Recent revisions in CCIE Certification

Posted on June 21st, 2010

One can say that Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE)is the highest level of technical networking certification awarded by Cisco,which can help you give a boost to your career as a networking specialist.

After gathering some crucial inputs from valued enterprisecustomers across a number of industries, Cisco has revised the standards for CCIERouting and Switching Certification. You can go through the new certificationstandards listed under the Cisco Learning Network at CCIE R&S v4.0 writtenexam topics and CCIE R&S v4.0 lab 350-001 exam topics. While the organisation has scheduled to release theexams on October 18, 2009, it has announced that it will replace the v3.0 examsoffered at present with immediate effect. Therefore, it is required that thosecandidates who want to take their exams on October 18, 2009 or on a later date shouldprepare for v4.0 exam topics. Cisco has also announced that it will update the 360Learning Program to support the development of the new skills needed for CCIER&S certification.

The CCIE certification is at present the highestaccreditation that you can aspire in the Cisco certification portfolio. Atpresent, there are less than 15,000 CCIE’s around the world. Therefore, thecertification will let you belong to an exclusive club. In several regards,this certification is considered to be an extensive challenge requiring aconsiderable level of commitment in both in terms of time and money. It is saidthat only less than 3% of all Cisco certification holders prefer to become CCIEqualified.

Cisco has not prescribed any formal prerequisites for takingthe CCIE certification, the actual scope of these exams, the amount ofknowledge needed to pass them and the cost involved in the process requiresthat the candidates who seek the CCIE certification will require several yearsof hands on experience in real-world atmosphere.

At present, there are about five different versions of thiscertification known as tracks. A good number of CCIE’s seek to become qualifiedin multiple tracks including Routing and Switching, Security, Service Provider,Storage Networking and Voice. Whatever be the tracks that you might choose, youneed to pass two exams to get the certification including one written exam anda lab based exam.

Are you looking for CCIE Certification Training? .I’d recommend you to make use of practiceexams with SelfTestEngine software for self study , developed Exams Expert for CCIE Certification Training incase you fail in your exams.

Tags: 350-001, CCIE, CCIE certification
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Obtaining A CCIE Certification

Posted on June 19th, 2010

A CCIE is Cisco’s highest professional certification level and opens the door to many unique career opportunities. There are three different levels of Cisco Certification, each with their own sub categories, Associate, Professional, and Expert. Expert describes the CCIE certification level. It is estimated that there are only about 17,000 professionals in the entire world that hold this level of certification which is considered to be the highest level of IT certification, and has the highest salary track record in the profession.

While there is no formal requirement for taking the two part certification test, it is recommended that candidates have at least three to five years of IT experience. Many candidates build labs of their own to practice in, or rent time at locations where they can hone their skills. Passing the CCIE requires in-depth knowledge of many real-life networking situations. There is simply no substitute for being exposed to, designing, deploying, and troubleshooting a wide range of complex, real-world networks.

Candidates must also pass a qualifying exam to apply for CCIE certification, and then must pass the CCIE expert exam in their given track, as well as a laboratory component in which candidates demonstrate skills in different pressure-intensive scenarios. Candidates should be able to install, configure and maintain Voice solutions over IP networks. The CCIE Voice track, however, does not certify an understanding of the infrastructure over which VoIP solutions are implemented. Candidates need to keep in mind passport and visa details if traveling to another country to take the CCIE lab exam as well as factoring in the cost of the travel.

In addition, candidates must demonstrate a high level of expertise with devices such as SAN switches and directors, routers, switches and management solutions. The new CCIE builds on the success of three specialist certifications offered by Cisco to validate storage networking design, support, and sales skills. A high level of expertise with devices such as SAN switches and directors, routers, switches and management solutions. The new CCIE builds on the success of three specialist certifications offered by Cisco to validate storage networking design, support, and sales skills.

With the proper preparation it is possible to obtain this coveted certification. Extensive preparation is required, but the successful completion will provide greater career opportunities. It is estimated that some individuals even hold multiple certifications, which means that their possibilities for advancement and earnings increase in the IT field are virtually unlimited.

Tags: CCIE, CCIE certification, Cisco
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Cisco CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Uplinkfast

Posted on June 17th, 2010

You remember from your CCNA studies that when a port goes through the transition from blocking to forwarding, youre looking at a 50-second delay before that port can actually begin forwarding frames.

