(Part 2) Best cisco certification guides according to redditors

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We found 573 Reddit comments discussing the best cisco certification guides. We ranked the 139 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Top Reddit comments about Cisco Certification Guides:

u/Jank1 · 20 pointsr/networking

I would also like to take the time to plug a few resources, if I may, that have greatly assisted me throughout my career.

  1. Of course, Cisco Press. Wendell Odom especially.
  2. Non-Cisco Press, Todd Lamlle's CCNA book is great!
  3. CBT Nuggets!! Jeremy Cioara and Keith Barker.
  4. Tech Exams Forums!! For answers to your questions regarding certification, study material, etc, from a variety of vendor certs. Or, to just read motivating success stories!!
  5. Internetworking Experts (INE!) That link should direct you to their free CCNA video course. If that doesn't work for you, simply register an account with them and search for the CCNA video course.
  6. Thomas Limoncelli's The Practice of Systems and Network Administration
  7. Gary A Donahue's Network Warrior
  8. Jeff Doyle's CCIE Professional Development Routing TCP/IP Vol. 1 or 2
  9. Douglas E. Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP
  10. GNS3!! Free Cisco Router and ASA Emulation!! Just make sure you have access to Cisco IOS software!
  11. Andrew S. Tanenbaum's Computer Networks.
  12. Jeremy Stretch and PacketLife!! Also, Jeremy's network Cheat Sheets!
  13. Firewall.cx!!
  14. Cisco's Command Lookup Tool! Requires login, but nonetheless, a great resource for your Cisco engineers when you just NEED to know how the hell a particular command works.
  15. Priscilla Oppenheimer's Top-Down Network Design
  16. I've heard the folks at /r/networking are pretty legit.
u/CBRjack · 14 pointsr/networking

> I'm very new to BGP, and there's not a lot of information out there on this topic.

That is absolutely not true, there are tons and tons of information available regarding proper BGP configuration and design :

BGP Design and Implementation
Internet Routing Architecture
Practical BGP
Network Warrior 2

You should really try to understand BGP if you want to optimize your peering. Maybe look at getting someone with BGP experience onboard your project.

u/temjrpgh · 9 pointsr/technology

Two books I'd like to recommend to you:
Network Warrior

CCNA Exam Cram

and a piece of software:
GNS3

Network Warrior is the most useful book I've found for day to day practicality. Exam Cram is to the point regarding the passing of the examination.

GNS3 will allow you to practice building small networks and issuing the commands that you read about in both books. You will need IOS images to run it.

There's lots of resources on the net to refer to also.

Piece of advice: learn what broken looks like as well as fixed in regard to configurations

u/ABTechie · 5 pointsr/IT_CERT_STUDY

One is networking and one is servers with some networking. Get your MCP and setup a home lab that has some Cisco equipment in it and VMs running on Hyper-V.

/r/homelab

Setup a domain in your lab. Work on Powershell commands. Use a Cisco router and a cisco switch.

Cisco Packet Tracer
https://www.netacad.com/web/about-us/cisco-packet-tracer

Six Free Cisco Labs
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2223176/cisco-subnet/six-free-cisco-labs.html

If you are interested in SCCM, check out guides here, https://www.windows-noob.com/forums/portal/.

Free CCNA training
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/15662

Microsoft study tips
https://www.reddit.com/r/IT_CERT_STUDY/comments/3v1pip/70410_70411_70346_tips_tricks/

Cisco CCNA in 60 Days
http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-CCNA-Days-William-Browning/dp/0956989292

u/km_irl · 5 pointsr/networking

Other books I can recommend from O'Reilly are JunOS Enterprise Routing, JunOS Enterprise Switching, and Juniper SRX Series. I bought them all as epubs when O'Reilly was still selling them directly and I have found them very useful for my day to day work with Juniper gear.

u/jumpingoff_ · 5 pointsr/ccna
u/north0 · 5 pointsr/networking

Implementing Cisco IP Routing is widely considered to be a better book than the actual official ROUTE exam book. Covers the same material but I think it's written better.

u/taranasus · 4 pointsr/web_design

The CCNA one is in very high demand. I took part in a lecture held by Todd Lammle at Birmingham City University a few months ago. He basically said the best jobs to get into right now are communications, virtualization and web aplication development. It's kind of obvious really considering the trend towards cloud computing, on demand services and most importantly converged networks.

If you want to do the CCNA I would recommend skipping CompTIA N+ all together. But be warned CCNA is not something you can jump into that easily. From my experience, which isn't that much but it is a little, best books for the CCNA are the ICND1, ICND2 and Todd Lammle's CCNA Study Guide. I strongly recommend taking a course for the CCNA as the practice is not easily achieved at home (lack of equipment unless you have money to spend on second hand cisco routers, switches, cables, etc.).

