atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information CISCO

ictelco:

You can take 2 tests for the CCNA or 1 test that covers it all. To become certified it is recommended that you start off by taking either the CCENT and move up from there.

I would recommend that you purchase a Cisco 877 / 851 from ebay for a couple hundred dollars instead of using the simulation programs. A bonus is that you can add that into your home network once you are finished with the exams.

Use CBTNuggets, Train Signal, Cisco Press books, and go to the Cisco web site for your studies. Dedicate at least 1 hour a day minimum to study and take the test when you are ready.

They are not easy to pass and the questions work more on theory than black and white answers. If that makes any sense?

From there you can move up to CCNAV this cert(640-460) covers the VoIP aspect of Cisco. Go to the Cisco web site for more detail.

Hope this helped you some.

KLD:

Can I Still Call Out? = CISCO

That's classic... I laugh every time I say it.

If you're new to Cisco's certification programs, I'd recommend going the two test route for the CCNA. The first will earn you your CCENT, and the second the full CCNA. Taking it as two tests isn't easier as far as content is concerned, but it's much easier when it comes to time. The all-in-one was really difficult in terms of time, especially with subnetting. If you're doing that exam, you better be able to subnet in your head very quickly or else you'll run into problems finishing the exam.

The majority of the Cisco stuff I know (which is not a whole lot, just enough to get by) was taught to me in high school tech ed classes. I enjoyed working with the equipment and did very well in the basic stuff we did in class. I've got some newer Cisco gear in my shop now and I'm trying to teach myself more.

That's great if you have access to the equipment. The great thing about CCNA level Cisco is that you can pick up a cheap router or two and a cheap switch and practice pretty much everything.

One tip to those who are practicing on Cisco equipment is that if you assign a network to a loopback address on a router, it is considered a hop away. That means that if you take one router and connect it to a second router you can advertise the loopback interfaces with routing protocols to simulate a much larger network than what you're looking at (thus saving costs of getting other routers). It's great for working with the fundamentals of RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP.

I Blame the show "24"

actually had a customer tell me they couldnt wait to get the phones from 24, and he was so dissapointed when it didnt have the same ring tone... (they still have the toshiba pbx installed so they can do a page)

Cisco is a marketing monster... they have the best looking phones and are smart enough to make sure you see them everywhere! doesnt matter that it takes a week of programming to make them do what every other phone system does by default...

Toshiba dealers for years have begged toshiba to let people know they also do phones.
I wish they would just add phones to one of their billion dollar ad campains that showcases laptops,TVs and every other electronic product under the sun.

A friend of mine ripped the the ring tone from the show and deployed it in his company's VoIP network. Maybe they had demanded to have it.

Corect, in that CISCO may want a second network, and if it's there, sure use it for VoIP but in our case 99% of the installations are done on the same network that the PC's reside on, and of course poor call quality comes from a poor network. Most issues we see come down to a chattering NIC somewhere, multiple switches connected haphazardly and multiple boxes offering DHCP. Just like TDM solutions, not all pure VoIP is CISCO, some actually work (IPitomy) and work rather well. Some applications offer better opportunities for a VoIP solution than others and it's easy to knock something you don't know (hell I did it too). The "Dark Side" gets brighter every day! :dance:

PS - we don't require a VPN for a remote phone or branch office installations.

Me too.

Doesn't Cisco deploy their call manager express on the customer's router itself?

Seems this is a fairly dated thread. How many of you in the past few years passed your CCNA? Did the certification provide better contract or job opportunities? I attended Cisco Acadamy in Seattle in 1999 but did not take the ccna test. I have had a few times, used my training but not having the certification may have limited my job opportunities.

I think times have changed alot since 1998. I assume there are far far more CCNA certified techs and U imagine the wages have come down. I have considered taking ccna training either on my own, or in a class again. I have downloaded GNA bin ios emulator just need to download some where, previous version which I just read online, 12.4 off of the net.

I am hungry for knowledge and more advanced experience. Cisco will help and it will cut down on the total cost of a new install for a client if I do not hire a cisco engineer.