July 28, 2016 at 15:07Updated Cisco CCNA Certification Program
- Tutorial
This article has been prepared jointly with Fast Lane.
A few months ago, Cisco updated the exams required to become CCNA Routing and Switching (Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching). Along with the exams, official trainings (courses) that prepare candidates for CCNA status were updated. Fresh exams contain a number of new topics, and updated courses contain material on these topics, that is, in fact, at the moment we are dealing with CCNA Routing and Switching of the new version 3.0 . In this article, we will look at exactly what changes the CCNA certification program has undergone and what the current CCNA R&S looks like today.
To talk about the changes, first you need to remember what the previous version of CCNA looked like (version 2.0). Here it’s worth mentioning right away that you can get CCNA status in two ways:
Which way to choose, everyone decides for himself. Candidates with a more thorough approach to the study of theoretical material usually choose the first path. Such candidates master the theoretical part of the first year, pass one exam, and then repeat the process for the second. Those who, in their opinion, already have quite a lot of experience with Cisco equipment, choose to pass one exam. Moreover, there is practically no difference in money between these options.
As already mentioned, the updated CCNA version 3.0 means, first of all, the new topics of exams and their corresponding courses. For example, the old version of the ICND1 course included the following topics:
Actually, it was proposed to master this whole set of theoretical topics and related laboratory work in 5 days of training. In total, 13 laboratory plus one super-lab at the end are planned in the course. The new version of ICND1 3.0 has undergone the following changes:
It may seem that the difference between the old and new versions is not very big, but there is one very important change: this is access to educational materials and laboratory work. Training materials (the so-called Student guide) are now provided electronically. Participants attending the official training ICND1 v.3.0 get access to the course materials within their account on cisco.com. That is, paper books on the course are no longer issued to them, and access to materials can be obtained if you are connected to the Internet.
Changed and the concept of laboratory work. If earlier the ICND1 course used real Cisco equipment assembled into a specific topology, now a virtual lab is used. That is, practical classes are held on virtual switches and routers. In fact, this is good, since the use of virtual machines allows you to collect different topologies for each task, that is, adjust the tasks of each laboratory work to the material requiring fixing. The most positive point is that access to laboratory work for the student of the official course does not end at the end of the course itself, but remains for 180 days. That is, if the student after completing the course still wants to practice setting up the proposed protocols and technologies, then he can do it within six months.
The ICND2 course has also undergone major changes. The old version as a whole focused on the process of finding any malfunctions in the work of various technologies and protocols (the so-called Troubleshoot) and included the following topics:
The new version of ICND2 3.0 has the following differences:
Laboratory work has also undergone changes: if there were only 18 in the old version of ICND2, the new version offers students 25 discovery labs and 19 challenge labs (the concept of discovery and challenge labs for this course is also preserved). That is, the emphasis of the course is shifted towards practical exercises, which allows us to study the proposed topics not only in theory. At the same time, the new version of the ICND2 course, as well as ICND1, uses the same concept of access to educational materials and laboratory work. Students of the official ICND2 v.3.0 will be able to continue to perform laboratory work for six months from the moment they gain access to the lab, honing the skills to configure the proposed technologies and protocols.
It is also worth noting that in addition to the two mentioned courses ICND1 and ICND2, which obviously correlate with exams for obtaining CCNA status, there is also a training called CCNAX(CCNA Accelerated). This is a 5-day course that includes a summary of the ICND1 and ICND2 courses. This course is usually suitable for those who want to get a basic understanding of the operation of packet networks, the logic of their construction on the basis of Cisco equipment, as well as the protocols and technologies that will work in these networks, but, unfortunately, cannot spend on training as much as 2 weeks (listening to ICND1 and ICND2 courses in full takes so much time). The CCNAX course program of the new version 3.0 includes all the topics that are covered in the ICND1 and ICND2 courses, however, less time is devoted to the theoretical part (which is logical). In terms of practice, this course offers 53 discovery labs and 15 challenge labs, so practicing in this 5-day course is also more than enough.
Actually, the topic was presented above of the official Cisco courses, which prepare candidates for passing the relevant exams. As for the exams themselves, then the changes are quite simple. New exams have the following numbers:
Traditionally, the content of the exams is not disclosed, but it is logical to assume that their subject matter corresponds to the courses mentioned. Old versions of exams will be available until August 20 (for CCNA and ICND1) and until September 24 (for ICND2). As before, to obtain CCNA status, you must pass either two ICND1 + ICND2 exams or one CCNA. Registration for new exams is still available through Pearson VUE.
A few months ago, Cisco updated the exams required to become CCNA Routing and Switching (Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching). Along with the exams, official trainings (courses) that prepare candidates for CCNA status were updated. Fresh exams contain a number of new topics, and updated courses contain material on these topics, that is, in fact, at the moment we are dealing with CCNA Routing and Switching of the new version 3.0 . In this article, we will look at exactly what changes the CCNA certification program has undergone and what the current CCNA R&S looks like today.
