INTRODUCTION TO NETWORKING

Cisco are a pretty clever company, especially when it comes to marketing and positioning their
products and certifications. If they see a new technology they think will give them a market
advantage, they buy the company. In order to support this equipment, they need well-trained
and knowledgeable engineers. This is where you come in.
Cisco, for their part, endeavour to keep the perceived value of their certification programme at
a high level. For this and other reasons, the certification process is regularly updated. The latest
update, the Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification, has seen the most sweeping
amount of changes since the exam started. Not only has the syllabus been updated to reflect
new technologies, such as IPv6, but the level of difficulty has been dramatically increased as
well. And I’m sure you have already noticed that it is no longer called the CCNA but the CCNA
RS, which differentiates it from the other CCNA tracks. To confused matters, Cisco refer to the
exam as the CCNAX.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Cisco now require you to have at least the ICND1 before
taking any specialisation tracks, such as Voice or Security, but please do check the Cisco website
for the latest news and updates – www.cisco.com/go/ccna. I am often asked about which exam
you need to have in order to take the Security or Voice certs, or about pass marks, etc. It’s
always best to check directly with Cisco regarding these questions.
The exam updates are both good and bad news for you. Good that when you pass, you will be
admired and respected by colleagues and employers, but bad in that you have a very difficult
task ahead of you. You have a huge amount of information to digest and understand, as well as
complex configuration tasks to configure and troubleshoot, with the clock ticking whilst under
exam conditions.
In order to help you pass the new-style CCNA exam, I’ve completely rewritten this book. Some
parts of the first edition have stayed because they teach you exactly what you need to know
and they have been battle tested by thousands of students who came before you. Other parts
have been improved or updated as a result of feedback. Entirely new sections have been added
due to changes to the syllabus.
I’ve used several tools this time, including my personal experience in the exams, dual CCIE Farai
Tafa’s CCNP study guides, real-world experience, RFCs, and what I’ve learned since 2000, when I
left the police force in the UK and started my career in Cisco networking. I’ve also hired CCIE
Daniel Gheorghe and dual CCIE Dario Barinic, who have added sections, updated others, and
trimmed other bits out. Bear in mind that all three CCIEs are full-time network architects I hired
to improve this guide. None of them teach internetworking, they DO internetworking. Bear that
in mind when you are checking out other books and training materials!
Free Stuff
Unlike Sybex and Cisco Press, Reality Press is a tiny publishing operation. In fact, to be honest,
it’s just me! I sit in my little office writing and working on my training websites and hire.
How the Programme Works
The 60-day study programme offers a combination of learning techniques, including reading,
reviewing, cramming, testing, and hands-on labs. You will take in new information for the first
few sessions and then start to review each module each day, as well as implement the lessons
on live Cisco equipment. You will then begin to employ the theory to exam-style questions and
eventually apply your knowledge in the real exam.
You need to factor in two hours of study per day spread amongst the theory, labs, exams, and
review. I’ve also built in free sessions for you to choose what you want to study. You start off
with mainly theory and then build up to mainly labs and exams, plus review. You will review
every lesson the next day and then come back to it again on other review days, as well as in
labs and exams. Take NAT, for example:
Day 6 – NAT
Day 6 – NAT labs
Day 18 – NAT review
Day 20 – NAT labs
Days 23 through 25 – Free study and NAT labs
All days – NAT in the cram guide
In addition, there are NAT challenge labs and you study NAT every day in the cram guide. The
same goes for many other subjects. Minor subjects such as CSMA/CD I refer to twice, but that is
all. There is little chance these will come up in the exam, so there is little incentive to
remember them. There will be ample time to cover everything, as well as free study sessions
where you can go over any weak areas. You should keep working on your weak areas until
there are none left.
You’ll start off with some preparation sessions, and please do not skip these. I can tell you for a
fact that a person with a strong reason and desire to pass will always pass. A person who sort
of, kind of likes the idea of passing the CCNA exam will soon give up when he sees the amount
of work involved.
UPDATE: I’ve moved the motivational guide to www.in60days.com to save space.
The motivational guide will get you focused on the WHYs of wanting to pass. This will be the
magnet which draws you towards your 60 daily study sessions and your final goal of becoming
a Cisco CCNA engineer (and beyond, I hope).
This study guide is comprised of a mixture of content from several sources, including:
􀀀 Original notes and ideas exclusive to this guide
􀀀 Some notes from my CCNA study guide, Cisco CCNA Simplified (out of print)
􀀀 Farai Tafa’s CCNP Simplified study guides
􀀀 Presentation notes from my in60days.net members-only programme
􀀀 Extra notes, labs, and explanations
ICND1 ICND1 ICND1 ICND1 ICND1 ICND1
Switching IPv4/IPv6 IOS TCP Routing
Security* Addressing Security* DHCP* Static*
Basic Config* VLSM NAT* DNS Dynamic*
Cables ACLs TCP/IP OSPFv2/v3*
Single-area
DTP/VLANs* Subnetting NTP OSI Inter-VLAN
CSMA/CD CDP Concepts
ICND2 ICND2 ICND2 ICND2 ICND2 ICND2
Switching IPv4 WAN IOS IP Services Routing
STP/RSTP* IPv6 Frame Relay* ACLs* FHRP OSPFv2/3*
Multi-area
EtherChannel NAT* PPP* VPN SNMP EIGRP*
Trunking* Summarisation PPPoE Licensing Syslog Inter-VLAN
VTP* Broadband Manage Netflow
Booting
􀀀 Notes and updates from CCIEs Dario and Daniel
If you have read any of the books above or have used the resources, some of the content may
seem familiar in places. The difference is I’ve brought everything together and have broken it
down into daily study sessions. Over 90% of the content in this guide is completely new and
original. We’ll dip into the CCNP notes now and again when I want to add some extra details
for you, or sometimes you’ll need to go a bit beyond the CCNA level for stuff to make sense;
otherwise, more questions are left hanging in the air, and we don’t want that, do we?
I have included some bonus labs on in60days.com, so if you want to test your hands-on skills
further, then please follow those. If you’re looking for some other review materials, please
check out the free white papers section at www.in60days.com.
Are You Ready?
The subjects below are covered in the CCNA exam syllabus. Often, exams are themed whereby
they drill you hard on one or two subjects whilst other subjects are left alone. It is the luck of
the draw. This course is designed to leave no gaps in your knowledge at all.
I’ve split your study into ICND1 and ICND2. When you book your exam(s), the exam titles are
100-101 for ICND1 and 200-101 for ICND2. You can also take both exams at the same time in
the 200-120 CCNAX composite exam. I would recommend that you take the two-exam route
because you can concentrate on specific topics and there is less chance of becoming
overwhelmed. The downside, of course, is having to pay for two exams, which is more
expensive.
As indicated in the chart above, the upper area outlines ICND1 subjects and the lower area
outlines ICND2 subjects. If you are taking the CCNA exam, questions pertaining to all of the
subjects above could be asked in the exam. The asterisks denote subjects for which you may
get hands-on labs in the actual exam set by Cisco. As you go along, please tick off each area you
feel you fully understand. Of course, each area needs to be ticked before you attempt the
exam!
The chart above is not a definitive guide, by the way; however, it represents my best effort at
making sure the core stuff is covered for each exam. There is no guarantee that Cisco won’t
throw the odd curveball at you! Also, remember that you could be required to troubleshoot all
of the above (please check the syllabus via Cisco.com for more information). My recent
experience retaking the ICND2 showed me that Cisco can also put ICND1 topics in the ICND2
exam, so please review those! For this reason you will see me putting ICND1 topics into some
of the ICND2 labs.