Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: How And When To Use Virtual LANs (VLANs) by Chris Bryant
From your Network+ exam studies, you know that switches forward broadcasts, and that sounds great, but that's not always a good thing. A switch can have anywhere from 12 ports to 80 or more, and by default all hosts connected to that switch are going to be in the same broadcast domain. ... Most books for exams such as Network+ and CCNA say that a switch is a Layer Two device, and a router is a Layer Three device, and that's it. ... (Better get used to those -- in networking, almost everything we do has a good side and a bad side!) Good news: Broadcasts will not be forwarded (propagated),...

Passing The CCNA and CCNP: Home Lab Shopping On Ebay by Chris Bryant
Whether you're just getting ideas for your Cisco home lab or adding to your existing lab, ebay is a great place to get ideas for your lab as well as pick up some great bargains. Of course, the internet being what it is, there are always going to be a few people looking to take your money while... Building your own CCNA and/or CCNP home lab is a little intimidating at first, but speaking as someone who has climbed the Cisco certification ladder from the CCNA to the CCIE, I can tell you that it is the best investment you can make in your career.

A Brief History of Cisco Certification Training by Natalie Aranda
Cisco Systems was founded in 1984 by a married couple named Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner. They were computer engineers employed at Stanford University near San Francisco, California. The name cisco, which was originally spelled using a small c, was taken from San Francisco. ... Although in recent years, other companies have introduced Certification programs, the Cisco Certification remains an important indicator of the skill level of a potential employee. ... Cisco Certification training was established to prepare candidates to pass the Certification exams.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Same Command, Different Results by Chris Bryant
As a CCNA or CCNP, one thing you've got to get used to is that change is constant. Cisco regularly issues new IOS versions, not to mention the many different kinds of hardware they produce! While it's always nice to have "the latest and the greatest" when it comes to routers, switches,... SW1#show monitor session 1 Session 1 --------- Type : Local Session Source Ports : Both : Fa0/1 Destination Ports : Fa0/2 Encapsulation : Native Ingress: Disabled As a CCNA and CCNP, this is one of those things you just have to get used to.

CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) by Chris Bryant
Passing the BCMSN exam and getting one step closer to the CCNP certification means learning and noticing details that you were not presented with in your CCNA studies. (Yes, I know – you had more than enough details then, right?) One protocol you’ve got to learn more details about is VTP, which... (I know you remember that phrase from your CCNA studies!) Devices running VTP Transparent mode do have a little something to do with the other switches in the VTP domain, though. ... They don't even advertise their own VLAN information!

Cisco CCNA Certification Training: Etherchannels And Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) by Chris Bryant
Cisco CCNA certification looks great on your resume, and it also teaches you vital real-world networking skills. One exam topic that you'll definitely see in today's networks is the configuration of an Etherchannel on a Cisco router. You need to know how to build and verify one - so let's build... You can verify the creation of that virtual interface just as you would a physical interface: SW1#show int port-channel 1 Port-channel1 is up, line protocol is up (connected) Hardware is EtherChannel, address is 000f.90e1.c24b (bia 000f.90e1.c24b) Note the readout "Hardware is EtherChannel".

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: DNS And The IP Name-Server Command by Chris Bryant
DNS behaviors of a Cisco router are important topics for both the CCNA exam and real-world production networks, and you probably didn't know there were so many DNS details before you began studying for the exam! In this tutorial, we'll look at the ip name-server command and its proper usage. ... The DNS lookup attempt must time out before the configuration can continue. ... A broadcast is then sent out to find a DNS server to perform the name resolution. ... R2#conf t R2(config)#no ip domain-lookup R2#contin Translating "contin" % Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find...

Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP) by Chris Bryant
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... DTP can be turned off at the interface level with the switchport nonegotiate command, but as you see below, you cannot turn DTP off until the port is no longer in dynamic desirable trunking mode. ... (Dynamic desirable is the default mode for most Cisco switch ports.) SW2(config)#int fast 0/8...

Cisco CCNA-CCNP Certification Exam Tutorial: EIGRP And Split Horizon by Chris Bryant
EIGRP is a major topic for your CCNA and CCNP studies, and one basic skill you’ll need to pass your Cisco certification exams is to identify situations where you need to enable or disable split horizon. EIGRP commands tend to be a little different than those used with other protocols, so let’s... Autonomous system number R1(config-if)#no ip split-horizon eigrp 100 04:10:02: %DUAL-5-NBRCHANGE: IP-EIGRP 100: Neighbor 172.12.123.2 (Serial0) is down: split horizon changed 04:10:02: %DUAL-5-NBRCHANGE: IP-EIGRP 100: Neighbor 172.12.123.3 (Serial0) is down: split horizon changed 04:10:25:...

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: Access List Details You Must Know! by Chris Bryant
To pass the CCNA exam, you have to be able to write and troubleshoot access lists. As you climb the ladder toward the CCNP and CCIE, you'll see more and more uses for ACLs. Therefore, you had better know the basics! The use of "host" and "any" confuses some newcomers to ACLs, so let's take a... R3#conf t R3(config)#access-list 15 deny 172.18.18.0 0.0.0.255 R3(config)#access-list 15 permit any The previous example also illustrates the importance of configuring the ACL with the lines in the correct order to get the desired results.