To talk about the changes, first you need to remember what the previous version of CCNA looked like (version 2.0). Here it’s worth mentioning right away that you can get CCNA status in two ways:
- Pass two exams ICND1 and ICND2 (ICND - Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices). The official Cisco courses with exactly the same names correspond to these exams.
- Pass one CCNA exam, which includes topics from ICND1 and ICND2 exams.
Which way to choose, everyone decides for himself. Candidates with a more thorough approach to the study of theoretical material usually choose the first path. Such candidates master the theoretical part of the first year, pass one exam, and then repeat the process for the second. Those who, in their opinion, already have quite a lot of experience with Cisco equipment, choose to pass one exam. Moreover, there is practically no difference in money between these options.
As already mentioned, the updated CCNA version 3.0 means, first of all, the new topics of exams and their corresponding courses. For example, the old version of the ICND1 course included the following topics:
- Building a simple network. Here we considered the terminology of packet networks, gave an idea of what a topology is, what a seven-level ISO / OSI model looks like and why, and also gave a general idea of the TCP / IP stack. After this, the principles of building local networks, the logic of the switches, were discussed, basic skills were given in the Cisco IOS operating system.
- Internet connection. In this part of the course, the interaction of devices at the third level was considered, an idea of the IP protocol was given (along with a detailed discussion of the principles of IP addressing). Next, the transport layer and the TCP and UDP protocols were considered. After that, an idea was given of what a router is, why it is required to use it in packet networks, how it looks and how it loads. By the way, in the same topic, the process of delivering data from the sender to the receiver through the packet network (using existing knowledge of the TCP / IP protocol stack) was discussed in sufficient detail. Next, the concept of static routing, ACL, principles of operation and NAT settings were introduced.
- Manage network device security. Here, extensive ACT material was provided, port security technology was considered, and general recommendations on protecting Cisco network devices (setting passwords, user authentication) were also given.
- Building a medium-sized network. This section describes VLAN technology and trunk links between switches, traffic routing between different VLANs, and dynamic routing methods (the basic configuration of the OSPF protocol was considered).
- Introduction to IPv6. Here, students were invited to get acquainted with the IPv6 protocol and related protocols and technologies (ICMPv6, neighbor discovery), consider the routing of IPv6 traffic, including using dynamic methods (an idea of OSPFv3 was given).
- At the very end of the course, a super-lab was offered: a half-day laboratory work, which should serve to consolidate all the material passed.
Actually, it was proposed to master this whole set of theoretical topics and related laboratory work in 5 days of training. In total, 13 laboratory plus one super-lab at the end are planned in the course. The new version of ICND1 3.0 has undergone the following changes:
- Themes were rearranged into modules, which made the perception of the material more logical and consistent.
- The labs now offered to students fall into two categories: discovery lab and challenge lab. It is assumed that the discovery lab does not contain very difficult tasks that course participants can perform on their own, but they may ask the instructor on the official course to demonstrate the progress of this laboratory to explain the process of setting up a particular functional. These labs are offered for each topic under consideration: there are 28 of them in the course. Challenge lab is designed to consolidate any specific portion of theoretical material. As planned, it should be performed by each listener independently. There are more tasks in such laboratory work. The ICND1 course includes 17 challenge labs ... That is, it turns out that more practical tasks have been added to the new version,
- Super-lab removed at the end of the course.
It may seem that the difference between the old and new versions is not very big, but there is one very important change: this is access to educational materials and laboratory work. Training materials (the so-called Student guide) are now provided electronically. Participants attending the official training ICND1 v.3.0 get access to the course materials within their account on cisco.com. That is, paper books on the course are no longer issued to them, and access to materials can be obtained if you are connected to the Internet.
Changed and the concept of laboratory work. If earlier the ICND1 course used real Cisco equipment assembled into a specific topology, now a virtual lab is used. That is, practical classes are held on virtual switches and routers. In fact, this is good, since the use of virtual machines allows you to collect different topologies for each task, that is, adjust the tasks of each laboratory work to the material requiring fixing. The most positive point is that access to laboratory work for the student of the official course does not end at the end of the course itself, but remains for 180 days. That is, if the student after completing the course still wants to practice setting up the proposed protocols and technologies, then he can do it within six months.
The ICND2 course has also undergone major changes. The old version as a whole focused on the process of finding any malfunctions in the work of various technologies and protocols (the so-called Troubleshoot) and included the following topics:
- Building scalable medium-sized networks. Here, students were encouraged to learn troubleshooting techniques in L2 infrastructures that use VLAN technology and trunk links. They also gave an idea of the logic of the STP protocol and the process of its optimization and Troubleshoot. EtherChannel technology and its configuration logic on Cisco Catalyst switches were also discussed.
