DanIndia:
Nothing good comes easy, my brother. I used the same book myself and I must be honest with you, that is a book you must have for CCNA plus a lot of labbings. baba11, I await your own CCNA Cisco ID

OK thanks..next year God willing!

Great. Keeping an eye out for the news.

baba11:

OK thanks..next year God willing!

DanIndia:
Great. Keeping an eye out for the news.

Thanks.

Thought I'll leave these here. Yesterdays LAB on Hangout.

OSPF/GRE/RIPv2 via Tunnel *EIGRP kept flapping*/DMVPN/IPSec/2 Server(CentOS7 WebServer, Client Access Server) Connections.

DanIndia:
That could be right, but if I were an HR and I find a Network Engineer also in possession of a RHCSE, I'd question the genuineness of it. People can dump anything, regardless of whether or not it is a multiple choice exam. System Administration is a role on itself just as Network Administration. If you talk to Network Engineers that have worked over the years maybe with HR or Recruitment agencies, they'll tell you it's hard for you to ene come up with a technician with indepth knowledge at their certification level just in networking not to talk of one that has a CCNA and RHCSA at the same time. I am not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying RHCSA/RHCE is going to far when you may not even use it at your job position. Major companies wouldn't hire a Network Engineer to carry out System Administration duties.

Pls I need u guys advice and contributions, I ve gone tru ccna minor trainin durin my University days in afrihub, bt Not yet certified as am yet 2 make up d money 4 the exam. Meanwhile I also have passion 4 programming, though stil a novice but stil hopin to get to the top someday. My confusion now is on which path to folow interms of skill n certifications so as to achieve my dream of a network engineer and also a web developer/designer. Hope I ll b able to achieve all this, is it posible?

It depends. I don't thank your plan is impossible but it's gonna take devotion and commitment from your side. Most people either go Networking and others programming. I haven't seen an expert in both world and that doesn't mean they do not exist. I think you should narrow down your plans and decide what would suit you best. A Network Engineer or a Web Designer

stadora:

Pls I need u guys advice and contributions, I ve gone tru ccna minor trainin durin my University days in afrihub, bt Not yet certified as am yet 2 make up d money 4 the exam. Meanwhile I also have passion 4 programming, though stil a novice but stil hopin to get to the top someday. My confusion now is on which path to folow interms of skill n certifications so as to achieve my dream of a network engineer and also a web developer/designer. Hope I ll b able to achieve all this, is it posible?

DanIndia:
That could be right, but if I were an HR and I find a Network Engineer also in possession of a RHCSE, I'd question the genuineness of it. People can dump anything, regardless of whether or not it is a multiple choice exam. System Administration is a role on itself just as Network Administration. If you talk to Network Engineers that have worked over the years maybe with HR or Recruitment agencies, they'll tell you it's hard for you to ene come up with a technician with indepth knowledge at their certification level just in networking not to talk of one that has a CCNA and RHCSA at the same time. I am not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying RHCSA/RHCE is going to far when you may not even use it at your job position. Major companies wouldn't hire a Network Engineer to carry out System Administration duties.

You could be right, however, in my belief and my own personal experience, it's very good to be well-rounded and good at everything these days. Networking, System Administration, Programming and the automation of tasks. Being good in all of those things not only guarantees job security, but promotions as well.

Oh OK. I totally understand this is your opinion. It's just that when you see what's out there, when you see the depth of each course/objectivies, trust me, it's hard to be good at everything in IT. In fact, you can't. It's almost impossible to be good at networking and system administration and then programming! AhbA, Albert Einstein nor fit try am sef. In Networking alone, you can't even be good in all the tracks... not to talk of Programming which me nor really enjoy at all haha A friend of mine who went back to Nigeria too told me the same thing you just mentioned, being good in all of those things guarantee job security**. That's because in Nigeria, we still are a bit behind on technology with respect to specialty. A company hires a network engineer, expects him to fix their printer, manage their database, troubleshoot their scanner issues, pbx, phone systems, even electricity problem. Nor be small thing

Fulaman198:


You could be right, however, in my belief and my own personal experience, it's very good to be well-rounded and good at everything these days. Networking, System Administration, Programming and the automation of tasks. Being good in all of those things not only guarantees job security, but promotions as well.

