CISCO Certification Charter guide

Cisco training offers both basic and higher level certification. The fundamental level of certifications will assist you in obtaining an entry-level job in the IT industry. The most popular basic level of certification is CCNA, and according to level of expertise, people can do higher levels of certification too, like CCNP, CCIE, etc. The basics level of certification gives an idea of routing, switching, concepts of design, security, and storage networking. In this article we will discuss all the CISCO certification courses that are available on the market, from beginner to intermediate level. We will focus on a few points for each certification, such as: what is the purpose of doing certification; what topics are covered in the certification course; the benefits of doing certification; and what kind of job you will get after doing certification.

Let’s start with basic level of certification.

CCNA Certification 200-301

CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. People can do CCNA 200-301 training in both online and classroom mode. The certification is valid for three years. After giving the certification exam, you will receive the certificate of completion. That will ensure that you have the skills needed to start a career in the IT industry or in the networking domain.

Doing CCNA certification gives you the concept of computer network, switching and routing, gives a clear understanding of using switch, routers, hubs and other cisco devices.

Benefits of CCNA Certification

Lots of benefits are there to obtain a certification, it helps in to secure your job in IT industry or get entry in Networking domains. When a person become a CCNA certified, then you can try for better job or you can raise either negotiate a higher salary than other IT persons. Different types of technologies are coming every year, like SDN (Software-defined Networking) and cloud infrastructure.

CCNA course topics

Let’s have a look inside the CCNA course topics:

Networking Fundamentals:This topic will teach the fundamentals of Networking like LAN, WAN, MAN, OSI Layers, TCP/ IP Layers . It helps in understanding of internetworking devices used on network like nic, hubs, bridges, Switches, Routers, Brouters, Modems.Also provide the good understanding of Internet protocol, ARP protocol, ICMP protocol and many other protocols used in networking.

Network Access: Network access technology are relevant to entry-level IT roles and networking roles. This topic has various sub categories of network access like: configuration of VLANs, configuration and diagnostics of inter-switch connectivity, configure and verify cisco discovery protocol and LLDP, Cisco wireless architecture and AP nodes, WLAN components, WLC management access connections.

IP Connectivity: IP connectivity has various topics inside, like routing table components. This routing table components topic will help you to understand the concept of how routers are forwarding decisions. Other topics within IP connectivity include how to configure and verify IPV4 and IPV6 static routing, which provides an overview of how static routers are manually added to the routing table using "ip route" or "ipv6 route." First-hop redundancy protocols (FHRP) are a class of protocols that allow multiple routers on the same subnet to behave as a single default router for the hosts in that subnet.

IP Services: DHCP and how it helps in programmed IP setup, as well as the utilisation of upper leg tendons in sifting traffic in our organizations, and how it helps in assisting gadgets in an organisation with getting to the web. In this part, we will take a gander at other IP benefits that you want to be aware of as a CCNA. We will take a gander at high accessibility utilising HSRP, VRRP, and GLBP, NTP, and SYSLOG.

Network Security: In the CCNA course, there is a topic on network security, where you have to learn the basics of network security technologies and the use of Cisco devices to monitor the network security. Lots of Cisco devices or network devices are used in an organization; Cisco ASA firewall, IPS, IronPort C & S series, Junipers, PaloAlto firewalls, etc. to ensure that the network is 100% secure.

After successfully completing the CCNA certification, you can give the certification exams for CCNP enterprise and CCIE enterprise certification. Now let’s take a look at enterprise level certification.

CCNP Certification

CCNP stands for Cisco Certified Network Professional. It is an enterprise infrastructure training program. In this certification programme, Cisco introduced advanced technologies like Cisco DNA Center, Cisco SDWAN, Cisco Encore, and the ENRASI Module. So, for CCNP certification, there are two exam modules: the core exam and the concentration exam.