- Search for the simplest faults in packet networks. Using the example of the lack of connectivity between the client and the server, the students were asked to get acquainted with the tools of Troubleshoot and approaches to it.
- Implementation of the EIGRP Protocol . In this part, the basic theoretical aspects of the operation of the EIGRP routing protocol, as well as the logic of its configuration and Troubleshoot, were revealed. Also discussed were the configuration of this protocol for networks using IPv6.
- Implement a scalable network using OSPF with multiple areas. If the ICND1 course examined the operation of the OSPF protocol with one area, then this course provided advanced knowledge about this protocol, and students were asked to master, configure and verify the operation of OSPF in several areas. Recommendations were also made regarding the troubleshoot process of failing OSPF.
- Global networks. Students were introduced to the use of serial interfaces on routers, as well as their configuration for working with HDLC, PPP, and Frame Relay protocols (the latter received a lot of attention). In addition, in this module, students were invited to familiarize themselves with VPN technologies and understand the logic of building and configuring the simplest GRE tunnel.
- Network device management. In this module, students were given an idea of the protocols and technologies for managing networks and individual devices (SNMP, NetFlow, Syslog). Students also learned about the router boot process and learned how to manage this process. At the end of the module, licensing issues for various functionalities of ISR G2 series routers (29xx, 39xx) in Cisco IOS software 15.0 and higher were considered.
- At the end of the course, students were offered a super-lab, completing the tasks of which they consolidated the material of both courses: ICND1 and ICND2. In general, this laboratory work was a fairly large set of tasks on all topics covered.
The new version of ICND2 3.0 has the following differences:
- A review of the DTP and VTP protocols has been added to the course. Previously, these protocols were considered only in the SWITCH course , that is, in the professional level course.
- More lab work has been added to the connectivity module between separate devices.
- The HDLC protocol has been removed from consideration. But the Multilink PPP module and the PPPoE client configuration are added to the module over global networks. By the way, some listeners sometimes complained that the PPPoE client configuration was not considered in any course, and for its analysis you have to delve into the documentation. Someone needs to configure the client in real life, someone - to prepare for CCIE .
- Removed Frame Relay from the course. I highlight this as a separate point, since for many students and candidates for passing exams, the question of the presence of Frame Relay in the course and on the exam is a stumbling block.
- The course adds a basic discussion of the logic of the BGP protocol and the process of setting up an eBGP session when connected to one service provider.
- More information on the TACACS + and RADIUS protocols has been added to the module for managing network devices in the context of using them for the user authentication process.
- Added basic knowledge of QoS tools.
- Added overview module on SDN.
Laboratory work has also undergone changes: if there were only 18 in the old version of ICND2, the new version offers students 25 discovery labs and 19 challenge labs (the concept of discovery and challenge labs for this course is also preserved). That is, the emphasis of the course is shifted towards practical exercises, which allows us to study the proposed topics not only in theory. At the same time, the new version of the ICND2 course, as well as ICND1, uses the same concept of access to educational materials and laboratory work. Students of the official ICND2 v.3.0 will be able to continue to perform laboratory work for six months from the moment they gain access to the lab, honing the skills to configure the proposed technologies and protocols.
It is also worth noting that in addition to the two mentioned courses ICND1 and ICND2, which obviously correlate with exams for obtaining CCNA status, there is also a training called CCNAX(CCNA Accelerated). This is a 5-day course that includes a summary of the ICND1 and ICND2 courses. This course is usually suitable for those who want to get a basic understanding of the operation of packet networks, the logic of their construction on the basis of Cisco equipment, as well as the protocols and technologies that will work in these networks, but, unfortunately, cannot spend on training as much as 2 weeks (listening to ICND1 and ICND2 courses in full takes so much time). The CCNAX course program of the new version 3.0 includes all the topics that are covered in the ICND1 and ICND2 courses, however, less time is devoted to the theoretical part (which is logical). In terms of practice, this course offers 53 discovery labs and 15 challenge labs, so practicing in this 5-day course is also more than enough.
Actually, the topic was presented above of the official Cisco courses, which prepare candidates for passing the relevant exams. As for the exams themselves, then the changes are quite simple. New exams have the following numbers:
- ICND1 - 100-105
- ICND2 - 200-105
- CCNA - 200-125
Traditionally, the content of the exams is not disclosed, but it is logical to assume that their subject matter corresponds to the courses mentioned. Old versions of exams will be available until August 20 (for CCNA and ICND1) and until September 24 (for ICND2). As before, to obtain CCNA status, you must pass either two ICND1 + ICND2 exams or one CCNA. Registration for new exams is still available through Pearson VUE.