Cisco CCNA Packet Tracer Ultimate labs
CCNA 200-301 labs

If you have the todd lammle books you can ask Jim for the packet tracer labs that have some good troubleshooting scenarios for each chapter.

Jim Frye <[email protected]>

Also David bombals udemy course.

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Where can I get practices, labs or experience for Security+

I am studing to get Security+. Some months ago I got Network+ Certification and for example I did the next course to get some extra practice "Cisco CCNA Packet Tracer Ultimate labs: CCNA Exam prep labs ", so I was able to get some "similar to real enviroment" experience.

I would like to do the same with Security+, the books are giving to me really interesting knowledge to get the certification and pass the exam but I want to learn something close to a real experience and not only the theory.

I already work as IT technician, but I barely touch these "security things" in my daily routine.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance

Passed ICND1 in 5 weeks (work for a ISP)

I passed the ICND1 course today after starting on it about 5 weeks ago.

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Since I have worked in the industry for 20 years, I obviously come with a lot of generalized knowledge, but I had very little Cisco vendor specific knowledge. For those of you new to this, you may not know that for larger networks, not everybody uses Cisco switches/routers and the different equipment can be very different. I work a lot with Nokia products and there are few similarities in how things are programmed. The Nokia CLI is very different than Cisco.

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So what resources did I use?

• I am lucky enough to be able to be sent for a 1 week course and get payed for it.
• We were given the https://learningspace.cisco.com/ ICND1 - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices, Part 1 - Student Guide and ICND1 - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices, Part 1 - Lab Guide as part of the class
  I think, but I am not sure if this is part of the https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/ccent and currently costs $600-750 US, so this isn't something most people are going to get, but maybe what we were given was different. I don't know.
  What I like about what I got is that it cuts to the chase and gets to the core concepts of what you need to know. So when you compare this to Wendell Odom's content for example, you are not left "blown away".
• We were given the Cisco Learning Labs for ICND1 v3.0 60-Hour 180-Day Labs and these labs are awesome, very well done and very informative. 95% of my lab time over the last 5 weeks was spent doing these.
• I bought the Wendell Odom CCNA 200-125 Routing and Switching Books (Ver 3) off of Amazon. They are excellent books and I actually own the original ones, but I barely referenced them this time. I did use them for a few things, because IMO, nobody covers content better. On the flip side, they are over-whelming as well. I am not saying you do not need to know all the content here, but I do think that people get lost in the content and trying to memorize the entire book, fail and probably get perturbed.
• Packet Tracer 7.2 via the Network Academy. This software is great and will 100% get you through ICND1 and from what everybody says, ICND2 without any issues.
• GNS3 with vm14. I wasted a night trying to install this before I realized my problem was that it doesn't work with VM15. Oops. I missed that fine print. Anyways, I have GNS3 working, but I have not played around with it much yet, since Packet Tracer is so much easier to use. I plan to play with this a lot more in the fall.
• I payed for the David Bomball Ultimate Labs for CCNA on Udemny and worked through a few of them on Packet Tracer. He has zip files where you can download the lab into Packet Tracer and I feel he does a good job explaining key concepts. I bough the Chris Bryant labs/lectures but didn't use them.
• Overall,it seems Udemny is a good resource if you use it. Its worth it and cheap.
• https://www.subnetting.net/Subnetting.aspx?mode=practice
• https://subnettingpractice.com/index.html
• https://subnetipv4.com/
• I was given the Boson Exams for free from my work course, but I did not use them.
• I was given the Pearson Exams for free from the Wendel Odom books, but didn't use them either.
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What resources did I really need?

• On retrospect, the David Bomball Labs were probably enough, in conjunction with Packet Tracer for labs.
• Wendell Odom's books, but I feel you need a good guide for these books or you will probably lose yourself in them.
• The Cisco Learning Labs for ICND1 60 Hour Lab is awesome. I would actually pay for this out of pocket if I had to do it again.
• The ICND1 content I got from the Cisco Net Academy was very well done, simple to understand and to the point.

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My time investment from May 6 to June 12:

• 1 week course (8 hour work days plus 4-7 hours doing labs each night) and writing out notes.
• 3-4 nights a week for 3 hours doing labs mostly (I prefer learning by DOING, not just reading so I found doing labs to be very important)
• I am a dad and husband, so I didn't get to spend any weekends except for this last weekend studying, but I put in 2 12 hour days reading.
• Likewise, I am super busy at work, so I didn't get time to read/study there....
• So what does that put me in? 100-150 hours of course/study/lab works.

