certification-cisco

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification has become a widely recognized credential for broad information security expertise. But the challenging exam for CISSP certification requires such a wide range of security knowledge that many tech pros require some help to pass it, regardless of their experience level.

As a CISSP trainer for Certified Tech Trainers, I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about money wasted on not-so-great instructor-led training. In fact, many of my students have already invested in training that simply didn’t work for them.

You should look for several common elements when choosing a school and its course. To save you time and money, I’ve come up with six tips to help you evaluate instructor-led CISSP training.

Tip 1: Verify the credentials of the instructor
If you expect the instructor to transfer knowledge on a wide variety of security domains, make sure he or she is an expert in each of the security domains. Naturally the instructor should be CISSP certified, but I would argue that CISSP certification alone is not all you should look for.

If a Microsoft Certified Trainer is teaching Windows 2000 directory services, you don’t really need the instructor to also be a firewall guru. However, if the instructor is teaching Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) server, it would be kind of nice if the instructor really knew firewall implementations and could explain how ISA functions in comparison to Cisco PIX, Check Point Firewall NG, and Linux IP Tables.

The CISSP exam covers 10 security domains, and it’s really 10 exams in one. Look for an instructor who is a credentialed expert in each of the security domains. Desirable instructor certifications include (ISC)2’s CISSP, ISACA’s CISA, CompTIA’s Security+, SCP’s SCNP, Check Point’s CCSE and CCSI, Cisco’s CCIE, CCNP, and CCSP, Microsoft’s MCT, MCSE, and MCSD, Nokia’s NSA, TruSecure’s TICSA, and SANS’s GIAC. It is also desirable for your instructor to have a business or computer sciences degree.

Some courses have even been created by recognized authors. Although this is certainly nice, be careful that authoring is not the instructor’s only claim to fame. Getting a book deal is not that hard. Having coauthored and edited four books myself, I can speak from experience. The CISSP is an expert-level certification. Make sure your instructor is an expert in each of the 10 security domains before you sign up for a CISSP class.

You should also be careful of a school that boasts of a course created by an expert but then uses someone else to teach it. The strength of an instructor-led class comes primarily from the instructor in front of you, since it is the instructor’s ability to transfer knowledge that can really deliver the value of the class. I can tell you that it’s a lot harder to hire extremely talented and qualified instructors than it is to find or create good base content. Promoting a course created by an expert and delivered by someone else is often little more than bait-and-switch marketing.

Tip 2: Beware of the cookie-cutter course
Make sure that the course provides a foundation of solid information security training mapped to the 10 security domains of the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK). Is the course adapted solely from a book, or does it include custom content as well? What is the extra content?

Oddly enough, you should also make sure that the instructor’s presentation actually corresponds to the course materials provided. We’ve had many frustrated students come to us after attending a presentation that didn’t even match the materials provided.

Tip 3: Evaluate the after-course study materials
Make sure that the course is set up to allow easy review. There’s an enormous amount of material to cover for the CISSP, and you’ll absolutely have to review on your own to retain all the necessary details. If the course is set up properly, it should already have critical exam points highlighted for you.

The school should not rely on your ability to remember what was important to remember for the exam. It will be hard enough just keeping up, let alone discerning what to review. Make sure the school is doing its job by taking as much of the work out of the learning process as possible. You want to have energy and concentration left for pure retention efforts without wasting them on preparatory details the school could have taken care of.

Tip 4: Ensure that the course addresses test-taking strategies
Although the school should naturally provide solid information security training and knowledge transfer, it should also provide specialized training on the art of attacking ambiguous, subjective, and very tricky exam questions. Many of our students have commented that the CISSP exam seemed as much a test of IQ as a test of infosec know-how. My opinion is that it’s both.

You’ll need to develop the skill of ferreting out the true point of a question and then determining the best answer out of four good and arguable answers. Most instructor-led courses shy from this kind of instruction, but that doesn’t mean that testing skill is bad or that you don’t need it. Just ask any CISSP about the exam. Most will just grin and swear they will never take it again!

Tip 5: Check out the opportunity to practice for the exam
Make sure that the course includes plenty of mentoring through practice exams. Simply taking practice exams for the CISSP does not work as it does for many technical certifications. From my experience, I can vouch that you’ll probably not see more than 2 to 3 percent of any practice questions on your real exam. That means you can’t “Transcender” through this one.

In preparing for my own exam, I parsed more than 2,800 commercially available practice questions from Boson, The CISSP Prep Guide, the All-in-One CISSP Certification , and the SRV publications to find and memorize more than 1,100 nonredundant questions. I can’t say for sure, but I don’t remember more than about 25 real questions that mapped very closely to practice questions. The math says you would need 10 times the memorization to get the content you need. Not much of a shortcut, is it?