Other than that, best of luck!

As for the Microsoft ones... meh, a book and a few virtual machines should get you sorted.

u/BouncingSols · 3 pointsr/netsec

Get the CCENT book and sign up to take the exam. It's a great way to start, also check out the CBTNuggests videos for CCENT. They do a great way of explaining everything and help with the test taking process.

u/studoggery · 3 pointsr/Cardinals

For CCENT/CCNA, the labs can cover everything which is listed in the syllabus online for that test. For CCNA, your layer 2 stuff (i.e learning and forwarding, vlans, etc), and L3 stuff (subnetting, major routing protocols such as OSPF, EIGRP, inter-vlan routing, etc...). Labs, in general, could be some sort of troubleshooting scenario, where something is wrong and you have figure out the problem and fix it, or simply just figure out what the problem is. It could also be something where they give you a scenario with specs, and a topology, and they want you to configure the devices to meet the specs.

As far as resources which I used to study, I solely used this book called CCNA in 60 days. With this book you can either do the single test to get the CCNA, or the 2 test route, which it sounds like the option you're going for. The place I work at happened to have some old equipment they weren't using anymore so I had real hardware to practice on.

u/tee_and_ess · 3 pointsr/ccna

i really liked 101 labs for CCNA from Browning https://www.amazon.com/101-Labs-Cisco-CCNA-Exam/dp/154810485X Went well with packet tracer, and if you are really working on knowing routing and switching and not just cramming for the test, i think it is worth the time and money.

u/OrangeTidyWhip · 3 pointsr/cyberpatriot

Hello there, the best advice I can give you for learning packet tracer is to just get any lab from the Internet or create your own and just type the commands in over and over again until it becomes muscle memory. That's how I learned it at least.

You might know that other teams have special coaches for each thing, which is true for the most part, but I can tell you that as someone who couldn't afford that kind of luxury it is completely possible for you to learn every single thing they want you to do through just mindless command practice.

Now you might be thinking "well that only helps if I already know the commands" which is true which is why I encourage you to either Google everything you saw over the past year, or alternatively if you can buy:

the ccna security command guide

the ccna routing and switching portable command guide

Or

the ccnp command guide which is a little less useful since it's much more advanced

Then after buying it or remembering the last year of competition, take every command and follow the second tip above.

Now as far as the cisco tutorials provided by cyberpatriot go, they are useful but won't give you any kind of edge over other teams. There are some labs though I can't recall where they were from, they were provided by cisco, but they showed tutorials on how to do things. I personally never used them but I've seen teams that get a lot from them.

Now let me be honest with you, my first year (junior year) I sucked really bad at packet tracer, I just Google everything the labs were asking and while we did make it to nationals that year I think we placed 11th or 10th in the cisco challenge. This hurt a bit so I just made the arbitrary list above so that I would learn how to do everything as efficiently as possible. Which worked very well and allowed us to get first place the next year. All it took was me just focusing on nothing but cisco and drilling myself whenever I could.

So I guess to summarize it, I'd say that the books and constant repetition where what made me good at it,but there is one more thing that I didn't mention in the guide because I didn't think people would care.

The "?" Command is the god and savior of all commands. I won't go too in depth but it basically can do 3 things:

  1. If you type a command such as hostname and put a question mark without a space next to it, like this "hostname?", and then press enter it will let you know if the command you typed actually exists on that level. This works with any command.

  2. If you type the command and put a space after and then type question mark, like this "hostname ?", and then press enter it will show you all available options to type after that command.

  3. If you type just the question mark without any command in front of it, it will show you all commands available at that level.

    Since this is more difficult to explain that it is to do I recommend just going to a packet tracer or a device and just testing it out, then you'll understand the beauty of it.

    For your last question, yes it would help to have a member of the team be a flex pick between cisco and whatever else, not necessarily for the packet tracer, but for the quiz. While you mindlessly slave away on the packet tracer they can start on the quiz and ensure you get every answer right. I tried to do it solo junior year and as I mentioned above, it worked but not as well as I thought it would.

    If anything I said wasn't clear or you still have other questions don't be afraid to write another comment or PM me.

    Just remember that while I can give you these tips to succeed I can't force you to do anything, it is up to you to put in the work. You can't get very far in this competition without putting in the work. Good luck.
u/Kushain · 3 pointsr/techsupport

For A+ I always recommend Mike Myers' book and Professor Messer's videos.

