I haven't done the security track, though in general it really depends on what you want to do. There's no right answer to R&S versus Security. My advice would be to read through the sylibus of those exams and decide which one interests you more. There are career opportunities in both.

CCNP, CCDP, CCIP
Core Network Planner, ISP

Thanks, I have done some research on-line and am going to go for the CCNP R&S ing.  Anyone got any book or other training materials that they would recommed?  Im going to go for the TrainSignal videos.

 

For R&S, best bet is to get some equipment for a home lab, and pick up the Cisco Press books.  They have all been revised with new tests but are still probably the best source for material.
 

Thanks lerdalt.  I have just received my Offical Cisco CCNP Route book and also the lab book.  So going to start it next week.

Can you or anyone give me some pointers on a good CCNP lab.

I have the following at the moment.  

1 * 2950 Switch
1 * 2801 Router 2 * Fa slots and 1 * Serial
1 * 2600 series Router  4 * Serial Interfaces
2 * 2500 Series routers 2 * Serial interfaces each

Can probadly get hold of

2 * 2500 routers
2 * 2900 switches

I know that I am going to need another 2950 for STP when I do the switch exam but for the routing will i be able to lab everything using my home lab at the moment?   

When I setup my labs (granted the tracks have changed since then), I liked having 4 routers and 3 switches available.

3 switches for STP, just to get a good view of how it interacts.
3 routers for doing OSPF/RIP based connections
4 routers to do EIGRP.  Maybe seemed odd to want 4 routers for EIGRP only, but basically, I set them up in a square and did some manipulations with metrics and such to watch the feasible successor changes.

What model are your 2500's?  They are getting pretty limited anymore for what you can do with them, but I think they can still provide value in a home lab as a stub area in OSPF, or even a node at the end of a frame-relay connection.

You can supplement with GNS3 or Dyanmips, but I still don't think it gives quite the same experience as working with the real hardware.
 

I just looked at TrainSignal and they only offer packages for the CCNA and CCNA Security.

Also be aware that Cisco just changed their CCNP exams. It used to be 4 exams and is now down to 3. The following is right from the Cisco website:
- 642-902 ROUTE
- 642-813 SWITCH
- 642-832 TSHOOT

I was thinking of getting my CCNP next but I'm having a hard time finding good training materials, mainly videos. CBTNuggts will not have videos for the new CCNP until winter.

I just wanted to point this out incase some sites were still offering the old 4 exam version of the CCNP.

Personally I am going to for the CCNA Security so I can keep my certification current. Plus that will give more time for more companies to put out material for the new CCNP exam.

-Todd-
CCNA
MCTS: Sever 2008 AD Configuration
CompTIA: A+, Security+

**Mathmatics affects 7 out 5 people each day**

I just passed the CCIE Security written this morning, and I have the CCNA (like before it was split up into ICND/CCNA, then into ICND1 and 2, then into CCENT/CCNA, then into CCNA Security, blablabla), I also have the CCNA Security from 1 1/2 years ago, and CCNP (when it was just CCNP, like R&S) from 2006, renewed after I got the CCNA Security. I renewed it with the CCNP test that deals with DSL, MPLS, and security---IINS, that's it! Oh---and the Cisco Express Foundations Field Specialist (yay...lol).

Anyway, my point is that I got the NA in the beginning of '06, the NP at the end of '06, and from there was wondering what to do next. I knew I liked the security side of the house more, but I kept working and bulding a rather large lab, four racks not quite full, but like 8 Workgroup Stack 3000 series (10Mbps) from long ago, a few 4000 series directors, an 1112 CSACS-E server, a Win2K Adv Server w/TACACS+, an ASA5510, three 3560 switches, three 3550 switches, three 3750 switches, one 3750-PoE switch, a PIX520, a 1720, 1750, two 1712's, an 1841, a 2950, three 2924XL's, two 3524XL's, three 2610's, three 2620's, a 2620XM, a 2503a 4948-10GE switch, and 5 more HP Proliant G1 servers and 4 more workstations...I'm sure I am missing something...? (I will post pics and a link for Facebook), and then started playing a LOT with the lab as it grew, studying, reading, and then my boss at the time sent me to Atlanta for Global Knowledge CCNA Security bootcamp---THAT is when I decided to keep going toward the CCSP path, so I got the CCNA Security, then renewed the NP with the IINS. Then work got really busy, and here I am, 1 1/2 yrs later...I am scheduling the lab for 6 months out so that I can get beaten up and know what to sorta expect.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it... :)

oh, hey guys...Todd, Tad, Gene, and company, etc. I have been away for a while, pretty much working and studying. I passed with a 728/1000, but hey---you know what they call the guy who got a D- on the BAR exam, right?

