Working in the training industry for 15+ years, I’ve heard from many students about the roadblocks they face when trying to achieve Cisco’s CCNA certification.
Cisco’s certification pyramid strategy allows you to step your way up the career ladder by upgrading lower-tiered certifications to higher ones as your skills and knowledge increase. At the bottom of that pyramid–at least until Feb. 24, 2020–is the Entry level, represented by the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) credential. A step up from that is the Associate level, or Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). Certification candidates can start their journeys at the Entry level and graduate to the Associate level by first taking the Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices 1 (ICND1) exam and then taking ICND2. Or, candidates can skip the Entry level completely and hop straight to the Associate level by taking the CCNA exam. Therefore, Cisco has no prerequisite for obtaining the Associate-level credential.
Along with the retirement of the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) credential in February 2020, Cisco recently announced that the revamped Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) will, as of Feb. 24, 2020, include knowledge from what had previously been separate but related CCNA concentrations. Specifically, the concentrations that are being replaced by CCNA 200-301 include all of the following:
By Brian Scheibe
I recently discussed why it’s helpful to be able to create your own lab packs using the Lab Compiler included in Boson's NetSim network simulator software. Lab packs include topology files (*.top), lab documents (*.xps), loading configuration files (*.nwc), and grading configuration files (*.nwc). If you’ve created your own lab pack and want to import the files into NetSim, simply select the Custom Lab Packs tab and then click Lab > Import Lab Pack from the Menu Bar. Sometimes, however, you won’t need to include the individual topology and loading configuration files as a part of a lab pack. The good news is that you can still use them in NetSim.
By Brian Scheibe
For those of you who don’t know, an Easter Egg is an undocumented feature, freebie, or some other type of good thing that is available if you can find it. Do you look for them when you visit Web sites? For those of you studying to attain a CCNA certification there are Easter Eggs at boson.com. Several people find these Easter Eggs every day using search engines and I bet you want to know what and where they are.
By Chad Altman
Boson NetSim Network Simulator is an application that simulates Cisco Systems' networking hardware and software and is designed to help you learn the Cisco IOS command structure. That alone is pretty cool, but it gets better. NetSim uses its Virtual Packet Technology® engine to create individual packets that are routed and switched through the simulated network, to build an appropriate virtual routing table and to simulate true networking. NetSim doesn't just look like a real network, it acts like one too -- same telnet window, same shortcut commands, same hands-on experience.