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What Exactly Is the CCNA Certification?

by aleeemkhan
CCNA Certification

The CCNA Certification is an entry-level networking certification that can qualify you for network specialist, network administrator, and network engineer careers in IT.

What exactly is the CCNA certification?

The Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) is an information technology (IT) certification for beginners that is provided by Cisco, a hardware provider specialising in the networking industry. The CCNA Certification is intended to confirm your understanding of core networking principles frequently demanded in networking responsibilities in IT employment.

Here’s a quick summary of important information:

  • To obtain the CCNA certification, you must first pass one test, the 200-301 CCNA.
  • The CCNA exam costs $300 plus taxes.
  • The exam has no requirements, but training and some expertise with computer networks are suggested.
  • CCNA is a popular IT qualification, with over 9,000 job advertisements on Glassdoor and 6,000 on Indeed mentioning the certification in the United States as of May 2022.

How much does the CCNA exam cost?

The cost of the CCNA exam is $300, including tax. You also have the option of using Cisco Learning Credits as payment for the exam. These are prepaid credits that a firm may purchase so their employees can use the credits on the Cisco platform according to their preferences.

Are you trying to cut expenses? If you believe a CCNA certification will benefit your organization, talk to your boss about if the company will pay for the exam or exam training costs.

How much money may I make with the CCNA certification?

CCNA certificates can help you secure entry-level and higher-level networking jobs. Here are some job titles that can seek CCNA credentials and the typical salary in the United States.

CompTIA Security+ Course Vs CCNA

The CompTIA Security+ Course, like the CCNA, is a networking certification that tests your knowledge and is frequently obtained by professionals looking to expand their networking skills. There are a few significant changes.

In contrast to the CCNA certification, the CompTIA Security+ Course is vendor-agnostic. The fact that this is the case suggests that it is designe to train you to function with any network device or system, regardless of the manufacturer. The CCNA exam only tests you on Cisco products and tools.

Many believe the Network+ certification to be more foundational than the CCNA. The CCNA is believe to go deeper into network material and cover more topics than the Network+.

So, which should you go with? Even though the CCNA is vendor-specific to Cisco, many people choose to take it because Cisco products dominate the networking business. Cisco controlled 47 percent of the Ethernet switch market and 33 percent of the combined SP and corporate router market. Because Cisco products are so frequently utilize, it can be beneficial to be well-verse in them. Many students discover that the information they get from learning about Cisco products is transferable to networking solutions from other vendors.

However, because Network+ concentrates on the fundamentals, it can be beneficial for those who are entirely new to networking or find the CCNA too tough or thorough for their needs. It is possible to obtain the Network+ and then progress to the CCNA when you have more expertise.

What are the other Cisco network certifications?

Another entry-level Cisco certification is the Cisco Certification Technician (CCT). The CCT is intend to provide you with the knowledge and skills need to provide onsite support and maintenance for networking devices. It does not, however, include networking basics, which is likely why it is not as popular as the CCNA, especially for entry-level IT roles.

The Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) is the next level of certification after the CCNA. CCNP also includes numerous specializations from which to pick based on your preferred job path.

What will be on the CCNA exam?

The 200-301 CCNA exam lasts 120 minutes and is available in English and Japanese.

The CCNA exam is divide as follows:

Fundamentals of the network (20%)

Routers, switches, and access points; network topologies; physical interfaces and cabling kinds; IPv4 and IPv6 configuration; IP parameters; wireless, virtualization, and switching principles

Access to the network (20%)

VLAN configuration and verification, Interswitch connectivity, Layer 2 discovery protocols, and EtherChannel operations; Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol operations Cisco wireless architectures, AP modes, physical WLAN components, AP and WLC management access connections, and wireless LAN access are all examples of Cisco wireless architectures.

Internet Protocol (IP) connection (25%)

Routing tables; router selection; setting and validating IPv4 and IPv6 static routing, as well as single area OSPFv2; first hop redundancy protocol

IP services (10% of total)

Configuring and validating NAT and NTP; explaining DHCP, DNS, SNMP, and Syslog features; per-hop behavior; utilizing SSH, and describing TFTP/FTP.

Fundamentals of security (15%)

There are many different security ideas, some of which include threats and their mitigation. So physical access control, password policies, access control lists, Layer 2 security features. But wireless security protocols.

Automation and programmability (10%): comparing traditional networks to controller-based networks. Because automation ideas; JSON data interpretation

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