Chapter 7
About CCNA Routing and Switching
The CCNA Routing and Switching certification is a prominent certification that many networking professionals appear for. Since there is a constant advance in technology, a network engineer is expected to have the necessary skills to work on developing programmable network architectures. They can only develop this skillset if they have the capabilities and the knowledge that the CCNA Routing and Switching certification provides. Since most businesses now use a CLI-based interaction with their routing and switching framework, the networking professional needs to have a basic understanding of the interactions that take place within that framework. It is for this reason that Cisco developed the Routing and Switching certification, and the course material is constantly being updated to cater to the changing needs. The study material enables a networking professional to focus on and understand these changes. The course material of the routing and switching certification has been refreshed and updated to include the changes in technology:
  1. Increased spotlight on IPv6 routing protocols, configuration, and knowledge
  2. Awareness of programmable network (SDN) architectures and the partition of control plane and information plane
  3. Understanding of cloud assets conveyed in enterprise network architectures
  4. Knowledge of QoS concepts, including checking, forming and policing mechanisms to manage congestion of various types of traffic
  5. Expanded VPN subjects to incorporate DMVPN, site-to-site VPN and customer VPN technologies
When you obtain the CCNA Routing and Switching certification, you can show your employers that you have the required skills to develop, design, implement, develop, and configure a network. They will also have the confidence that you can troubleshoot any issues if they crop up. Having said that, you must ensure that you stay abreast of any developments or changes being made in the industry. This will give you an edge over your competitors. As read earlier, you will need to recertify yourself to ensure that your certification is valid. The previous chapter sheds some light on cisco recertification.
Before getting certified for CCNA Routing and Switching, it is important to pass the entry-level examination (CCENT). You can then choose to either take the one exam-path or the two exam-path to obtain the certification.
Cisco Certified Network Associate - Routing and Switching (CCNA Routing and Switching)
The CCNA Routing and Switching certification are one of the most sought-after certifications in the networking industry. If you want to obtain the certification, you can either appear for one exam or two exams. The former is the composite exam, while the latter is the ICND1 and ICND2 examination. You can appear for these examinations once you clear your CCENT examination. The cost of this examination is $150. The questions asked in the CCENT examination are often tricky, which makes this exam a little difficult to crack. It is for this reason that you should only purchase the material offered by Cisco. Like every other CCNA certification, the CCENT certification also covers different concepts. Therefore, you will need to read through the entire material and also test your level of understanding. If you do wish to study by yourself, you can do that, but experts suggest that you sign up for some online tutorial classes since these will help you understand the concepts better. Once you obtain this certification, you can obtain the CCNP (Cisco Certified Networking Professional) certification.
It is always a good idea to study for the CCNA Routing and Switching examination, and you can land a great job in the networking field. If you do not want to appear for two examinations, ICND1 and ICND2, you can sign up for the composite examination. You must remember that the syllabus covered in all three examinations is extensive. This will mean that you need to spend enough time preparing for the examination. You will learn later about the different reasons why you should appear for the CCNA Routing and Switching examination. We will also look at some tips you should keep in mind when you prepare for the examination.
Required Skills
You will be tested on the following in the IDND1 examination:
  1. Knowledge and skills to test a small network
  2. Installation of a network
  3. How does the network function?
  4. How to troubleshoot any issues?
  5. LAN Switching technologies
  6. IP routing technologies
  7. IP services network device security
  8. Network device security
  9. Troubleshooting
  10. IPv6 protocol
You will be tested on the following in the ICND2 examination:
  1. How to design, develop, configure, work with and troubleshoot large networks
  2. IP Routing technologies
  3. LAN Switching technologies for large networks
  4. WAN technologies
  5. IP Services like Syslog, FHRP, and SNMP v2 and v3
Exams to Take
If you want to obtain the CCNA Routing and Switching Certification, you must take the Composite examination. This is a combined examination that is slightly difficult to clear. This is because the syllabus covered in this examination is vast, and it is impossible to understand every concept and remember them so you can answer the required number of questions to pass the examination. The different topics that are covered in the CCNA Composite examination have been taken from the ICND1 and ICND2 examinations.
If you do not wish to appear for the composite examination, you can appear for the ICND1 and ICND2 examinations. You must always think carefully and plan your study route before you sign up for the examination. You can choose to give one examination instead of two, and there is a high probability of clearing the examination if you study for the required time. Remember that you must practice and work hard. You will need to clear the following papers if you choose to take up two examinations instead of one:
- Exam: Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 (ICND1)
- Exam: Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 (ICND2)
History about the Routing and Switching Certification
Cisco announced that it would begin the CCNA and CCNP certifications in the year 1998. At that time, the company only offered the routing and switching examination, so there was no separate routing and switching certification. The examination was simply called CCNA. It was also easier to appear for this examination since there were only two types of examinations, and one could obtain the CCNA certification by passing only one examination, which was CCNA. There was no CCENT examination at that time. The examination rules and requirements remained the same for the first three examination numbers.