DanIndia:
Oh OK. I totally understand this is your opinion. It's just that when you see what's out there, when you see the depth of each course/objectivies, trust me, it's hard to be good at everything in IT. In fact, you can't. It's almost impossible to be good at networking and system administration and then programming! AhbA, Albert Einstein nor fit try am sef. In Networking alone, you can't even be good in all the tracks... not to talk of Programming which me nor really enjoy at all haha A friend of mine who went back to Nigeria too told me the same thing you just mentioned, being good in all of those things guarantee job security**. That's because in Nigeria, we still are a bit behind on technology with respect to specialty. A company hires a network engineer, expects him to fix their printer, manage their database, troubleshoot their scanner issues, pbx, phone systems, even electricity problem. Nor be small thing

Well, in my opinion (again my opinion), the definition of network engineer duties and responsibilities varies from company to company. Some companies may request that they also need their network engineer to assess and analyse Packet flow and Packet loss. Some may need for you to troubleshoot where Packet loss is occurring. Some may need you to implement routing protocols such as EIGRP, BGP, OSPF, etc. Some may require you to work with IP address assignments.

Yes, network engineering is a vast field, however, going back to what you said I do somewhat agree that it's impossible to have a CCIE level of knowledge in Systems Administration (the equivalent would be RHCA (Red Hat Certified Architect)) and vast programming knowledge at a Senior Software Engineer level. No one is going to ask you to write a programme of 10,000 lines of code, but you may have to do both a combination of Sys Administration and Network Administration from time to time. A Systems engineer may be asked to block some ports and IP addresses on a server using IP tables. He/she would need some networking knowledge for that.

I guess what I'm saying is that in the computing world, I believe that it's good to be well-rounded to keep yourself competitive for prospective employees.

True. I agree with this. It doesn't hurt to know more.

Fulaman198:


Well, in my opinion (again my opinion), the definition of network engineer duties and responsibilities varies from company to company. Some companies may request that they also need their network engineer to assess and analyse Packet flow and Packet loss. Some may need for you to troubleshoot where Packet loss is occurring. Some may need you to implement routing protocols such as EIGRP, BGP, OSPF, etc. Some may require you to work with IP address assignments.

Yes, network engineering is a vast field, however, going back to what you said I do somewhat agree that it's impossible to have a CCIE level of knowledge in Systems Administration (the equivalent would be RHCA (Red Hat Certified Architect)) and vast programming knowledge at a Senior Software Engineer level. No one is going to ask you to write a programme of 10,000 lines of code, but you may have to do both a combination of Sys Administration and Network Administration from time to time. A Systems engineer may be asked to block some ports and IP addresses on a server using IP tables. He/she would need some networking knowledge for that.

I guess what I'm saying is that in the computing world, I believe that it's good to be well-rounded to keep yourself competitive for prospective employees.

Thanks DanIndia,

In any case ladies and gentlemen, I was reading a fantastic scientific article on why TCP RST occurs in regards to mobile devices. Most of the stuff I already knew, but I found some of the material new and interesting. Have a look!

If you are into Packet Analysis and Packet Structure, I think you will enjoy this article.

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:833358/FULLTEXT01.pdf

DanIndia:
OH my. I love this. I could totally tell your passion for networking from reading this single post. And those people were right, the Linux path looks more promising. It's fun and it's not necessary you certify yourself but it does help. So from me to you, Congratulations. Now we could use you more on this thread, post questions, post tips, post employment opportunities... whatever you feel that may be of great help to others. ANd since you're already planning for CCNP, you could join me. As we speak, I'm about to move on to OSPF and the others. Down with IPv6, GRE, DMVPN... Let me know if you're up for it.

AND again, I like your confidence. Check out the bold. That inspires me myself. Coincidentally, I'm planning to write my CCNP route around the same time frame of yours. Only reply back if you're up for the challenge.

Again to others, you don't really need to dump an exam. If you practice a lot and did that well, trust me no questions on the exam would be strange to you.

Congratulations again, Bro. NoriegaQ. Please keep the fire burning.