CCNA, I used Wendell Odom's books and the CBT Nuggets videos.

u/NiklasBostrom · 3 pointsr/Juniper

Hey u/mertino11,

To answer your questions:

  1. Is there a fast track with Juniper since I've got my CCNP or do I have to begin from scratch? You would have to begin from scratch. Starting with the JNCIA (CCENT Level), JNCIS-ENT (CCNA Level), and JNCIP-ENT (CCNP Level).
  2. What training methods do you guys use to get these certificates? CBTNuggets does not go into enough detail for the JNCIS-ENT and later exams. Juniper is known not to spoonfeed information. Ultimately, you will do a lot of research and or reading. I recommend purchasing the following three books; JUNOS Enterprise Switching: A Practical Guide to JUNOS Switches and Certification, Junos Enterprise Routing: A Practical Guide to Junos Routing and Certification, and The Unofficial JNCIE-ENT Prep Guide. You can also download a free Juniper Lab Workbook.
  3. Are there virtual simulations with Juniper devices like in Cisco where they have Packet Tracer, GNS3, VIRL etc? Juniper does not offer anything like Packet Tracer. JUNOS will work with GNS3, but you will be responsible for obtaining the licenses. If your budget allows, I recommend getting real equipment.
  4. Are all exams (besides Expert level) based on only MPC questions or also simlets / drag n drops etc? I recommend signing up for JUNOS Genius, it is free and provides several practice test.
  5. And is there a criteria to pass? Like have 50 good / 65 questions? Juniper, like Cisco, does not release how they grade the exams.
u/til_you_rock · 3 pointsr/networking

There is a Cisco Press book, just for SISAS though. The other three have a publication date of Summer 2015 and are sight unseen.

https://www.amazon.com/Security-SISAS-300-208-Official-Certification/dp/1587144263/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473259149&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=cisco+press+senss

Most of the reviews caution that the book is written on older ISE and doesn't cover ACS at all even though it's on the exam.

I've personally got an INE.com all access pass for two years, and they have a video bootcamp for the lot; I'm hoping that will see me through.

u/zefyear · 3 pointsr/AskComputerScience

TL;DR


Books

TCP/IP by No Starch Press - Covers everything from layering (the OSI model), transmission media, error detection and correction, sliding windows to congestion control and much, much more.

Routing TCP/IP By Cisco Press - Long considered a bible of routing. Both an excellent reference (I still use it today as a programmer) and study material should in case you really want to crank up the masochism.

Optimal Routing -Another excellent book covering the mechanics of large internetwork installations.

Software

Nmap - you too can discover just how easy illegally breaking into networked computer systems can be.

Netcat - A classic tool for writing network IO to a classical descriptor

tcpdump - Does what it says on the tin

wireshark - a graphical version of tcpdump

---------------------------

the tl; part


Oh Jeez, where do you even begin.

I was certified at the Cisco CCNP level prior to becoming a professional programmer. If you dive into Cisco, you'll start to get familiar with the "real deal" of how things work across the internet, especially as you move onto higher certifications. This is discussing things like core routing infrastructure like BGP, interior routing protocols like IS/IS & OSPF. Cisco is also famous for presenting a view of the world that... benefits Cisco exclusively. This means that Cisco-sanctioned protocols will be overemphasized, this means you'll be presented with a view of information security stuck firmly in 90s network centrist view, Cisco will play down application-level, memory-corruption and the more ordinary "leegit p0rn here" security (unless they are talking about IDS systems for catching script kiddies -- they can sell you that!).

You'll also, particularly as you move up the stack, become attached to the "Cisco way", which means your understanding of networking is less "protocols and packets" and more "press this key" (you'll know how to "type things in" to get the right results, but maybe not why they work).

This leads me to the most salient point - Frankly, there is simply no better way to really understand networking than be the person writing the tools rather than "getting the concepts" . The average programmer might not understand networking, but the average network oriented programmer is in a completely different league than a Cisco tech (this reminds me of an amusing anecdote wherein I leaned a little too heavy on the Cisco docs and managed to flap out totally invalid internal BGP routes and shut off the internet for a small corner of southwestern Colorado for a few minutes!)

If you've got a background in programming, things will also be a lot easier. Take STP (spanning tree protocol) for example - an extremely common feature of even small networks today. You'll be covering it extensively in CCNA material. Many network engineers struggle with understanding it's rules of resolution, the real meaning of it's various configuration options. As a programmer, you are already comfortable with thinking about systems like networks as graphs, you might also be familiar with the spanning or minimum spanning tree algorithms already. You'll have the principles down before you even sit down and the hardest part might be remembering what Cisco IOS chooses to call your parameters of choice.

On the other hand, even with very "low level" network programming, with sockets for example. You are dealing with a huge, layers of abstraction on top of things. The nomenclature doesn't quite match that of network engineers and the way it "really works" is totally hidden from you. You'll have to really dive in after the fact.

u/_chrisjhart · 3 pointsr/ccna

You're correct - the ICND1 (specifically, ICND1 100-105) is the first test in the CCNA series. By passing the exam, you will be a Cisco Certified Entry-level Network Technician, or CCENT. After you get your CCENT, you can take the ICND2 (200-105) exam to obtain your Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing & Switching certification.

