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mgortega:<br />
I can definitely afford to rent labs for $80!<br />
<br />
GREAT suggestion. &nbsp;Thanks.
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mgortega:
I can definitely afford to rent labs for $80!

GREAT suggestion.  Thanks.

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Good luck with your learning! &nbsp;Cisco is challenging, but rewarding when you succeed at it!
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Good luck with your learning!  Cisco is challenging, but rewarding when you succeed at it!

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I'm looking to get Cisco certified. &nbsp;And I don't want to just memorize theory.<br />
Are there simulation programs out there that act like actual routers/switches?<br />
I'm starting at the bottom so I need to brush up on my TCP/IP, DNS, and other networking skills too.<br />
I really enjoyed taking live &quot;lab&quot; classes but I can't afford them any more. The past few years have been a nightmare for me financially.<br />
I hate certification &quot;boot camps&quot; because you only get a shallow understanding based on memorization.<br />
Advice please!
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I'm looking to get Cisco certified.  And I don't want to just memorize theory.
Are there simulation programs out there that act like actual routers/switches?
I'm starting at the bottom so I need to brush up on my TCP/IP, DNS, and other networking skills too.
I really enjoyed taking live "lab" classes but I can't afford them any more. The past few years have been a nightmare for me financially.
I hate certification "boot camps" because you only get a shallow understanding based on memorization.
Advice please!

Cisco Certification - Best method besides attending a $3,000 class

A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the Internet. The most familiar type of routers are home and small office cable or DSL routers that simply pass data, such as web pages, email, IM, and videos between computers and the Internet. More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, use of software-based routers has grown increasingly common.

Routers

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical, globally distributed system responsible for associating the name of a computer, service or other resource into an IP address for connecting to the Internet or a private network. Most prominently, it translates domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for the purpose of computer services and devices worldwide.