Technology Update

Cisco CCNA Certification:

Should you take the one-exam or the two-exam approach?

One question I’m often asked by CCNA candidates is whether to take the “one big exam”, or take the two separate exams required by Cisco to achieve the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam.

The question comes up because there are now two separate paths to the CCNA certification. Candidates may take a single exam, 640-811, or two exams, 640-821 and 640-811.

What’s the difference? The two-exam approach involves exams with different topics and therefore different preparation techniques. 640-821 is the Introduction To Cisco Networking Technologies exam. This course does introduce the candidate to Frame Relay, PPP, and other WAN technologies, but goes into little detail. Emphasis in the Intro course is placed on knowing how Ethernet behaves, how different types of cable are used for different purposes, and knowing what cable to use in a certain situation. The candidate should expect some questions involving binary math as well, but they will involve fairly simple conversions.

The 640-811 exam, Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices, goes into much more detail on WAN technologies. Routing and switching behavior are covered, and the candidate is expected to answer difficult questions involving binary math and subnetting as well. The candidate may also have to demonstrate ability to configure a router or switch via a simulator. Since the ICND exam goes into more detail, it’s generally considered the more difficult exam.

The approach I recommend to a CCNA candidate depends on their background. If the candidate is a relative newcomer to networking, or hasn’t taken a certification exam before, I recommend they take the two-exam approach. This allows the candidate to focus only on the Intro topics, and gives them a strong sense of confidence after passing the Intro exam. That confidence flows over into the ICND exam.

For those who have networking experience, and are very familiar with Ethernet behavior and cable types, I recommend the one-exam approach. This allows the candidate to focus on the more advanced topics they’ll be seeing in the single exam, while spending just a little time reviewing their Intro-level knowledge.

Regardless of the approach you choose, the path to true CCNA success remains the same. Get some real hands-on experience, either by renting rack time online or by putting together your own home lab. Understand what’s going on “beneath the command”; don’t use router commands when you don’t understand what they’re doing. Add to that a true mastery on binary math, and you’re on your way to having the magic letters “CCNA” behind your name!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

When I think about all the tasks I do on the internet and all the great services that I use on a day to day basis, I have realized that my name and information is scattered all over the place. I have decided to try and organize and professionalize my online persona. This article is about my experience with different services and web sites that allow you to do just that. I am sure that there are all kinds of other services that will allow you to show off your stuff but the following sites our my favorite. If you think that I have missed any good services, please post them in the comments.

Organize Yourself

It is often hard to tell whether or not the person who goes by Cory on one website or service is the same Cory that you know from another website or service because it is not always possible to use the same user name for every service. For example, the username “coryholt” might be avalible on flickr but not on a forum that I frequent. It is always better for websites to use your email address as your user name for convience but not all sites are perfect. This is where you run into the problem of using multiple services, but having a long list of usernames.

So after doing a little research, I came across a great website that helps you do just that: keep track of your online persona. In short, ClaimID lets you track and share all the information on the internet that is about you. For example, my ClaimID profile shows links to all of my various pages such as this blog, Teen Tech Talk, and my flickr account as well as all of my profiles that I use such as my LinkedIn resume and my MySpace page.

Other uses include linking to places in which you are referenced for you work such as on a news site or even a CSS design gallery such as CSS Vault.

Now, with this innovative idea comes a new form of plagiarism or a kind of identity theft. Since ClaimID lets you link to pages that you claim to be owned by you or about you, anyone could simply add a link on thier ClaimID profile to teentechtalk.com and suddenly they are now a part of it; or atleast according to ClaimID. That is where MicroID comes in. MicroID is a standards-based way to claim a page that’s yours. Basically, in order to verify that a link is genuinely yours, you must paste a block of code somewhere on the page.

Then you just tell the site that you have indeed pasted the code somewhere on your page, and withen an hour or so, the Mirco ID “Ninjas” will search your page looking for that code. Once your page is verified, you’ll see a “Verified” mark show up next to your link in your claimID page. So, in the eyes of ClaimID, if you have write access to the page that you are linking to, then you must be the owner of it. Now, that is all fine and dandy, but what about a reference to you on another site that you feel like linking to. Well, there really isn’t an answer to that or atleast not yet.

