Introduction

Welcome to the exciting world of Cisco certification! If you've picked up this book because you want to improve yourself and your life with a better, more satisfying and secure job, you've done the right thing. Whether your plan is to enter the thriving, dynamic IT sector or to enhance your skill set and advance your position within it, being Cisco certified can seriously stack the odds in your favor to help you attain your goals.

Cisco certifications are powerful instruments of success that also just happen to improve your grasp of all things internetworking. As you progress through this book, you'll gain a complete understanding of networking that reaches far beyond Cisco devices. By the end of this book, you'll comprehensively know how disparate network topologies and technologies work together to form the fully operational networks that are vital to today's very way of life in the developed world. The knowledge and expertise you'll gain here are essential for and relevant to every networking job. It's why Cisco certifications are in such high demand-even at companies with few Cisco devices!

For up-to-the-minute updates covering additions or modifications to the Cisco certification exams, as well as additional study tools, review questions, videos, and bonus materials, be sure to visit the Todd Lammle websites and forum at www.lammle.com/ccna

Cisco's Network Certifications

Way back in 1998, obtaining the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification was the first pitch in the Cisco certification climb. It was also the official prerequisite to each of the more advanced levels. But that changed in 2007, when Cisco announced the Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician (CCENT) certification. Then again, in May 2016, Cisco announced new updates to the CCENT and CCNA Routing and Switching (R/S) tests. Today, things have changed dramatically again.

In July of 2019, Cisco switched up the certification process more than they have in the last 20 years! They announced all new certifications that have started in February 2020, which is probably why you're reading this book!

So what's changed? For starters, the CCENT course and exam (ICND1 and ICND2), ?no longer exist, nor even the terms Routing & Switching (rebranded to Enterprise). On top of that, the CCNA is no longer a prerequisite for any of the higher certifications at all, meaning that you'll be able to jump straight to CCNP without having to take the new CCNA exam.

The new Cisco certification process will look like Figure I.1.

Figure I.1: The Cisco certification path

First, the CCT, entry-level certification just isn't worth your time. Instead, you'll want to head directly to CCNA, using this book and the abundant resources on www.lammle.com/ccna of course!

The Todd Lammle CCNA program, starting with this book, is a powerful tool to get you started in your CCNA studies, and it's vital to understand that material found in this book and at www.lammle.com/ccna before you go on to conquer any other certifications!

What Does This Book Cover?

This book covers everything you need to know to pass the new CCNA exam. But regardless of which path you choose, as I've said, taking plenty of time to study and practice with routers or a router simulator is the real key to success.

You will learn the following information in this book:

Chapter 1: Network Fundamentals In Chapter 1, network fundamentals, the Cisco three-layer model, and wide area network are reviewed. Ethernet cabling including fiber optic is discussed. The chapter ends with an overview of PoE. Review questions await you at the end to test your understanding of the material.

Chapter 2: TCP/IP In this chapter, I'll cover the protocols of TCP/IP. I'll begin by exploring the DoD's version of TCP/IP, then compare that version and its protocols with the OSI reference model that we discussed earlier. Lastly, I dive into the world of IP addressing and the different classes of IP addresses used in networks today. Review questions are at the end of the chapter to test your understanding of the material.

Chapter 3: Introduction to TCP/IP This chapter will pick up right where we left off in the last chapter and continue to explore the world of IP addressing. I'll open this chapter by showing you how to subnet an IP network. Prepare yourself because being able to subnet quickly and accurately is pretty challenging. Use the review questions to test your ability to understand subnetting; also, use the bonus tools found at www.lammle.com/ccna

Chapter 4: Troubleshooting IP Addressing In this chapter, we'll cover IP address troubleshooting, while focusing on the steps Cisco recommends following when troubleshooting an IP network. Working through this chapter will hone your knowledge of IP addressing and networking, while refining the essential skills you've attained so far.

Chapter 5: IP Routing This chapter's focus is on the core topic of the ubiquitous IP routing process. It's integral to networking because it pertains to all routers and configurations that use it-easily the lion's share. IP routing is basically the process of moving packets from one network to another network using routers, and this chapter will cover IP routing in depth.

Chapter 6: Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is by far the most popular and important routing protocol in use today-so important, I'm devoting an entire chapter to it! Sticking with the same approach we've taken throughout this book, we'll begin with the basics by completely familiarizing you with key OSPF terminology.

Chapter 7: Managing a Cisco Internetwork In this chapter, I'm going to cover the finer points of layer 2 switching to make sure you know exactly how it works. You should already know that we rely on switching to break up large collision domains into smaller ones and that a collision domain is a network segment with two or more devices sharing the same bandwidth. Switches have changed the way networks are designed and implemented. If a pure switched design is implemented well, the result will be a clean, cost-?effective, and resilient internetwork.

Chapter 8: Virtual LANs and Inter-VLAN Routing (IVR) This chapter discussed how we break up broadcast domains in a pure switched internetwork. We do this by creating virtual local area networks (VLANs). A VLAN is a logical grouping of network users and resources connected to administratively defined ports on a switch, and I'll show you how to really understand the foundation and the configuration of VLANs and IVR.

Chapter 9: Enhanced Switched Technologies This chapter will start off with STP protocols and dive into the fundamentals, covering the modes, as well as the various flavors of STP. VLANs, trunks, and troubleshooting. Lastly, PortFast will also be discussed.

Chapter 10: Access List This chapter covers security and access lists, which are created on routers to filter the network. IP standard, extended, and named access lists are covered in detail. Written and hands-on labs, along with review questions, will help you study for the security and access-list portion of the Cisco exams.

Chapter 11: Network Address Translation (NAT) In this chapter, we're going to dig into Network Address Translation (NAT), Dynamic NAT, and Port Address Translation (PAT), also known as NAT Overload. Of course, I'll demonstrate all the NAT commands.

Chapter 12: IP Services This chapter covers how to find neighbor device information using the proprietary Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) and the industry-standard Link Layer Discovery protocol (LLDP). I'll also discuss how to make sure our times are synchronized with our devices using Network Time Protocol (NTP). After that, I'll show you the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the type of alerts sent to the network management station (NMS). You'll learn about the all-so-important Syslog logging and configuration, and then finally, I'll cover how to configure Secure Shell (SSH).

Chapter 13: Security New information, commands, troubleshooting, and detailed hands-on labs will help you nail the NAT CCENT objectives.

Chapter 14: First Hop Redundancy Protocol (HSRP) This chapter will start off by telling you the reasons why we need a layer 3 redundancy protocol, and then move into how to build redundancy and load-balancing features into your network elegantly with routers that you might even have already. You really don't need to buy some overpriced load-balancing device when you know how to configure and use Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP).

Chapter 15: Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) We're going to cover VPNs in depth in ?this chapter. You'll learn some smart solutions that will help you meet your company's...