Configuring a port with PortFast is one way to get around that, but again, you can only use it when a single host device is found off the port. What if the device connected to a port is another switch?

A switch can be connected to two other switches, giving that local switch a redundant path to the root bridge, and thats great – we always want a backup plan! However, STP will only allow one path to be available, but if the available path to the root switch goes down, there will be a 50-second delay due to the STP timers MaxAge and ForwardDelay before the currently blocked path will be available.

The delay is there to prevent switching loops, and we cant use PortFast to shorten the delay since these are switches, not host devices. What we can use is Uplinkfast.

The ports that SW3 could potentially use to reach the root switch are collectively referred to as an uplink group. The uplink group includes the ports in forwarding and blocking mode. If the forwarding port in the uplink group sees that the link has gone down, another port in the uplink group will be transitioned from blocking to forwarding immediately. Uplinkfast is pretty much PortFast for wiring closets. (Cisco recommends that Uplinkfast not be used on switches in the distribution and core layers.)

Some additional details regarding Uplinkfast:

The actual transition from blocking to forwarding mode takes about three seconds.

Uplinkfast cannot be configured on a root switch.

Uplinkfast is configured globally. You cant run Uplinkfast on some ports or on a per-VLAN basis – its all or nothing.

The original root port will become the root port again when it detects that its link to the root switch has come back up. This does not take place immediately. The switch uses the following formula to determine how long to wait before transitioning back to the forwarding state:

( 2 x FwdDelay) + 5 seconds

Uplinkfast will take immediate action to ensure that the switch upon which it is configured cannot become the root switch. First, the switch priority will be set to 49,152, which means that if all other switches are still at their default priority, theyd all have to go down before this switch can possibly become the root switch. Additionally, the STP Port Cost will be increased by 3000, making it highly unlikely that this switch will be used to reach the root switch by any downstream switches.

And you just know theres got to be at least one option with this command, right? Lets run IOS Help and see.

SW2(config)#spanning-tree uplinkfast ?

max-update-rate Rate at which station address updates are sent

When there is a direct link failure, dummy multicast frames are sent to the MAC destination 0100.0ccd.cdcd. The max-update-rate value determines how many of these frames will be sent in a 100-millisecond time period.

Mastering the details of UplinkFast, BackboneFast, BPDU Guard, and Loop Guard are vital to your success on the CCNP exams, and one or more of these features are in use on almost every network in the world. Learn these features for success in both the exam room and the real world!

Tags: CCNA, CCNP
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VMware VCP310 certification Exam

Posted on June 13th, 2010

Currently technological advancements have left behind all our expectations. Nowadays every one is the customer of newer and better products. Skilled manpower is the key to success in every field .Lots of revolution in the software industry and the tough competition uplifted the popularity of VCP certification. Research and development is very crucial and it is considered as a key factor to success in the software industry. To conduct research and development there is everlasting demand of certified professionals.
In Virtualization one computing device arrange the task of multiple devices by portioning the resourses from one computing device over multiple environments. Virtualized computing devices and servers allow the users to have different systems work together tightly as well as hosted in different positions. It is really handy as it erradicates the problem of geographical limitation.

In California there is a VMware company whose primary objective is to conduct research and development in the field of virtualization and cloud computing. This technology allows proper distribution of a string of secured virtual desktop
to a network of client’s system. This technology can be used on any plate form e-g Linux, Macintosh etc. Currently for myriad benefits more than 50% of the Fortune company rely on this technology because it results into more client satisfaction, cut down in ownership cost and higher return on investment. A VM ware professional gets career progression, desired accreditation and he can climb higher and higher in the organization.VCP 310 certification exam give differentiation to a person in the highly competitive environment.

Exam details: VMware VCP-310 is an expertise test of a professional about technical knowhow in virtualization and cloud computing. This certification tests the expertise level of candidates in following areas: ESX server 3.5, and virtual centre 2.5.both these products are the launching pad of VM ware. Any person having knowledge in the above domains can appear in this exam.
Outcomes of passing this certification are:
? Substantial raise in salary
? High value in job market
? High rate of progression

Tags: Pass4sure VCP-310, VCP-310
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How to Prepare For the Oracle Certification 1Z0-042 Exam

Posted on June 12th, 2010

his 1Z0-042 is a examination linked with Oracle and hence it is Oracle Certified. The mane of this 1Z0-042 exam is Oracle Database 10g: Administrator I and this is an authorized exam of Oracle. The Database specialist will mostly take this exam as this will provide them extra qualification for them in this competitive IT field.

