Priscilla has hit the nail on the head as usual! If you don't have the experience with Cisco's AVVID, SAFE and voice architecture design, you should wait a few months for the self-study guides from companies such as Cisco Press and Sybex before tacking the CCDA DESGN 640-861 exam.
I took the exam late last year when it was in beta and it's a real bear for an "intro-level" certification. I wrote an exam review you might want to look at for more information. Good luck! http://tcpmag.com/Exams/article.asp?EditorialsID=71 -----Original Message----- From: Priscilla Oppenheimer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 3:55 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: CCDA Study material [7:71111] CiscoNewbie wrote: > > Hi all. I am going up for my CCDA cert and would like to know > what are the recommended books and material to study with? Nothing is out yet for the new version of the test, as far as I know. Your best bet would be to take the instructor-led class, if you can afford it. With a good instructor, I think DESGN could be a really great class. It's got tons of meat now, much more than before. It has a big focus on systems analysis as it is taught at universities, as a real discipline, not just a bunch of hand-waving. The class also has a huge scope, covering almost everything you ever wanted to know related to campus and enterprise networks, from business (which they call social or organizational) goals, technical goals, topologies, architectures, modular design, addressing (including IPv6), routing, voice, network management, and security. One focus is on the SAFE architecture, so look that up on Cisco's site and learn it. There's also some AVVID stuff Many of the course modules are partially based on my book Top-Down Network Design. Many of the modules say that Top-Down Network Design is recommended reading. Top-Down Network Design doesn't cover some newer topics, though, such as SAFE and AVVID, although it did cover voice in a limited fashion, since Cisco has been harping on that for years now. DESGN covers voice in gory detail, however. It seems to have all of the old CVOICE course in it. Each module in DESGN has many chapters, each of which is literally hundreds of pages long. The person turning it into a book (not me unfortunately) is going to have a heyday. :-) I haven't taken the new test, but if it really tests all that's in the course, it's going to be one of the hardest tests out there (and that's a good thing. It's about time design got some respect. :-) Anyway, bottom line: if you can take the older version of the test, then there's lots of study materials. If you have to take the newer version, then you should take the instructor-led DESGN class or wait a few months for study material. Priscilla Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=71194&t=71111 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
