CCNA cert

[nils at hemmann.de (Nils)]

I was into system and network administration and I was pretty familiar
with enterprise level Cisco gear for quite a while before I got my CCNA in
2006 (time for renewal in 2009)
My company paid for a CCNA boot camp that time but didn't pay for the
actutal exam.
So I started a self pace study after the class. During my preparation I
used pass4sure / testking material to get a better feeling for what's in
the exam. But one thing for sure, you can't pass the exam if you'd rely
solely on pas4sure etc. and if you don't know what you are talking about.
Cisco certs are pretty difficult to pass and they change the exams
frequently and adapt them to recent changes in technology.
But still, learning for and finally passing the exam was one of my best
decisions professional wise. I totally agree with Carl, you learn the
basics and more. Minor stuff is vendor specific but most of it can be used
on any equipment. I think for a security guy or pentester it is essential
to know these networking basics (Layer2 / 3 networking)

Actually taking the CCNA exam was my start into security carrier wise and
into the pauldotcom community. You guys rock!

Right now I'm trying to get prepared for the C|EH exam.
Anyone an opinion on that?


Thanks,
Nils



> I got my CCNA in 2000 and it was a nice jumping off point for the rest of
> my
> networking career.  In studying for the CCNA, I learned a lot about basic
> routing & switching, simple protocols and subnetting-  the kinds of things
> that seem second nature to me today.
>
> I never thought about applying security knowledge to the CCNA course, but
> it's definitely a solid groundwork for anything network related.
>
> As with any Cisco exam, there is a big difference in knowing the material
> and passing the test.
>
> Let me know if you have any questions along the way, I'll be happy to
> help.
>
>
> Carl
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 4:58 PM, Robin Wood <dninja at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 2008/11/3  <kbob at mchsi.com>:
> > > I just ordered the self pace book and software. From what I have seen
> > so
> > far
> > > I think it will help me better understand the thinking behind Cisco's
> > > products and implementations. Not to mention keeping up with network
> > > hardware.
> >
> > I think the bigest security related thing for me was seeing what the
> > defaults are, how hard they are to change and so being able to work
> > out what someone will leave as default and what they will change.
> >
> > Robin
> >
> > > -------------- Original message from "Robin Wood" <dninja at gmail.com>:
> > > --------------
> > >
> > >
> > > > 2008/6/13 Robin Wood :
> > > > > Hi
> > > > > I hate to say it but I clicked on an advert gmail showed me for a
> > CCNA
> > > > > course and reading the site it looks like it would be a quite
> > > > > interesting course. I got into security from being a developer
> > rather
> > > > > than a sys admin so I know about networks but not at a highly
> > detailed
> > > > > level.
> > > > >
> > > > > What do people think to the CCNA? Obviously it is Cisco specific
> > > > > hardware but reading the course content a lot of it is introducing
> > > > > protocols and network structures which would apply across vendor.
> > > > Just to feedback after asking the original question, I did the course
> > > > last week and it was very good, I l earnt a lot of the basics behind
> > > > things I'd just taken for granted before. I think I got a couple of
> > > > security related things out of it such as vlans and why they are
> > often
> > > > badly setup.
> > > >
> > > > All in all, for someone without a sys-admin background I'd recommend
> > > > it as useful course just to get a good grounding in how the systems
> > we
> > > > are working on actually work.
> > > >
> > > > Robin
> > > > _______________________________________________
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