Impressions About Old Exams and Books
As mentioned earlier, there were three examinations that one would need to clear to obtain the CCNA certification. If you counted the number of pages in each of the study material for these examinations, without counting the study tools and the overhead, the number of pages in the guidebook shared by Cisco Press were:
  1. Examination 600-407: 500 pages
  2. Examination 600-507: 650 pages
  3. Examination 600-607: 750 pages
When you compare these texts to the new edition of the books for the CCNA Routing and Switching certification examination, the latter has over 1600 pages. You will also notice that Cisco worked on revising the syllabus and the examination in the first few years. Some records suggest that there was a mere 16-month gap between the second and third editions of the CCNA examination. This is a very quick revision since Cisco now takes longer to revise either the CCNA or CCNP examinations. This does not come as a surprise since, in the past, they were working towards developing the latest syllabus.
Impressions About the Topics in the Past
If you look at the age of technology in the same way as the age of dogs, you can say that the CCNA certification is close to 130 years old. Continuing with that same line of thought, let us look at the technology that was included in the first three versions of the CCNA examination. For example, books:
  1. All include information about the ISDN configuration
  2. All include some information about Frame Relay since this concept was popular in the 1990s. Frame Relay is a topic that was removed in 2016 since it is no longer a popular method used
  3. All include some information about VLAN trunking
  4. All include information about the different protocols in the NetWare protocol suite, the Netware SAP filtering, and NetWare IPX Layer 3 protocol
  5. None of these include information about the router-on-a-stick method or the 3-layer switching
The Fourth CCNA (2003): The Addition of the Two-Exam Path to CCNA
One of the biggest changes made to the CCNA Examination happened in the year 2003. The examination was still called CCNA, but the following changes were made to the curriculum:
  1. Cisco broke the CCNA examination into two parts – the ICND (640-821) and INTRO (620-811)
  2. The two parts combined to cover the same topics mentioned in the CCNA examination. This means that CCNA = INTRO + ICND.
  3. Cisco also offered a single examination for the students called CCNA (640-801). Students could choose to write this examination instead of the two parts.
Cisco offers some professional training courses, taught by the Cisco Learning Partners. The course offered was split into two courses as a pair of introductory courses to routing and switching called ICND and INTRO. The list of topics that they wanted to cover increased over the last few years, so the team had to accommodate these topics in two courses.
The CCENT examination was still not prepared by the Cisco team at this point. The CCENT examination only came into existence in the fifth iteration. The course material included numerous topics that are still in the scope of the examinations conducted today. Let us look at some of the notable changes:
  1. Removed the Novell NetWare IP Layer 3 protocol
  2. Added information about VLAN
  3. Added EIGRP and OSPF
  4. Added VLSM and NAT
  5. Added RSTP
The Fifth CCNA (2007): The Addition of CCENT
The next iteration of the CCNA examination maintained the same structure as the fourth iteration that we covered in the previous section. The CCNA examination still had a one exam-path and two exams-path approaches. Cisco also kept the idea that the content in the two parts will be the same as the content in the single CCNA examination. Some changes were made to the examinations in the year 2007:
  1. The text names of the examinations in the two exam-path were changed to ICND1 and ICND2
  2. Cisco also included the CCNET or Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician examination to the syllabus
The change made to the course and the examination names did not impact the students who were taking the examination. The decision to add CCENT to the syllabus was a huge change. This examination will allow people to gather information on some parts of the CCNA examination and stop. When Cisco introduced CCENT to the course structure, it also came up with numerous prerequisites:
  1. CCNA Routing and Switching Certification as a prerequisite
  2. CCENT as a prerequisite
  3. No exam is a prerequisite
The CCENT examination is also not simple since there are a lot of topics that the student will need to cover. The changes made to the syllabus were not topic changes but were changes made to the quality of information shared and the skills that the student developed. For example, this version of the examination included information about wireless LANs. Cisco then introduced the CCNA wireless examination and removed the topic of wireless LANs from the Routing and Switching certification. In this edition of the examination, there were many questions asked about wireless LANs. Some of the new topics included were:
  1. Increased performance level to learn more about troubleshooting for some topics
  2. Some topics on Wireless LANs
  3. Introduction to the IPv6 protocol
  4. Introduction to Internet access and VPNs
  5. No information about the ISDN configuration
The Sixth CCNA (2013): a 5.5 Year Transition
The next change that was made to the routing and switching examination was when the sixth edition of the examination was released. This change was very interesting for the following reasons:
  1. There was a 5.5-year gap between the previous edition and the current edition. The fifth edition was released in 2007 while the sixth edition was released in the fall of 2013
  2. During the 5.5-year gap, Cisco also launched the CCNA and CCNP Wireless, Voice, and Security certifications. It also released a few other examinations and made changes to a few others. If you remember, in the year 2007, the only Cisco certification was the CCNA Routing and Switching track. Cisco spent some time and effort to improve the topics covered in the examination and also broaden the different options people could choose from
When there is a revision in the CCNA examination, the official certification guides are also revised. There was only one time, which was in the year 2013, that Cisco updated the study material but did not make any changes to the examination yet. The learning team wanted to include more tools into the market, and they wanted students to learn more about these tools, although they were not included in the examination. Apart from this exception, Cisco always ensures that the new certification guides for the CCNA routing and switching examination and CCENT examination were released when the exams were revised.
