Need some advice on learning networking

[tsbservice]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

With the pace you're learning I'm afraid we soon will lose one of us and you will find yourself in IT stratosphere

[slimslob]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

With the pace you're learning I'm afraid we soon will lose one of us and you will find yourself in IT stratosphere

No, he'll stay around. A lot of what he is into right now is more second or third year university level computer science courses. Way above IT level knowledge.

[tsbservice]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

No, he'll stay around. A lot of what he is into right now is more second or third year university level computer science courses. Way above IT level knowledge.

Haha well said
We will see but to learn 2-3 university years material in just 6 months...just wow!
I tip my hat to you Billy.

P.S.
I also hope Billy will stay around.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

No, he'll stay around. A lot of what he is into right now is more second or third year university level computer science courses. Way above IT level knowledge.

Because I have no frame of reference, I couldn't tell how far along I am. That's the truth. It's getting easier and harder at the same time.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Haha well said
We will see but to learn 2-3 university years material in just 6 months...just wow!
I tip my hat to you Billy.

P.S.
I also hope Billy will stay around.

Oh, I'm not going anywhere. I love this place and there's still things about the copiers that I do not know, but I don't have to ask nearly as many questions as in the past. I give most of the credit to blackcat for that. I think I about bugged him to death...both he and KYO. lol

[rthonpm]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

It's getting easier and harder at the same time.

If this is true, then you're definitely doing it right! Keep up the good work: it's hard but when you come through the other side you feel like you can take on the world.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

If this is true, then you're definitely doing it right! Keep up the good work: it's hard but when you come through the other side you feel like you can take on the world.

Thanks for the encouragement. It sounds like you can relate to the pain that I'm experiencing. This stuff is no joke.

[tsbservice]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Oh, I'm not going anywhere. I love this place and there's still things about the copiers that I do not know, but I don't have to ask nearly as many questions as in the past. I give most of the credit to blackcat for that. I think I about bugged him to death...both he and KYO. lol

😆 push them hard. We can only take advantages from that. Nice people they're.

[adecanmin]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

It's going to be nice getting our questions answered by a CCNA

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I just had a very humbling experience. I did static routing. No problem. I did RIP. No problem. But when I tried to implement OSPF, it kicked my ass until I almost said mercy.


I'll make this as short as possible. Setting up OSPF and RIP are very similar...except that OSPF has something called a "wild card." Basically a wild card is the the inverse of the subnet.


Example: 255.255.255.0
Wild card is the reverse of that - 0.255.255.255

The problem was I watched a couple of videos and they said it was the inverse: 0.0.0.255. Which is wrong. Either they were tripping or I wasn't paying close enough attention. I'm 99.9% sure they were wrong. I'm too tired to go back and check but I will tomorrow. It cost me hours of frustration.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

. Not long ago CCNA was divided into different certificates. The new CCNA will replace the following certifications:


CCNA Cloud
CCNA Collaboration
CCNA Data Center
CCDA
CCNA Industrial
CCNA Routing and Switching
CCNA Security
CCNA Service Provider
CCNA Wireless


That's a tremendous amount of ground to cover. I hear the test is very difficult and many are failing it multiple times. Thus far I've been trying to do the best I can to stay on point and not jump around too much. The problem is that I don't really know what "on point" looks like. What am I not covering? What am I missing? That thought concerns me. Who wants to pay $300 to take an exam and fail?

Keeping that in mind, I decided that I need to take an online course that's designed to help folks pass the test and be able to actually build and troubleshoot networks. I've said this once and I'll say it again: There's a big difference between configuring a network and troubleshooting one.

After doing a lot of research I signed up for CBT Nuggets. They have 3 very good instructors and I've learned most of what I know thus far from their YouTube videos. The course cost around $60 per month. I just signed up this morning and it's like I'm starting over. Back to square one. I could fast-forward thru the course but I don't want to do that.

The course consists of 58-hours of videos alone. Numerous practice tests and labs. That's gonna take about 6-months to complete from what I gather.


Here goes nothing.....

[tsbservice]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

. Not long ago CCNA was divided into different certificates. The new CCNA will replace the following certifications:


CCNA Cloud
CCNA Collaboration
CCNA Data Center
CCDA
CCNA Industrial
CCNA Routing and Switching
CCNA Security
CCNA Service Provider
CCNA Wireless


That's a tremendous amount of ground to cover. I hear the test is very difficult and many are failing it multiple times. Thus far I've been trying to do the best I can to stay on point and not jump around too much. The problem is that I don't really know what "on point" looks like. What am I not covering? What am I missing? That thought concerns me. Who wants to pay $300 to take an exam and fail?

Keeping that in mind, I decided that I need to take an online course that's designed to help folks pass the test and be able to actually build and troubleshoot networks. I've said this once and I'll say it again: There's a big difference between configuring a network and troubleshooting one.

After doing a lot of research I signed up for CBT Nuggets. They have 3 very good instructors and I've learned most of what I know thus far from their YouTube videos. The course cost around $60 per month. I just signed up this morning and it's like I'm starting over. Back to square one. I could fast-forward thru the course but I don't want to do that.

The course consists of 58-hours of videos alone. Numerous practice tests and labs. That's gonna take about 6-months to complete from what I gather.


Here goes nothing.....

Wise decision. Fair wind and a following sea.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Well, the new training got off to boring start. The instructor pretty much started from scratch. That didn't last long.

Before I knew knew it we were capturing packets on "Packet Tracer" and going over every little detail of the processes that are involved. It's exactly like analyzing the data on Wire Shark. Luckily I'm very familiar with Wire Shark as discussed previously in this thread. However, at the time I only concentrated on packets that involved with SMB, SMTP,....things that had to do mainly with a copier. This was more complex. What happens when you send an ARP or ping request to a router or switch? I'll tell you what happens. A LOT.


I won't bore everyone with the details but it was EYE OPENING. Just know this. Pay attention to the following:

1. An ARP table resides on any Layer 3 device (Router). An ARP table also resides on a PC (PC can operate on all of the layers). An ARP table is the mapping of IP addresses to Mac Address.

2. Mac Address Table: Mac Address Table resides on Layer 2 (Switch). Mac Address Table is the mapping of Switchports to Mac Addresses.

3. Routing Table: A Routing Table resides on the router. A Routing Table is a map of every network that the router is capable of reaching.

All 3 of those tables work with each other to get a packet to the correct destination.


That's it for now.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I misspoke. ARP requests aren't sent to a switch. The switch sends the ARP request when the MAC address of the destination isn't part of the Source PC's ARP table. For the record.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Throughout this learning experience there have been many things that were difficult at first. But thus far there's only been 2 things that have been REALLY DIFFICULT.



1.Subnetting.

On a scale from 1-10, I'd give it a 7.0.


2. Frames.

Frames contain things like the source Mac and IP addresses, along with the ports that are used. The information in the frame is constantly changing as it moves thru the network thru a process known as encapsulation and decapsulation. . And the path that the frame takes thru the network is tricky.


On a scale of 1-10 of difficultly, I'd give it a 9. Maybe a 9.5.


On the CCNA test, they will show you a diagram of the network and ask you to write out each frame as it moves thru the network and show how the frame is encapsulated and decapsulated from the source to the destination and back again. This is on a whole other level. I understand why I need to know it but it's very difficult. On the bright side, the data in WireShark makes a lot more sense to me now.