Just like the Robert Frost poem, two paths diverge in the thicket that is your study for the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing and Switching certification. Along one of those paths, you first earn the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) by taking the Interconnecting Cisco Networks Devices 1 (ICND1) exam, or exam number 100-105. After more study, you can then opt to take the ICND2 (200-105) exam to earn the CCNA certificate.
By Andrew Messier
NetSim 10.6 has been released. This update includes 3 new CCENT labs for configuring basic network services and troubleshooting Domain Name Systems (DNS), 5 new CCNA labs for troubleshooting Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Frame-Relay, and minor output updates to several lab documents. We added support for configuring interfaces with non-contiguous ranges, applying ACLs to Virtual Terminal Lines (VTY), and configuring Network Address Translation (NAT) on subinterfaces. Finally, this release includes bug fixes for NAT, static routing, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), and Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) named-mode. A complete list of all eight new labs is below:
By James Hanback
You've spent all these weeks and some of your hard-earned cash studying for Cisco's 640-816 ICND2 exam only to discover that there's a brand new Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) version 2.0 track. Cisco's 200-101 exam, along with its 100-101 ICND1 prerequisite, was announced on March 26 and is now available to candidates pursuing CCNA certification or recertification. Cisco also released a new version 2.0 of the composite exam, which is numbered 200-120. Among the many questions these new developments raise in your mind as you consider heaving your old 640-816 study guide toward the trash bin might be "Have I wasted my time studying for 640-816?"
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.