To get started, I highly recommend picking up the CCENT/CCNA ICND1 100-105 Official Cert Guide, by Wendell Odom. It's an incredibly informative source of information. A lot of people also recommend Todd Lammle's CCENT Study Guide, which is generally regarded as being a bit easier to read than Odom's book, but doesn't quite go into the level of detail needed for the exam. Regardless of which book you decide to go for (or if you decide to go for both!), make sure you take notes while reading them, study the notes afterwards, and try to demonstrate concepts that you learn in Cisco's Packet Tracer software. Packet Tracer is available to download for free, so long as you create a Cisco Networking Academy account (which is also free.)

Let us know if you have questions!

u/metac0rtex · 3 pointsr/Juniper

I then suggest this book outside of fasttrack material

http://www.amazon.com/Junos-Enterprise-Switching-Harry-Reynolds/dp/059615397X

u/LeafSamurai · 2 pointsr/ccna

I would purchase this book here.

I would also start labbing using Packet Tracer and GNS3. I recommend this book here for labs.

Just giving you some quick and dirty options, and the books I recommend above are tailored to get you ready in a short amount of time. Good luck.

u/0xBADB17E · 2 pointsr/cybersecurity

Seems like it supports port mirroring, though I have zero experience with this line of Netgear switches. As for the firewall, that's something found on routers rather than switches, as they generally serve a different purpose.

If you've got the money to spare, you might want to pick up the books for Cisco's CCNA Cyber Ops, and consider writing the exam in future. It'll help cement a base of knowledge and look great on a resume.

u/1l536 · 2 pointsr/Cisco

Buy 101 labs for CCNA might be a little outdated but it helped me

101 Labs for the Cisco CCNA Exam https://www.amazon.com/dp/154810485X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_MAdRBbSQ04DX4

u/Squiblez · 2 pointsr/ccna

How are the practice exams that are included with his books? Ive taken the prep classes for ICND1 through my community college and was planning on picking up this book to run through as a refresher before i take the exam.

u/Cheeze_It · 2 pointsr/networking

Generally I go here if I want a good overview and operational view.

TCP, UDP.

If I want to go for the long haul and depth....I start here (I used this list as it's nice and abbreviated of what does what in RFC land). Reading through those will give you a much better idea of how things were "supposed" to work. How they work with a vendor will always be up to interpretation, but the vendors are interpreting those RFCs.

There are quite a few books on Amazon that will teach it to you as well. I honestly would consider getting them too. This, this, this, this.

There's so many good books but those should give you that deep understanding.

u/GoldieTheMack · 2 pointsr/ccnp

I went with this book coupled with CBT Nuggets. I also got this book, and for $10 it's alright.

Should also mention that CBT Nuggets doesn't cover any of the remote worker stuff.

u/bbrown515 · 2 pointsr/networking

$13 used on Amazon

u/JayTheTico · 2 pointsr/ccna

That's because that book is an abomination. I read it dilligently for months. Then started taking practice exams. Oh look, a whole bunch of stuff never mentioned in OCG. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem?

CCNA Security 210-260 Official Cert Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/1587205661/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_sP1Byb84VZKKK

Everyone. Read the reviews. Made me mad enough to stop studying. Only now getting back into it. I've watched all of Chris Bryant's video courses on the material and still feel like I know nothing. I had to look long and hard for suitable PT labs and found some today. Went through a few and am starting to piece it all together.

u/mechman991 · 2 pointsr/ccna

Take a look at some of the links on the sidebar to the right of this subreddit. There is some good resources there.
I would also highly recommend Cisco Packet Tracer. This will give you a feel for the environment you'll actually be testing in.
If you have the money for books, I would recommend this book.

u/bmcgahan · 2 pointsr/ccna

Yes, you can have more than one ABR in both stub and totally stubby areas, as well as NSSA and totally NSSA. Like you said, it'll prefer the cost to the closer ABR, as long as its comparing the same LSA type (e.g. 3 vs. 3 or 5 vs. 5).

You can actually combine both stub and totally stub, or NSSA and totally NSSA, as only the ABR decides if the area is "totally" stubby or NSSA. One use case for this is OSPF traffic engineering based on route type, as opposed to route cost.

The OSPF path selection algorithm quickly starts to get complicated when you look into the deeper details of it. It's definitely beyond the scope of CCNA, but it's a key point if you're trying to fully understand how OSPF works.

I have a bunch of more detailed write-ups on OSPF path selection if you're more interested in its inner workings, such as: Understanding OSPF External Route Path Selection and OSPF Path Selection Challenge.