The associated certifications of this examination are 10g DBA OCA and the price of this exam is $125 of USD and the examination duration is 120 minutes and in that time period candidates have to answer 84 questions and also they have to take a minimum score of 68% to clear this exam.

How to Prepare:

This 1Z0-042 examination is validated against 10g and 10g R2. This examination needs class room training, practicing and gaining experience on both the 10g and 10g R2 to prepare well for this exam. There is also Self Study CD Course (SSCDs) which helps the candidates to prepare in an efficient way by reviewing their topics in a faster way. There are two practice exams for this and they are Oracle Authorized exam from Self Test Software and Transcender and this two practice exams will be very useful for the candidates who are preparing for the exams.

There are various exam topics which they have to be well prepared before writing examination. Those topics are:
Architecture, Installing the Oracle Database Software, Creating an Oracle Database, Managing the Oracle Instance, Managing Database Storage Structures, Administering User Security, Managing Schema Objects, Managing Data and Concurrency, Managing Undo Data, Implementing Oracle Database Security, Configuring the Oracle Network Environment, Proactive Maintenance, performance Management, Recovery and Backups and some database related topics.

Candidates can clear this Oracle exam in their first attempt only if they are well versed in all these topics. So candidates have to spend more time in preparing for this exam and hence they can clear the exam at their first attempt.

Tags: 1z0-042, Oracle exam
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Cisco Ccnp Certification Exam Tutorial: Knowing Radius And Tacacs+ For Your Iscw Exam

Posted on June 11th, 2010

As part οf yοur CCNP certificatiοn exam studies, particularly fοr the ISCW exam, yοu need tο be very clear οn the differences between TACACS+ and RADIUS.

As a CCNA and future CCNP, yοu’ve already cοnfigured authenticatiοn in the fοrm οf creating a lοcal database οf usernames and passwοrds fοr bοth Telnet access and PPP authenticatiοn. This is sοmetimes called a self-cοntained AAA deplοyment, since nο external server is invοlved.

It’s mοre than likely that yοu’ll be using a server cοnfigured fοr οne οf the fοllοwing security prοtοcοls:

TACACS+, a Ciscο-prοprietary, TCP-based prοtοcοl

RADIUS, an οpen-standard, UDP-based prοtοcοl οriginally develοped by the IETF

An οbviοus questiοn is “If there’s a TACACS+, what abοut TACACS?” TACACS was the οriginal versiοn οf this prοtοcοl and is rarely used tοday.

Befοre perfοrming AAA Authenticatiοn cοnfiguratiοn, there are sοme οther TACACS+ / RADIUS differences yοu shοuld be aware οf:

While TACACS+ encrypts the entire packet, RADIUS encrypts οnly the passwοrd in the initial client-server packet.

RADIUS actually cοmbines the authenticatiοn and authοrizatiοn prοcesses, making it very difficult tο run οne but nοt the οther.

TACACS+ cοnsiders Authenticatiοn, Authοrizatiοn, and Accοunting tο be separate prοcesses. This allοws anοther methοd οf authenticatiοn tο be used (Kerberοs, fοr example), while still using TACACS+ fοr authοrizatiοn and accοunting.

RADIUS dοes nοt suppοrt the Nοvell Async Services Interface (NASI) prοtοcοl, the NetBIOS Frame Prοtοcοl Cοntrοl prοtοcοl, X.25 Packet Assembler / Disassembler (PAD), οr the AppleTalk Remοte Access Prοtοcοl (ARA οr ARAP). TACACS+ suppοrts all οf these.

RADIUS implementatiοns frοm different vendοrs may nοt wοrk well tοgether, οr at all.

RADIUS can’t cοntrοl the authοrizatiοn level οf users, but TACACS+ can.

We’ll discuss the uses οf bοth οf these prοtοcοls in a future CCNP certificatiοn tutοrial! Lοοk fοr mοre CCNA, CCENT, and CCNP tutοrials right here οn this same website!

