Guide to Getting a CCNA Certification From Home

Whether you have already worked in IT and are looking to expand your knowledge, looking to start a new career in IT, or wanting to concrete already established skills within a qualification, a CCNA will benefit you. A CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) is the most basic of the Cisco certifications. As a baseline certification, a CCNA can help people who have been in the IT industry who may have various "holes" in their networking knowledge. Furthermore, as the most basic certification, it is often a starting point for people looking to secure a career in the IT industry. Cisco highly recommends that you have a CCNA before attempting any further certifications.

Firstly, you need to purchase a CCNA book. I have found that having a hard copy CCNA book there is much more effective than relying on e-books, or online guides. As well as being able to take it wherever you go, it is much easier to navigate and follow if you don't have to rely on an online version. I have found Todd Lammle's CCNA book very good, as it gets to the point without the unnecessary information of the Cisco publication. It is easy to read, has practice questions and comes with a CD with trial exams.

Once you have a book, you need some practical experience. It is no use just reading the book; you actually have to know how to do the things you read. For your CCNA you need to practice with routers and switches. There are various options you can explore here. Firstly, you can buy the hardware on ebay; at minimum you will need a serial crossover cable and two 1600 series routers with a serial WIC in each running a recent version of IOS. This is a good option as you can actually play around with the physical hardware.

If you are doing your CCNA on a budget, there are various companies which sell network simulators which can be nearly as good. Many people use these as a practical way to gain experience, just do a google search to find them. The Cisco website also has an area with basic simulators, however, this may not be adequate for most learners.