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My suggestions for people:

• Take your time. I HAD to get this done now, or I would have had to start over in September. (When I plan to work on ICND2 for a month or two). This didn't make things very fun.
• Use Packet Tracer and use labs to help guide you in the right direction.
• Do the labs without referencing the material that is guiding you. This is important and will force you to build your memory.
• Write things out and tell somebody about them. Research shows we learn many times faster and better if we write things out and try to explain how they work, to somebody else. In this case, get a plastic Duck and explain to your duck how RIPv2 works, what a VLAN is and how to setup port security on it.

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Suggestions for your own labs:

• Make your own topology with 3-4 routers, 3 -4 switches and 10 PC's. Draw it out on paper, use your imagination and pretend its a bank or company or something. Make 3 separate VLAN's for 3 groups of 3 PC's. Put a router to route those VLAN's. Get RIP and some static routes on that. Use DHCP for 5 of those PC's. Get "internet" going with NAT/PAT for a few of the other PC's. Set up ACL's to secure them. Assign IP's to everything using your own custom designed schema. Get some ipv6 in there...
• Do all the IPing on your own. Subnet it all on your own.
• Make the above and put a "concept" in place so you have an idea of what you are trying to do, but make it complicated.
• Try to get all the core ICND1 concepts into the above network.
• Build this from scratch, put in all the security, build everything I said above. Delete it and rebuild it until you can do it from memory.
• Can you explain it all? Do you know how it works? Did you pound it all out to learn it? Did you tell your plastic Duck about it?

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Go through the book after and see if you can, in your own words, explain all of how these networks work back to somebody else. Stick a rubber ducky on your desk and explain it to the ducky. You will learn better by explaining back how things work.

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Anyways, just my 2 cents.

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I will say one more thing... if you do not love networking, this isn't your thing. When I sit on my PC to bang out labs for 4 hours at the end of a hard day, I actually lose myself in it and love learning this stuff. If its "forced" and you think it sucks... it just might not be for you.

I obtained my CCNA in Jan 2020 using the following resources.

Primary: Neil Anderson's CCNA Course on Udemy Neil's course is a fantastic cover-all course. The topics are presented in a logical order so that it builds on previously introduced concepts. The included labs are a great way to reinforce those concepts and the video lecture will walk you through the lab configuration. Neil and his assistants answer all of your questions, usually within a day.

Secondary: David Bombal's Packet Tracer Labs Despite David's EXTREMELY BORING voice, his labs are an excellent way to practice and supplement the concepts introduced in Neil's course. David's course also has a video walkthrough to help you troubleshoot and configure the network.

Supplementary: Cisco CCNA Official Certification Guide by Wendell Odom I only used the OCG to look up topics that I wasn't able to thoroughly understand in either of the courses above. In my opinion, the OCG is took long and dense for anyone to read cover to cover as a primary learning resource if you’re trying to obtain the CCNA in a reasonable amount of time.

Exam Prep: Boson ExSim-Max for Cisco 200-301 I consider Boson's practice exams a necessity in CCNA preparation. It mimics the format of the real CCNA with its multiple choice and interactive test questions. At the end of the exam it summarizes your score and allows you to review each question AND answer while explaining IN DETAIL why each answer was correct or not.

Sure! Here you go: https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Oh god no. If you want labs get David Bombal's Udemy course.

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

It's only $10 and was worth it

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

If you scroll down to the sections part there are 4 parts to a Packet Tracer Campus Network lab series.

David Bombal has packet tracer lab in Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Check it out and see if that is good enough for you.

Which ones, this? https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

How theoretical and practical are the exams?

Hi,

I am currently reading Wendell Odom's INCD1 book, and am wondering how theoretical or practical the real exams are..

Can anybody elaborate on this?

Also, I plan to purchase the following course:

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

I wonder which section is for the INCD1 and which is for INCD2, i.e. where the cut off is for the CCENT exam.

Thanks!

This course from David Bombal was very helpful for me to start to practice more CLI - Cisco CCNA Packet Tracer Ultimate labs: CCNA 200-301 labs

But I agree with the replies above, is import to like the trainer and DB is not very easy to follow. I like him a lot, but I have watched and enjoyed trainers like Jeremy Cioara or Kevin Wallace. You can check him on youtube to see if he suits you.

I'm using these in my studies:

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

I'm sure there are some free ones around as well, but I'm not sure exactly where. You can also just make your own exercises by building a small topology in packet tracer and expanding it as you learn to include new concepts. This is what I did before I bought the lab exercises.

David Bombal's Packet Tracer Labs on Udemy sounds to be exactly what you're looking for. Also, you can just find any good Cisco course and create your own labs as you go.

