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Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933 Profile and Articles
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101). Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial And Case Study: VLANs and IP Connectivity
In this CCNA case study, we'll take some basic switching and trunking theory and put it into action. We have two routers (R2 and R3) along with two switches (SW1 and SW2). R2 is connected to SW1 at fast 0/2, and R3 is connected to SW2 at fast 0/3. Both routers have IP addresses on the 172.12.23.0 /24 network.
For these routers to be ab...
102). Cisco CCNA Certification: Error Detection vs. Error Recovery
Passing the CCNA, Intro, and ICND exam is all about knowing and noticing the details. (Which makes perfect sense, since becoming a master networking administrator or engineer is also about noticing the details!) One such detail knows the difference between error detection and error recovery. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they ...
103). Cisco CCNA Certification Exam: Five Frame Relay Details You Must Know
When you're studying for your CCNA exam on the way to earning this coveted Cisco certification, the details can seem overwhelming! In this article, I'll point out five Frame Relay details that you must keep in mind when you're on your way to the CCNA exam!
Inverse ARP starts working as soon as you open the serial interface. This protoc...
104). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Certification: The Local Preference BGP Attribute
When studying for your BSCI exam for the CCNP, you get your first taste of BGP. One of the major differences between BGP and the other protocols you've studied to date is that BGP uses attributes to describe paths, and to influence the selection of one path over the other.
In this free tutorial, we're going to take a look at the Local ...
105). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Filtering BGP Updates With Prefix Lists
A major part of your BSCI and CCNP exam success is mastering BGP, and that includes filtering BGP routing updates. In this tutorial, we'll take a look at how to filter BGP updates with prefix lists.
R4 is advertising three networks via BGP. The downstream router R3 sees these routes and places them into its BGP table as shown below. R3...
106). Cisco Certification: Learning To Navigate Cisco's Online Documentation
When studying for your Cisco CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE exam, you’ve got a powerful online weapon at your disposal. It’s Cisco Connection Documentation, found at www.cisco.com/univercd. This site contains product, code, and protocol documentation for all Cisco products.
Many exam candidates really don’t start using this powerful tool until th...
107). Cisco CCNA Certification: The Importance Of Hands-On Practice
CCNA and CCNP candidates hear it all the time: “you have to get some hands-on experience to pass the exams”.
Candidates tend to think that’s just so they can solve the simulator problems, but that’s only the more obvious reason.
First, I want to make it clear that I’m not bashing learning from books you have to learn theo...
108). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP)
When you're studying to pass the BCMSN exam on the way to earning your CCNP certification, you're going to add to your CCNA knowledgebase every step of the way. Nowhere is that more than configuring a trunk between two switches.
You know that IEEE 802.1Q ("dot1q") and ISL are your two choices of trunking protocols, and you know the mai...
109). Cisco CCNP Certification / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Comparing IRDP And HSRP
To pass the BSCI exam, you need to know the difference between IRDP and HSRP. While they have the same basic function, the operation and configuration of each are totally different.
The aim of both is to allow hosts to quickly discover a standby router when the primary router fails. IRDP is commonly used by Windows DHCP clients and sev...
110). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: ISIS Router Types
To pass the BSCI exam and earn your CCNP, you've got to know ISIS inside and out. There are many similarities between ISIS and OSPF, but one major difference is that ISIS has three different types of routers - Level 1 (L1), Level 2 (L2), and L1/L2.
L1 routers are contained in a single area, and are connected to other areas by an L1/L2 ...
111). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Dynamic VLANs and VMPS
Knowledge of Dynamic VLANs and VMPS is important in your efforts to pass the BCMSN exam and earn your CCNP, and it's also a great skill to have for your networking career.
As a CCNA and CCNP candidate, you know how and why to configure static VLANs. Static VLANs can be a powerful tool for reducing unnecessary broadcast and multicast t...
