Archive for May, 2010
31
May

Most people who work with Cisco equipment know that there are some routers out there that are the real carrier class type of kit. So what would it take to get your hands on those? CCIP Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional is good step in that direction.

As with most Cisco Professional certifications a valid CCNA is a pre-requisite in order for you to obtain the CCIP. Again, as the other Cisco Professional certifications, this one is valid for 3 years.

Now where would a person start his or her CCIP quest? 4 exams are needed but where do you begin? BSCI, Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks [642-601] is a good place to start. It will count towards your CCNP and CCIP and gives you a good overview of interior routing protocols and basic BGP introduction. This is not an easy exam because of the broad spectrum of knowledge you need to acquire but who said that CCIP was a walk in the park.

Now there are 2 options you can sit the BGP [642-611] and MPLS [642-611] exam separately or you can do a composite type of exam BGP+MPLS [642-691]. Both exams build on each other so sitting the composite is good way of testing your knowledge of the ISP core protocols. The exams are really the heart of the CCIP certification and are the proof that this certification is categorized under the Service Provider on Cisco’s career certifications part of their website.

Finally 1 exam has to be mastered in order to obtain the CCIP and that is QoS, Quality of Service [642-642]. A benefit of this exam is that is also counts towards CCVP, Cisco Certified Voice Professional. This one will cover he QoS methods used in a service provider/voip environment.

To recertify your CCIP you need to sit either the current BGP+MPLS exam or the current versions of the two separate exams. Another way to recertify is by passing a current CCIE written exam.

Overall the CCIP is good stepping stone into the service provider world. It is a very though path, but it will open doors into the challenging world of the ISP’s, big telcos, etc. And on a personal note, passing my CCIP made me more interested in taking the steps to achieve my CCIE Service Provider because of the technologies and challenges involved in the internetworking world we live in today.

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29
May

The following is a very good article I have read over at Buzzle.com. It talks about the various opportunities that a professional will acquire after passing the Cisco CCNA exam and obtaining this entry level certification.

Software industries are desperately in need of information technology professionals certified in the aspect of networking. You are almost guaranteed a job provided you possess an excellent working knowledge of protocols such as IP, IGRP, Serial, Frame Relay, IP RIP, and VLAN’s as well as installing, configuring, operating, maintaining, and trouble shooting LAN, WAN and other networks. One way to be sure you have such proper networking experience and knowledge is through obtaining your Cisco Certified Network Associate certification.

This CCNA certification is an entry level certification for all certified IT professionals who specialize in computer networking. This certification is just the first step towards even higher levels of training, such as Cisco Certified Network Professional or Cisco Certified Internet work Expert certification.

A CCNA certification is often the best option for field technicians, IT helps desk engineers, and other professionals of information technology based on overseeing the computer networking process. It is considered to be the basic qualification for installing, operating, configuring and troubleshooting a mid-sized switched and routed network. A professional with CCNA training is trusted to work with a networking environment which would include a group of switched networks. They can manage a host of computer routed networks connected through switches with the greatest of ease.

There is an ever increasing demand for networking specialists as businesses reliance on computers grow and with that the value of a CCNA certification is also finding itself to be a hot commodity among the information technology industry’s job market. It is a benchmark for discovering who are the best and the most efficient technicians are who aren’t in network management. Think of it as a way to filter out the cream of the crop from the rest.

The certification examination is structured around a set of questions with drag and drop options, multiple choice single answers, multiple choice multiple answers, simulations and fill in the blank type of questions. While at first glance, that may sound to be quite easy, to be truly successful and pass this test professional training is required. The examination is built so that your technical and special knowledge of computer networking environments and solutions are pushed to the limits. Basically, not everyone can pass this test.

In today’s ultra-competitive job market, you need every advantage you can to market yourself. You need something to make yourself more attractive to a business compared to another IT professional. A CCNA certification, accepted and recognized all over the world, is the perfect tool to do just that. The CCNA examination is used as a tool for sorting out the best networking professionals who would be responsible for the management and maintenance of the networking environments.

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28
May

I’ve seen many people failed on their CCNA exam while CCNA is the most basic exam of the Cisco certification series.

This is because most of the exam candidates didn’t prepare enough for the exam, got nervous at the exam and failed due to minor mistakes.

I have my own successful way to prepare for the exam, I’ve collected many things to help me pass the CCNA exam.

You may or may not agree to me, yet I got a pretty good score at the exam, only got 1 false answer.

