Could someone contact me off list if you have a CBT Nuggets streaming
account and would be willing to help me in working towards my CCNP?
Don't spam the list looking for black market copies of training material. Use GNS3 and design your own labs and google the test topics. Plzkthx.
GNS3 is completely insufficient for CCNP-level training and labs. You will
need actual equipment. Fortunately, it has gotten a lot cheaper over the
past few years and you don't need the latest and greatest. Check out
Wendell Odom's website for tips.
Also we have a CBTNuggets account at my company and I was unimpressed with
their Cisco coverage, but that may be a matter of taste.
Just my $0.02...as a CCNA working towards MY CCNP.
--jono
There is a reason Cisco certs are not considered "Paper Mill Certs" and that you have to recertify every few years to keep up with new equipment and technologies.
That is what our community DOESN'T need, Cisco certs that are looked upon like lot of the other manufacturer certification courses.
Do the CBTNuggets route and try a hands on exam and see how far it will get you.
Curtis
What topics are missing on GNS3 for CCNP? Is there that much switching
covered in the exam? I was able to use dynamips/dynagen to study for CCIP
(yay EOL'd certs) without issue last year.
Many CCIE training providers also offer alternative workbooks for CCIE Routing and Switching based solely on GNS3.
If the argument is there is no 15.x, then I would argue that the *current* exams offer minimal differences between releases at this time. (IOS-wise)
I can understand the switch aspect though...
I would say part of the argument is old-fashioned (if you ain't touching
it, you're not really learning), but there are other issues as well...such
as where you get a legitimate copy of IOS to load into GNS3.
Ultimately my personal feeling is that it is not an accurate representation
of the real world. Cisco's official academy sim is much easier to use if
you need a sim. Unfortunately, it is not easily acquired.
--jono
You can rent CCIE-topology racks for $1.50/hr.
Even though that's overkill for CCNP, you probably don't need that many
hours.
It sure beats dealing with buying then selling the stuff on ebay.
Too late, sorry. Every man and his dog has downloaded PASS4SURE and memorised the answers to pass the exams. You can do this once every three years, no problem.
Sure, those candidates will be absolutely useless, but that doesn't stop the dilution of CCNA/CCNP certs in the market.
What will it do? It'll make the CCIE more important. What have Cisco done about it? Oh, they released a more prestigious, more expensive cert, didn't they? 
Tom
Yea, I know.
The one aspect of the whole thing is memorizing a brain dump is one thing; troubleshooting and fixing the problem with a supervisor screaming down your neck is another.
Without the hands on experience, the "memorizing" of the brain dumps will show up real fast in a NOC!
I was asked one time how long it took to learn networking, simple answer:
How it is supposed to work, not very long; what can go wrong and how to troubleshoot and correct the issue(s), a whole lot longer.
Curtis
I used cbt nuggets conceptually in ccna and it gave me a good overview of
the concepts. It may be my style of learning.
That said, I was only asking if someone would be willing to help me with
ccnp cbt nuggets training as I know that streaming accounts are multi user.
GNS3 is completely insufficient for CCNP-level training and labs. You
will need actual equipment. Fortunately, it has gotten a lot cheaper over
the past few years and you don't need the latest and greatest. Check out
Wendell Odom's website for tips.
Also we have a CBTNuggets account at my company and I was unimpressed
with their Cisco coverage, but that may be a matter of taste.
Just my $0.02...as a CCNA working towards MY CCNP.
--jono
Don't spam the list looking for black market copies of training
material. Use GNS3 and design your own labs and google the test topics.
Plzkthx.
CBT Nuggets is just a quick overview of what you need to read and lab
through in order to know your stuff
adam