112). Cisco Certification: The OSI Model Isn't Just For Exams Anym
There's nothing I enjoy more than teaching Cisco technologies, especially CCNA candidates. Whether it's in-person or online, everyone's excited to
113). Cisco Certification: Taking Your First Certification Exam
You’ve studied hard; you’ve practiced your configurations; you’ve used your flash cards over and over again; and finally, the big day is here. You
114). Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Five OSPF Hub-And-Spoke Details You Must Know!
CCNA exam success depends greatly on knowing the details, and if there's one protocol that has a lot of details, it's OSPF! This is true particularly of hub-and-spoke networks, so in this CCNA OSPF tutorial we'll take a look at some of the more important hub-and-spoke OSPF details. This will help you in working with real-world networks as well, sin...
115). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: The BGP Attribute MED
Your BSCI exam and CCNP certification success depend on mastering BGP, and a big part of that is knowing how and when to use the many BGP attributes. And for those of you with an eye on the CCIE, believe me - you've got to know BGP attributes like the back of your hand. One such BGP attribute is the Multi-Exit Discriminator, or MED.
Th...
116). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Static VLANs
BCMSN exam success and earning your CCNP certification requires you to add to your knowledge of VLAN configuration. When you studied for your CCNA exam, you learned how to place ports into a VLAN and what the purpose of VLANs was, but you may not be aware that there are two types of VLAN membership. To pass the BCMSN exam, you must know the details...
117). Cisco CCNP Certification / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Route Summarization Basics
As you earn your CCNA and CCNP certification, you're going to have to get comfortable with manually summarizing routes. This isn't just another reason to learn binary math (although it's a good one!), but summarizing routes is a true real-world skill that can help your network operate more efficiently. So the question isn't just how to summarize ro...
118). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: The Core Layer Of Cisco's Three-Layer Model
In this section, you're going to be reintroduced to a networking model you first saw in your CCNA studies. No, it's not the OSI model or the TCP/IP model - it's the Cisco Three-Layer Hierarchical Model. Let's face it, just about all you had to do for the CCNA was memorize the three layers and the order they were found in that model, but the stakes ...
119). Starting Your Career In Information Technology - Or Accelerating Your Current One !
Many newcomers to the IT field are surprised when they find out it's tougher to get that first job than they thought it would be. I know exactly what that's like. I've had a great career in IT and I'd recommend it to anyone, but I had a tough time breaking in as well. I'd like to share some tips with you on how to get started on what can be a finan...
120). Microsoft Certification: Farewell To The MCSE
Microsoft is in the middle of a major push to overhaul its certification program. Last year, they announced the new Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) certification, which is not a written exam but rather a practical exam that will be graded by a board of examiners. Just applying for the certification will require 10 years' experience in IT as wel...
121). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Using Distribute Lists
To be successful on the BSCI exam and in earning your CCNP, you've got to master route redistribution. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because configuring route redistribution is only half the battle. Whether it's on an exam or in a real-world production network, you've got to identify possible points of trouble before you configure route redistri...
122). Passing The CCNA and CCNP Exams: Setup Mode
CCNA and CCNP candidates need to know all about Setup Mode, why a router goes into that mode, and as you'll see, how to get out of that mode. Practicing Setup Mode at work is a good way to get fired, though, so you need to practice this on your CCNA / CCNP home lab or rack rental. In this article, we'll take a look at a Cisco 2500 router going into...
123). FIve Questions To Ask Before Attending A Computer Tech School
As with any field, there are good technical training schools, and bad ones. When you sign up with one of these schools, you’ve made a significant investment in time and money. You deserve to know everything about the school and your job prospects after leaving that school before you put down your hard-earned money. The problem is, sometimes it’s ha...
124). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Introduction To Policy Routing
Policy routing is a major topic on your BSCI exam, and you'll find quite a bit of policy routing going on in today's production networks. But what exactly is policy routing?
Policy-based routing, generally referred to as "policy routing", is the use of route maps to determine the path a packet will take to get to its final destination....
125). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: IP Version 6 Zero Compression
BSCI exam success is all part of becoming a CCNP, and part of that success is now learning the basics of IP Version 6, or IPv6. One of the most difficult parts of learning IPv6 concepts is the radically different addressing scheme that IPv6 uses as compared to IPv4. Just look at these sample addresses:
Typical IPv4 address: 129.14.12.2...
126). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Certification: Troubleshooting Route Redistribution, Part I
If there's one CCNP / BSCI topic that looks so easy but can lead to a real headache, it's route redistribution. I'm not even talking about the routing loops and suboptimal routing that can result when route redistribution is done without proper planning - I'm talking about the basic commands themselves. Leaving out one single command option, or for...
127). Cisco CCNA Certification: Five Key Combinations You Should Know
When you start studying for your CCNA and CCNP exams, many books will present you with a huge list of keystroke shortcuts for use on Cisco routers. While the 640-801, 811, and 821 exams may ask you about one or two of these, you really have to get hands-on experience with these commands to master them. Even better, there are some key combinations t...
128). Cisco CCNP Certification: Introduction To BGP
Cisco certification candidates are introduced to BGP at the CCNP level, but the reaction to its introduction always reminds me of something I see
129). Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: IGRP And Equal Cost Load Balancing
To pass the CCNA exam, you've got to know the role of the bandwidth command with IGRP and EIGRP and when to use it. In this tutorial, we'll configure IGRP over a frame relay hub-and-spoke network using the following networks:
R1 (the hub), R2, and R3 are running IGRP over the 172.12.123.0 /24 network. This is a T1 line.
R1...
130). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Ten IP Routing Details You Must Know!
To pass the BSCI exam and earn your CCNP, you've got to keep a lot of details in mind. It's easy to overlook the "simpler" protocols and services such as static routing and distance vector protocols. With this in mind, here's a quick review of some details you should know for success in the exam room and real-world networks!
When packe...
131). Your Information Technology Career: Certification vs. Experience
Whether you're just starting your Information Technology career, or wanting to get further ahead in your current IT career, you have probably thought about earning one of the many popular computer certifications such as the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification, or the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) cert.
...
132). Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: CCNA Recertification Requirements
Passing the CCNA exam and earning this coveted Cisco certification is an important step in your career, but it's not the end of your responsibilities as a CCNA! When you work with computer networks, you've got to be continually learning and staying up on the latest technologies and changes in the field. Part of this responsibility is keeping your C...
133). Cisco CCNA Certification: The Path To Take After Earning The CCNA
Once you earn your CCNA certification, you've got quite a few exciting choices ahead of you! The majority of CCNAs go on to pursue another Cisco certification, and this is a wise decision. The more you know, the more valuable you are in today's IT market.
A question I'm often asked by new CCNAs is "Which certification should I go after...
134). Cisco CCNA Certification: The (Many) Different Kinds Of Switching
When you're studying for your CCNA exam, whether you're taking the Intro-ICND path or the single-exam path, you're quickly introduced to the fact that switching occurs at Layer 2 of the OSI model. No problem there, but then other terms involving switching are thrown in, and some of them can be more than a little confusing. What is "cell switching"?...
135). Cisco Certification: Recertifying Your CCNA and CCNP
Once you get your CCNA and CCNP, you can't just rest on your accomplishment. You've got to continue to study and add to your skill set - and then prove to Cisco you've been doing just that by recertifying.
Recertification sounds like a pain, but it's actually one of the best things to ever happen to computer certification, and it helps...
136). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: BPDU Skew Detection
You may look at that feature's name and think, "What is a BPDU Skew, and why do I want to detect it?" What we're actually attempting to detect are BPDUs that aren't being relayed as quickly as they should be.
After the root bridge election, the root bridge transmits BPDUs, and the non-root switches relay that BPDU down the STP tree. Th...
137). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Route Summarization
Preparing to pass the BSCI exam and earn your Cisco CCNP? Route summarization is just one of the many skills you'll have to master in order to earn your CCNP. Whether it's RIP version 2, OSPF, or EIGRP, the BSCI exam will demand that you can flawlessly configure route summarization.
Route summarization isn't just important for the BSCI...
