One issue that always arises when preparing to take the CCNA certification exam is what test path shall you take? For several years, Cisco offers two possible ways to obtain the CCNA certification.

• To pass a single certification exam, which is called the CCNA Composite 640-802.
• To pass two separate certification exams, namely the ICND1 (640-822) and ICND2 (640-816).

First of all let me clarify something here: The CCNA certification will be the same, no matter which path you have chosen to follow. The certification does not change with different versions of the exam, or by which exams taken, or how many times you have tried the test. It will always be the Cisco Certified Network Associate.

Now, regarding taking one or two exams, my personal opinion is to go for the single (composite) exam option, the 640-802. Why?

If you opt to pay for the 2 exams options, the first one, the 640-822, will give you the CCENT certification as well. But this certification (at least for now) it’s not that important in your resume.

Consequently, the only advantage I find to divide the certification in two exams, is that the first test needs shorter preparation with a more limited agenda, and therefore serves as the first encounter with the certification system and makes it easier to pursue the more advanced examination (640-816) which is more extensive and complex.

But for the 640-816 exam you cannot ignore the topics that were necessary to study for the first exam. That is, taking the second test is practically almost similar with taking the composite exam, with the only difference being that you will already have some experience in the interface and test environment.

This means, duplicate exam preparation time is needed (i.e longer overall preparation), more dedication is required, and also higher cost. I do not think it’s worthwhile to take the two exam path for the CCNA.

However, it is not to be considered completely unwise. In contrast, those who have chosen the way of Cisco training academy may find it better and easier to take first the 640-822 (complete the first 2 modules of the training), and finally take the 640-816 to complete modules 3 and 4. It’s a completely valid option as well.

Do you want to learn how to install, configure and maintain computer networks? Are you looking to develop your professional skills in networking and to demonstrate your expertise or enhance your credibility? Then a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification is an excellent choice for you as an entry level professional. The knowledge that you will acquire during preparation for CCNA will be your solid base to build a promising and successful career in the field of networks.

Training and Certification

Candidates who pass the exam will receive a CCNA certificate from Cisco. This quality qualification will put a weight on your resume which will certainly be noticed by prospective employers.

Preparing for the CCNA certification requires candidates to study about the following topics:

• Describe how a network works
• Configure, verify and troubleshoot a switch with VLANs and interswitch communications
• Implement an IP addressing scheme and IP Services to meet network requirements in a medium-size Enterprise branch office network
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot basic router operation and routing on Cisco devices
• Explain and select the appropriate administrative tasks required for a WLAN
• Identify security threats to a network and describe general methods to mitigate those threats
• Implement, verify, and troubleshoot NAT and ACLs in a medium-size Enterprise branch office network
• Implement and verify WAN links

I suggest the following CCNA Training which covers the full range of topics that you will be tested. The above training claims that you will pass CCNA Guaranteed.

Benefits of CCNA

Cisco certification rewards the efforts of candidates: A validation of your technical expertise increases your professional credibility. In particular, the CCNA skills acquired for SOHO or medium networks reveal an extremely valuable qualification for companies whose networks have fewer than 100 nodes.

 The holder of a CCNA is able to do the following:

• Installation and configuration of Cisco switches and routers in multiprotocol environments, using LAN and WAN interfaces. 
• Troubleshooting Operations at Level 1 
• Improve security and network performance.

The holder of a CCNA can occupy the following positions:

• Engineer at Hotline 
• Onsite Technician  
• System Engineer Level 1 
• System Integrator Level 1

This is another CCNA Exam preparation article that covers the topic regarding the configuration of basic Sisco IOS router operation.

This article will cover a few points that you will be tested for the CCNA regarding the configuration of basic Cisco IOS router operation. IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is the software operating system running on most Cisco network devices, including switches and routers. To configure any Cisco network device you need to master the Cisco IOS Configuration Commands and use the Command Line Interface (CLI) to configure and troubleshoot a Cisco device.

