What is CCNA
Introduction to Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Certification
The CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) is entry level certification program offered by Cisco Systems. CCNA certification tests the skill sets of a network engineer in various domains. Earlier there was only a Routing & Switching module but these days with the technology growing extremely fast there are variants of the CCNA depending on the interest of the engineer. Below are the current CCNA certifications that are active.
Click here to see different CCNA tracks offered by Cisco Systems.
- CCNA Cloud
- CCNA Collaboration
- CCNA Data Center
- CCNA Industrial
- CCNA Voice
- CCNA Security
- CCNA Service Provider
- CCNA Wireless
- CCNA Routing and Switching
In this module we will cover CCNA Routing and Switching. The Cisco CCNA R&S tests the knowledge for an engineer and certifies him on his skill set of being able to install, configure and troubleshoot the small to medium size routing and switching network.
Having being certified with a CCNA gives the candidate an upper hand in the interview and with the skills and certification the employer would definitely choose a CCNA over a normal engineer.
The current CCNA as of December 2015 has two options. You can write either one exam i.e.:
1. 200-120 CCNA – Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices: Accelerated (CCNAX)
Or Opt for the two parts CCNA
2. a) 100-101 ICND1 – Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 (ICND1)
b) 200-101 ICND2- Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 (ICND2)
You need to have basic computer networking knowledge and some concepts of TCP/IP to better understand the CCNA modules.
The certification exam is conducted in a Pearson VUE testing center and the test comprises of about 50-60 questions.
You can get more information from the Cisco website about registration for the exam.
The main topics covered in the course and exam are related to Routing and Switching, i.e. EIGRP, OSPF, IP addressing, Network Address Translation, Access Lists, VLANs, Spanning Tree etc. More details can be found from the below links.
CCNA Video Training
CCNA Practice Exams
- Certiology’s Free CCNA, CCENT Practice Tests
- MCMCSE’s CCNA Practice Tests
- TechExams CCNA Practice Tests
In the coming lessons we will learn about more details of the topics covered in the CCNA Routing and Switching exam.
Read more
- CCNA Introduction
- CCNA Cheat Sheet
- Cisco Switch Basic Configuration Commands
- Unicast, Multicast, Broadcast