The CCNA Syllabus and How a CCNA Certification Can Help Your Networking Career

So you love computers, you are great at organizing people, and you love helping them. You love working in an IT environment where technology constantly changes and there is always something new to learn. Perhaps you’ve completed a course or two on support or networking or perhaps you’ve just started as a network technician at a new job.

Planning the next step in your career may feel intimidating at this point because there are so many options and routes you can take. Getting a certification as a CCNA is definitely one of the options that you can pursue, but the CCNA certification is notoriously difficult and it can be quite expensive too. So you need to be sure if you really want to pursue your training to become Certified Cisco Network Administrator. Give yourself the  CCNA Kick Start training advantage with this course.

You can use the CCNA syllabus to help you decide whether you want to attempt this certification. The CCNA course syllabus will give you a good idea of what you will need to learn to become certified.

To acquire the CCNA certification you need to pass an exam that covers the following topics:

• IP Data Networks

• LAN Switching

• IP Addressing

• P Routing

• IP services

• Network Security

• Troubleshooting

• WAN technologies

IP Data Networks

The CCNA course syllabus will teach you all about IP Data Networks. The course includes information on how data networks work. How the devices within the network work. What the purpose and function of the various devices within the network are. It will cover what TCP/IP models are and how data flows within the data network.

Once you have mastered the course in IP Data Networks you should be able to understand how the data network operates. You should be able to select the best cables, routers, and ports to connect computers to the LAN. You should understand the basics of network performance and be able to explain how certain applications affect network performance. You should know and be able to describe the TCP/IP and OSI models and be able to explain the operation of both.

LAN Switching

The LAN switching syllabus includes information on how the Ethernet works. It will teach you the basics of how switches work and how to operate switches within a network. It will teach you how to verify your networks using ping, telnet and SSH and how to configure and verify switch operations. You will learn what remote access management is and how to use it. The subject will also cover VLANS and what they are within the networking environment. It will cover advanced switching technologies including RSTP, PVSTP and EtherChannel. Once completed you should be able to able to configure and verify a PVSTP operation. You should also understand what network segmentation is as well as being able to implement good network traffic management strategies.

IP Addressing

Courses that cover this part of the syllabus should teach you about the need for IPv4 and IPv6. They should teach you difference between public and private IP addresses for IPv4. Once completed you should be able to describe what appropriate address schemes are for both IPv4 and IPv6 and you should be able to explain how to run IPv4 and IPv6 concurrently. You should also be able to explain and describe the technologies needed to run IPv4 and IPv6 concurrently.

IP Routing

IP routing should cover the basics of what a router is as well as basic routing concepts. It should teach you about the booting process of a Cisco router, how to configure a router using the command line process, and how to verify your serial and Ethernet interfaces.

Once complete, you should be able to verify the configuration of a router. You should be able to confirm network connectivity. You should be able to describe the various routing processes and also be able to describe and differentiate between the various routing protocols.

IP Services

A course in IP Services that prepares you for the CCNA certification exam should teach you what DHCP is and how to verify DHCP on your Cisco router. It should explain what ACL is and what the features and applications of type of ACL are. It should explain and teach you the basic operation of NAT as well as the configuration of NAT. It should also teach you to configure NTP as a client and how to verify that configuration. IP Services training should also teach you about FHRP and how to recognize high availability FHRP.

For an Overview of Vlans, Access-List & NAT + Bonus Material, click here.

Network Security

A course in network security should teach you about Network Security. You should be able to explain how to achieve switch port security through the use of switch port security features. You should be able to configure ACL’s that will allow for the filtering of network traffic.

You should also be able to configure other networking device security features.

Troubleshooting

The CCNA certification exam could include questions on various troubleshooting issues so a CCNA certification course should include information on how to troubleshoot various networking issues. You should learn how to troubleshoot basic router operations. You should learn how to monitor data and how to use netflow. You should be able to fix basic routing issues. You should be able to troubleshoot and fix basic ACL issues. You should be able to troubleshoot basic WAN issues and also be able to correct any VLAN issues that may occur.

WAN technologies

This part of the syllabus includes information on the various WAN technologies. A course in WAN technologies should teach you about:

·         VSAT

·         Metro Ethernet

·         Frame Relay

·         DSL

·         T1/E1

·         VPN

·         MPLS

·         ISDN

·         Cable

·         Cellular 3G and 4G

Once you have completed a course in WAN technologies you should be able to configure a serial WAN connection. You should be able to describe what the above technologies are. You should also be able to configure and PPPoE and verify PPP connection between Cisco routers.

As you can see from the above, the CCNA syllabus is a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know to work as a network analyst. For a free preview of the CISCO in 60 days, why not sign up for a free course and see if the CCNA certification is what you need to raise your career to the next level. Or for CCNA exam training made easy, why not sign up for the Cisco Online Training course today.