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How does the Cisco Career Certifications program work? If you've done some preliminary research on the Web, then you've probably been flooded with a never-ending sea of acronyms: CCNA, CCNP, CCIE. Practically speaking, what do these certifications mean to you, the prospective employee? Or to you, the prudent employer? In this article I attempt to cut through all the extra marketing fluff and extraneous technical information to give you a clear idea of how Cisco certification works and the factors to consider in deciding which Cisco certification might be right for you.

The Big Picture

Figure 1 shows the basic Cisco Career Certifications matrix. Don't worry: By the end of this article you'll understand what that alphabet soup of acronyms means! Both the Installation and Support and the Engineering and Design tracks include various specialty certifications besides what's shown in the table. However, to conserve space and preserve simplicity, I'll address those certifications in a future article.

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Figure 1. The Cisco Career Certifications matrix.

Certification level	Network Installation and Support track	Network Engineering and Design track
Expert	CCIE Routing and Switching	CCIE Design
Professional	CCNP	CCDP
Associate	CCNA	CCNA, CCDA

Two Tracks, Three Levels

Although I was tempted to quote Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," (you remember: "Two roads diverged in a wood..."), I decided to spare you my overly dry and sometimes silly sense of humor. The Cisco Career Certification program is comprised of two tracks: the Network Installation and Support track and the Network Engineering and Design track. What are the differences between the two? Why would you decide to select one over the other? Well, I'll describe each a bit later and you can be the judge.

Besides the two certification tracks, you'll notice that each track is divided into three hierarchical levels: Associate, Professional, and Expert. On their Career Certifications Web site, http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/certprog/, Cisco depicts the three levels as a pyramid, with the Associate level forming the foundation, the Professional level in the middle and the Expert level at the pyramid's peak. I think the pyramid is a useful symbol, for the concepts you master at the Associate and Professional levels are certainly expanded and built upon at the Expert level.

Network Installation and Support Track

The Network Installation and Support track is intended for the "get-your-hands-dirty, down-in-the-trenches" type of Internetwork Expert. In contrast with the Design certifications, which are primarily theory-oriented, the Installation and Support credentials are much more networking hardware and software centered. You'll be required to possess an in-depth understanding of the care and feeding of various Cisco routers and switches, learn how to "speak" using the language of the Cisco Internetwork operating system (IOS), and, ultimately, be equipped physically and mentally to build from scratch and intensely troubleshoot a routed internetwork at one of Cisco's CCIE lab centers.

Get Hands-on Practice Without a Router

In terms of suggesting exam preparation materials, the best computer-based training resource I've ever used is RouterSim. While on the expensive side, this application closely mimics the behavior of several Cisco routers and switches. The labs include such tasks as configuring router interfaces, creating VLANs and creating access lists. You can find RouterSim at http://www.routersim.com. RouterSim is co-authored by Todd Lammle, who, coincidentally enough, modeled the RouterSim labs after lab exercises in his book, CCNA Study Guide (Sybex, ISBN 0-78212-647-2). To be honest, I would recommend the book as much as I would recommend the RouterSim software.

CCNA

The Cisco Certified Network Associate is Cisco's entry-level certification. It is by far the most popular title held by IT professionals seeking Cisco certification. (Near the end of 2000, Cisco suggested that more than 100,000 people held that title.) There are no prerequisites to taking the exam and, like all Cisco career certifications; the title is valid for three years. To become a CCNA, "simply" pass the exam 640-507, Cisco Certified Network Associate at any authorized Prometric testing center. However, before paying the $100 fee when registering for this exam, make sure you thoroughly understand how to install, configure and operate Cisco 2500-series routers and 1900-series switches and have a good command of the Cisco IOS commands.


CCNP

The Cisco Certified Network Professional is a premium certification roughly equivalent to Microsoft's Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) credential. To become a CCNP, you must be a CCNA and pass four additional exams, each covering a specific area of Cisco internetworking. Figure 2 briefly describes each required exam. According to Cisco, an individual holding the CCNP can "install, configure and operate LAN, WAN, and dial access services for organizations with networks from 100 to more than 500 nodes," and be able to support a multitude of LAN, WAN, and routing protocols. What a mouthful!

Figure 2: CCNP required exams. .

