By Ed Tittel

Although 2001 wasn’t a great year for Cisco in financial terms–or for too many other high-tech companies, for that matter–it was a banner year for Cisco certifications at many levels. The year witnessed significant changes in Cisco’s programs and requirements, a major change in recertification requirements, the introduction of new certification programs and credentials and a big jump in the overall population of Cisco-certified professionals.

In short, Cisco certifications continue to boom, and demand seems to show no signs of abating, economic conditions notwithstanding. Cisco’s premier certification, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE), remains one of the most sought-after of all high-end IT professional certifications. Ironically, the word on the street is that despite Cisco’s re-architecting of the former two-day hands-on lab exam into a marathon one-day equivalent, the number of individuals passing the new exam is lower than for the old exam. The irony is that by attempting to double the slots in its half-dozen or so authorized lab testing centers worldwide, Cisco has apparently made an already difficult and expensive exam even more challenging than it was before.

2001: Cisco Certifications in Review

Let’s take a quick look at what’s new and different about Cisco certifications before we go on to look at the best of the learning and study tools available to help busy professionals prepare for these exams. Here’s a list of what I see on Cisco’s certification map that has changed or has been added or removed since the beginning of 2001:

• New exams for Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) and Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP) were introduced. The two-day CCIE lab exam was replaced with a long, one-day equivalent.

• A CCIE Security credential was defined with the same two-exam structure as the Routing and Switching CCIE, but with a focus on security topics. Visit www.cisco.com/warp/public/625/ccie/certifications/security.html for more information.

• A new credential, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP), was introduced. This mid-level certification focuses on implementing Cisco solutions in an infrastructure or service provider environment. Obtaining a CCIP requires passing two core exams (one on building scalable networks, the other on quality of service and multicast technologies), plus one elective. For more information, visit www.cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/certprog/c_and_s/ccip.

• The Cisco Qualified Specialist program was introduced. Such specialties include credentials for cable two-way data systems (Cisco Cable Specialist), Internet business solutions (Cisco Internet Solutions Specialist), security solutions (Cisco Security Specialist) and integrating Systems Network Architecture (SNA) and TCP/IP based networks (Cisco SNA/IP Design Specialist or Cisco SNA/IP Support Specialist). This program provides a way for individuals who may or may not hold other Cisco certifications to focus on narrow niches among Cisco’s product offerings.

• Recertification requirements were added. All Cisco certifications now last either three years (CCNA, CCNP, CCDA, CCDP and CCIP) or two years (CCIE and Cisco Qualified Specialist credentials). At the end of that period, individuals must take a recertification exam if one is available or requalify under current certification requirements.

• Some certification tracks were phased out. Between the introduction of new exams for most Cisco certifications and the introduction of the Cisco Qualified Specialist program, CCNP and CCDP specialization tracks in topics such as network access, voice over IP (VoIP), SNA/IP integration and security have been phased out.

As you can tell, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that the Cisco certification program is bigger and bolder than ever before. New credentials, across-the-board recertification requirements and the addition of the qualified specialist program all show that the program continues to get better. In the sections that follow, we review worthwhile resources that should help you tackle Cisco certifications with success.

Noteworthy Cisco Learning Tools

Let’s shift gears to a discussion of useful learning tools in the following categories:

• Books and other publications: These include the best of the certification-focused trade books with a strong nod at Cisco’s own excellent exam-by-exam bibliographies.

• Web sites, mailing lists and other online resources: Cisco-focused resources online that get the nod from instructors and aspiring certificants.

• Practice tests: Practice tests and related items that have the best street credibility with instructors and certification candidates.

• Magnificent miscellany: Useful Cisco tools and information, plus other odds and ends that don’t fit the other three categories.

Cisco Books and More

Before I mention specific publishers or authors, let me first point out that for every exam, Cisco compiles comprehensive background reading lists. Although the size of these lists can be daunting, they do a wonderful job documenting relevant books, academic papers and other resources that apply to the topics at hand. You could do a lot worse than to chew your way through part or all of these lists as you prepare for your exams. Check out exam details at www.cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/certprog for more information.

That said, the following series and authors get consistently high marks for their coverage of Cisco-related topics:

• Todd Lammle writes for the Sybex Cisco Study Guide series. His books get rave reviews from instructors and candidates alike. Sybex also offers Virtual Trainer and Certification Kit series that include invaluable Cisco simulation software to help IT professionals obtain hands-on practice with (simulated) Cisco environments.

