Cisco CCNA Certification: Cisco Switching Modes by Chris Bryant
To pass the CCNA exam and earn that coveted certification, you've got to know Cisco switches inside and out. Among the many important details you've got to know are the three methods that Cisco switches use to forward frames, and the differences between the three. ... The switch examines only the first 64 bytes of the frame for errors, since that is the part of the frame that will be damaged in case of a collision. ... Keeping these three switching schemes straight is vital to your CCNA exam efforts, and it will help you in working with Cisco switches in the real world as well.

Cisco CCNA Certification: How And Why Switches Trunk by Chris Bryant
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! ... And even though ISL is Cisco's own trunking protocol, some Cisco switches run only dot1q. ... (Those of you new to Cisco testing should get used to the phrases "Cisco-proprietary" and "industry standard".) If you're working in a multivendor environment, ISL may not be a good choice.

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: Configuring And Troubleshooting VTP by Chris Bryant
Not only is your CCNA exam going to have questions on VLAN trunking protocol, almost any network that has more than one VLAN is going to have VTP running. Whether you're planning on passing the CCNA exam or just brushing up on your networking skills, this VTP tutorial will help you learn the... "CISCO" and "cisco" are two different domains. ... VTP servers will know about every VLAN, even VLANs that have no members on that switch. ... An interesting side effect of the server/client methodology is that if a VLAN is only to have ports on the VTP client switch, the VLAN must still first be...

Passing The CCNA And CCNP: Cisco Home Lab FAQ by Chris Bryant
There is a real revolution today among CCNA and CCNP candidates. More and more of you are turning your back on "router simulators" and putting your own CCNA and/or CCNP Home Lab together, which is the best way to totally prepare to pass these tough Cisco exams. ... A frame relay switch is not a switch; it's a Cisco router that has been configured to serve as a frame relay provider in your home lab. ... There are vendors all over the web, as well as on ebay, who sell used Cisco routers and switches to Cisco exam candidates like you every single day.

Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: The Core Layer Of Cisco's Three-Layer Model by Chris Bryant
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... Remember, everything we do on a Cisco router or switch has a cost in CPU or memory, so we're going to leave most frame manipulation and filtering to other layers. ... Today we’ll take a look at the core layer of the Cisco model.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Routing On A Frame Relay Switch by Chris Bryant
When you're preparing for CCNA and CCNP exam success, the best investment you can make is to put together your own home lab. There is no better way to learn Cisco technologies and prepare for the CCNA, BSCI, BCMSN, CIT, and other exams than by working with the many protocols and services you'll... One of the most popular articles I've written over the few years dealt with buying and configuring a Cisco router as a frame relay switch. ... This switch has four serial ports and an AUI port. ... You could connect to up to four routers to the 2520's serial ports in order to serve as the frame...

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Cabling Your Home Lab by Chris Bryant
More CCNA and CCNP candidates than ever before are putting together their own home labs, and there's no better way to learn about Cisco technologies than working with the real thing. Getting the routers and switches is just part of putting together a great CCNA / CCNP home lab, though. ... Choosing and connecting the right cables for your Cisco CCNA / CCNP home lab is a great learning experience, and it's also an important part of your Cisco education. ... Second, if you plan on having a Cisco router act as a frame relay switch in your lab, you'll need multiple DTE/DCE cables to do so.

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... (Dynamic desirable is the default mode for most Cisco switch ports.) SW2(config)#int fast 0/8 SW2(config-if)#switchport nonegotiate Command rejected: Conflict between 'nonegotiate' and 'dynamic' status.

Cisco CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Uplinkfast by Chris Bryant
You remember from your CCNA studies that when a port goes through the transition from blocking to forwarding, you're looking at a 50-second delay before that port can actually begin forwarding frames. Configuring a port with PortFast is one way to get around that, but again, you can only use it... The switch uses the following formula to determine how long to wait before transitioning back to the forwarding state: ( 2 x FwdDelay) + 5 seconds Uplinkfast will take immediate action to ensure that the switch upon which it is configured cannot become the root switch.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: The 2501 Router by Chris Bryant
To be truly prepared for your CCNA and CCNP exams, you need real hands-on experience with real Cisco routers and switches. However, a production network is a really bad place to practice your configurations, but an excellent way to get fired and/or sued. ... Transceivers are pretty cheap and readily available from Cisco resellers and ebay vendors, so pick one up for each 2503 you decide to buy. ... They come with two serial interfaces, allowing you to connect one interface directly to another router (you'll need a DTE/DCE cable for that, too) while connecting another to a frame relay...