What is CCNA?

CCNA Stands for Cisco Certified Network Engineer is an information technology (IT) certificate issued by the Cisco Systems that certifies that the holder of the certificate is qualified in networking technologies and is able to maintain, understand, design, operate and troubleshoot a network.

CCNA is globally recognized certificate. The CCNA is generally associated with Switching and routing but there are several CCNA specialization courses such as CCNA Wireless, CCNA Security CCNA Collaboration, CCNA Data centers, etc.

Topics covered in CCNA are

• OSI Model
• TCP/IP protocol
• Connecting to a WAN
• Network Topologies
• Routing and Switching fundamentals
• IP addressing
• VLANS etc.

HOW TO GET A CCNA CERTIFICATE

CCNA certificate can be acquired by getting passing scores in the exams conducted by Cisco and its Associates. The duration of the exam is 90 minutes.

Types of exams

• ICDN 1(100-105) and ICDN 2(200-105)
• Combined CCNA Exam

ICDN stands for Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices. There are two ICDN exams a candidate has to clear both to get CCNA certification or he/she can give the combined CCNA exam.

After clearing the ICDN 1 the candidate gets the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) certificate. A candidate must have to clear both ICDN 1 and ICDN 2 in order to get CCNA certification.

NOTE: - All the certification provided by the Cisco is valid only for 3 Years after 3 Years the candidate have to again clear the exam to extend the certificate or can apply for higher certification.

After getting a CCNA certificate the candidate can apply for higher expertise courses such as CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional).

These expertise courses can be achieved in different fields other than switching and routing such as Wireless, Collaboration and Data Centres etc.