Another interesting change that was made to the examination was that Cisco decided to refer to the exams using a version number. Cisco had never represented the examinations it conducted using a reference or version number of any kind. The exam number was sufficient to help people understand the subject they cover. Cisco began to refer to some web pages and material as version 2.0 when the examinations were announced in the year 2013. In the year 2016, these examinations are referenced as version 3.0 across all web pages. If you are unsure of what the examination is about, you should only look at the examination number.
As for the content in the examination, the learning team decided to include troubleshooting as the main theme for these changes. These examinations required the students to develop some skills to troubleshoot any network that they have developed or configured. The mix of topics does always change over time, but the 2013 version had more emphasis on troubleshooting, especially in the ICND2 examination. Some of the changes to the content include:
  1. Added IOS licensing
  2. Added FHRPs or First Hop Redundancy Protocols like HSRP
  3. Added more IPv6 protocols including EIGRP, static routes and OSPF
  4. Removed RIP
The Seventh CCNA (2016): The New CCNA R&S (Exam Version v3.0)
This is the latest change made to the CCNA routing and switching examination, and these changes represent the seventh version of the examination and the seventh number of the routing and switching examination. From the program perspective, you can note the following:
  1. There was still a one exam-path and two exam-path to clear the CCNA examination
  2. Every student is required to pass the CCENT examination to appear for the ICND1 100-105 examination
  3. The new examination is called Version 3.0 on most web pages, but make sure to check the examination numbers if you are ever in doubt
a. ICND1 100-105
b. ICND2 200-105
c. CCNA Routing and Switching 200-125
This version of the examination is the complete transition that Cisco has made wherein the course material focuses on whether a student can implement what they have learned and troubleshoot what they have configured. The topics included in the examination have also increased. From a larger perspective:
  1. For most topics included in the examination, the student is required to know how to troubleshoot any issues
  2. New subject areas have been included in the examinations when compared to the earlier versions of the examination
Now that we are aware of how the examination changed over the years, let us look at the different products offered by Cisco and also look at some other information about the CCNA routing and switching examination.
Where to Register for the Examination
You are required to register for the exam on Pearson VUE regardless of whether you choose to take the ICND1 and ICND2 examinations or the composite examination. If you want to gather some more information about these examinations, please visit the website using the following link: www.vue.com.
Follow the steps given below if you have decided to clear the examination:
  1. The first thing you must do is choose the exam that you want to appear for. If you want to take up the composite examination, you should choose the code 200-125. If you want to sign up for the ICND1 and ICND2 examinations, you should choose the codes 100-105 and 200-105.
  2. After you have selected the examination that you want to appear form, you will need to visit the nearest examination center and register for that exam. Remember that you will need to pay for the exam in advance, and you can sit for the exam within a year since you have made the payment.
  3. You can sit for the exam when you decide to give the exam or give yourself a six-week deadline before you sit for the exam. That being said, if you cannot appear for the exam on the day you have decided to sit for it, you must wait for five days before you sign up for the exam. If you know that you will be unable to sit for the exam, you should send Pearson VUE an email at least twenty-four hours before the examination. They will help you reschedule the examination at no cost.
  4. Once you schedule the examination, Pearson VUE will send all the instructions to you via email, and will also provide some information about what you will need to do at the examination center. You will also be given information about the different items you will need to carry to the center.