I don’t mean to show off or anything, but my point is anyone can get this score if you prepare properly, so here is my 8 things to help me passCCNA exam:

It is natural to get as many resource about the exam, but too many information can seriously damage your brain. The key is to get the right resource to learn from and focus on them before you decide they’re not enough and search for more.

1. BOOKS

I like the work of Todd Lammle, he explains the materials in CCNA exam with easy ways to understand.
Although books are good but the problem with books is that you can get tired reading them all day long, so I figure I need some other resources.

2. VIDEO TUTORIALS

I highly recommend video tutorials from CBT Nuggets, especially the author Jeremy Ciaora, great video series.
The video is quite expensive US$ 399.00 for the CCNA Certification Package, but I’m telling you its worth the money.
In the video you can watch configuration of true Cisco devices along with the explanation, which Jeremy Ciaora did a great job in explaining the topics.
Video tutorials are great but sometimes they don’t cover everything about the exam – due to the limited time I suppose, that’s why you also need the books to complement each other.

3. BLOGS/SITES

Browse the internetnet, find free exam questions that you can try answering, find out how everyone did the exam, how they succeed, how they failed, this can be a very valuable lessons for you.
Visit my blog often at http://networking-newbie.blogspot.com :D

4. CISCO SIMULATORS

You can get many free or paid Cisco Network Simulator from the internet, some are good, some have limited functions:

Dynamips – free router simulator using command line interface (no GUI)
GNS3 – GUI version of Dynamips
Boson NetSim – paid simulator complete with labs samples
Cisco Packet – free simulator from Cisco

It is very important to get your hands on one of these simulators, you need to get yourself a hands on experience configuring cisco devices.
If you have more budget, build your own Cisco home lab.

As one of the readers commented on this post (thank you Robert Williams from certguard.com), I realized that using braindump softwares are illegal, I decided to empty the following two points:

5. QUESTIONS BANK

6. EXAM SIMULATOR

7. TIME

I can’t stress you enough about this, time is very important, you have to invest your time seriously to take the exam. The CCNA exam is not the kind of exam where you can cram yourself to study in the weekend and hope to pass in the following Monday.

When I talk about time, it also means that you have to practice yourself in answering questions as quick as possible, remember you have a very limited time and you can’t go back to previous questions you’ve answered.
So you need to know your self capacity and try to do the exam in a limited time and remember you’d be in a pressure when dealing with the real exam.

8. D-DAY PREPARATIONS

The d-day has come, you’re nervous as hell, plus you can’t bring anything to the exam class except for pens or pencils.
You’d be given a scrap of paper to calculate subnets or something else.

This is a good news, you do allowed to take notes on the paper when taking the exam. Before you get even more nervous, you can write down the keypoints in calculating subnets, for example 8th bit = 128, 7th bit = 64, 5th bit = 32, and so on.
You’d be presented with the exam rules, etc before taking the exam, you have to know well the rules before and take this time to write down your notes.
But remember don’t write down any configuration commands because they might think you’re cheating.

This method of writing notes can help speed your time in calculating subnets.
Why only subnets? I have to remind you that CCNA exam will test you heavily on subnetting, and in my opinion it will be the topic that is taking most of your time in the exam.

That’s all I got to say right now I hope the above things can help you out. If you have any other suggestions, please kindly comment on this post at my blog.

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27
May

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Main Exam Topics Include:
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a€¢ Verify and troubleshoot the advanced capabilities of Cisco wireless solutions

The 642-587 AWLANSE exam is intended primarily for Cisco Channel Partner Field Engineers desiring to become certified in implementing a Cisco WLAN. This exam will test your knowledge of WLAN basics such as RF, antenna theory, and 802.11a, b, and g standards, as well as your ability to describe, design, and support the Cisco Unified Wireless Network products.

QUESTION 32:
You are trying to deploy a configuration job to an IOS access point using the WLSE, but
the job fails. Which of the following would cause this failure?
A. SNMP communities
B. Telnet/SSH user/password
C. WLCCP credentials
D. HTTP user/password

QUESTION 33:
When using the WLSE to verify RF coverage, which task will use the configured radio
settings?

A. Frame Monitoring
B. Radio Scan
C. Self-Healing
D. Client Walkabout

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26
May

Promptly you’ve got your CCNA, you’re on to relocate on to the next unalterable, the Professional certifications. Recompense years, Cisco had united Seasoned certification, the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification. On time, Cisco has expanded this point of certifications to group the Cisco Certified Security Maestro (CCSP) and Cisco Certified Raise Professional (CCVP).