• Some well-known series like Cisco Press (an imprint of New Riders) and Exam Cram are normally quite good, but can sometimes be hit-or-miss. Be sure to check out comparative ratings or reviews when considering such titles.

A quick hop to an online bookstore shows at least 300 Cisco certification titles currently in print, over 30 of which get the highest possible reader ratings and reviews. With a field like this, there’s plenty of good stuff to choose from—just make sure you do your homework.

Cisco Study Resources Online

Just as there are lots of books on Cisco certification in print, you’ll find a plethora of Cisco study resources online. I consistently heard the following sites praised by instructors and candidates:

• Global Knowledge supports the outstanding www.groupstudy.com Web site. Here, you’ll find a site that’s focused almost completely on Cisco certifications, with regular mailing lists, newsfeeds, discussion groups and great archives of previous postings and e-mails. Definitely worth adding to your favorites or bookmarks.

• As with so many other topics, www.cramsession.com does a great job with Cisco certifications. Find study guides for nearly every Cisco exam at studyguides.cramsession.com/cramsession/cisco/default.asp, and check out their question of the day, message boards and other worthwhile services as well. They also have great collections of links to other Cisco resources online.

• A great example of a growing class of online certification preparation services, www.fatkid.com offers free Cisco training labs, practice questions, news and more along with for-a-fee remote access to Cisco hardware and software on a sign-up, pre-paid basis. Sites like this make it easier than ever before for certification candidates to get the hands-on experience they need to pass their exams.

• Great summaries, overviews, drills and reviews are available on Cisco topics at www.examnotes.com. Check out the exam notes on a per-exam basis.

• Another source of Cisco exam study information, www.CcCert.com, includes practice scenarios, study tools and discussion archives galore. Includes a library of step-by-step exam preparation topics and a bibliography.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Forgive me if I’ve overlooked your favorite resources (but please e-mail me and let me know). For those with a yen for Internet surfing, you will find no shortage of Cisco resources online.

Magnificent Miscellany

Though this category is quite frankly a grab bag of worthwhile elements that might otherwise be missed, that makes it no less valuable. Here, I list a few sources of training and simulations:

• Al Friebe and Sue Trotter seem to have had this category in mind when they created www.catspace.com. Here you’ll find pointers to resources, cheat sheets, tools, tips and a whole lot of useful Cisco certification-related information.

• CertificationZone.com has a little bit of everything: topical study guides, practice tests, ongoing dialogue and low-cost training. Check it out at www.certificationzone.com; the first course is free.

• Network Router Labs (www.networkrouterlabs.com) offers for-a-fee access to Cisco routers for practice and hands-on experience.

• A surprising number of training vendors offer Cisco boot camps, including Wave Technologies, Global Knowledge, CCPrep, InfoGem, The Training Camp and many others. You should do your homework before you spend money on a boot camp, but you can get a great bang for a great many bucks this way.

2001 May Be Gone, But It’s Not Forgotten

When all is said and done, 2001 was an exciting and busy year for Cisco certification. For those interested in pursuing such credentials, you now have more options than ever before—both in terms of what Cisco has to offer and in the incredibly rich infrastructure that’s grown up to support this mark. Good luck as you run those certifications down!

Practice Tests You’ll find no shortage of sources for practice tests online. Here, I include some of the best-known “usual suspects” in this space, along with other less well-known but highly recommended sources for practice tests and/or practice questions: Transcender continues to garner praise for its expensive but high-quality practice exams (www.transcender.com). BeachFront Direct is the successor to BeachFront Quizzer, and it still offers high-quality, reasonably priced practice exams (www.beachfrontdirect.com). Cert21 offers both free and low-priced practice exams on Cisco topics and includes good explanations of the answers along with questions (www.cert21.com). Brainbench offers inexpensive and surprisingly good exams that also function as good warm-ups for Cisco exams (www.brainbench.com). The same is true for Pakistan-based U2test (www.u2test.com). Boson Software is another up-and-coming source of good, inexpensive practice exams on Cisco topics (www.boson.com). If you like to use practice tests like I do, you’ll go through two or more as you prep for your exams. Take one early as a self-assessment, then repeat as needed until you regularly score about 10 percent higher than the required passing score. (This extra headroom gives you some slack should exam anxiety cause your scores to tail off slightly, as they sometimes will in a real testing situation.)

Ed Tittel is the president of LANWrights Inc., an Austin, Texas-based, company that specializes in IT certifications, network and system security and Web markup languages. He also has co-authored more than 100 computer books and is a contributing editor for Certification Magazine. Write Ed at etittel@certmag.com.