Exam number and title	Description
640-503 Building Scalable Cisco Networks Routing (aka Routing, BSCN Routing)	This exam focuses on understanding router capabilities as they apply to TCP/IP, LAN, WAN, routing protocols, interface configuration and networking.
640-504 Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (aka Switching, BCMSN)	This exam focuses on building campus networks using multilayer switching technologies over high speed Ethernet, configuring routers and switches, understanding Spanning Tree Protocol and configuring VLANs.
640-505 Building Cisco Remote Access Networks (aka Remote Access, BCRAN)	This exam focuses on building a remote access network to interconnect central sites in a small office/home office (SOHO) environment, controlling access to the central site and maximizing bandwidth utilization over remote links.
640-506 Certified Internetworking Troubleshooting (aka Support, CIT)	This exam focuses on baselining and troubleshooting a routed and switched environment for multiprotocol clients and servers, troubleshooting Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Token Ring LANs, troubleshooting frame relay and ISDN WANs

CCIE Routing and Switching
The Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert, in either Routing and Switching or Design, is considered by most in the certification world to be the most difficult credential to obtain. No amount of fudging will get you through this one--either you know the technology or you don't. A CCIE's starting salary is seldom less than $100,000 annually; currently there are just under 5,000 CCIEs walking the earth today. (You can check the current count at http://www.ieng.com/warp/public/625/ccie/ccie_program/ccie_present.html.) Although technically there are no prerequisites for the CCIE, and while it's possible to obtain the CCIE without any other Cisco certifications under your belt, the general suggestion is to have both the CCNP and the CCDP completed before seriously attacking the CCIE.

To become a CCIE, you must pass a written exam and a lab practical. The Routing and Switching Qualification exam is a two-hour, computer-based, multiple choice exam that contains 100 questions on virtually every aspect of supporting Cisco routed and switched networks. Assuming you pass the $200 qualification exam, it's on to the $1,000 per attempt Routing and Switching Lab Exam. This is a two-day practical exam. To take it, you must schedule time to visit one of Cisco's authorized CCIE lab exam testing sites. (In the U.S. there are two CCIE Routing and Switching lab sites located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and San Jose, California.)

Day one of the practical exam requires the test-taker to build a routed and switched internetwork from the physical layer up. Between days 1 and 2 the geniuses at Cisco will try to place every kind of bug in your network setup as possible. It's your job during day two to troubleshoot and fix any problems you can find. Obviously, the CCIE Routing and Switching certification isn't one where a week spent poring over study guides and practice exams will get you very far.

Network Engineering and Design Track
The Network Engineering and Design career track is for more theory-based IT professionals who prefer to look at internetworks from the thousand-foot view rather than from the three-foot view. As you'll see, the Design track follows a certification and exam sequence that's highly analogous to the Support track; obviously, the chief difference will be the shift in content focus.

CCDA
The Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) is Cisco's entry-level design certification. To become a CCDA Cisco recommends that you already possess your CCNA and pass exam 640-441, Designing Cisco Networks, often abbreviated DCN. The CCDA certification's target focus is on designing small office/home office (SOHO) LAN, WAN and dial services networks with fewer than 100 nodes.

CCDP
The Cisco Certified Design Professional is Cisco's premier Design title, analogous to the Support track's CCNP. The content focus here is on designing routed and switched networks with 100 to 500 nodes. To qualify for the CCDP you must be a CCDA and pass the four content exams shown in Figure 2. The great news here is that the Routing, Switching, Remote Access and Design exams apply to both the CCNP or CCDP certifications. This means that with a little extra elbow grease you can pick up both credentials after having passed a total of six exams.

CCIE Design
Here we go again. Yes, the CCIE Design credential is just as rigorous as the CCIE Routing and Switching credential. So if you were looking for any shortcuts to this certification, think again. To earn the CCIE in Design, you must pass both the written Design qualification exam and the two-day Design lab practical. The format of the written and lab exams is similar to that of the CCIE Routing and Switching program.

Putting it All Together
In answering the question, "Which Cisco certification is right for me?" I can only answer that you evaluate your own strengths and particular interests and pursue the credentials that align most closely with your desired career path. If you see yourself surrounded by network cables and keyboards, then perhaps the Support track is best suited for you. If you see yourself sitting at a desk, designing network infrastructures and writing proposals, then perhaps the Design track is a better fit.

In the meantime, you can always get more information straight from the horse's mouth by visiting Cisco's Career Certifications Web site. To get there, point your browser to http://www.cisco.com and click the link "Training/Certifications" beneath the heading "Training, Events, & Seminars." Good luck!

Timothy L. Warner, MCSE, MCT, CCNA, CTT, is a Content Developer with Transcender LLC, based in Nashville, Tennessee. Tim is the author of MCSE Exams (Charles River Media). Before working for Transcender, Tim taught courses on Windows NT networking and end-user business applications for Syracuse University and ExecuTrain of Syracuse. Tim and his wife Susan reside in Nashville. You can contact Timothy about "The Basic Elements of Cisco Certification" at editor@mcpmag.com.