With certainty and organ being the two most rapidly expanding areas of today’s networks, some unfledged CCNAs over active after the CCSP or CCVP without essential adding the CCNP to their resume.

While it’s temping to hurry up and proceed a Cisco custodianship or raise certification, the most desirable sentiment you can do in behalf of your networking occupation is carry out your CCNP certification first, then commit oneself to on the CCVP or CCSP.

Why? Because the CCNA is just the advice of a danged large iceberg when it comes to routing and switching. It’s a identical impressive accomplishment, and the CCNA is indeed the foundation of your networking bolt, but you lack to add on to that parallel of concordat routing and switching in the future moving on to more specialized areas.

Two examples are OSPF and BGP. You learn almost the theory of OSPF and some underlying and intermediate configurations of that diplomacy in your CCNA studies, but the expertise you into of OSPF in your CCNP studies is invaluable. As for BGP, there is no BGP in the CCNA curriculum, but it is a grand impression to make some BGP experience in today’s networks. It’s also penetrating as your career.

I recognize it is a gargantuan temptation to go after the assurance and voice certifications while not paying acclaim to the CCNP. Do yourself a huge favor and count up the tremendous amount of routing and switching knowledge needed for the sake of the CCNP to your knowledgebase, and you can then move on to the CCSP or CCVP. Uniform better, you’ll be better prepared to climb the biggest certification mountain around – the CCIE!
Article websites: 10 article directory – The largest article directory to submit article

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25
May

SDN is a vital topic for today’s CCNA and CCNP candidates, especially for the ICND and Intro exams – you’ve got to know ISDN inside and out to pass those exams. Naturally you want to include it in your home lab. What many candidates don’t realize is that you can’t connect two Cisco routers directly via their Basic Rate Interface
(BRI) interfaces you’ve got to have another device between them called an ISDN simulator.

An ISDN simulator is not one of those software programs
pretending to be routers (“router simulators”) this is a piece of hardware that acts as the telephone company in your home lab. Older simulators come with preprogrammed phone numbers and SPIDs, where newer ones let you program the phone numbers you want to use. Either way, an ISDN simulator is great for your CCNA/CCNP home lab, because you can practice dial scenarios that actually work. And you get to troubleshoot the ones that don’t, which is also important to learn!

You don’t need any special cables or connectors you just connect both of your routers’ BRI interfaces to the ISDN simulator with a straight-through cable and you’re ready to go.
In years past, this was a major problem for 640-801, 811, and 821 studies, because the simulators used to be so expensive. New ones can still be pricey ($600 and up), but with the sudden influx of used ISDN simulators on ebay and Cisco resellers, you can get a used one that will do the job for you.

Why are there suddenly so many ISDN simulators on the market? Cisco recently removed ISDN from the CCIE R&S exam, so a lot of CCIE rack resellers as well as private individuals are selling their simulators. There’s never been a better time to add ISDN to your home lab. If taken care of (kept out of extreme heat), they can last for quite a few years. The one I purchased for my IE home lab is still working well.

If you choose to purchase a new simulator, you can run a Google search to find vendors. I’ve made two purchases from www.vconsole.com over the last few years and both of those simulators have worked beautifully.

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24
May

It depends on how much you can invest on it – The money and your time.
To answer this question, we also need to know about your goal. You can continue with other Cisco certifications or maybe, you can change the line and mix it with something else.

Let’s have a look, which jobs openings are on the job boards to utilize a CCNA certificate.

OnTheCCRoad
I- You got only CCNA cert and you are in the way to be a network professional
This means that you are beginning your journey to become a network expert. You can work as junior admin in an environment where experienced network professionals work. You will do some daily task including monitoring, hardware installations (as the second guy), and routine things like configuration backup etc. In this position you cannot earn too much money, but it is a good investment for your bright future. If you spend one or two years while preparing for your CCNP, you will have the chance to choose the position, which you desire and also you will get a good income boost. CCNA exam is a mandatory and foundational step for CCNP.

JustCCNA
II- You got only CCNA cert and you don’t want to invest more on it
If you say “CCNA is enough for me and I don’t want to waste more of my time and money for certifications”, then you can find a job in a mid size company as system/network admin. You have to look after windows servers and maybe some other systems. You can make an acceptable amount of cash and work in an environment without too much hierarchy. If you are good in relationships and you are practical in mind this is exact job for you. CCNA certificate is sufficient for this position. It will be very helpful in your career.

