CCNA v3 Lab Guide: Routing and Switching Labs

If amazon would have let me give 2.5 stars, some where between "i don't like" and "it's okay", I would have.I'm only on page 27 (out of 125) and I would say that if I was going to write a lab book like this and if I was going to go thru a lot of effort just to get this book to marketplace, I would have given more consideration to the arrangement of how this lab book was put together. Thumbing thru the book towards the end (which I haven't gotten to yet), it seems that the author started to get a bit more on track (not completely) though.As I said I'm on page 27, each lab up to this point literally takes about 10-15 seconds to complete. With each successive lab (25 seconds later), I have to close out the current lab, and open up another file. When you open a new file, it takes about 10 seconds for the devices to boot up. You literally input about 2-5 easy commands per lab and then just close out and reopen another lab. In addition, what also undermines the value of this book is that the author literally just gives the exact commands to type. These labs literally requires zero thought. Any person off the street, with zero knowledge of networking can do these labs and would equally learn little.Am I doing these labs so easily because I can remember how to do these configurations (after a lot of other studying) or am I just passively entering commands that I'm reading on the page. Rewriting commands that I see in front of me will not add to my retention or reinforcement of what I have previously studied a few weeks ago.I really like the concept of having a book in lab format to prove to myself whether I remember the commands, before I take the CCNA, but this book needlessly falls short.If there is to be a second edition to this book, this is what I would change:1. Instead of having 40+, 10-15 second labs (appears that the labs do get a little more complex further into the book), of which each has a very simple topology and each lab requires that after completing you have to close out and reopen a new file, I would have where you could still have the 40+ labs/assignments, but I would get rid of the 40+ files (one for each lab) thus stopping the need for constantly opening and closing files. Instead there could just be one file, with one more complicated topology of which each lab could slowly add configuration to each device, one by one. This would make a lot more sense, so then you could see how your network actually grows and becomes more functional with each lab. So instead of having 40+ files to open (one file per lab), I would instead have as little as just one file with a more complicated topology (or maybe up to 5 files/topologies). And if you just had one complicated topology, maybe the first lab is just to configured the basics (hostname, assign ip addresses, configure telnet) on one or more devices and have the labs and topology set up to where the entire topology does not have to be up and working or entirely configured for a lesson to be learned or tested.2. Instead of just giving the commands to type, which barely requires any effort on the part of the person doing the lab, why not instead on the first page of each lab write either in paragraph form and/or bullet form what the objectives of the lab are and what functions need to be configured. You could say: "configure the router with hostname "Cisco", "configure on router 1, f0/0 with the first available host IP using the subnet 192.168.1.0/24", "turn on encryption to hide every password in the config", etc. This way the person doing the lab actually has to think. And the person doing the lab can actually stretch his/her mind to try and remember what they learned previously and apply it. Then have the layout of the book to where the person must actually turn the page in order to see a list of the actual commands that needed to be executed to fulfill the requirements (don't put the list of commands on the opposite page, if the opposite page can be seen while reading the requirements of the lab). You could even include a file where the lab is actually completed and the person can compare his/her configuration with that of the authors.So far I have seen little value in this book, perhaps I will see more further into it, if I can stay motivated enough to just type the given commands like a monkey. If things improve (I'm not confident that they will) I will update my review.I do like the simple format of the book. This is a book to do labs, not for learning theory, as it should be. This book isn't written where you first have to read 20 pages before you get to a lab (I have other books for that), each 1-3 pages is a new lab with simple short explanations.This really could have been a great book, the concept of a simple lab book is there, but layout falls way short.I would have looked for another lab book if I knew when I bought this one what I know now. Fortunately this book didn't cost much (under $15, I wish though it was even less). The author could probably have written this book with little more effort, but as it should have been written and not even needed to add a single page to it and yet would have made it exponentially more valuable).I see that this author has written a lot of books. I can't help but wonder if one person (an American) wrote this book, or did a publisher just hire some individuals outside the country to throw this together. The reason I wonder is because at times this book and the companion book "CCNA v3 Routing and Switching 200-125", seem to have either improper grammar (a typo? not sure) or the syntax of the sentence seems off (a way to stretch the reader's mind? lol, I'm not sure). To be fair this is not prevalent in either book (and maybe most wouldn't even notice), but something that I did occasionally notice. I was wondering if the author was ever educated outside the US.All this does make me less likely to seek out this author's other books - of course there is always redemption in making the next edition better.

I purchased this lab guide because it looks like the books that the Cisco Academy provides for its classes. It's not identical by any means, but it is pretty close. I am in a small group of people who have banded together to take the CCNA. Out of the 3 of us, the certification is vital to what I do for the company that I work for, while for them it is more of a extension of their current skill set. These guys are smart, they just want to improve on what they already know, test their knowledge and learn something new. I skimmed through the pages on the sample and initially thought that this was the book that we need until I noticed that the labs gave all of the commands that you needed and I didn't see much of a challenge. I felt that if we were told what to do instead of how to do it that would have been more helpful because it puts you in a position in a real-life scenario in which you may or may not have a template to use to configure something. It would also have been more helpful if the labs were fully based on the likely labs that you would get when you take the test. I ended up returning this book and I found a training class on Udemy.com that comes with about 9 hours of videos and at least 80 labs for 1 dollar more than what this book costs (Udemy had a sale) and I will use that instead for me and my group. This is not a book that is worth the purchase to study for the CCNA as a main source for labs in my opinion. Perhaps this is good if you just want to do some labs and run through a bunch of commands, but I don't believe that this will help you pass the CCNA which is why I returned it.

This entire series of Lab manuals are great. BUT.....these are more mean for a learning or training lab to go along with the main learning materials. I wanted more of a manual of labs that is more real world. I wanted labs that would give a situation with all the details and even walk me through the steps in terms of the goal of each step and I then had to make that goal happen from my knowledge. This is strictly paint by the numbers and tell you what to do and type at every step without requiring any networking knowledge and just the ability to read and type in what you are told to.

Spot on practice questions that test your knowledge. Excellent explainations to assist you in understanding the material. I suggest getting the labs book as well. I've been CCNA certified for 9 years and in short, this is great study material to use alongside Cisco press books and Chris Bryant material. Two of my co workers purchased the books after they read a few pages in mine.

Just received this lab guide and just flipping through it, I can see a lot of useful information. I think practicing the steps in this guide along with reading Wendell Odom’s CCNA R&S should more than help prepare for the exam.

This Lab Guide is pretty basic. I was hoping for more. It would've been better if the author has included exam objectives that each lab covered. More information about what the lab covered besides the short Lab Summary would be optimal. Maybe make the labs more like the Cisco simlets and including problem statements.

Easy to understand and lots of configuration examples!

As expected

couldn't get on the web page to down load the labs when I first got it , haven't tried since so may be working now , who knows. It is just a lab book, it talks you through the commands but doesn't offer anything as to why your doing it. I guess i'll give it another go this weekend and add more comment