Also if you haven't already read it, you should definitely check out Routing TCP/IP Volume 1. It's the definitive text on how routing protocols work in Cisco IOS.

u/g2g079 · 2 pointsr/techsupport

Yes it does. The lab in the back of 31 Days Before Your CCNA and packet tracer was great practice for the CCNA.

u/ekim4ds · 2 pointsr/networking

I as well went to school for Network Engineering and am working Entry-Level networking now. These are the books that have helped me so far.

Network Warrior

Network+

CCNA Library

TCP/IP Illustrated

I've read a few others, but these were my favorite ones. The Network+ book helped me obtain my Network+ Cert, then the CCNA Library helped me obtain my CCENT and CCNA. Great Books!

I would only recommend that Netowork+ book though if you plan on getting into Cisco stuff because the author is a Cisco guy and tends to start rambling about Cisco technologies that you will learn for the CCNA.

u/Abrer · 2 pointsr/ccna

Odom 100-101

Lammle 100-101

There are 200-101 and/or 200-120 versions of both books, but I'm sure you can dig those up pretty easily on your own.

The material I mentioned (and hated) in my first post were from Cisco's Net Acad. The classroom pace is really slow for the most part. I can't speak too much for the Lammle book, but Odom had me up and running really quickly. Lammle's is probably easier to digest.

I think I get your issue, I had a similar one. Best thing you can do is take things into your own hands. Do your own labs / exercises and experiment. I'm sure you've heard of Wireshark. If you have the hardware in class (or use VMs) do some simple packet captures. An easy one would be capturing the traffic from a telnet session from your machine to a router / switch. You'll see everything (and I do mean everything) and it'll hopefully solidify your understanding of the basic (important) concepts. Don't know the current curriculum but if you're early into the course you'll recognize Source / Destination IP and MAC addresses action along with port #s. Could do a topology like VM --> Switch --> Router to poke around and see how switches forward traffic. It's easy to do and enlightening.

And if by wiring switches and routers is an issue (I'm assuming straight vs crossover) what helped me was thinking about the layers of devices. This isn't 100% accurate, but for the basic devices (routers, workstations, hubs(lol), switches) use a straight if the devices work on different layers and use a crossover for same-layer devices. Hub is actually Layer 1, but group it with the switch for cabling.

Layer 3: Workstations / Routers

Layer 2: Switches

Switch to switch = crossover (both work on the L2 level)

Switch to hub = crossover

Router to workstation = crossover (both work in the L3 level)

Workstation to switch = straight

Router to switch = straight

And for CCNA you'll mostly care about Layers 4 and down, layers 2 and 3 are most important. 4 = ports / TCP or UDP. 3 = IP. 2 = MAC. 1 = physical (fiber, ethernet, serial)

Apologies for the small novel. The more you work with it (self labs!) the better you'll grasp the concepts.

u/Iapetos · 2 pointsr/Cisco

If you are going to pursue the single CCNA test, you should definitely get Tod Lammle's CCNA Study guide. He writes some of the best books for self study.

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Certified-Network-Associate-640-802/dp/0470901071/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

If you are going to pursue the 2 test route for CCNA, here are the books to get.

ICND 1

http://www.amazon.com/CCENT-Certified-Networking-Technician-640-822/dp/0470247029/ref=pd_sim_b4

ICND 2

http://www.amazon.com/ICND2-Official-Certification-640-816-640-802/dp/158720181X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c

If you can, sign up for the Cisco Net Academy, it's a great course.

u/network_janitor · 2 pointsr/ccnp

I think these two books will really help you fully understand IGPs, EGPs, and BGP.

Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1 (2nd Edition) by Jeff Doyle
http://www.amazon.com/Routing-TCP-IP-1-2nd/dp/1587052024/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320531876&sr=8-1

Routing TCP/IP, Volume II by Jeff Doyle
http://www.amazon.com/Routing-TCP-CCIE-Professional-Development/dp/1578700892/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1320531876&sr=8-2

The books have a ton of information and are easy to read. I want to be Jeffy Doyle when I grow up. :P

u/drakontas · 1 pointr/networking

Alright -- given that, you have a lot of learning ahead, and hopefully your friend/mentor/referral truly understands that.

Don't ever try to claim you know something when you've never heard the term -- never be afraid to ask questions and always seek to clarify things proactively rather than figuring you'll catch up on it later. Be prepared to drink from the firehose constantly and to feel like you're inadequate, that you know less than everyone around you, and to question whether you're doing the right thing daily. But be careful that you recognize when you are making progress to avoid the lingering effects of Imposter Syndrome as you grow your career. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome

If you're into reading and don't mind reading 500+ pages in the next 3 weeks, I'll recommend the following books. Understand that reading these will merely expose you to the topics discussed in order to have the training not be the very first time you're ever hearing basic terms. Don't try to actually do all of the exercises in the books or you will never finish them -- this is exposure and consideration only; if you have enough time, go back and re-read things you struggled with or want to learn more about.

