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Since 2006 companies and individuals have trusted us to deliver their training needs
Packet Tracer for Training
Cisco Packet Tracer I'm sure you know already but Cisco have created a wonderful network simulator called Packet Tracer. It is designed for use by Cisco network academy students but I'm sure many non-academy students have got their hands on a copy of it. I know you can get a copy when you buy academy books from book stores as well. I have used it myself for quick labs and have been very impressed. Especially when you compare it to the poor offerings from every other company who claim to offer a network simulator. Their version is a bit like sucking a sweet with the wrapper still on. PT is easy to use, convenient because you can simply start it up on your laptop and off you go. No reloading routers or cabling switches up. The major drawback of course is that PT is not live kit. I get questions on the forum almost every day with students complaining that the labs are not working right (the ones from my site) or that they are getting strange output. After some digging, it transpires that they are using PT and this is the problem. It will never act exactly like live kit. You will never get to see the real world type of problems you find when configuring kit so when you come across them in the real world or interviews you are basically stuffed. In the real world you will be expected to be able to cable up equipment, console in and then configure it either remotely or on site. If you have never seen or touched a real router then you might as well pack you bag and go home. For your résumé, you cannot put down PT time as hands on experience either. You wouldn't want to sit in a plane being flown by a pilot with purely flight simulator training so why would anyone expect to be hired with only PT experience. Having said all that. I do like it as a study tool. Paul Browning
Customer Comment or reviews
Most Helpful Customer Comment or reviews
1 of 1 people found the following comment or review helpful:
I agree. I am a VSAT specialist and have been trying forever to move up from my CCENT to a full CCNA. I have tried PT with things like setting up EIGRP MD5 Authentication and it is just a no-go. No key chain commands. Some ACL functions are missing as well as a few others. Someone pointed me to dynamips. But I am leaning to upgrading my membership and getting more access to Paul's actual racks (I just realized I left that one WIDE open!).
In any event, I will press on. Pray for me: I take the ICND2 test next week. I am an American that did my training in South Africa -- I still chuckle at the pronunciation of "router". They say "rooter" as you cats in the UK do. My classmates gave me unending grief on that -- I just refused to say "rooter"! My only redemption was that I taught them to subnet in their heads. And then I taught them to never, EVER mix a good single malt with ANYTHING including water! If our world leaders could get along as good as Cisco students do, the world would be a better place! Cheers all...
4 of 4 people found the following comment or review helpful:
To be completely honest, getting your hands on actual Cisco gear is cost prohibitive for a lot of students. Even with Ebay and companies selling refurbished gear specifically for lab study, between the expenses of the books, the cost of the exam itself, and the potential cost of lab kit, it can add up quickly. It can be discouraging.
I think simulators like PT are good for the beginner, just starting on their studying. Once they've committed and are well on the path to completing and continuing into Cisco work, then it's more likely they'll be able to invest in some actual hardware. Even with using something like Dynamips, getting your hands on the IOS can be difficult. Boson NetSim is a decent product, although again pricey - it has very diverse options. Overall the best bang for the buck has to be (shameless plug) Howtonetwork.net - with the combination of theory, labs, the helpful community and the live racks - not to mention Paul and the 2 CCIE's - it's got to be the most economical all-on-one Cisco Training site there is.
1 of 2 people found the following comment or review helpful:
Dynamips is supposed to run the actual ios, have you noticed any difference there compared to the real life routers.
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