We have a couple of techs that want to learn cisco and networking in
general. What do you recommend for learning and getting certified on Cisco?
There seems to be a million different training courses, books, etc out
there.
Depends on how the techs in question learn best, but I've found that a
good CCNA book (like the Lammle one) combined with either a network
simulator (I like Boson, but packet tracer and GNS3 are both good too)
or, better yet, physical hardware they can play with. Alternatively,
if you have a local community college nearby that has the Cisco
Academy curriculum, that's a great option as well.
I have a couple of techs who have done well with the offical cisco books and another couple who have passed using video training from CBT Nuggets.
Depends on the user really, it seems the younger folks soak up the video training a bit easier while the more senior techs preferred to read the material.
Depends on how quickly you want them trained, and how they tend to learn
things
Reading is good, but can be boring and tedious and not always have all the
answers.
Standard ILT can be costly, but very quick and often standard (though I¹d
shop around for who you have as an instructor since that can make or break
the success)!
Video-based training gives a good mix of things and there are options out
there. I know there¹s been one other response for CBT Nuggets, which I
would definitely recommend.
Take that with a grain of salt (and I¹m ok with that) since I do some work
for them now. However, I would have recommended them even before I
started developing training for them. 
Jeremy Cioara teaches the CCNA courses for CBT, and he is quite animated
and very knowledgeable. He will definitely get all the necessary points
across. In addition to the certification courses you mentioned, there are
also many ³real world² variants of materials as well, which give a
different slant to the teachings that you may find useful for your group.
And being a subscription cost, you can watch as many different things as
you¹d like rather than being limited to one course. Something worth
checking out. Don¹t take my word for it, go look for yourself (or have
your group do that).
Cheers,
Scott
You might look at your local community college's offerings. Probably
better bang for the buck than many other offerings.
Hi,
You might look at your local community college's offerings. Probably
better bang for the buck than many other offerings.We have a couple of techs that want to learn cisco and networking in
general. What do you recommend for learning and getting certified on Cisco?
There seems to be a million different training courses, books, etc out
there.
I would agree with considering face-to-face offerings; especially if
it is run with evening classes or at times the employee can access
without affecting work. It's how I first started my CCNA and I really
appreciated having access to a real physical lab, library, instructors
and other students. Though this was way back before Cisco's
all-singing all-dancing website with it's 'online' lab.
Quite often you can also use CCNA courses at a real college as part of
a more general qualification and they often offer other courses that
it can be handy for staff to have, like CompTIA's Security+ if you are
doing any MOD or Federal contracting. And as has been said they are
normally quite cheap for what you get.
However, have you considered actually asking the techs how they learn best?
Alex
This guy got funding and made a free series that teaches CCNA. I'm not
sure how good it is, but it's free.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmdYg02XJt6QRQfYjyQcMPfS3mrSnFbRC
http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/25mmoo/a_year_ago_i_asked_for_help_to_produce_a_free/
Does CBT or any of these other subscription based learning courses include
a Cisco IOS simulator so we don't have to buy a Cisco lab or equipment?
You can grab GNS separately and for free, which will allow you to build
the topologies that you are looking for.
That is what is used to demonstrate most of the Cisco courses between the
trainers.
Scott
GNS3, while unofficial, is what I'd recommend for that.
Many of these subscription based courses do not include a Cisco IOS
simulator.
That's a Cisco IOS licensing hot potato that's generally more trouble than
value added to the course.
Not to mention having to build and maintain it.
For a CCNA level lab, the equipment is cheap off E-Bay,
2 x 2950's
2 x 1841's
approx $300
If your really really looking to cut costs and are dead set on a simulator
here are some of your options:
You can look into GNS3 , however you will have to provide your own IOS
images.
It's the de-facto standard for router emulation all non-Cisco Network
Academy students.
Switching functionality has recently been added, but I haven't tried it ,
so can't vouch for it's usefulness.
Or you can purchase the Boson network simulator.
Cisco has one of their own that is provided to their Network Academy
students, which of course, requires that you enroll in a Cisco Network
Academy program. (at a participating learning center )
Worth it, the 4 or so semesters usually covers more than just the exam
objectives.
The CSR1000v (http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/routers/cloud-services-router-1000v-series/index.html)
runs on normal VM infrastructure, and will do (almost?) everything
required from a routing perspective to pass everything up to the CCIE
R&S. It requires a license to use it for proper traffic loads, but is
free to use for lab purposes. More info on how this can be done under
VMWare can be found here:
http://www.rogerperkin.co.uk/ccie/index.php/ccie-version-5/ccie-virtual-rack-csr-1000v-routers/
YYC Net Lab (of which I am a co-founder) went through the trouble of
forming a not-for-profit company and gaining access to Cisco's official
Network Academy content. The process is a little painful to setup, but you
get access to all the content including Packet Tracer. I still use GNS3
because not all functionality is present in Packet Tracer. If you're just
looking for CCNA material, Packet Tracer is enough to get you your cert.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the process to get access to
NetAcad content, feel free to contact me off list.