So why do I recommend seeking mentored practice exams? The key word is mentored. If an exam expert walks you through the logic of attacking tricky questions, you can apply those same techniques to any exam. And if the instructor has the string of certifications mentioned in tip number 1, you can be confident that he or she has plenty of experience in taking tricky exams.

Tip 6: Don’t buy training based on pass guarantees
Beware of making your decision based upon a hollow “exam pass guarantee.” Most of these guarantees are not money-back guarantees. They often only enable you to take the class again if you fail your exam. It’s kind of like being offered a free meal from a restaurant after showing proof from the hospital that your last meal gave you food poisoning.

Promptly you’ve got your CCNA, you’re ready to move on to the next unalterable, the Past master certifications. Fit years, Cisco had one-liner Professional certification, the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification. One more time time, Cisco has expanded this point of certifications to group the Cisco Certified Security Able (CCSP) and Cisco Certified Turn Competent (CCVP).

With security and make known being the two most rapidly expanding areas of today’s networks, some unheard of CCNAs over successful after the CCSP or CCVP without essential adding the CCNP to their resume.

While it’s temping to hurry up and gross a Cisco custodianship or voice certification, the best fixation you can do in support of your networking occupation is achieve your CCNP certification head, then come to a decision on the CCVP or CCSP.

Why? Because the CCNA is fair-minded the gen of a entirely portly iceberg when it comes to routing and switching. It’s a identical substantial conclusion, and the CCNA is in point of fact the basis of your networking bolt, but you lack to combine on to that parallel of concordat routing and switching before inspirational on to more specialized areas.

Two examples are OSPF and BGP. You learn with respect to the theory of OSPF and some primary and intermediate configurations of that formalities in your CCNA studies, but the learning 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 grievous impression to make some BGP instruction in today’s networks. It’s also well-proportioned instead of your career.

I know it is a gargantuan temptation to slip after the insurance and utter certifications while not paying concentration to the CCNP. Do yourself a prodigious favor and reckon the tremendous amount of routing and switching intelligence needed pro the CCNP to your knowledgebase, and you can then manoeuvre on to the CCSP or CCVP. Coextensive with more intelligent, you’ll be bettor predisposed to climb the biggest certification mountain around – the CCIE!

Computer is very wide and fast growing industry. There are different types of certification are offered by the many institutes around the world. Here we have a brief review over the types of computer certifications.

CompTIA: A+ Certification:

It is an entry level hardware certification program. It able you to install, configure, fix, upgrade and troubleshoot personal computers.

CompTIA: Network+:

This certification is related to the networking hardware and architecture.

Cisco Certified Network Associate: CCNA

This is advanced level Cisco certification that is related to the LANS and WANS. It is a demanding field.

Cisco Certified Design Associate: CCDA

This Cisco certification involves routing and switched Network infrastructures.

Cisco Certified Security Professional: CCSP

This cisco certification that deals with security in VPN and integrated network security.

Cisco Certified: CCNP

This is cisco program for network and system administrators for LAN/WAN.

Cisco Certified Internet work Professional: CCIP

It provides complete knowledge of IP technologies and also it deals with BGP and MPLS as well.

Cisco Certified InterNet work Expert: CCIE

After CCIE certification you are an expert in routing switching, communication, security and voice over network.

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: MCSE

This is a Microsoft certification for design and maintenance Microsoft based Operating systems. MCSE certification is specific to network operating systems like MCSE 2000 is for Windows 2000 and MCSE 2003 for MS server 2003.

Microsoft Certified System Administrator: MCSA

This is certification for administration of Windows 2000, windows server 2003 networks and trouble shooting.

Sun Certified Systems Administrator: SCSA

Its credentials are for UNIX and Sun Solaris operating system environment.

Sun Certified Network Administrator: SCNA

It is related to the Sun Solaris Operating System Environment and is an advanced level certification after having completed SCSA.

Oracle Certifications:

Oracle is advanced level database administration and development program. Oracle software products include a relational database, business applications, and application development and decision-support tools. It certifications includes:

* Oracle Database 10g Administrator
* Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator
* Oracle PL/SQL and Oracle Forms Developer
* Oracle 9i Database Administrator
* Oracle Application Server 9i Web Administrator
* Oracle Forms Developer 6i

Computer Aided Design & Drafting (CADD) Certification:

This is really demanding certification. The certified CADD operators can develop new drawings and plans faster than possible with traditional methods because the software automates many of the more complex and repetitive design and drawing tasks and greatly simplifies the process of making changes and improvements to existing designs.