Tags: CCNA, CCNP
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Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification Exam: Cabling Your Home Lab

Posted on June 9th, 2010

More CCNA and CCNP candidates than ever before are putting together their own home labs, and there’s no better way to learn about Cisco technologies than working with the real thing. Getting the routers and switches is just part of putting together a great CCNA / CCNP home lab, though. You’ve got to get the right cables to connect the devices, and this is an important part of your education as well. After all, without the right cables, client networks are going to have a hard time working!

For your Cisco home lab, one important cable is the DTE/DCE cable. These cables have two major uses in a home lab. To practice directly connecting Cisco routers via Serial interfaces (an important CCNA skill), you’ll need to connect them with a DTE/DCE cable. Second, if you plan on having a Cisco router act as a frame relay switch in your lab, you’ll need multiple DTE/DCE cables to do so. (Visit my website’s Home Lab Help section for a sample Frame Relay switch configuration.)

If you have multiple switches in your lab, that’s great, because you’ll be able to get a lot of spanning tree protocol (STP) work in as well as creating Etherchannels. To connect your switches, you’ll need crossover cables.

You’ll need some straight-through cables as well to connect your routers to the switches.

Finally, if you’re lucky enough to have an access server as part of your lab, you’ll need an octal cable to connect your AS to the other routers and switches in your lab. The octal cable has one large connector on one end and eight numbered RJ-45 connectors on the other end. The large connector should be attached to the async port on your AS, and the numbered RJ-45 connectors will be connected to the console ports on your other routers and switches.

Choosing and connecting the right cables for your Cisco CCNA / CCNP home lab is a great learning experience, and it’s also an important part of your Cisco education. After all, all great networks and home labs all begin at Layer One of the OSI model!

Tags: CCNA, CCNP, Cisco CCNA
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Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Training: What Is Packet Switching?

Posted on June 7th, 2010

Cisco CCNA certification exam training means you need to learn a lot of new terms, and some of them can be a little problematic at first view.
To pass this hard certification exam,you definitely need to understand one term which is packet switching. The first question, of course, is “What is packet switching in the first place?” In today’s Cisco CCNA exam prep tutorial we will learn about this term.

Packets transmitted from “point A” to “point B” all have to arrive at the same destination, but with packet switching, they do not all have to take the same path to get there. If you and I are standing 10 feet apart and I want to throw a rugby ball to you, I’ve got some options. I could bounce the ball off the floor to you, I could throw it directly to you, or I could send it up into the air to you. Packet switching is pretty the same thing – packets will take different paths to get from source to destination, but the result is that all the packets arrive at the destination. Then they are then reassembled to take the form of the original message.

Packet switching may sound a little odd, but this is the most efficient way of transporting the data. Frame Relay is a packet switching technology, as is X.25, and both of these standards are very efficient.

When we have packets that must arrive at the destination in the same order in which they left the source, packet switching is not the best choice. For this situation, we’ll need to use something like circuit switching, and we’ll discuss that in tomorrow’s Cisco CCNA certification training article!

Visit our website and sign up for a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, “How To Pass The CCNA”, is also available

Tags: CCNA，Cisco CCNA，Cisco
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CCNA Cisco Certification Case Study

Posted on June 5th, 2010

Your CCNA certification exam efforts must include practicing with different password types and knowing how to configure them on a Cisco router – but for CCNA exam success and to thrive in real-world networks, you also have to know how to examine a Cisco router configuration and determine the level of network security that is already present.? After all, most routers you work with already have passwords set, and it’s up to you to determine if those passwords are getting the job done.

Let’s start with a telnet password.? Telnet passwords are configured on the VTY lines, and no telnet access is enabled on a Cisco router by default.? If you saw the following configuration, what would it mean?

line vty 0 4

?privilege level 15

?password baseball

?login

That small Cisco router configuration means three things – first, Telnet access is enabled.? Second, the password is baseball.? Third, the “privilege level 15″ command means that any user who attempts to Telnet to the router and knows the password will automatically be placed into privileged exec mode.? (If that command were not present, the user would be placed into user exec and then prompted for the enable password before being allowed into privileged exec.)