How to connect to a Router in order to Configure it:

You can connect to a Cisco IOS Router either directly or remotely. For the first time when the device is not configured yet, you usually connect directly with a console cable via the CON port or remotely by dialing into a model connected to the AUX port. These are called “out-of-band” connection methods. After you configure the router and assign IP addresses to its interfaces, you can connect to the router from the network with an “in-band” connection method using Telnet or SSH.

Router Configuration Modes

After connecting to a Cisco Router (let’s say using a console), you are presented with the Command Line Interface in which you type and enter configuration commands. After typing a command, you press enter and the command is automatically active on the device. For example using the “shutdown” command on an interface, automatically disables the interface. Now, there are two Router Configuration Modes (or access modes):

• User EXEC Mode: Allows the administrator to access only limited monitoring commands. You can not actually make any configurations from this mode. The command prompt on this mode is “router>”
• Privileged EXEC Mode: Allows the administrator to access all device commands, such as those used for configuration and management, and can be password protected to allow only authorized users to access the device at this “full-access” level. This mode is also called enable mode because you get to it with the enable command. The command prompt on this mode is “router#”. From the privileged EXEC mode you can start configuring the device by typing “configure terminal“

Router Memory Types

A Cisco router has four memory types:

• ROM: This is where the POST script of the router is located. The POST software (Power On Self Test) is used during startup to perform the initial hardware checking of the device. The ROM also holds a mini-IOS used for password recovery.
• RAM: This is where the running configuration is located. After the device boots up, the IOS software is loaded into RAM. Also, RAM holds routing tables, network parameters during operation etc. When configuring the router, we actually change the running-configuration which as we said is stored into RAM
• NVRAM: When we save the running-configuration (using the command “write“) it is stored into the NVRAM and becomes the startup-configuration. After rebooting the router, the startup-configuration is loaded from the NVRAM.
• Flash: This is like the hard-disk of a PC. It holds the IOS software image file and any backup configurations that you might save from time to time.

When you issue the “show running-configuration” command on the router you instruct the device to display the current running configuration in RAM. When you issue the “show startup-configuration” command you instruct the router to display the stored configuration in the NVRAM.

This is another CCNA exam preparation tutorial about the Transport Layer of the TCP/IP suite. Understanding the purpose and functionality of the Transport Layer (Layer 4 in the OSI model) is fundamental for understanding how data is transmitted in network environments. When preparing for the Cisco CCNA 640-802 exam, you need to have strong knowledge of the Transport Layer of the OSI model and also about TCP/UDP port numbers and their associated applications. Read below for a CCNA prep tutorial about the Transport Layer.

The Transport Layer resides between Application and Network layers and has the critical role of providing communication services directly to the application processes running on different hosts. As message data arrives from an Application Layer to the Transport Layer, the latter places a header on the data in order to identify from which application the data was received. This Transport Layer header contains a Source Port Number and a Destination Port Number. The Port Numbers identify the application from which the data was received or is destined to. Read more on port numbers later in this article.

Another role of the Transport Layer is to provide reliable communication and flow control. The two most well known protocols that work in the Transport Layer are TCP and UDP. TCP is a connection-oriented reliable protocol that uses flow control mechanisms and acknowledged data delivery to offer reliable communication. UDP on the other hand is a connectionless and unacknowledged protocol.

Now, the Network Layer (IP layer 3), which is below the Transport Layer and is responsible to route packets between hosts, does not offer reliability for data delivery. That is why we use TCP on top of IP (hence the TCP/IP suite) in order to provide reliable and error free data flow communication.

As we mentioned above, the Transport Layer uses Port Numbers to differentiate between various applications that might need communication services. You should be ready to get questions in the CCNA exam regarding port numbers and their association with different applications. You should know that port numbers below 1024 are reserved for several well-known applications. Some examples are shown below:

FTP (TCP Port 21)
Telnet (TCP port 23)
SMTP email (TCP port 25)
POP3 email (TCP port 110)
DNS (TCP or UDP port 53)
TFTP (UDP port 69)
SNMP (UDP port 161)
RIP (UDP port 520)

You need to learn the mapping between the basic port numbers with their respective application for your CCNA exam. The above port examples are very important.