CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate, and is one of the base certifications provided by Cisco Systems, Inc. It is a fairly commonly-held certification and certainly is the most common amongst Cisco's.
Exam information
(test codes current as of December, 2004)
A CCNA candidate must prove familiarity & expertise with Cisco's IOS, TCP/IP, LAN and WAN management, routing and routing protocols, the OSI model, LAN troubleshooting , and be familiar with a variety of network protocols, some Cisco-specific and some not.
The test (Cisco code 640-801) is computer-administered and is 60 questions over 90 minutes and is adaptive; the test will quickly ascertain which areas an examinee is weak on and focus on those. The test includes multiple choice questions (including many multiple-answer questions, e.g. 'which three of these five options'), matching questions, and simulated 'lab' questions that provide a virtual network consisting of several routers and switches to test troubleshooting skills.
There is also a two test option using the INTRO (Cisco code 640-821) and ICND (Cisco code 640-811) tests. This allows the candidate to focus on certain subjects and allows Cisco to get more money out of the tests.
The certification is valid for three years; at that time a CCNA holder must either re-take the certification exam or take an exam for one of the Professional or Specialist level certifications, such as CCNP. At one point, the CCNA re-certification exam was different from the CCNA exam, but this no longer seems to be the case.
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