  5. You must always carry an original copy of the document or identification proof.
Always Use the Material Provided by Cisco Authorized Publishers
You must always purchase the course material from a well-known publisher. The best option would be to purchase this material from a publisher who has been authorized by Cisco. When you do this, you do not have to worry about having to look for new study material since the material that you will be purchasing will cover all the information that you will need to know for the examination. It is also a good idea to sign up for a course that is led by an instructor. This is because the trainer will guide you on how you should prepare for the examination. The trainer will also shed some light on the different material that you can study from, and also provide you with some links that you can use.
Differences between CCNA and CCNP
Both the CCNP and CCNA certifications are considered to be the most sought-after certifications in the IT industry. There are some differences between the two certifications based on the level or the experience of the individual.
CCNP and CCNA stand for Cisco Certified Network Professional and Cisco Certified Network Associate, respectively. An individual working in the IT industry is aware of these certifications since every organization values an employee with these certifications. Regardless of which certification you choose to appear for, you will need to appear for a written examination that you must clear. There is also a lab examination conducted which will test your skills. The individual's expertise is only assessed after five rounds of tests. Each round will define the individual's expertise.
The CCNA examination also ensures that you will have a good understanding of buttoned and medium-range router systems, and can work with them easily. If you have this certification, and the necessary skills, your employer will know that you can install and activate the different systems in the network. In the same way, the CCNP certification will let employers know that you can work with and maintain area networks, like LAN and WAN, and can work with advanced solutions like voice, security, and wireless.
CCNA and CCNP Certification Training by Specialist
There are some prestigious positions that an individual can take up in the IT industry, and they are the network engineers or system engineers. An individual with either the CCNA or CCNP certification is eligible for these roles. The CCNA examination also teaches you about security threats, wireless ideas, and how systems can connect to the WAN or wide area network. You will also need to learn more about different protocols like SLIPFR, EIGRP, VLANs, ACLs, RIPv2, and so on. They need to know these protocols well.
You must be a certified CCNA expert before you can appear for the CCNP certification examination. You must also have at least a year's experience in the networking field if you wish to appear for the CCNP examination. You can look at different careers in the IT industry if you have a CCNA certification. Still, with a CCNP certification, you can improve your chances of being promoted or obtaining the best job in the industry. This is because there are very few individuals who are CCNP certified, and because of this, the demand for CCNP certified individuals is increasing.
You must remember that the Cisco products and systems are complex to deal with. Most organizations hire a team of individuals only to take care of these systems and products. Numerous organizations will be willing to hire you if you have a CCNP certification since you will have a good understanding of the products and systems. A CCNP certification will give you an edge over other individuals since you know how to install, organize, function, and even troubleshoot a complex Cisco network. It is for this reason that this certification is essential to obtain. The CCNP examination is only a two-hour examination, but it opens a wide range of prospects for you. This is the main difference between the CCNP and CCNA certification. Before you appear for the CCNP certification, you must ensure that you have a CCNA certification.
Strategic Tips
You will be awarded the CCNA Routing and Switching certification if you show some skill at implementing, designing, configuration, and troubleshooting different networks that you create based on the TCP/IP model. You must ensure that you always test your technical skills before you sit for the examination. A CCNA Routing and switching examination will improve your standing in any organization, and you may get a better role when compared to the one you are in now. This section lists some strategic tips you can use to clear the examination in your first attempt. You can stop worrying about any exam dumps.
  1. Always spend some going over the flow of the syllabus before you start the examination. This flow, called the blueprint, can be found on the Cisco website: https://learningcontent.cisco.com/cln_storage/text/cln/marketing/exam-topics/200-125-ccna-v3.pdf
  2. Never use only one source to obtain the material for the examination. Always try to use a combination of online training, videos, labs, and books.
  3. It is important to remember to be honest with yourself when you talk about your understanding of the subjects. Always ensure that you know and understand a concept fully before you begin a practical assignment.
  4. If you want to master troubleshooting concepts, you must learn some commands, and try to memorize them. To make it easier, you should note these commands down on a page in your book.
  5. Never stick to only one workbook. You should try to look at different scenarios. As mentioned earlier, you should focus on learning more about network topologies.
  6. As mentioned earlier, you must always focus on reviewing your concepts. This is because people only retain ten percent of the information that they read.
  7. You should memorize the TCP/UDP services and port numbers. This will not only help you during the CCNA examination but will also help you during your job.
  8. You should always try to look for new questions and complex questions on the Internet. Try to look at different forums and communities to collect these questions.
  9. Always try to take the two-way examination. The single 200-125 CCNA examination will cost $295 while taking the 100-105 ICND1, and 200-105 ICND2 examinations will cost an additional $5 - so the total cost will come to $300.
  10. You should take at least two practice examinations under examination conditions, and you should focus on the questions that you are uncertain about.
We will look at a few more tips to help you clear the examination later in the book.