:)

Burt

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Edge uptime is 469¼  

Thanks for the input guys and many congrats to Burt for passing his CCIE Security written :) Well done!  You have answered a few of my posts over the years so I know that you know your stuff.

Sniffer2112- The person who made the CCNA & CCNA Security videos for Trainsignal has a CCNP series out for the newer CCNP exams, but he (Chris Bryant ) isnt selling them through Trainsignl anymore.  You have to buy them directly through his site.  Quick search on google.  I have brought the CCNP Route video and a couple of Cisco books and am going to start with this.  I have learn alot during my CCNA and CCNA Security and implemented many concepts at work.  But with the CCNP im thinking that Im just doing this just to get the qualification because we dont have muliple sites so no need to use routing protocols such as EIGRP, OSFP etc.  Maybe after this exam I will have to start to look elsewhere in terms of employments so that I can better use my skills.

How long did it take you guys to prepare yourselves for the CCNP.  I like to take my time and do alot of background reading and testing.  Put aside around 6 months for the CCNA security.   

After the NA I built my lab here and there from Ebay and pretty much did the hands-on thing with the Cisco Press PDF's I got online from a now-shut-down site ;)...there were 8 total books, all like 600 pages...a LOT of reading! Then the beginning of Oct 2006 I went into crunch mode, diligently studying like a madman. I took the first of the 4 exams mid-November, and passed all 4 by Dec 22nd...I failed the routing one (can't remember what it was called...) the first time, but passed the rest with pretty decent scores. The main thing is putting into hands-on practice what are in the books, leading up to shows and debugs, and understanding every bit of not only the concepts, but the outputs...when you look at metrics and AD for EIGRP, for example, don't try and just memorize what the numbers mean---go into a scenario where you would need to use them, where the info would be useful in troubleshooting issues...that's what most of these exams are---learning info and concepts to prevent problems on the network, and to fix them if and when they occur (you're always going to have the genius user who brings their DSL router into the workplace and plugs it into an access layer switch, thinking they can "get their home internet at work"---had it happen, switches freaked out and it was a continuous broadcast storm, locking down the whole NW, down to its knees...lol). So, you'd better know things like why a port would go into err-disable when trunking to another switch (trunk method mismatch), a high rate of late collisions in "sh int fa0/13" (95% of the time for switchport access for vlans, a duplex mismatch), what a CSMA/CD jam signal is and how it affects the ethernet LAN, how and why an access port for a vlan in a switch shuts down when another switch is plugged into it, and it is config'd for spantree portfast (BDPU Guard is configured on it)---things like that...these are NOT questions on the test (hell, I took them 4.5 years ago!), but they are samples of concepts and how to put the info to use. And routing...what DR/BDRs are, what DUAL is and what the successors are (regular and feasible...I'd like to meet the stoner who's responsible for inventing the terminology and verbiage for Cisco...lol---I need some of what HE's smokin'! JK!) and how they are determined, multiple routes, which one will be chosen and why (like highest prefix will be chosen over all non-subnetted/lower subnetted NW's), OSPF LSA's, NSSA and what it is used for, oh! here's a good one---when you have a NW variably subnetted, and a packet within the major boundary comes in, say for EIGRP, and no direct route to the destination, and a default route is indeed configured, and the major classful boundary has a route...here's the tricky part---the command "no ip classless" is configured in the router...where will the packet go? Remember, this is EIGRP, the "E" means "Enhanced"...:)

D  172.16.141.0/24 via 10.1.1.2
D  172.16.0.0/16 via 10.1.1.3
S  0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 (whatever it is...can't remember) via 10.1.1.5

and a packet with the IP address of 172.16.146.16/24 comes in...where does it go?

!
!
!
no ip classless
!

Ok...enough of the psychobabble ramblings-on...

With lab equipment, whatever your strong points are (routing and wireless plus WAN technologies, like MPLS...yuck! oh, and BGP...*puke*!, troubleshooting, remote access/security, or switching and VoIP---knock the easiest ones out of the way first---I would do the troubleshooting last---the knowledge of everything else leads to the inevitable culmination of knowledge---troubleshooting!

The important thing is HANDS ON!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll say it again...

The impor...

no I won't :)

Happy Times, homie!

-TIMMAY!

Cisco IOS Software, C2600 Software (C2600-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M), Version 12.4(25c), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc2)
Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
Copyright (c) 1523-2010 by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Thu 11-Feb-1539 23:02 by ßµ®†Šß€€Š

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 12.2(7r) [ÝØÝØMØÑ], RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

Edge uptime is 469¼