Thanks man, I really appreciate the gesture. It's nice when you come online and meet people who inspire you to follow your dreams. There were times when I was tired of the constant reading and labbing but coming on this platform I'd be inspired to get back to work. Only thing I can say is please don't stop doing this because many people are inspired through you and this thread. I'll always be available to help with inspiring others to networking greatness through this avenue and any others that come up.
I just finished with GRE and DMVPN on ROUTE last week, currently on IPV6. Which study materials do you use? I was able to get some Cisco Press books for ROUTE, SWITCH and TSHOOT from a friend. Someone recently told me about INE but I haven't tried that out. Read a post of yours a while back where you said you needed more IOS images for GNS3. After much searching and begging I finally got the link to about 10 images, lol. Would happily share with anybody who's interested.
I'll also try and speed up my reading so I can join you guys in the video classes ASAP. Thanks and keep up the good work man. Cheers!

Good to hear that. I'm glad you've found this thread inspiring. The idea of putting up this thread was just something that happened out of the blue and the reception has been encouraging. There have been a couple of people on here that do show up once in a while to answer questions and make contributions.

I wasn't looking for IOS images actually. I just asked ahead for my SWITCH studies as the Study Material I had ordered just delivered and I hear that you can't fully emulate switches on GNS3. My best bet is to order VIRL. I'm currently studying for the ROUTE, just as you, and, I and a friend have been labbing on the topics. For materials, I use CBT Nuggets and the Official Cert Guide for CCNP ROUTE.
I can see you're done with GRE/DMVPN, how was it ? Did you break/fix anything ? Ran into any issues ? mGRE ? IPsec ? I finished that last week and currently on EIGRP. Hoping to finish it off in a couple days and then head on to OSPF... hopefully, I'll finish everything off and write the exam in a couple months.

NoriegaQ:


Thanks man, I really appreciate the gesture. It's nice when you come online and meet people who inspire you to follow your dreams. There were times when I was tired of the constant reading and labbing but coming on this platform I'd be inspired to get back to work. Only thing I can say is please don't stop doing this because many people are inspired through you and this thread. I'll always be available to help with inspiring others to networking greatness through this avenue and any others that come up.
I just finished with GRE and DMVPN on ROUTE last week, currently on IPV6. Which study materials do you use? I was able to get some Cisco Press books for ROUTE, SWITCH and TSHOOT from a friend. Someone recently told me about INE but I haven't tried that out. Read a post of yours a while back where you said you needed more IOS images for GNS3. After much searching and begging I finally got the link to about 10 images, lol. Would happily share with anybody who's interested.
I'll also try and speed up my reading so I can join you guys in the video classes ASAP. Thanks and keep up the good work man. Cheers!

Ok, thanks 4 ur response OP, I tink I ve made up my mind to thread the netwok part. Bt pls I ll need ur guidelines and advice on how to go abt ds profession to become a network engineer.
Is there a way I can read and practise offline, cos am not good with subscribing for data, to read online?
How do I start as I dnt have any material?
Pls ur motivation and inspiration are needed pls
Cv: DanIndia, Fulaman, NoriegaQ
Thanks

Ah, you'll need materials to study and you'll need to invest in it. You'll need data of course to read online. Buy books or sign up for courses at an Institute that specializes on Cisco certifications and then you can start off with videos and playing around with the technologies.

stadora:
Ok, thanks 4 ur response OP, I tink I ve made up my mind to thread the netwok part. Bt pls I ll need ur guidelines and advice on how to go abt ds profession to become a network engineer.
Is there a way I can read and practise offline, cos am not good with subscribing for data, to read online?
How do I start as I dnt have any material?
Pls ur motivation and inspiration are needed pls
Cv: DanIndia, Fulaman, NoriegaQ
Thanks

DanIndia:
Good to hear that. I'm glad you've found this thread inspiring. The idea of putting up this thread was just something that happened out of the blue and the reception has been encouraging. There have been a couple of people on here that do show up once in a while to answer questions and make contributions.

I wasn't looking for IOS images actually. I just asked ahead for my SWITCH studies as the Study Material I had ordered just delivered and I hear that you can't fully emulate switches on GNS3. My best bet is to order VIRL. I'm currently studying for the ROUTE, just as you, and, I and a friend have been labbing on the topics. For materials, I use CBT Nuggets and the Official Cert Guide for CCNP ROUTE.
I can see you're done with GRE/DMVPN, how was it ? Did you break/fix anything ? Ran into any issues ? mGRE ? IPsec ? I finished that last week and currently on EIGRP. Hoping to finish it off in a couple days and then head on to OSPF... hopefully, I'll finish everything off and write the exam in a couple months.