2-book CCNA study guide: https://www.amazon.com/CCNA-Routing-Switching-Complete-Certification/dp/1119375126/

Network+ study guide: https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Network-Guide-Sixth-N10-006/dp/0071848223/

I don't know much about blogs or videos available, but keep an eye out for those.

Good luck!

u/bw2002 · 1 pointr/computing

CCNA is worth getting, but whether it's worth the university cost is up to you.

I bought this book and will be doing it on my own. It comes with online videos, practice tests and labs.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956989292

u/gex80 · 1 pointr/Cisco

Whoa Whoa slow down there Dingleberry.

First off. Good that you are interested in IT. But IT is huge and there are so many aspects to it. I suggest starting off with something like the CompTIA A+. That will give you the base knowledge you need to know to be able to troubleshoot many everyday end user problems. By base knowledge I mean the thought process and methodology. IT isn't predictable. There are 100s if not millions of cases where following X directions is supposed to give you Y results but it doesn't because something that seems completely unrelated is causing the issue. The A+ helps put you in the correct mindset.

The CompTIA A+ you can just pick up the book for it, sit and read it. It isn't a class and is very entry level. There are classes for it but I personally advise against it. I read the book and took the test my first year in college. But I was already fixing problems on my own. It just supplemented what I knew and taught me more.

What ever anyone says about the A+ being easy is semi true. I can promise you that anyone who thinks they know their stuff does not know everything. That also includes A+ material which again is basic. Everyone who reads those books will learn something. But for seasoned people it can be boring since a lot of it is rehashed info they know from experience. The A+ is conceptual and the methods taught are not written in stone. Also the test is performing troubleshooting the ComTIA way.

For example a common troubleshooting tip for network connectivity issue such as not being able to get online is something as simple as checking to make sure the ethernet cable is plugged in. And CompTIA says that should always be the first thing you check. This is something basic that many people overlook because in my experience very rarely the issue is the cable not being plugged in.

Don't skip it. It will be your building blocks. You don't have to take the test. But it will help you get your foot in the door into a help desk position.

The Cisco Net Acad is good for getting fundamentals of networking in the Cisco world and is training toward the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). Meaning the scope is very limited. You will learn how a network works in general. Meaning the how information gets from point A to point B and theory behind why it works. But then it will take a sharp turn on to Cisco network equipment. I suggest reading a Sybex's Net+ book by Todd Lammle. The Net+ is also by CompTIA but focuses on a MUCH MUCH broader spectrum of networking and troubleshooting networks. For example, the Cisco course isn't really going to dive into this like token rings, MAUs, ALOHA, DSL, DSLAMs, Cable, and other tech. The Cisco learning path is more, here is what a network is, here is why it works, here are some general things that apply to all networks, and now let configure a Cisco switch and a Cisco router, and finally let's troubleshoot common Cisco problems that people run into.

Use the Cisco classes to build on your Net+ knowledge. I'm not saying to take the CompTIA A+ and Net+ exams, but at least study the material. Because it sounds like you aren't really sure what you want to split off to. If you go straight for the Cisco class, you will learn nothing about computers because Cisco doesn't care about what desktop/laptop/server you use for this level of information.

Being well rounded in IT is more valuable than being a specialist who only knows one thing in terms of job opportunities. But from what I've seen specialists make more money if you can find a job for that specialization.

Now to answer your 3 questions.

  1. Read a Net+ book. It will teach you all the basics you need to know. There will be some overlap in the beginning but that is about it. It's better for you to have a wider range of networking knowledge than to be locked into a specific vendor from the start. You have years ahead of you to worry about vendor specialization. But Cisco currently is the defacto networking equipment. Juniper is catching up and HP and Dell offer enterprise solutions that compete with Cisco.

  2. In my college it was a 4 semester class held once a week. I would talk to your community college about completion time. If you want to finish it faster, you might be best served by going to a trainer. But they are a lot more expensive and the material they will throw at you will be bigger chunks because they will expect you have some base knowledge. This is a great reason why you should read the Net+ books. It will get you familiar with general networking concepts so that when you take the class you're not sitting there with confused look on your face.

  3. There really isn't a guide. The Cisco Net Acad classes follow the exam Objectives for the CCNA. For you the major Certs would be the A+, Net+ and CCNA (ICND1 and ICND2). The CCNA is a cisco certification that can be taken 2 ways. The composite CCNA exam. And the ICND1 and 2. Passing ICND1 will give you the CCENT. It's basically part one of the test and saying that you can walk into a small business and get a basic network up and running. The ICND2 is the second part and will give you the full CCNA. The composite test is both the ICND1 and 2 put together.

    The composite test is meant for those with experience and is generally harder because you need to know less about a lot of topics where as the ICND1 and 2 you need to know a lot about less topics. You should take the 2 test route.

