Popular Cisco CCNA certifications: general review

Certification: Cisco CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate

The Cisco CCNA is a very popular credential in today’s IT community. The Cisco CCNA certification is about networking fundamentals. It covers topics like IP addressing, design of LAN and WAN, network security, VPN, WLAN and VLAN, routers and switches, etc. The certification is valid only for three years. After that the CCNA exam must be retaken in order to hold the certification.

Cisco CCNA certification is provided in a number of specific areas of networking, which includes: Routing and Switching, Data Center, Security, Service Provider, Service Provider Operations, Video, Voice, and Wireless networking technology. Cisco CCNA certification is ideal for junior network administrators or professionals who has just started their career as a network specialist. This certification fills up the gap of job experience. CCNA certification is beneficial to both the employee and the employer. Certification transforms peoples’ lives by making them more skilled and knowledgeable. The CCNA credential adds value to a network professional’s resume. This certification increases the chance of promotion and salary increment. This certification also acts as a prerequisite for other higher certifications like CCNP and CCIE. People tend to respect you more when you are tagged with this certification. Employers fill more confident in hiring certified professionals than the non certified ones.

Cisco CCNA certification opens door to the following job roles:

• Network Engineer
• Network Administrator
• Network Support Engineer
• Network Security Engineer
• Wireless Network Engineer
• Voice Engineer
• Service Provider Network Engineer

The major skills that are tested in the CCNA certification exam are: installing, configuring, operating and troubleshooting computer networks, usually medium-sized ones. The exam evaluates the candidate’s understanding and competence to work with the following aspects of computer networks:

• Operation of IP data network
• Technology of LAN switching
• IP addresses and services
• Technology of IP routing
• Security of Network device, particularly of Cisco devices
• Troubleshooting networks
• WAN and VLAN technology
• Network Security issues
• Wireless Networks

CCNA study guides act as a total package for the CCNA exams. The guide discusses all the topics that are to be covered in the exam. Also, highlights the important topics for the exam. These guides give tips for scoring high in the exam, points out the weak areas and rooms for improvement, provides a better conceptual knowledge and practical skills. The study guides give you a routine for preparing for the exam. It includes quizzes, chapter by chapter exercise and practice tests, troubleshooting exercises containing complex scenarios, and lab exercises.

The CCNA certification has no prerequisites, but a couple of years of work experience in the relevant field will be extremely helpful for the candidates.

Required exams: The candidates need to sit for a CCNA written exam for achieving the CCNA credential. The candidates can also choose to sit for the ICND 1 exam and the ICND 2 exam instead of the CCNA exam. The credential is The validity of the CCNA certification is three years, after which recertification must be done by repeating the exam.

Required courses: Attending courses training program is not a must, but recommended for candidates. Cisco provides training program for each specialization which are very helpful for exam preparation and increases the chance of passing the exam.

Study materials: Books, study guides, tutorials, lectures, and practice tests are the main ways of taking preparation for the CCNA exam. CCNA dumps are an excellent choice for preparing for the exam. CCNA dumps are also called CCNA braindumps. CCNA dumps are questions and answers taken from the actual tests. CCNA dumps are compilation of suggested questions and answers from the previous test takers and examiners. As questions for the CCNA exam are selected from a pool of thousands of test questions, there is good probability that some of the questions you might already find in the CCNA dumps. CCNA exam dumps are easily accessible in the internet. CCNA latest dumps are also available. Latest CCNA dumps include any updates in the actual exam pattern. CCNA dumps latest exam questions and answers can be found online as CCNA dumps PDF files. CCNA dump can act as an additional study material to books and guides. CCNA dumps cannot be taken as the only study material, as candidates will try to memorize answers instead of understanding them.