Linux Certification

Linux is operating system that is supported by the Dell, IBA, Novell, Oracle etc. It is mostly use in servers.

Certified Internet Web Professional: CIW

This is certification programs for a professional web designers. There is a lot of demand for the certified web designers and developers in the computer industry.

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The 642-731 CUWSS Conducting Cisco Unified Wireless Site Survey exam is the exam associated with the CCNP Wireless certification. This exam assesses a candidate’s capability to plan and conduct a wireless site survey, to design the RF network and to conduct a post installation assessment to ensure compliancy. Candidates can prepare for this exam by taking the CUWSS Conducting Cisco Unified Wireless Site Survey course.

642-731 Exam Information
Exam Number: 642-731
Associated Certifications: CCNP Wireless
Duration: 90 minutes (50-60 questions)
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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!
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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.

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.

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.

As you get ready to pass the CCNA or CCNP exams, you can feel quite a bit of stress as you enter your last week of study. Let’s take a look at a few ways to reduce that stress.

1. Do not stay up late cramming. The CCNA and CCNP are not exams you’re going to pass by cramming. “Cramming” is a study technique best left behind in junior high school. The CCNA can’t be passed by memorization – you’ve got to know how Cisco technologies work. That leads us to the second point…

2. Get lots of rest. By far, this is the most overlooked factor on exam day. The CCNA and CCNP exams are going to demand your best. You’re going to be performing subnetting, binary and hex conversions, analyzing network diagrams for troubleshooting, and much more. You’ve got to be mentally sharp. You can add 100 points to your exam score just by showing up well-rested. And let’s be realistic – if you don’t know something at 11 PM the night before your exam, you’re not going to learn it overnight. Get some sleep!

3. Get everything together the night before the exam. You don’t want to be running around the house the morning of the exam looking for your keys. Make sure you have your keys and your ID the night before the exam.

4. Know where the testing center is. If you’ve never been to the center you’ll be passing the CCNA in before, go there before the morning of the exam. Do not rely on Mapquest or a friend’s directions. You don’t want to be late for your exam.

5. Allow for traffic. Many CCNA and CCNP candidates prefer to take their exams in the morning. Again, if you haven’t been to the exam center before, you should drive there during morning rush hour traffic before your exam date to make sure you have enough time to get there. You don’t want to be sitting in traffic when you should be sitting in the exam room!

With the rapid development of the Internet technology, the demand for the net engineers is increasing unprecedentedly, which therefore enhance the development of the computer certification education and the demand for the certification exams. Then, what are Cisco certificate exams currently and how to take its exams?

Whoever has obtained international computer certificates must have heard about Prometric – a company for exams. Prometric is the global leading provider of computerized testing and assessment services, which has over 4000 authorized prometric test centers (APTC) in the world, being responsible for providing IT industry certification exams. The company has set up ATPC in major cities of many countries, responsible of providing IT industry certification examinations. It may provide certification examinations from the world-renowned IT companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Sun HP, Linux, Adobe, IBM/Lotus, Intel, Lucent, SCO, Novell,Compaq……

Cisco 642-631 certificate exams are taken in computer networking. Cisco Company puts its own examinations questions into the test system of Prome-tric Company, and then Prometric produce different papers for each of the candidates. The existing knowledge updates quickly, so the Cisco exam item bank updates along with its updated products constantly.

Take CCNP for example, the testing form includes standardized and adaptive tests. Because the adaptive test is an item of new test technology, it makes the computer become not only the information receiver in the exam any more. It possesses a certain degree of intelligence that enables it to conduct immediate analysis on the result of the candidate’s answers, to judge the ken of the candidate and to decide the degree of difficulty of the next question. In the Cisco 642-845 examination, a question of moderate degree of difficulty will be present firstly, and If the answer is correct, the difficulty of the next question will be increased; if the answer is wrong, the next question would be easier. It is not allowed to check the front questions answered already. This examination largely avoided cramming and prevented test from leaking, and it really played a role in testing the examinees’ understanding to the concepts, now more and more certification exams adopted this kind of exam form.

Now the main questions of IT certification exam are multiple-choice (single, multiple, variable items), scenario-based questions, drag and drop questions and experimental questions, and the 642-971 has no exception. You can instantly see your result as pass or no pass on the computer screen immediately when you finish your test, the transcript is thereafter printed, on which listed the assessment figure, letting you know the advantage and the disadvantage to make up for.

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