes it's just as difficult as you think, but not impossible. I highly recommend the CCNP Simplified series along with their 101 labs, you truly do have to understand why each routing protocol works the way it does.

After passing this exam, I now understand why there is the CCIE. I simply had more questions rather than answers as I progressed through my study material.

Next up is the SWITCH exam, I previewed the book material I will use which is the Cisco OCG and the CCNP Simplified series. I'm at a lost about what I'm going to do for setting up my switching lab. Setting up a routing lab is simple, just use GNS3 but of course GNS3 doesn't support switching yet in their software.

I have one lonely Cisco 3550 at home from my CCNP: Voice studying. I think I'm going to bring my 3550 to work and borrow whatever layer 3/2 switches I can find to setup a lab. Either that or Ebay but I'm trying to avoid that if possible. I'm still on the fence on rather or not I should sell the 3-4 routers sitting in my rack doing nothing, only time will tell.

I plan to contribute to this blog more which I've abandoned for quite a while due to life in general.