Set up packet tracer labs.David Bombal's course is in sale right now.

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Keith Barker made a video on connecting a packet tracer lab to the internet.

https://youtu.be/IeXjSJR8XKw

Might want to get a CCNA book

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

$10.99 right now.

I haven't used this course on Udemy myself but it comes highly recommended (29,000ish students and 4.5 stars out of nearly 5,000 reviews).

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Here is the link!!

I don’t know tight is your budget, but you should definitely get David Bombal course: https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/ and Chris Bryant course https://www.udemy.com/ccna-on-demand-video-boot-camp/ they both $20 each. Also you need a book as your main source of information you can go wrong Todd Lammle or the OCG.

Lab. Lab everyday. This udemy course ( https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/ ) by David Bombal is the best 10 bucks you can spend on learning how networks work.

Edit: It is set up for the CCNA, but networking is networking

Yes, but it will be a little bit difficult TBH. Study EVERY day for at least a couple hours. Most people get the official Cisco Press book for CCNA by Windell Odam, but you may do better with the Todd Lammle Cisco CCNA book (Odam is great, but quite long and exhaustive). Also, I highly, highly recommend David Bombal's Udemy course, it is fantastic: https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

I bought Labsim + ExamSim a few months back. Here's my thoughts

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LabSim:

- Useful for nailing down commands and troubleshooting

- Can definitely get similar labsim for a fraction of that price

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

https://www.udemy.com/course/ccna-complete/

https://www.udemy.com/cisco-ccna-gns3-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs-pass-your-exam/ (This is really similar to the ones you will be getting in Labsim)

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Ex-Sim

- Really good to find your weak areas

- Does comes with troubleshooting labs like the ones in real exam

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Suggestion: Ditch labsim and save money, go with udemy for practice labs. Get Ex-Sim !

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Cheers!

Thank you. this one : https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

I highly recommend these two courses (worth the money and think of it as an investment in you)

https://www.udemy.com/course/ccna-complete/ (do this first and then go through the second link)

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Going after the CCNA after you finish tech school will help you with your career field/advance your knowledge

I used to the feel the same way, until I realized it was how I was being taught that was the problem. I'd rather run a cheese grater over my nutsack than watch a video on a networking concept. However, I do very well when I use simulators and actually do something. Give something like Boson Netsim or PacketTracer and some decent labs. I haven't used these myself but Bombal's stuff is usually good.

Other than that, if work is truly riding you hard and putting you away wet, you might want to look at a more even paced position that won't leave you feeling burnt out.

I used this one: Packet Tracer labs for the CCNA exam: Practical CCNA tests

It's free, includes downloadable files for packet tracer, and covers most of the exam objectives. It was super helpful to challenge myself to figure out how to configure the requirements, and he went through each one and explained it as he performed the steps.

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There's a paid version that includes all the free one and a bunch of others as well, and I would highly recommend it. I was really far along in my studies when I found it and I'd already labbed a lot so I didn't end up getting it, but I'm sure it's worth it: Cisco CCNA Packet Tracer Ultimate labs: CCNA Exam prep labs

I haven't used Boson labs, but David Bombal's labs on Udemy are probably what you are looking for, he sets up the scenario and problem for you to solve it like a puzzle. The labs cover every exam topic and them some. But they are also challenging enough to really get you thinking and mastering your CLI commands.

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Google Free Lab Friday also by David, he has some free packet tracer labs for you to solve, see if it's what you are looking for before committing to the full course.

I assume that's through NetAcad.

If you don't mind a video course and shelling out around 30 bucks, you can get him Neil Anderson's course and David Bombal's Packet Tracer Labs from Udemy. They are a tiny bit overkill for someone going through Cisco's NetAcad, but with time set aside for self study and hands-on, he should be able to make good use of these resources.

Udemy has a couple good ones. David B as mentioned, and the one below when I did CCNA in June 2020.

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https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Get this when it's on sale:

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

I just used it as part of my prep, so far it's helped me pass ICND1.

There's also this which is free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgcGcrLKu1A&list=PLxbwE86jKRgMQ4HTuaJ7yQgA2BoNwY9ct

First, sign up an account and get the Packet Tracer:

https://www.netacad.com/courses/packet-tracer

Second, get this course and do the labs, I knocked it out 3 days:

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

These are the best courses/tools IMHO for a beginner to CCNA level person with no physical equipment. The udemy course was $10.99 when i bought it on sale and packet tracer is free. Enjoy.

To add a little more to my previous comment:

I suggest getting a couple of Udemy courses and/or subscribing to CBT Nuggets.