MsCCNA
III- You have got CCNA + some Microsoft certifications (like MCSE) + experience
In this case, your dominant specs are system admin specs. You already proved yourself in this area and can work in a Multinational Enterprise branch as senior system admin. You can cover network admin tasks with your CCNA certificate or better, in very large structures, it will let you to lead a team both system and network admins included.

NetSecCCNA
IV- You have got CCNA + Security certification (CISA+GIAC) + 3-4 years experience
You can work as System Security Engineer in Enterprise environment or you can work in a consulting company as information security auditor. Your CCNA certificate will let you have more expertise on network related issues and support your success.

ArchCCNA
V-You have got CCNA + more than ten years experience on Windows & UNIX
If you have development skills, project management skills and you have spent considerable number of years in several areas of IT business, then CCNA is not a big component in your skill set, but at least it shows people that you are still in touch with practicalities of network operations and it can help you achieve Enterprise Architect position.

Illustration of CCNA Career Paths

As a step or as a component, CCNA is a valuable item in your personal inventory. It is worthy to get it and anybody can get the certificate, but you need other skills and experience to utilize it to the maximum extent. Initially you cannot expect high paying jobs ,but with some experience ,you can climb the ladder of success. For students, I strongly recommend participating to Cisco programs in colleges. This will help them to make an easy start for their careers.

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22
May

Is one of the most sought after Cisco certification and it is assumed to be one of the most essential parts of networking training. A hard copy document send to the candidate is high regarded by any IT and other business circles.
CCNA training acknowledges your skills in installation, implementation, and configuration, maintenance, troubleshooting, routing and switching of average sized computer networks.
It also qualifies you to carry out your WAN (wide area network)’s remote connection implementation.

Do CCNA actually help your in career growth?
If you decide to pursue your IT career at more advanced level by obtaining CCNA certificate then you have to undergo CCNA Certification Training program. These training programs help you to get yourself familiar with other important and critical networking aspects. CCNA credential will also give you to get acknowledge in networking industry.
Cisco certifications refine your networking skills and the best aspect of such certification is that they are well documented and world acceptable. Mostly far-sighted employers are always in hunt for such employees with proper networking certification. Their clients express more confidence in such employees. If you get your networking certification at any professional level you very soon can move one step higher on your career path.

CCNA Certification comes in two parts Part I and Part II. You cannot add value to your Resume until you pass the both levels of CCNA certification.
Where I have to go for my CNNA training?
IT companies particularly one networking experts offer specialized training programs to those who wants to pursue networking career with right combination of knowledge and skills. These institutes offer you special training programs and courses that help individuals to successfully earn their networking credential.
CCNA training programs
provides you access to their online networking training videos, distance learning classes, in-house training, boot camps and numerous other modules to train their students.

Online or distance learning programs offer study material in a package of CDs for the self study of the individuals. These live training classes offer better chances of knowledge discussion among a group of different students. Boot camps are closely associated with the training of the individuals seeking networking knowledge. These training camps generally last for 7 or 1 days. Real life examples are used to make better understanding of different networking aspects.
Some technology sensitive CCNA training institutes also upload their online lectures and practice questions while at the same giving access to their online lab system. The general duration of the Cisco CCNA certification training program is 6 months and on completion you can sit into your final CCNA certification exams.
If you choose to get necessary certification before joining any particular networking path then you must realize what networking industry actually demands from you. It is wise to have expert onion of networking professionals that can help you choose the right and best path for your networking career.

Your consultation with networking experts may consume some of your money but it helps you wisely move one step ahead in your career. Don’t try to get your Cisco CCNA certification by focusing on the theoretical material. You have to focus more on live training demonstrations given by your instructor.
A lot of trusted Cisco training companies offer your CCNA courses. Their fees for your training program may be higher but sometimes include the fee for your final exams. These companies pay your fee to the Cisco and get an exam date for you. It’s good to have a deep look at on all the details before you get yourself enrolled for any networking training program. Such certifications are very beneficial for your career growth and you have to make rational decisions.
Cisco CCNA Course mostly offers training related to the wireless networking concepts and terms, reduction of security threats and performance based skills.CCNA Cisco certification is generally obtained at an associate level but there are high level certification programs as well that you can tek as your career moves up in networking.