Yeah I noticed the switching issue with gns3 too. Even tried converting a 3600 series router to a switch using the no IP routing command, yet everything just seems upside down. You can't add new vlans from global configuration mode, only from privileged mode and the commands are just all weird. How does VIRL work?

I haven't broken anything yet, lol. Currently studying with the Cisco Press material and they keep saying the only practical config you should understand is building tunnels that span routers, every other thing (mGRE, NHRP, IPsec, DMVPN, MPLS VPN) is theoretical. It's my first read so I'm just following them, when I start the second read I'd definitely get more adventurous with my labbing. At this rate I think we might be writing around the same time.

stadora:
Ok, thanks 4 ur response OP, I tink I ve made up my mind to thread the netwok part. Bt pls I ll need ur guidelines and advice on how to go abt ds profession to become a network engineer.
Is there a way I can read and practise offline, cos am not good with subscribing for data, to read online?
How do I start as I dnt have any material?
Pls ur motivation and inspiration are needed pls
Cv: DanIndia, Fulaman, NoriegaQ
Thanks

Hello stadora, welcome to the home of network engineering on Nairaland. My first advice to you would be to go and read up on networking and Cisco on Wikipedia and the Cisco website. This will give you a sense of direction as the networking field is quite diverse. I prepared for my CCNA using just one book (Todd Lammle's 200-120) and Packet Tracer. If you're resourceful enough you could find ways to get this online or from friends but then you could buy if you can afford it.
I didn't have much money when I wrote mine so I didn't do anything online. Hence I totally immersed myself into those two aforementioned tools like my life depended on it and it paid off in the end. You could always come online whenever you have issues with certain topics and we'll always be here to help.
Congratulations on your interest in networking, with good discipline I'm certain you'll become a networking addict like Fulaman and DanIndia cos I can't lie to you, whenever I'm reading or labbing, it feels just like I'm watching my favourite team play. It's fun to see a network topology do exactly what you want it to do, makes you feel like a boss.
Good luck man! Hope you're inspired, cheers!

Awesome.

VIRL is Cisco's own Emulating software. It's quite resourceful but there are very node limits. It's a bit pricy too

Oh yes. From the CCNP part of view, you do not have to actually configure anything but for the professional/real world scenarios, you will. I basically do more than what the exam objectives are. That way you can know what happens when something breaks and what'll happen when you break something. I would recommend you do the same. The book doesn't say much for IPsec mGRE configurations which I find totally absurd but in real word at a professional level - you should be familiar with those concepts. I skipped MPLS though, for some weird reason I'm keeping it and IPv6 on hold till I'm done with route protocols.

NoriegaQ:


Yeah I noticed the switching issue with gns3 too. Even tried converting a 3600 series router to a switch using the no IP routing command, yet everything just seems upside down. You can't add new vlans from global configuration mode, only from privileged mode and the commands are just all weird. How does VIRL work?

I haven't broken anything yet, lol. Currently studying with the Cisco Press material and they keep saying the only practical config you should understand is building tunnels that span routers, every other thing (mGRE, NHRP, IPsec, DMVPN, MPLS VPN) is theoretical. It's my first read so I'm just following them, when I start the second read I'd definitely get more adventurous with my labbing. At this rate I think we might be writing around the same time.

Thanks 2 u guys 4 ur response n encouragement. I promise 2 try my best. @ NoriegaQ, am a lady nt a man.

You just got yourself some brownie points
It's good to see ladies wanting to get their hands dirty. I like to call the ladies I've seen in the networking field "Women with some muscle".
Do well in your endeavors. All the best.

stadora:
Thanks 2 u guys 4 ur response n encouragement. I promise 2 try my best. @ NoriegaQ, am a lady nt a man.

I just installed packet tracer today on my system. How could i go about viewing,erasing, configuring, delete etc actions on it?

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stadora:
Ok, thanks 4 ur response OP, I tink I ve made up my mind to thread the netwok part. Bt pls I ll need ur guidelines and advice on how to go abt ds profession to become a network engineer.
Is there a way I can read and practise offline, cos am not good with subscribing for data, to read online?
How do I start as I dnt have any material?
Pls ur motivation and inspiration are needed pls
Cv: DanIndia, Fulaman, NoriegaQ
Thanks

Also, if you have the money, you can go through netacad which in itself is an excellent programme.

baba11:
I just installed packet tracer today on my system. How could i go about viewing,erasing, configuring, delete etc actions on it?