You may not want to give that level of access to all incoming Telnet connections.? If you walked into a client’s router room and saw this configuration on a router, what would it mean to you?

username halas password 0 bears

username ewbank password 0 jets

username ed privilege 15 password 0 mcdaniel

line vty 0 4

?? login local

This configuration means three things as well.? Each user attempting to telnet in will be prompted for both a username and password.? Each individual user must enter the password that’s been assigned to them.? For example, the user “halas”would have to enter the password “bears” to successfully Telnet into this router.? The command “login local” under the VTY lines means that this local database of usernames and passwords will be used for authentication.?

Again, by default, users who are Telnetting in will be placed into user exec mode by default.? Only users with “privilege 15″ in the middle of their username / password definition will be placed into privileged exec immediately upon login.

Notice that zero in each of the username / password statements?? I didn’t enter that when I configured these statements.? This number indicates the level of encryption the password is currently under; a zero is the lowest level of encryption, indicating that the passwords aren’t encrypted at all.?? There’s a single line near the top of a Cisco router configuration that tells you why.. which of these three is it?

service timestamps debug uptime

service timestamps log uptime

no service password-encryption

Simple enough!? The password encryption service is off by default.??? To turn it on. just run the command service password-encryption.? Let’s do so here and then take a look at the configuration.

R1(config)#service password-encryption

username halas password 7 1415170A1E17

username ewbank password 7 070524585D

username ed privilege 15 password 7 082C4F4A08170C121E

Now that’s what I call encryption!?? Note that the zero has changed to a “7″ – that’s the highest level of encryption on a Cisco router, and as you can see, it’s very effective.

Knowing how to read a Cisco router configuration is a valuable skill for both the CCNA certification exam and working with production networks.? Keep practicing, keep studying, and you’ll have the coveted letters “CCNA” behind your name soon!

Tags: CCNA, Cisco CCNA
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Increasing Your Value with CCNA Training and Certification

Posted on June 4th, 2010

Even in this soft hiring market, companies are in need of information technology professionals who are certified in particular aspects of networking. Obtaining a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification provides IT professionals with the working knowledge of network protocols that are most sought after in the technology industry.

With the increasing demand for networking specialists, the value placed on CCNA certification is also increasing worldwide, and it is becoming a benchmark for determining who are the best and the most efficient network technicians. It’s becoming a standard way to filter job applicants as well as candidates for advancement within the technology industry.

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CCNA certification is considered an entry-level certification or minimum requirement for IT professionals specializing in computer networking, and is usually pursued by current technical professionals who are looking for credentials, people who are new to networking, as well as professionals who are updating their training to cover current technology and systems. As an entry-level program, technology employers often consider the CCNA to be a basic qualification requirement for employees who install, configure, operate and problem-solve networks.

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Training Courses

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There are several ways to obtain the CCNA training needed in order to become certified. There are programs that can be attended where the training is hands-on; there are also online training and certification programs that can be worked into the candidate’s schedule more easily. The training program covers installing, configuring, operating and troubleshooting medium-sized route and switched networks as well as implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN. The training program also includes curriculum related to level 1 security threats and an introduction to wireless networking concepts and terminology.

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The network protocols covered are:

• IP
• Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
• Serial Line Interface Protocol Frame Relay
• Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2)
• VLANs
• Ethernet
• Access control lists (ACLs)

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Certification Examination

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In order to become CCNA certified, the training program should be completed and an examination must be passed. The certification examination is structured so that a candidate’s technical and special knowledge of networking environments is thoroughly tested and challenged. The questions require real-world expertise to answer and only those who are well trained and have a thorough knowledge of the ins and outs of computer networks will be able to pass the test and become CCNA certified.
Once the IT professional successfully completes the examination, their CCNA certification is valid for three years before they must re-certify in order to continue using their CCNA credentials. In order to re-certify, there are a number of different exams that may be taken, including one of the following:

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• ICND2 exam
• Current CCNA exam
• CCNA Concentration exam (wireless, security, voice)
• Current CCDA exam
• 642 – XXX professional level or Cisco Specialist exam (excluding Sales Specialist exams)
• Current CCIE
• CCDE written exam

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With the exception of merely taking the current version of the CCNA exam, these many options allow the IT professional to also acquire additional training, knowledge and expertise while pursuing CCNA re-certification.

Tags: CCIE, CCNA exam
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