Welcome to the free Cisco CCNA study guide.
This is the entire 560 page book students have been using since 2004 to pass their CCNA exam and land their dream Cisco job. Now in it's 6th edition. Completely revised and updated to meet the CCNA exam syllabus topics as well as many topics not listed in the exam but often tested still.
This book will help you prepare for the exam but also help you pass technical job interviews and deal with real-world networking issues such as faulty interfaces, routing protocol issues, broken access lists and more. The new CCNA 200-301 v1.1 topics are covered in the blog posts on this website so remember to read the blog also.
- Entire CCNA 200-301 syllabus covered (as of 2024)
- 32 full hands-on labs with solutions
- 45 mini-labs for protocols and commands
- Written and edited by three CCIEs
- Real-world how-to knowledge advice
- Exam tips included
- Access lists, IPv6, JSON, STP, troubleshooting, security, subnetting, wireless, and more
This is the entire Cisco CCNA Simplified guide which is available on Amazon if you want the paperback or Kindle version. The Amazon version has access to a ton of practice exams, bonus videos, and lab books. This page is for the latest version Cisco CCNA 200-301.
Here is the Cisco CCNA video course if you want the entire course in video format as well as access to live Cisco racks and forum support. Membership includes access to over 30 IT certification courses from Cisco to Linux, Wireshark, CompTIA and beyond. And lastly, if you just want to get some hands-on experience configuring Cisco routers, switches, DHCP, routing protocols, VLANs and much more check out our 101 Labs – Cisco CCNA book on Amazon.
Set aside around two hours per day to read the theory and do the labs you see in these lessons. You will need around two months of hard work in order to be exam-ready. Print out the exam syllabus and score each topic you see out of 10 for your theory understanding and hands-on skills. Your score will slowly improve over time, so be patient and consistent.
Ensure you read our many blog posts where we share our study strategies and test-taking skills. Please watch our YouTube videos also, which give you invaluable technical and study skills that will help you dramatically cut down your study time and improve your chances of a first-time exam pass.
There are no secrets to success in the CCNA exam:
- Study every day
- Work on theory and lab skills
- Take practice exams daily
- Regularly review all topics until mastered
- Work on your weak area until they become strong
PART 1 – NETWORK FUNDAMENTALS
Chapter 1 – Networking Fundamentals
Chapter 2 – Ethernet Concepts – What is Ethernet?
Chapter 3 – Cisco IOS and Router Architecture
Chapter 4 – Power over Ethernet and Router Interfaces
Chapter 5 – Wide Area Networks
Chapter 6 – IP Addressing and Subnetting
Chapter 8 – Wireless Standards and Security
PART 2 – NETWORK ACCESS
Chapter 9 – VLANs, DTP and InterVLAN Routing
Chapter 10 – VTP – VLAN Trunking Protocol
PART 3 – IP CONNECTIVITY
Chapter 14 – RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
Chapter 15 – The OSPF Protocol
Chapter 16 – Advanced OSPF – LSA Types
Chapter 18 – VRRP and First Hop Redundancy Protocols
PART 4 – IP SERVICES
Chapter 19 – Port Address Translation – NAT – DNS – DHCP – NTP
Chapter 20 – Learn SNMP – Syslog – QoS
PART 5 – SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS
Chapter 21 – The CIA Triad and Network Threats
Chapter 22 – Access Control Lists
Chapter 23 – Securing Network Devices
Chapter 24 – DHCP Snooping and L2 Threat Mitigation
PART 6 – NETWORK AUTOMATION
Chapter 25 – Network Automation
Chapter 27 – Network Configuration Management
PART 7 – NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING
Chapter 28 – Network Troubleshooting
Chapter 29 – Advanced Network Troubleshooting