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20
May

SDN is a vital topic for today’s CCNA and CCNP candidates, especially for the ICND and Intro exams – you’ve got to know ISDN inside and out to pass those exams. Naturally you want to include it in your home lab. What many candidates don’t realize is that you can’t connect two Cisco routers directly via their Basic Rate Interface
(BRI) interfaces you’ve got to have another device between them called an ISDN simulator.

An ISDN simulator is not one of those software programs
pretending to be routers (“router simulators”) this is a piece of hardware that acts as the telephone company in your home lab. Older simulators come with preprogrammed phone numbers and SPIDs, where newer ones let you program the phone numbers you want to use. Either way, an ISDN simulator is great for your CCNA/CCNP home lab, because you can practice dial scenarios that actually work. And you get to troubleshoot the ones that don’t, which is also important to learn!

You don’t need any special cables or connectors you just connect both of your routers’ BRI interfaces to the ISDN simulator with a straight-through cable and you’re ready to go.
In years past, this was a major problem for 640-801, 811, and 821 studies, because the simulators used to be so expensive. New ones can still be pricey ($600 and up), but with the sudden influx of used ISDN simulators on ebay and Cisco resellers, you can get a used one that will do the job for you.

Why are there suddenly so many ISDN simulators on the market? Cisco recently removed ISDN from the CCIE R&S exam, so a lot of CCIE rack resellers as well as private individuals are selling their simulators. There’s never been a better time to add ISDN to your home lab. If taken care of (kept out of extreme heat), they can last for quite a few years. The one I purchased for my IE home lab is still working well.

If you choose to purchase a new simulator, you can run a Google search to find vendors. I’ve made two purchases from www.vconsole.com over the last few years and both of those simulators have worked beautifully.

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19
May

Exam Number/Code: 000-079
Exam Name: IBM System x Director v5.2
VUE Code: 000-079
Questions Type: Single choice,
Question Numbers of Real-exam: 69 questions
Passing Scores: 53%
Exam Language(s): English

“IBM System x Director v5.2″, also known as 000-079 exam, is a IBM certification.
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IBM exam 000-079, known as System x Director v5.2, is a IBM certification. The real exam contains 69 questions and all are Single choiceSingle choices, the Passing Scores is 53%, so the candidates need to write 37 questions correctly. Pass4sure provide English version for exam 000-079 and there are 138 questions in the product, it has the best quality, one can find almost all of the real questions will from pass4sure 000-079.

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1.A customer would like to do an in-place upgrade of their IBM Director Server 4.21 to version 5.20 but has concerns about support for a Microsoft Jet Database in version 5.20. Which option below is valid while upgrading from IBM Director 4.21 to version 5.20 without data loss?

A: Drop the existing database and install MSDE.
B: Export the Microsoft Jet database to Apache Derby.
C: IBM Director 5.20 supports Microsoft Jet (upgrade only).
D: IBM Director does not support an upgrade from version 4.21 to version 5.20.
Correct Answers: C

2.Which of the following actions should be taken to check the temperatures of a System x3850 server using IBM Director Console?

A: Discover the IBM Director Agent running on the System x3850 server, then use the Web interface to display the temperatures.
B: Discover the Physical Platform for the system, select Launch External Application-> Run MPCLI from the Task pane and run the gettemperatures command.
C: Discover the Physical Platform for the system, right-click and select Management Processor Assistant-> Launch Command Line Interface and run gettemperatures.
D: Discover the IBM Director Agent running on the System x3850 server, right-click and select Management Processor Assistant-> Launch Command Line Interface and run gettemperatures.
Correct Answers: C

3.Which of the following lists tasks that will be shown in IBM Director Console if a customer selects the IBM Director Express installation?

A: Event Action Plan, Event Log, SNMP Browser, System Accounts, Inventory, Resource Monitors, Scheduler, Software Distribution, Update Manager
B: Event Action Plan, Event Log, File Transfer, Hardware Status, Inventory, Resource Monitors, Scheduler, Software Distribution, Update Manager
C: Event Action Plan, Event Log, Remote Control, Server Configuration Manager, Inventory, Hardware Status, Software Distribution, Update Manager
D: Event Action Plan, Event Log, Asset ID, External Application Launch, Process Management, Hardware Status, Software Distribution, Update Manager
Correct Answers: B

4.Which of the following is NOT supported as a locally installed database on an IBM Director Server running under Linux?

A: Oracle
B: IBM DB2
C: Apache Derby
D: Microsoft SQL Server
Correct Answers: D