Professional Certifications Are More Important Than Ever by Robert Vartanian
As short as 6-7 years ago, having your MCSE or CCNA was almost a guarantee to an administrator role with a hefty salary in the IT market. Candidates with certfications were highly sought after and were being offered management positions and were recruited by many suitors. ... With Microsoft, Cisco and every other hardware and software vendor constantly updating their software and their certification programs, even the most skilled professionals will have to keep up deep into the future with the new products and the new age of technology.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Planning Ahead For IE Study by Chris Bryant
Candidates preparing to pass the CCNP exams are putting together Cisco home labs like never before. With CCNA and CCNP home lab equipment more affordable than ever, candidates have realized the importance of working on real Cisco routers and switches on the way to earning their certifications. ... Again, I know that it's vitally important for today's CCNA and CCNP candidates to get hands-on experience with home labs. ... What kind of routers and switches should I buy now in order to use the same equipment in my CCIE home lab?" This is going to sound strange coming from me, because I'm the...

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Training: Telnet, Passwords, and Privilege Levels by Chris Bryant
Your CCNA certification exam is likely going to contain questions about Telnet, an application-level protocol that allows remote communication between two networking devices. With Telnet use being as common as it is, you had better know the details of how to configure it in order to pass your... In this CCNA case study, R2 has an IP address of 172.12.123.2 and R1 an address of 172.12.123.1. ... If we wanted to allow all telnetting users to be put into privileged exec mode immediately without being prompted for an enable password, the command privilege level 15 placed on the VTY lines will...

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Setup: How To Configure Reverse Telnet by Chris Bryant
Occasionally, during your CCNA and CCNP studies, you'll run into a term that just doesn't quite make sense to you. (Okay, more than occasionally!) One such term is "reverse telnet". As a Cisco certification candidate, you know that telnet is simply a protocol that allows you to remotely connect... An IP Host table is easy to put together (and you better know how to write one to pass the CCNA!). ... In a CCNA / CCNP home lab, reverse telnet is configured and used on the access server. ... But what is "reverse telnet", and why is it so important to a Cisco CCNA / CCNP home lab setup?

Cisco CCNA Certification: The (Many) Different Kinds Of Switching by Chris Bryant
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... The circuit-switching technology most familiar to CCNA candidates is ISDN. ... Cell-switched packets are fixed in length. ... When the protocol runs at Layer 2 rather than Layer 3, the process is referred to as frame switching.

Cisco CCNP Certification / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Route Summarization Basics by Chris Bryant
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... To prepare for success on your CCNA and CCNP exam, you've got to know how to summarize routes as well as the specific commands for doing so with OSPF, EIGRP, RIP, and IGRP - but knowing why to summarize routes is just as important as knowing how!

Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Loopback Interfaces by Chris Bryant
As a CCNA candidate, you most likely have some background in PC hardware and workstation support. If so, you're already familiar with loopback interfaces, particularly 127.0.0.1, the loopback address assigned to a PC. When you're learning all about the different physical interfaces for your CCNA... As I mentioned, you'll learn different Cisco router and switch features that utilize loopback interfaces as you climb the Cisco certification ladder. ... You’re probably familiar with loopback interfaces on a PC, and may even know that the address range 127.0.0.0 is reserved for loopback...

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: Configuring Dialer Profiles by Chris Bryant
The most common method of configuring ISDN is with dialer maps, but dial information can also be configured on a logical interface. To pass the CCNA exam, you must know how to configure and troubleshoot both dialer maps and dialer profiles. Dialer Profiles allow different dialing information to... Configuring dialer profiles can be a little tricky at first, and the best way to master this skill is to get real hands-on practice in your own CCNA / CCNP home lab or a rack rental service. ... The SPIDs are configured on the physical interface as well.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam Tutorial: ISDN And Multilink PPP by Chris Bryant
ISDN is a huge topic on both your Cisco CCNA and BCRAN CCNP exams. While many ISDN topics seem straightforward, it’s the details that make the difference in the exam room and working with ISDN in production networks. Configuring and troubleshooting multilink PPP is just one of the skills you’ll... Configuring Multilink PPP is just one of the skills you’ll need to earn your CCNA and pass the CCNP BCRAN exam. ... Load threshold to place another call The dialer load-threshold value is based on 255, not 100.

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Tutorial: The Role Of The OSPF ASBR by Chris Bryant
To pass the BSCI exam and earn your CCNP certification, you've got to master the (many) details of OSPF. You might have thought there were quite a few OSPF details in your CCNA studies, but you'll now build on that foundation on the way to earning your CCNP. ... The name itself raises some eyebrows, since you learned in your CCNA studies that OSPF doesn't use autonomous systems! ... When the RIP routes are redistributed into OSPF, that router is then an ASBR. ... In the below example, RIP subnets have been redistributed into OSPF.