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, this will be a living document and material will be added, removed or modified as necessary.

If you haven't already read my post on how to ask better questions, maybe take a minute to look at that as well.

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 to really learn how things work, or do you want to just pass your next certification exam? Again, there is indeed a difference.

I wrote out a long post replying to this recently, and thought I'd save the response here and elaborate a little more.  A little because it's a good topic, and a lot because I'm lazy and will just link this rather than answer again in the future.  If you want to hear the simple answer, go with the dozens of knuckleheads screaming out that Todd Lammle is all you need.  Just ignore their misspelling of his name.  But if you want to actually learn networking, then continue reading.

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 finding it's way into other tracks if it's not already there.

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 Network Academy student to legally download a copy), I've been wanting to revisit this topic.  So in this post I'm going to move on to Section 5, Configuring Wide Area Network Links.