A little Advice...

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Hello Everyone...

Let me start by saying that I'm fairly new to Networking in such a formal and detailed environment. Through work, I have obviously had experience with a few bits here and there, as well as with certain home networking setups, but ultimately - I'm a noob.

I bought two online training courses from OpenIT.com.

Firstly, I bought the N+ course work material. I bought this without the exam as I only planned on using it for familiarizing myself with the basic concepts of working and generally as a starting block to move onto the second course that I bought.

The second course was the CCNA + exam. I plan on using this material, and buying some books as well as using GNS3 to simulate certain parts of what I learn. I would also like to buy some literature from Amazon as well as probably check out some video tutorials on Youtube.

My question is this: Do you think it would be worth it for me to buy some actual hardware for practice? Will a home setup be sufficient to test out everything I might need to practice? i.e We only really have 2 computers in the house, so vlans is rather redundant.

Any other advice is also welcome. I've yet to start the CCNA material as I'm still working through the N+ but I would really appreciate any advice or tips that anyone can give me.

Thanks in advance

James

 

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For the CCNA level, you can do most of the practice on Packet Tracer. Working on the actual hardware will give you more "real" practice though...
It will cost you some though... You won't be able to use GNS anyway for the switching labs, only for routing.

But hey, maybe start off with the ICND1 and Packet Tracer, and see if it suits you?

 

My advice would be to Use packet tracer for the CCNA and see how you get on..... there is nothing worse than spending money and then realising you didnt need to. If you decide to go CCNP Route or even go down the CCNA concentration route (Voice,SP,Wireless,Security) later down the line then i would get some "Proper" Kit so you can play.

But dont forget that if you are not working in a networking role then you need to build up slowly with the certs and "wiggle" into more networking stuff whenever & wherever you can, fight your way there with your knowledge! <-- CHEESY!!!

Good Luck and if you need any help with your studies then just let us all know!

Jon

 

I've decided that for my own benefit, it will be much better for me to really know what I'm doing.

I don't just want a theoretical knowledge of all this stuff, I like to have an excellent understanding of tw products and their physical setup so I've turned to eBay.

Can anyone recomend some kit or even a lab that may be a good idea or that is particularly common? The labs on eBay look brilliant!