Welcome. A quick response, although a long one is needed.
You have come to the right place i.e. the groupstudy mailing list. Best to
lurk for awhile. Check the archives for many of your questions. The answers
are there. Get to know how to navigate the www.cisco.com site aka CCO (Cisco
Connection Online).
IMHO The best book for CCNA is the Todd Lammle Study Guide. Make sure that
you buy version 2 for CCNA 2.0
It's great to have routers on which to practice. Three would be ideal for
CCNA. A good source is eBay. There are others who sell used equipment. Look
for Brad Ellis on this list. I'd buy in this order the following routers:
2503, 2513, 2509, 2523. That gets you Ethernet, Token Ring, ISDN BRI S/T,
sync serial, and sync/async serial interfaces. Additional gear is required
to make the TR and ISDN interoperate. You'll want some back-to-back serial
cables for your lab - qty four for the above lab. Several sources are: Bob
Lowery @ [EMAIL PROTECTED] , www.pacificcable.com , http://www.symmic.com
(which also sells women's clothing and heavy construction equipment - go
figure.) You'll also need some ethernet transceivers. I buy Transition brand
from DataComm Warehouse. There may be less expensive ones elsewhere. Take
time to study every day even if for only 15 min. Become a networker - not a
test taker.
Keep in mind that networks carry traffic. The more that you know about the
generators of traffic (read wintel boxes and others) the more valuable you
are. Good luck!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Wagner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2001 10:14 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Newbie seeking advice [7:4412]
>
>
> I am currently a network administrator and have been for
> about 2 years. I
> didn't bother getting my MCSE for two reasons, (1) too many
> people have them
> and have no idea how to run a network much less set one up
> and (2) I knew
> that I wanted to eventually work on getting certified in
> Cisco. I figured
> that if Cisco was going to be my focus, all the work spent
> getting my MCSE
> would prove mostly fruitless. I realize that having an MCSE
> is useful if
> you happen to
> have one, but I don't think that the certification yeilds
> alot of value if
> it requires going out of the way to get it. I have about
> two years worth of experience in setting up and admining NT
> 4.0 and now Win
> 2000 servers. I have a decent knowledge of networking
> concepts like DNS,
> TCP/IP, and the like. The problem is that I have very
> limited exposure to
> routers, switches and all the juicy stuff you need to know to
> have a solid
> foot in Cisco technology. I am sure that almost everyone
> starts where I am
> when they begin to want to work on that coveted CCNA
> certification. So I
> guess my question is this...where do I realistically start to
> get myself
> decent knowledge of the material? Step by step ideas would be most
> appreciated as I
> want to take this as seriously as I can. As follow up
> questions, what books
> are best to get to learn? What hardware should I consider
> buying to get
> started on the studies? Any help I can get will be
> invaluable and I thank
> you in advance. Any opinions on my MCSE evaluation are also
> welcome. I do
> not mean to minimize the value of MCSE, I just think that
> once you get your
> CCNA, your MCSE looses alot of its power on your resume.
> Thanks for the
> forthcoming responses.
>
> Steven Wagner
> FAQ, list archives, and subscription info:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html
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