CCNA/CCDA Training: Day 6 & 7 Recap

OK, where did I leave off. Last time I spoke, I had just taken the ICND exam to complete my attempt to become a CCNA. I passed with a 900 out of 1000, and that combined with my 914 out of 1000 on the INTRO exam means I had achieved my goal of becoming a Cisco Certified Network Associate.

Now, during most of the training camp I did nothing except go to class and study in my room. There were 12 people attending this camp in Austin, TX and I met quite a few intelligent and cool people. After our ICND exam, I went out with two guys for a quick night on the town. Before leaving for Texas a friend of mine from work was giving me advice on where to spend my time in Austin. Evidently, the place to go in downtown Austin is 6th Street. So, we left off to eat and see what the big deal was about 6th. On a recommendation from our instructor we tried the Iron Works BBQ. The food there was excellent, as evidenced by the fact that the beef briskett could be cut with a plastic fork. From there we walked out to 6th Street and we stopped into a local pool hall. I can't remember the name, but this was a nice place to shoot pool. They had plenty of tables for billiards, as well as dart boards, foosball tables and shuffleboard tables. And let's not forget a good amount of beer on tap. We shot a couple rounds of pool, then headed back to the hotel because it would be back to work tomorrow.


Saturday we spent the entire day studying for the second certification offered in this course, the Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA). Our teacher pretty much admitted it was a joke that we were only taking one day to study for this exam, since we studied 5-6 days for the CCNA and the CCDA contained quite a bit of material itself. I honestly did not care too much about this certification. I mainly did this bootcamp to get the CCNA, so if I could get the CCDA on top of that then great. So, we worked through the material all day and then that evening I went out with two others to go to Chuy's. It's a Tex-Mex restaurant that was recommended to me and it did not disappoint. Really good food and service, and it was a good ending to my trip. We didn't go out on the town that evening, since most of us had to take our test in the morning and then we were all leaving to go home.

Woke up Sunday, grabbed some breakfast and met the others in the classroom. Took the CCDA exam at about 10:30. Only got a 600 out of 1000, but again I wasn't too interested in this certification so I wasn't too disappointed. Thanked the instructor, said goodbye to the people I met, and then headed for the airport. Had a bit of time to wait until my flight left for Houston, then once I arrived in Houston I had a slight layover until my second flight left for Tampa. I finally arrived home at about 23:15 EST. Got home, dumped my baggage on the floor and pretty much went to bed since I had work the next morning. But I got my CCNA, so it was a great trip and experience.

Argh

I don't know whether to curse Firefox or Blogger, but I had a pretty decent post going before one of the two crashed on me and I had to End Task to get out. Bah! Will try again later.

This is all you get for Valentine's Day

Choose one of the following cards ...

CCNA/CCDA Training: Day 5 -- Cram and Exam

So, all we did today was cram for our second exam. Those of us that passed the first exam last Tuesday were now taking the second part to the CCNA certification. So, after passing the first one (640-821 INTRO) I was now set to take the final part (640-811 ICND). Again, to make a long story short I needed to get a score of at least 849 out of 1000 to pass. I scored a 900.

CCNA/CCDA Training: Days 3 & 4

Thought I forgot to post, didn't you? Well, there really isn't much to say about yesterday or today. We moved on to studying for the second exam, so we covered a lot of new material yesterday from 09:00 - 21:00. It should be the same for today. I'll be studying like crazy tonight and tomorrow, so wish me luck.

CCNA/CCDA Training: Day 2 -- Subnetting and Examination

I am not going to go over most of the boring details of what went on today. Just know that most of the morning we covered the topic of Subnetting, as it has traditionally been a heavily tested subject on the CCNA exams. We pretty much spent most of the time up until our lunch working on this, which was fine with me because I wanted more practice.

For this class, we are testing for CCNA certification in two parts. The first test was this afternoon, where we could start it anytime between 16:00 -- 18:00. After lunch I was feeling pretty confident, and pretty much considered myself a subnetting god at that point. I spent a majority of my time before the test studying more on the concepts and troubleshooting aspects of routing, and I spent some time going over the router commands.

Ugh, I said I was going to spare you the details and here I am explaining the day to you in bloody, boring detail. To pass the first test, one needs to score an 825 out of 1000. I scored a 914.

You remember what ol' Jack Burton says at a time like that: Have you paid your dues, Jack? Yes, sir, the check is in the mail.

CCNA/CCDA Training: Day 1 (continued)

Well, we got the missing part that was necessary so we could connect our laptops (HP Compaq nx9010) to the Cisco 1600 router. So, I was able to get to work on about 5 labs today. And now I have homework. It's also 10:45 CST, so it would be nice if I am in bed by midnight. Tomorrow we get more lecture and work, and then in the evening we take the first part of the CCNA test (we are testing for the CCNA by taking two tests, one Tuesday and one Friday; CCDA will be tested on Sunday). Fun, fun.

On a totally different note, I must ask that all heterosexual men out there purchase the March 2006 issue of Stuff Magazine. The pictures aren't even up on the website yet, but the covergirl is Stacy Keibler from the WWE and also Dancing with the Stars. Christ, just look at the cover and buy this magazine.

CCNA/CCDA Training: Day 1

Class started at 08:00. For the rest of the week, we should be starting at 09:00, but today was an early start to get introductions and other incidentals out of the way. My class is pretty full as we are at 12 students. As usual, we all have varying degrees of competence when it comes to networking and Cisco products. Lecture pretty much began at 08:30 and went on until 13:00 when we stopped for lunch (We did have breaks for the instructor and others to take smoke breaks). Breakfasts and lunches will be provided for the entire week, which helps out. We came back to class at 13:30, and we were going through the material until we hit the point where we were just about to get into our first lab.

Now, the camp has provided each student with some items they can use for the duration of the camp. We were provided with 2 books, a CCNA Study Guide and a CCNA Cram Guide. We were provided with our own laptops (some type of Compaq) which have a lot of self-test materials pre-loaded. And then for use in the lab we have been provided with Cisco routers and switches. Our first lab is to connect to the Cisco router through a console connection and configure the router for use. We have been provided with a rollover cable, which allows us to connect to the RJ-45 port on the router through the Serial Port (RS-232) on the back of the laptop. Normally this would be no problem, except for one tiny little detail. There is no serial port on the back of these laptops. I have one on the back of my Dell Inspiron 8200 that I am using to write this, but there is no serial port on the back of the Compaq. So, we took an early break for dinner while they go find serial-to-USB adaptors. Even away from work, the fun never ceases.

Time's up, let's do this!

So, I am writing y'all from my hotel room here in Austin, TX. Met my training class instructor about an hour ago. It looks like the class will be fun since the instructor has a wealth of knowledge, both pertaining to Cisco and to utter nonsense. But make no mistake, it will also be a lot of work. Teach didn't give us anything to do for tonight, but he promised us pain for the rest of the week. OK, he really didn't do that either but he did say we were going to be in for 16-hour days. It should be fun.

Chuck F'ing Norris!

OK, I cannot find the article online yet, but the St. Petersburg Times has a front-page article on the Chuck Norris phenomenon. It was also being discussed on one local radio station, 97X, when I came in to work this morning. That's simply awesome.