Day 19 - Post Test Review

I passed~!!! WOOT!!!!

Okay, now that's over, actually I passed my test almost 10 days ago. I'm extremely relieved and at the same time, super motivated to go back and take the ICND2 exam.

If I could sum up what worked for me in this last month and half of exam prepping is the following:

1) Lab Lab Lab. Even if it means to redo the same lab you've done before. Have the commands handy and close to your heart will go a long way.
2) Don't just read and re-read. Takes notes, do example presentations, I've been taking notes in a format of PPT on google drive. It has helped me tremendously.
3) Review your practice exams. Do them every other day, don't have to time yourself if you are not fast, just do 50 questions a day. Do them before your start your studying session. Write down the questions you are unsure, or still can not get it correct right away. After you do the 50 questions, go back and review the wrong answers, look up what the right answers should be and start memorizing.
4) Practice Subnetting every day, take an hour and do subnet questions specifically, or do VLSM questions and watch for overlapping subnets.
5) Track your progress 30 days towards the test, know what you have solidified on, know what you still need practice on and hone in those skills.

I will be using the techniques I previously used and try to apply them as I go into ICND2 Exam. Luckily, There are only a few new topics I have to conquer. EIGRP, Frame-Relay, Switch Redundancy, STP, Point to Point WANs and some advanced OSPF and EIGRP troubleshootings. I feel confident at this point that I can wrap these topics around my head!

Day 18 - Test taking strategies

Hello!

I planned on doing a short video on what I've been doing one week out from my next test. However, videos always seem to go for longer than I planned. Anyways, I wanted to talk about some test taking strategies today. As well as troubleshooting methods, some common show commands that the official cert guide recommends in using when approaching lab questions. Those are the topics that I've been trying to reinforce into my memory bank and hopefully this will stick as Friday's test approaches!

Day17 - Throwing it all together!

Hello and Welcome!

I've been taking sometime off to re-read my cert guide so I can keep some concepts fresh in my brain. My exam is coming up real soon (2 weeks) and I am excited. This new project will encompass all that I've learned thus far into a step-by-step build up of a fairly large network setup. It's only been 2 hours on the first day and I've already been running into some issues!

So I've came across an issue with GNS3 where I couldn't use the subset commands of switchport. From there, I couldn't assign access mode to ports and it was a bit of a troubleshooting. I went on back to packet tracer to see if I have issues with my command or it's just a GNS3 thing. It turns out, using EtherSwitch modules on GNS3 is tricky and takes a bit of pre-planning. All good as I've figured out what I was doing wrong. I've got the setup to run now on GNS3. And now onto Router on a Stick/Trunking and DHCP!

Day16 - Linux Shell Scripting Day

Hello All!

Okay, I know shell scripting is NOT part of CCNA. So you are wondering why Day 16 I'm covering shell scripting. Well, truth to be told, having CCNA cert alone is probably going to be just the starting point of a very long journey. And if you don't know yet, there are more than just one operating system, floating around in the industry. Knowing your way around Linux and shell scripting for Linux is going to be essential for job hunting. I was highly recommended by my friends and mentors to pick up shell scripting. So on my off time away from cisco training. I'm focusing on learning the basics of linux shell scripting and hopes to be fluent in it and use them on my next job!

Before I start, I'd like to thank Madhur Bhatia and his youtube channel, which can be found HERE. He is a pretty smart guy and has various programming/scripting languages skills in which he creates tutorials for. So if you don't want to end up learning from me, go watch his videos!!!

As always, learning a new language is a long and arduous process. But knowing the steps that it takes to become fluent in it can increase the productivity of your learning. I grew up being a bilingual child and so I understand the meaning of learning a second (actual) language and what it takes to build my way to a conversational level. It will be the same for programming languages. I think Madhur nailed it when he said that the structure of the learning should be as follows:

Words
Sentences
Syntax
Paragraphs
Essays

Mastering each prerequisites will ensure the success of the next step. As I begin my journey onto Linux shell scripting, I will be documenting my learning process, compiling ppt presentations of all the commands to centralize all of my knowledge, and share it with the rest of you. Thank you all for reading my blog,

Here is the Shell Script 101 Presentation!

Day15 - Port Security

Hello! On this festive day, I'll be covering what I've learned so far about port security. This was a topic that I felt extremely weak at during my ICND 1 exam. I'm hoping to use this chance to strengthen my understanding of the types of port security and violation rules and recovery methods. Enjoy!

Day14 - OSPF Virtual Links and Authentication (Not sure what happened to day 13)

Hello! Welcome to the last day of my video training on OSPF. Today's video will cover OSPF virtual links, and also authentication. Remember that authentication errors, whether it be mis-match in password, or lack of authentication (on either side) or even the wrong type of authentication can cause neighbor relationship to break in your OSPF.

In my previous videos, I discussed the concept of an ABR. In today's video, we will talk about how to turn non ABR routers into ABR like routers by using virtual link. Virtual link is a method that we can use to connect and virtually extend Area 0. This way, if we have multiple areas that are not physically adjacent to Area 0 can have a way to connect to Area 0.

Please enjoy!

Day12 - Workflow + OSPF Multi Area Lab

Starting the day with a workflow video. Also I'll attach the follow up video talking about OSPF multi area and why it's important to setup multi- area OSPF Networks.

Thanks for watching!