CCNA Question of the Week 4

This week, we had an open ended question that covers a lot of areas.  This is a take on a question that was asked during the phone screening for my first I.T. job.  As with all questions in this series, do not make assumptions, and do not answer a question that was not asked. Just answer the question as completely as your knowledge allows. Your computer was just started and you just logged...

The Official CCNA Group Rules

Group Rules: 1.This is a network for the network associate. All legitimate things CCNA related, as well as most other I.T. topics may be discussed here.2.Things that may not be discussed here include (but is not limited to): Brain-dumps, any other form of copyright infringement, any illegal activity, spam, politics, and personal attacks. It doesn’t matter if it’s legal where you live, Facebook...

CCNA Question of the Week 2

In the following image, you'll see a network topology.  In this topology, the routers are running the RIP routing protocol.  As is traditional with these questions, I'm going to strip out all the irrelevant information.  We're not going to see any router configuration, IP addressing,...

CCNA Question of the Week 1

Group member Donovan Bone posted this question in a discussion, and I thought that it would be a great "Question of the Week" for the group.  So a new thread was started for just it, and a lot of members attempted to answer the question. I didn't expect the majority to get it right, but only one got it right in the three hours I watched the replies.  Not surprisingly, the one person who...

The Official CCNA Group FAQ

I've been one of the admins of the group for a few years now, and there's a handful of questions that I see repeatedly posted.  I'm talking about the things that somebody asks at least once a week in the group.  So I've started compiling this FAQ for the group that can be posted as a response to any question that falls within this list.  As with many posts relating to the Facebook group,...

I'm New, What Should I be Reading?

In the CCNA group, an often posted question is "what books should I be reading?" or the less inspired "What is the best networking book?"  Well, it's never quite that simple.  What are you looking to learn?  Do you want to become proficient in networking in general, or are you looking to become proficient in Cisco related networking?  Yes, there is a difference.  Do you want...

Netflow Collectors

One of the big topics currently in Cisco's security track is Netflow.  According to Cisco, "NetFlow provides valuable information about network users and applications, peak usage times, and traffic routing."  With all of it's known, and yet to be discovered uses, it's no doubt that NetFlow will continue to be a big part of Cisco's security exams for the foreseeable future, as well as potentially...

FreeCCNAWorkbook.com in Packet Tracer, Part 3

In two previous blog posts, which can be found here and here, I started going through the labs on the Free CCNA Workbook website and attempting to perform the labs in Packet Tracer.  My focus lately has been more on my own studies with my first attempt at the SENSS exam scheduled for next month, but with Cisco finally releasing Packet Tracer to the world (you no longer need to be a Cisco...

Why is Everyone Upset with RadioShack?

The following is a position paper that I wrote in April of 2015 To set the timeline, this was merely weeks if not days after RadioShack announced that it was selling it's customer information database, which came shortly after it's bankruptcy. You know, that database that was assembled with the information demanded of you at the register every time you stopped in to grab a pack of batteries. This...

Symmetric Traffic and IPS

A well known problem for network and security professionals in the enterprise is asymmetric routing.  At it's simplest, this is where traffic flows outbound through Router A, while the return traffic returns through Router B, or through both Routers A and B.   If you're using a reflexive ACL, for example, this will lead to some, if not all of the return traffic being blocked as...