CCNA / CCNP Cisco Certification Exam: Frame Relay Encapsulation Types

Frame Relay encapsulation seems simple enough, but for your CCNA and CCNP exams, you've got to know vital details that are often overlooked.  Learn these details from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

 CCNA / CCNP Cisco Certification Exam:  Frame Relay Encapsulation Types

CCNA / CCNP Cisco Certification Exam: Caller ID Screening And Callback

To pass Cisco certification exams, you have to know more than one way to do things.  Learn another method of configuring ISDN callback from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

CCNA / CCNP Cisco Certification Exam:  Caller ID Screening And Callback

Identify and correct common network problems

Troubleshooting IP addressing is obviously an important skill because running into trouble
somewhere along the way is pretty much a sure thing, and it’s going to happen to you. No—
I’m not a pessimist; I’m just keeping it real. Because of this nasty fact, it will be great when you
can save the day because you can both figure out (diagnose) the problem and fix it on an IP
network whether you’re at work or at home!

Identify and correct common network problems 

So this is where I’m going to show you the “Cisco way” of troubleshooting IP addressing.
Let’s go over the troubleshooting steps that Cisco uses first. These are pretty simple, but
important nonetheless. Pretend that you’re at a customer host and they’re complaining that
their host cannot communicate to a server, which just happens to be on a remote network.
Here are the four troubleshooting steps that Cisco recommends:

Introduction To BGP Attributes|Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification

BGP is one of the most complex topics you’ll tackle in your CCNP studies, but if you break it down to the fundamentals, you’ll pick it up quickly.  Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, has written this free BGP tutorial on BGP attributes to help you do master BGP and pass the exams!

 Introduction To BGP Attributes|Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification

 

BGP is one of the most complex topics you'll study when pursuing your CCNP, if not the most complex. I know from personal experience that when I was earning my CCNP, BGP is the topic that gave me the most trouble at first. One thing I keep reminding today's CCNP candidates about, though, is that no Cisco technology is impossible to understand if you just break it down and understand the basics before you start trying to understand the more complex configurations.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP / BCMSN Exam Review: Trunking And Trunking Protocols

You've got to know the details of trunks and trunking protocols to earn your CCNA and CCNP.  Learn these details from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

Cisco CCNA / CCNP / BCMSN Exam Review:  Trunking And Trunking Protocols

To earn your CCNA or CCNP certification, you've got to understand the basics of trunking.  This isn't just a CCNA topic - you must have an advanced understanding of trunking and etherchannels to pass the BCMSN exam and earn your CCNP as well.  Before we address those advanced topics, though, you need to master the fundamentals!

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Server Load Balancing (SLB)

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  Server Load Balancing (SLB)

You need to know all about router redundancy strategies to become a CCNP, but there's an important server redundancy feature you need to know as well!  Learn all about Server Load Balancing from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.


When you're working on your BCMSN exam on your way to CCNP certification, you'll read at length about how Cisco routers and multilayer switches can work to provide router redundancy - but there's another helpful service, Server Load Balancing, that does the same for servers. While HSRP, VRRP, and CLBP all represent multiple physical routers to

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: QoS Service Types

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  QoS Service Types

To earn your CCNP certification, you've got to know how the different QoS service types operate.  Learn the basics from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.:


To pass the CCNP exams, you’ve got to master Quality of Service, and the first step in doing so is knowing the differences between the different QoS types.

Now this being Cisco, we can't just have one kind of QoS! We've got best-effort delivery, Integrated Services, and Differentiated Services. Let's take a quick look at all three.

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: HSRP MAC Addresses And Timers

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  HSRP MAC Addresses And Timers

Just a few of the HSRP details you must know to earn your CCNA are configuring a MAC address for the virtual router.  Learn how to do so from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

To earn your CCNP certification and pass the BCMSN exam, you've got to know what HSRP does and the many configurable options.  While the operation of HSRP is quite simple (and covered in a previous tutorial), you also need to know how HSRP arrives at the MAC address for the virtual router - as well as how to configure a new MAC for this virtual router.  This puts us in the unusual position of creating a physical address for a router that doesn't exist!

The output of show standby for a two-router HSRP configuration is shown below.

R2#show standby

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Getting Started With HSRP

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  Getting Started With HSRP

HSRP seems simple enough, but there are a lot of options you need to know to pass the CCNP exams!  Learn how to get started with HSRP from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.


Defined in RFC 2281, HSRP is a Cisco-proprietary protocol in which routers are put into an HSRP router group. Along with dynamic routing protocols and STP, HSRP is considered a high-availability network service, since all three have an almost immediate cutover to a secondary path when the primary path is unavailable.

CCNA / MCSE / CCNP Certification: Creation Failure Work for You

CCNA / MCSE / CCNP Certification:  creation Failure Work for You

Failing an exam isn't the end of the world. It's happened to all of us, and you can make this failure work for you. Learn how from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

Whether you're on the road to the CCNA, CCNP, MCSE, or you're on any other computer certification track, the odds are that sooner or later, you're going to fail an exam.  It's happened to almost all of us, yours truly included.   What you have to keep in mind in these times is that success is not a straight line.  You've probably seen charts showing the growth of an industry or a business -- you know, the ones that go from left to right, and look kind of jagged.  The line goes up for a while, then down a bit, then up some more, then down a little. 

The key?  While every business has its setbacks, the net result is that the line goes up and progress is made.  That's how you want your certification pursuit and your career to go as well - upward!

I'm not asking you to be happy about failing an exam.  You're allowed to get mad for a few minutes, vow to never take another exam again, and be disappointed.  What you're not allowed to do is stay that way. 

If you put your books away in a fit of anger, get them out.  If you took some time off, it's time to get back to work.  Again, there's nothing wrong with being unhappy about failing an exam.  It's how you handle that failure that counts.  No inventor, executive, or entrepreneur has ever been right 100% of the time.  Learn something from your failure.   Was your study time quality study time?  Did you get some hands-on practice with the technology you're studying?  Asking yourself these questions can be tough, but it can be highly valuable in making sure you don't fail the next time.  And there must be a next time - because the one thing you cannot do is quit.

Besides, take it from someone who's been there - your temporary failure makes your eventual success that much sweeter.


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