    These are the books I read. These are also the ones I mentioned above.

    Sybex ComTIA A+ http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Complete-Study-Guide-Application/dp/047048649X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372738911&sr=1-3&keywords=sybex+a%2B

    Sybex CompTIA Net+ by Todd Lammle http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Network-Study-Authorized-Courseware/dp/1118137558/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372738836&sr=1-8&keywords=todd+lammle

    Start off reading these two. These will teach you everything you need to know to understand what you are getting your self into. From there you can go into specialization such as Cisco. For that I used the Wendell Odom books which are the official Cisco books. Warning, the writing is dry.

    Cisco ICND 1 100-101 by Wendell Odom. http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-CCENT-ICND1-100-101-Official/dp/1587143852/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372739094&sr=1-2&keywords=wendell+odom+icnd1

    Cisco ICND 2 640-802 http://www.amazon.com/ICND2-Official-Certification-640-816-640-802/dp/158720181X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372739138&sr=1-4&keywords=wendell+odom+icnd2

    NOTE: I did not see the ICND 2 book by Wendell and Odom for the new exam objectives that will take effect later this year. So the first ICND 1 book will be valid for the new test. The second book will not be but it would not hurt you to read it until Wendell and Odom come out with an updated ICND 2 book.

    I've also heard good things about the Todd Lammle CCNA book but I do not see one for the newer exam objectives.
u/d0nk3y_schl0ng · 1 pointr/ccna

This is the version I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119375126/

It is focused on the current version of the tests. I assume a lot of the material will carry over to the new tests coming up in February 2020, but if you don't plan on getting certified before then you might want to wait for a newer revision.

u/Nikoli_Delphinki · 1 pointr/networking

There is a book called 31 Days Before Your CCNA. I've looked at it before and found it interesting (though not necessary).

u/CannibalAngel · 1 pointr/ccna

CCNA Cyber Ops (SECFND #210-250 and SECOPS #210-255) Official Cert Guide Library https://www.amazon.com/dp/1587145006/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_u0M9Ab48WGE34

u/euidzero · 1 pointr/sysadmin

2 weeks reading CCNA Exam Cram and then took+passed the exam. That was ten years ago though, so don't know how well the later book editions kept up with the exam. Made the exam pretty straightforward.

u/SippinPippen · 1 pointr/Cisco

Have you worked through the CBT Nugget Labs? I find them to be the most informative piece of material I have. My order is as follows

-ID topic from exam details


-Watch CBT nuggets for high level overview


-Work through the Lab once with Jeremy


-Read up on the material from the Teare book

-Work through lab again solo

u/prabuniwatakawaca · 1 pointr/ccna

Me too! In my college I've joined Cisco Networking Academy Program for 3 years. Maybe this book will help, but it's a little outdated.

u/devin_mm · 1 pointr/networking

I'm just about to re-read my copy of Implementing Cisco IP Routing so this would be good for me. One year until my CCNA expires so I need to get on top of it.

u/chunk_le_funk · 1 pointr/networking

Would you use this book.

u/AnalMinecraft · 1 pointr/ccnas

Sorry, OCG is Official Cert Guide, as in http://www.amazon.com/CCNA-Security-210-260-Official-Guide/dp/1587205661

And as a disclaimer, I took the old versions of the test last year, so I don't know how the new books are holding up. I know Chris Bryant says he updated his videos, but I haven't watched them to see. Generally speaking, though, you should get the majority of the material in what's out there. There's also a ton of material on Youtube and such, just to see a different point of view.

u/Epsilon748 · 1 pointr/networking

Apply for an internship with Cisco/Verizon/etc. I spent 9 months at Cisco (Network Admin) and now 3 months at Verizon (Network Security) and I've learned more than 3 years of college taught. Even a summer internship will help.

Otherwise I suggest taking your CCNA. I've found this book to be awesome.

u/tqizzle · 1 pointr/Cisco

I found this one for SISAS. But that is the only one I could find, the Cisco Store only has that one as well.

u/tomee638 · 1 pointr/Cisco

I did not complete all 4 of the CCNP Security exams, I've only taken 2 so far. And apparently you're able to sign up for them without having a CCNA Security because I did it.

As far as the books:
Here's 208:
https://www.amazon.com/Security-SISAS-300-208-Official-Certification/dp/1587144263/ref=oosr

And the other one I took before they revamped them to the new names. Do some research.

u/jaime_cal · 1 pointr/ccnp

Can't think of one. You should make it! =)

Actually: https://www.amazon.com/Routing-Switching-Portable-Command-Guide/dp/1587144344 I forgot I had this one.

u/silveraw · 1 pointr/ccna

Weird, I just bought those books from amazon. They also had an ebook as well.

https://www.amazon.com/CCENT-ICND1-100-105-Official-Guide-ebook/dp/B01FXXZE3G/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

u/krypt_o · 1 pointr/ccna

Does Odom's new CCNA Routing and Switching 200-125 Official Cert Guide Library cover 100-105 topics? Or do you also have to get CCENT/CCNA ICND1 100-105 Official Cert Guide?