-Core exam: It focuses on your knowledge of enterprise infrastructure, including IPv4 and IPv6 architecture, virtualization, infrastructure, security, and automation. This core exam is also a qualifying exam for CCIE enterprise infrastructure and CCIE enterprise wireless certification. After passing the core exam, candidates are able to schedule and take the CCIE lab within the validity of their core exam. In the core exam students have to enroll in 350-401 ENCOR, which is Implementing and operating Cisco Enterpise Network Core Technologies

-Concentration exam: It focuses on industry-specific topics such as network-design, SD-WAN, wireless, and automation. Students can prepare for concentration exams by taking the corresponding Cisco training course. In the concentration exam, students have to choose any one module from a given six modules. Let’s see which of the six modules come under the concentration exam.

So in core exam, students have to clear the ENCOR module. ENCOR exam takes 120 minutes of exam duration, which covers six major branches, i.e. architecture virtualization, infrastructure, automation, network security. Let’s have a look inside of the ENCOR module syllabus.

In the concentration exam, most of the candidates choose the ENARSI module. ENARSI exam takes 90 minutes of exam duration, which covering four major branches, i.e. OSI model layer 3 enviornment, VPN technologies, infrastructure security and services. So let’s have a look inside the ENARSI syllabus.

Benefits of CCNP Certification:

Cisco SD-WAN Certification

The Cisco SD-WAN training course is designed in such a manner that students can gain the skills and knowledge necessary to implement, configure, manage, and troubleshoot Cisco SDWAN solutions. This course covers all the basics of Cisco SDWAN architecture and components, as well as provides knowledge of how to deploy Cisco SDWAN in both single-site and multi-site deployments, how to deploy initial configuration and management tasks, and how to troubleshoot common problems.

Course objectives:

Prerequisites:

Before enrolling for this course, candidates should have the following knowledge and skills before taking this course:

Course Syllabus:

Benefits of Cisco SD-WAN Certification:

CCIE Certification

CCIE stands for Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, it’s an expert level of certification. CCIE is designed for architects and engineers, and involves configuration, troubleshooting, and integration.

CCIE consists of two major courses:

CCIE Enterprise training course

CCIE applicants are recommended to have five to seven years of involvement in planning, designing, and deploying enterprise networking technologies and solutions before taking the test. So, to pass the CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure exam, candidates should have to pass two exams.

Course Syllabus:

The CCIE Enterprise Course will teach you all of the latest technologies such as Cisco DNA Center, SDWAN, and automation technologies such as python, ansible, and selenium, among others. This course covers around 6 months of training that covers multiple Cisco IT certifications.

CCIE Security Training v6.0:

This course is also the same as the CCIE Enterprise training course. This course contains the following topics: CCNA 200 - 301

CCIE Security v6.0 course takes 6 months of training programme and covers the full lifecycle of complex security solutions and provides technologies from designing and deploying to operating and optimizing.

CCIE Security practical exam gives candidates 8 hours of time to complete and requires a candidate to plan, design, deploy, execute, and optimize network security solutions to protect a given network. They have to implement programming and automate the network within the exam, as per course topics mentioned below.

Benefits of CCIE certification:

The Cisco ISE training comes under the CCIE Enterprise training course. When candidates enrol for the CCIE certification, they will also learn the Cisco ISE training. Let’s have a look inside the Cisco ISE training.

Cisco ISE Training

Cisco ISE stands for Implementating and configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine. This course provides a brief understanding of an identity and access control policy platform, and skills to implement and use of Cisco ISE, including security policy, profiling services, web authentication and guest access services, endpoint compliance services.

Objectives of Cisco ISE Course:

Prerequisites

To take the full advantage from this course, candidate should have the following prior knowledge:

If we have a look at the outline of this course, then it will be:

Benefits of Cisco ISE training:

In this article we have seen all the certifications from entry-level to experienced-level. Candidates can choose certification according to their expertise. Begineers can start with CCNA certification, and experienced people who are already working in the IT industry can choose any certification according to their experience in the field.