Other problems that I have run into when trying to verify my various sites and profiles, is that if you are trying to verify your MySpace profile, for example, you are out of luck. When you paste the code that MicroID gives you, MySpace’s horrible standards and code strips out important parts of that block of code, making it impossible for you to verify your profile. Also, other services like LinkedIn will not work because they do not allow you to insert the specific HTML tags that are needed for ClaimID to verify your page.

An Online Resume

Resumes have always been one of the most important things you need in order to get a decent job. People focus so much on their resumes because that one peice of paper (or more) is what determines whether or not you are even eligible to get the job that you are applying for. It is the first thing that employers/clients look at before even meeting you, so you want to get it right. Earlier in this post, I mentioned something I called my LinkedIn profile. As of now, it is my official proffesional online resume. LinkedIn is a great service focusing on more than just a plain online page with your experience, education, and what-have-you.

It also allows you to connect with other people that you may have worked with in the past. Once these people are connected with you, they can write endorsements or testimonials about you. According to LinkedIn, people with endorsments from people such as former managers, colleagues and co-workers, customers and clients, and business partners are up to 3x more likely to be found in searches. Not only do they help you get out there and found, but they also make your resume look good.

The only con that I can find with LinkedIn’s method of endorsements is that in order for someone to write an endorsement for you, they must have a LinkedIn account for themself. They can’t simply send an email or use some other method as I have seen on other online resume websites.

Conclusion

So, as I have said in this article, there are all kinds of great and innovative services out there to get yourself out there and stay organized with who is you and who is not. If you know of any other great services like the ones mentioned above, please leave a link to them in the comments. Thanks for reading.

For more articles like this, please read my blog linked below:

Cory Holt
cholt.net

Your PC, just like your home, office or car, needs to be cleaned regularly. Find out what software solutions will do that unwanted task for you, so your computer stays fast, “healthy” and fully functional.

4DiskClean Gold (RSS Systems)

4Diskclean Gold finds and fixes PC problems fast, keeping your system running at peak performance and reliability, and properly maintains Windows to prevent problems altogether.

Here is what the software does. It deletes unnecessary files and temporary folders, fixes invalid Windows registry keys, eliminates duplicate files (like duplicate mp3 songs), erases all internet files (browser cache, history, & cookies), autocleans Internet Explorer cache on browser exit, blocks spyware, adware and bad cookies (2990 items). In addition to that, 4DiskClean Gold cleans all windows shortcuts that point to non-existing files.

AceUtilities (AceLogics Software)

Ace Utilities is a set of system-maintenance and optimization utilities for enhancing Windows performance. The program cleans unneeded junk, temp and obsolete files from your disks using disk cleaner, as well as cleans browser and application history, cache, temp files, cookies etc. Beyond that, Ace Utilities it controls the applications that start automatically with Windows, using startup organizer and fixes broken start menu and desktop shortcuts. The app can be used to remove true duplicate files
or to uninstall applications correctly.

East-Tec Eraser (EAST Technologies)

East-Tec Erasers is not just a cleaner, rather it completely destroys information stored without your knowledge or approval: Internet history, Web pages and pictures from sites visited on the Internet, unwanted cookies, chatroom conversations, deleted e-mail messages, temporary files, the Windows swap file, the Recycle Bin, previously deleted files, valuable corporate trade secrets, business plans, personal files, photos or confidential letters, etc.

East-Tec Eraser 2005 offers full support for popular browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, America Online, MSN Explorer, Opera), for Peer2Peer applications (Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, iMesh, Napster, Morpheus, Direct Connect, Limewire, Shareaza, etc.), and for other popular programs such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, etc. Eraser has an intuitive interface and wizards that guide you through all the necessary steps needed to protect your privacy and sensitive information.

Clean Disk Security (Kevin Solway Software)

Clean Disk Security gives you secure file deletion, making sure that deleted files cannot be undeleted again. Deleting a file normally just removes the file’s directory entry, but the data itself remains on the disk. This program completely eliminates the contents of deleted files. The highly acclaimed Gutmann disk cleaning method is now available as an option. This program can also clean the Window’s swap file, and can optionally clean unneeded temporary files from your hard disk, such as your Internet browser cache, files in your system’s Recycle Bin, and can clear the “recent files” list.

More Informatin on these applications:

http://www.deprice.com/4diskcleangold.htm
http://www.deprice.com/aceutilities.htm
http://www.deprice.com/eastteceraserbasic.htm
http://www.deprice.com/cleandisksecurity.htm

John Deprice maintains a comprehensive list of disk cleaning applications at http://www.deprice.com/utilities.htm