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. On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 9:59 AM, Colton Conor <colton.co...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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? > > On Sun, Nov 2, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Scott Morris <s...@emanon.com> wrote: > > > Depends on how quickly you want them trained, and how they tend to learn > > thingsŠ > > > > 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 > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Colton Conor <colton.co...@gmail.com> > > Date: Sunday, November 2, 2014 at 1:02 PM > > To: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org> > > Subject: Cisco CCNA Training > > > > >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. > > > > > > >