Last set of Odom's CCNA books I bought came with both ICND1/2. Is this still the case?

u/red359 · 1 pointr/ccna

There are some books designed to supplement training, like this -> http://www.amazon.com/Days-Before-Your-Routing-Switching/dp/1587204630

u/howaminotme · 1 pointr/networking

I literally just passed my CCENT 2 weeks ago. I went home route and Used this book as a guide. I read through it maybe twice, and any sections that didn’t feel 100% on I would find other resources (mainly Cisco documentation) online to back it up. The Author is pretty good and thus far his CCNA material has been of the same standard.

My work was also kind enough to lend me a spare ISR 1921 that I took home and made mock configs with. I actually found that this really helped me, especially with the lab style questions on the exam.

u/Dawk1920 · 1 pointr/ccnp

I'm about to take Switch in a few weeks and have used a bunch of different materials. I would definitely recommend the OCG and Chris Bryant. Those two resources give you a ton of information but explain them in different fashions. I would also recommend The CCNP Portable Command Guide. It shows you how to configure anything you could think of. https://www.amazon.com/Routing-Switching-Portable-Command-Guide/dp/1587144344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487718761&sr=8-1&keywords=ccnp+portable+command+guide

u/jonw95 · 1 pointr/homelab

You don't need it. Go get Packet Tracer (enrollment is free):

https://www.netacad.com/courses/packet-tracer

Or GNS

https://www.gns3.com/

and this book

31 Days Before Your CCNA:


https://www.amazon.com/Days-Before-Your-Routing-Switching/dp/1587204630

You can also practice on your SG300 for for a lot of it.

​

Nice lab! How many watts do you burn on the kilawatt?

u/mdalin · 1 pointr/ccna

Sorry, fat fingered the hell out of that. I meant OCG. Official Certification Book. Specifically, this by Omar Santos. Just finished reading it cover-to-cover today. I'm, maybe, 50% ready to actually take the test. :-(

u/HighbulpOfDensity · 1 pointr/ccna

Have you tried a screenreader with an ebook? I've had students where it has helped, but others where it didn't. I'm just spitballing here.

It looks like there's an ebook version available for Kindle with text-to-speech enabled. I don't know how helpful it would be, but if it helps you follow along then it may be worth it.

u/Darth_Shitlord · 1 pointr/ccna

The cert guide listed above is a single book, but according to the info I see you need to pass 2 tests and the cert guide for the whole smash is this one: https://www.amazon.com/SECFND-210-250-210-255-Official-Library/dp/1587145006/

comments? am I imagining things?

u/Hytham- · 1 pointr/networking

Though already stated, I thought I would re-iterate to further solidfy:

  • Full mesh for iBGP is an absolute must unless you use next-hop-self
  • source from lo0 (loopback). This will increase redundancy and resiliency in case of a failure. Be sure to advertise lo0 via an IGP (OSPF or EIGRP. I personally prefer OSPF)
  • Route reflection is so, so much easier than forcing each peer to peer with the other

    Here is a nice basic paper on BGP:

    https://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~badri/552dir/papers/bgp/BGP-Case-Studies.pdf

    Here is another book I would highly recommend, though, it is far more advanced and technically not geared towards a beginner:
    BGP Design and Implementation by Zhang and Bartel
u/hmmschoool · 1 pointr/ccna

Is the Lammle's CCNA book the complete edition for 100-105 and 200-105? Also, it's 2017, is that fine?

u/pyvpx · 1 pointr/networking

Network Algorithmics

BGP Design and Implementation. I brought this on a boat, had drank two very, very large margaritas, and dropped it in the ocean. Re-ordered from Amazon before the boat returned to dock.

Internet Routing Architectures

Now here's the thing to keep in mind: it was 13 years ago when I started getting serious about networking. I'm sure if I was starting now I'd have read/bought probably a third less books, and probably a few different ones. My mantra has always been trying to really understand the foundations of protocols -- a very, very strong mental model. I'd say out of those books up there, Network Algorithmics was the most mentally invigorating. There's another Cisco Press book that goes over IOS and the GSR internals that's also a wonderful (if now a bit outdated) read.

u/Mac_to_the_future · 1 pointr/networking

I consider Routing TCP/IP Volumes 1 and 2 to be my bible when it comes to layer 3:

http://www.amazon.com/Routing-TCP-Volume-2nd-Edition/dp/1587052024

I've read those two books cover to cover and I still use them as a reference guide. Network Warrior is another favorite of mine.