Review CCNP ONT Official Exam Certification Guide

Discussion in 'Articles, Reviews and Interviews' started by tripwire45, Jul 26, 2007.

  1. tripwire45
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    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    Author: Amir Ranjbar
    Format: Hardcover 408 pages
    Publisher: Cisco Press; Har/Cdr edition (May 21, 2007)
    ISBN-10: 1587201763
    ISBN-13: 978-1587201769

    Review by James Pyles
    July 26, 2007

    There are currently two paths to take if you want to earn your CCNP certification from Cisco. One involves taking four tests and the other involves taking three (actually, the 642-892 Composite exam is a combination of the 642-901 BSCI and the 642-812 BCMSN exams). The CCNP ONT or Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks exam is the subject of this review...or rather, the official Cisco Press study guide is. There's usually one one main question when reviewing or studying from a certification study guide: "Will it help me pass?".

    I know that's kind of a narrow point of view. After all, the real goal of the certification game (in theory) is to prove to the world that you already know your stuff before ever sitting the exam. That's the theory. In practice, many people and the certification industry itself sell certifications as a method of improving your skills and getting a job related to the topic at hand. Of course, the higher you go up the certification ladder, the less likely you'll get any sort of IT job with just a cert and no experience. Actually, you are not likely to even pass the exam without that sort of background.

    That said, technical certifications still seem to mean something to your associates and to employers and while as a network technician or administrator, you may possess a vast amount of knowledge on a variety of areas related to your job, it may be hard to organize and pull all of that information together. That's what studying for these sorts of tests does for you. If you want to establish yourself in the Cisco products administration space, the CCNP is a reality of life. To do that relative to the CCNP ONT exam, you need to gather together what you need to know about converged networks.

    Amir Ranjbar's book is designed to do just that for you. It provides the structure and organization necessary for you to brush up on or even master topics such as understanding what QoS is in converged networks or configuing WLAN QoS (if I have to tell you what QoS stands for, you aren't ready to buy this book). I have to give equal credit to the author and publisher. After all, Cisco Press has created the template used by Ranjbar and all of its other authors to create their study guides. In this book for example, special features include a "Do I know This Already?" quiz. Remember that you (or someone reading this book) may know at least some of the information related to this cert already. That being the case, there wouldn't be as much of a need to study subjects you know well versus subjects you aren't too familiar with. Take this quiz at the beginning of each chapter to see how closely you need to review the topic in question.

    Each chapter also has a "Foundation Topics" section that describes the bare bones concepts and protocols of each subject. This is sort of the antithesis of the previous feature and a good place to start if you find you don't know anything about the subject of the chapter. Beyond that, is how the information that you are studying is organized into chapters and chapter sections. The book itself is organized into four parts including the Appendix which contains all of the quiz answers. The first three parts are Voice over IP, Quality of Service, and Wireless LAN. Sounds simple enough, but you'll need more than a passing knowledge of general networking topics to get much out of that this text has to teach.

    If you're savvy enough to be approaching any of the CCNP exams, you are likely at a point where you can understand what is being taught and what's being taught is what you'll need to successfully take this exam. Ranjbar is very qualified to be the author of this book, not only by virtue of having earned his CCIE, but by how well the book maps to the actual exam. Credit also has to be given to contributing author Troy Huston and technical reviewers Dave Minutella and Mike Valentine. Together, along with the editors and everyone else involved in producing this book, they've created the definitive resource for guiding the candidate through this material and bringing whoever uses this book one step closer to their CCNP.

    Bonus: The accompanying CD is chalk full of test questions to help you assess where you stand anywhere along the way. Also don't forget to visit Cisco's official CCNP Prep Center at http://www.cisco.com/go/prep-ccnp.
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+
  2. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I've got that very book on my desk.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  3. tripwire45
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    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    Gee...I wonder why? :rolleyes: :biggrin
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+
  4. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Certainly a sign of things to come, is it not? :)
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!

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