On Udemy some people prefer Neil Anderson while others like David Bombal. Both courses are on sale until midnight on the 31st but even at the full prices (around $20 each, on sale for around $12 each) they are screaming deals considering the quality of education provided. They both have sample videos available so you can see which you prefer. David is from South Africa and Neil is from Scotland so some people find one or the other easier to listen to. Personally I don't have an issue understanding either of them and bought both.

If you want more labs then David has those, too and they are also on sale until March 31. Even at full price ($20) it's a great deal.

CBT Nuggets is a bit expensive and personally I'm not sure it is worth the monthly cost compared to what you can get on Udemy. Some people swear by them though so it's worth checking them out.

Most people find that the videos alone are not enough to pass the tests and therefore they purchase the official Cisco books by Wendell Odom too. You can get them as PDFs and/or as physical books, whichever you prefer. They're large, thick books with a huge amount of information in them.

These are the three I used from David because at the time they all came as some package deal for $11.

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

https://www.udemy.com/course/complete-networking-fundamentals-course-ccna-start/

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccent-icnd1-100-105-complete-course-sims-and-gns3/

Since you already have access to Udemy, these are really the only courses you need:

Neil Anderson's CCNA course

David Bombal's CCNA Labs

That's really all you need from a training materials perspective. Anderson's course is very thorough training-wise and includes some labs (do them), but Bombal's labs are fantastic.

From an exam prep testing standpoint, I can't recommend Boson's ExSim enough. Make sure you get this. It mimics the exam environment and difficulty of the actual exam very well. It also tells you exactly why a correct answer is correct or an incorrect answer is incorrect, which is super helpful for learning.

In my experience, the actual CCNA exam was just a little bit harder than the Boson practice exams, so if you're scoring upper 800's/lower 900's on Boson, you're good to go.

For reference, I've been a System Administrator for about a decade and deal heavily with networking, so that was the base of my experience going in to it. I studied for about 2 weeks or so with those two resources on Udemy and Boson and passed the exam with a score close to 900.

Packet tracer has incredible functionality for labbing on, as mentioned below you can do basically everything on it that the CCNA expects to you to do. The downside to it is that it is a sandbox (this is actually an amazing thing) this means you can literally do anything you want. But some people can get overwhelmed by this and would much rather have a recipe like lab setup. "a paint by numbers" sort of thing. For this you have a few options, you can purchase a packet tracer lab package on udemy from someone like David Bombal or Neil anderson. Or the route I went was to purchase boson NetSim from Boson's website. This is probably one of the more expensive options, but it comes with hundreds of built in labs that are already pre-designed and ready for you to configure. Each lab comes with a set of configuration questions, followed by a detailed walkthrough of how to get 100% of it right. The main upside to NetSim is the way NetSim is packaged for convenience, which can be super useful with the deadline staring us down. But in terms of raw functionality, there isn't a massive difference between Bombals packet tracer labs which will cost you around £10-12 or NetSim which costs I think around £150

Netsim link https://www.boson.com/netsim-cisco-network-simulator

Bombal Link https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

Which one of these did you get for 200-125? For any of the ICND1+2 or 125 courses, there's one co-authored by Brian Gallagher and another by "Experts with David Bombal"

https://www.udemy.com/cisco-ccna-exam-packet-tracer-ultimate-mentored-lab-guides/

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

If they aren't opposed to some self study I used: Niel Andersons course

These labs for practice,

This anki deck for memorisation

and the boson practice exam

The udemy stuff goes on sale all the time and theres a 15% off coupon for boson somewhere on reddit.

OP, wait until Feb 24th to do exams! The CCNA is getting a revamp and it will be epic!

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I myself am in the same boat as you.

Looking to get my CCNA this year, should be fun! Only 2 exams to get certified.

Courses I've used and still use that are relevant are:

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-200-125-the-complete-course/

and

https://www.udemy.com/course/complete-networking-fundamentals-course-ccna-start/

labs from David Bombal are epic! He walks you through how to setup and troubleshoot things using GNS3 and packet tracer which we should be using all the time.

https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

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usually these courses go on sale so just wait for that! (14.99) I hope this helps!

Free:
Ryan Beney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIlLOzRtm3g&list=PLARoRmMW-Hhc3C1dvgmCFXTPF4SrESXxV
Paid:
David Bombal
https://www.udemy.com/course/cisco-ccna-packet-tracer-ultimate-labs-ccna-exam-prep-labs/

or

Chris Bryant
https://www.udemy.com/ccna-on-demand-video-boot-camp/