138). Cisco Certification: The Importance Of Building Your Own Home Lab
CCNAs and CCNA candidates hear it all the time: “Get some hands-on experience”. From my personal experience climbing the Cisco certification ladder, I can tell you firsthand that there is no learning like hands-on learning. No simulator in the world is going to give you the experience you will get cabling and configuring your own routers.
139). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Not All Static Routes Are Created Equal
As a CCNP candidate, as a CCNA, and in getting ready to pass the BSCI exam, you may be tempted to breeze through your static route studies, or even skip them! That's because static routes are easy enough to configure, and as long as you remember the syntax of the ip route command, you're in good shape.
But there's one vital detail reg...
140). Configuring Basic Cisco Router Security
Network security is a hot topic today, and will only increase in importance in the months and years ahead.
While most of the attention is paid
141). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Multicasting And The RPF Check
Multicasting is a vital topic on your BCMSN, CCNP, and CCIE exams, and it can also be very confusing when you first start studying it. Multicasting uses concepts that are unlike anything you've run into in your routing protocol studies, and that can throw you at first. I speak from experience that multicasting is like any other Cisco technology - l...
142). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Changing The Active Router In HSRP
To pass the BCMSN exam and earn your CCNP certification, you've got to know HSRP inside and out. While the operation and basic commands of HSRP are pretty simple, there are some important details that are easily overlooked but are vital in getting HSRP to work the way you want it to. Let's take a look at using the priority command correctly on both...
143). Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Split Horizon And Hub-And-Spoke Networks
For CCNA exam success, you had better know what split horizon is, how to turn it off, and when to turn it off. Knowing when to turn split horizon off is also important in production networks, because it can cause a hub-and-spoke network to have incomplete routing tables on the spokes.
Split horizon exists for a very good reason - routi...
144). How To Become a Cisco CCNP
Congratulations on your decision to earn your CCNP certification! As a CCIE, I can tell you that Cisco certifications are both financially and personally rewarding.
To earn your CCNP, you first have to earn your CCNA certification. Then you're faced with a decision - take the three-exam CCNP path, or the four-exam path? They're both q...
145). Cisco CCNA Certification: The Importance Of The OSI Model
There's nothing I enjoy more than teaching Cisco technologies, especially CCNA candidates. Whether it's in-person or online, everyone's excited to be there. There's a sense of anticipation in the air, and everyone is ready to work hard, get their hands on the racks of Cisco routers and switches I
have available...
... and then I ...
146). Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: The Four (Or Five) STP Port States
As a CCNP candidate and a CCNA, you may be tempted to skip or just browse the many details of Spanning Tree Protocol. After all, you learned all of that in your CCNA studies, right? That's right, but it never hurts to review STP for a switching exam! Besides, many of us think of the four STP port states - but officially, there's a fifth one!
...
147). Cisco Certification: Don't Depend On Practice Exams
Ask a CCNA candidate how they’re preparing for exam day, and you’ll get different answers. Different books, different websites, different practice exams.
One trend I’ve noticed is that some candidates answer the question by reeling off the number and names of the practice exams they’ve purchased. Basically, the candidate is studying b...
148). Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: BGP Adjacency States
To pass the BSCI exam, earn your CCNP certification, and become an outstanding networker, you've got to master the many details of BGP - and trust me, there are a lot of details to master! Before you get into the more advanced features of BGP, you should have the fundamentals down cold, and one of those fundamentals is knowing the BGP adjacency sta...
149). Passing Cisco’s CCNA and CCNP Exams: Traceroute
In preparation for your CCNA and CCNP exam success, you've got to learn to troubleshoot Cisco routers. And while ping is a great basic IP connectivity tool, it doesn't give you all the information you need to diagnose network connectivity issues.
Let's say you have six routers between CityA and CityB. You send a ping from A to B, and g...
150). Cisco CCNA Certification: How And Why Switches Trunk
Your CCNA studies are going to include quite a bit of information about switches, and for good reason. if you don't understand basic switching theory, you can't configure and troubleshoot Cisco switches, either on the CCNA exam or in the real world. That goes double for trunking!
Trunking is simply enabling two or more switches to comm...
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