It's quite easy to use, you can read the help section. Also you can watch videos on how to use it on YouTube. Cheers!

DanIndia:
Awesome.

VIRL is Cisco's own Emulating software. It's quite resourceful but there are very node limits. It's a bit pricy too

Oh yes. From the CCNP part of view, you do not have to actually configure anything but for the professional/real world scenarios, you will. I basically do more than what the exam objectives are. That way you can know what happens when something breaks and what'll happen when you break something. I would recommend you do the same. The book doesn't say much for IPsec mGRE configurations which I find totally absurd but in real word at a professional level - you should be familiar with those concepts. I skipped MPLS though, for some weird reason I'm keeping it and IPv6 on hold till I'm done with route protocols.

I totally agree with you. I found some great labs on MPLS, DMVPN, mGRE etc. on packetlife.net. It's a really awesome site if you're looking for real life topologies to implement during your lab sessions. I noticed in the screenshots you posted that you run virtual servers and it definitely can't be with the VPCs on gns3. Which virtualization software do you run? HyperV directly or Virtualbox? I've been having serious issues tying Virtualbox to my GNS3 and that's been a bit of a limiting factor so far.
Checked out VIRL on Google and it doesn't seem to be that expensive. $80 for a year's access isn't so bad but then it seems you always need to be online whenever you use it. Also read on some forums that it isn't as good as GNS3 in most tasks. I'll post the screenshots of some of the VPN labs I intend to work on later today, so we could exchange ideas and knowledge.
Regards.

NoriegaQ:


It's quite easy to use, you can read the help section. Also you can watch videos on how to use it on YouTube. Cheers!

Thanks... I'll do that

Awesome. VIRL is not for $80. It's 99$ for student edition and you must have a .edu email address for that. I run Virtualbox on Ubuntu. It was a pain trying to install some GNS3 dependencies but with some guys code, I was able to fix it and it has been working flawlessly since then.

NoriegaQ:


I totally agree with you. I found some great labs on MPLS, DMVPN, mGRE etc. on packetlife.net. It's a really awesome site if you're looking for real life topologies to implement during your lab sessions. I noticed in the screenshots you posted that you run virtual servers and it definitely can't be with the VPCs on gns3. Which virtualization software do you run? HyperV directly or Virtualbox? I've been having serious issues tying Virtualbox to my GNS3 and that's been a bit of a limiting factor so far.
Checked out VIRL on Google and it doesn't seem to be that expensive. $80 for a year's access isn't so bad but then it seems you always need to be online whenever you use it. Also read on some forums that it isn't as good as GNS3 in most tasks. I'll post the screenshots of some of the VPN labs I intend to work on later today, so we could exchange ideas and knowledge.
Regards.

Please i want to be part of the training.........................usiolu@yahoo.com is my mail..............Thanks

DanIndia:
Awesome. VIRL is not for $80. It's 99$ for student edition and you must have a .edu email address for that. I run Virtualbox on Ubuntu. It was a pain trying to install some GNS3 dependencies but with some guys code, I was able to fix it and it has been working flawlessly since then.

Guess I'll just have to keep managing the VPCs then. A .edu email really complicates the whole VIRL option but then I've heard people say you can do most SWITCH labs on PT.

Worked on IPv6 addressing and RIPng lab today, using a Frame Relay switch running on point-to-point links. Achieved full network connectivity as shown in the images. Was able to tracert and ping from PC3 to PC2 and also telnet from R3 to S3. Ll run EIGRPv4 later by using dual stack routing.

Currently doing DMVPN though there are so many new commands I'm just coming across on that. Ll keep you posted though. Cheers.

Fulaman198:


Also, if you have the money, you can go through netacad which in itself is an excellent programme.

K, thanks, bt I dnt hav money now, stil findin it had 2 subscribe 4 data.

NoriegaQ:


It's quite easy to use, you can read the help section. Also you can watch videos on how to use it on YouTube. Cheers!

Pls wr do I get lab exercises to practice on?