Customer Reviews

CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, 4th Edition (640-801)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm MCSE, CCNA, and A+ certified, and have used a variey of Sybex books to achieve my certifications. Lammle's book is the best of Sybex's line, and used in conjunction with his E-Lab trainer, helped me pass the CCNA exam on the first try. That said, I read this book at least four times, which also attests to its readability.

Subnetting, TCP/IP, and Cisco IOS are not the most intersting subjects in the world, but Lammle manages to make the reading comprehensible. You could probably get the same info from the Cisco documentation website, but I guarantee you it will read like stereo instructions. I would like to have seen more information about accessing switches and routers in this book, but perhaps that is beyond the scope of the test objectives. Lammle lays this book out exactly according to the Cisco tesat objectives and covers each area in sufficient detail to help you pass the test.

One word of caution if you are shopping around for the best deal on this book: make sure the edition you are buying covers the current test version being administered.

I recently got my CCNA, using this and BOSON's book as well as the celticrover website.

Who this book is intended for
- Those with some networking experience
- Those wanting to get certified

Need not apply
- New to the industry
- Wanting a reference material

Overall the book is very good from taking someone that has a pretty good knowledge base to the certified level. The chapters are laid out logically, and he covers the important parts of the test well - subnetting, router commands, routing protocols and configuration.

Big minus is the questions in the book, they give you a false sense of security for the exam. I think the questions in the book are there to encourage you to keep going, rather than really test your knowledge. However the questions on the CD are much better and more varied.

As a side note - even with experience the test is relatively difficult to pass. Despite what one other reviewers said about studying this book for only and getting a high score, I would highly recommend using other resources (books, test questions, flash cards, router simulator...), but that this is one of the better resources out there.

Check out sybex.c0m before you purchase from Amazon. This 4th edition can be found on the publisher's website at half-price, because a more current 5th edition was published this month (Jan 05).

Now in its 4th edition, which is almost identical to the 3rd edition, which is...well you get the idea. I wanted to
like this book, but I can't. I work at the "CCNP" level and was asked to review this book for a local college, the
results are disappointing at best, a waste of money at worst. And like many others here I found that Todd's failure
to go any further in-depth on the OSPF subject is a discredit to his customers. If you are new to subnetting the
section on subnetting Class C is good, but when it comes to Class A forget it. It's as if the author wasn't really knowledgable in this subject himself! VLSM is tricky for almost everyone and if you don't have a firm grasp of basic subnetting then you won't understand VLSM or router summerization. The authors "unique method" of using lengthy "charts" to calculate VLSM were, to me anyway, confusing. Furthermore, he suggests that you "memorize" these charts! He almost arrogantly runs through this subject at light-speed so any student planning on taking the CCNA had better learn their VLSM from other sources.

Techical inaccuracies: more than I have room to mention here and going to the Sybex website to grab their errata sheet is of no help at all.

The CD: even the CD included with the book is a waste of money. Period. The author suggests going to his companies website (www.routersim.com) and purchasing their product "Network Visualizer 4.x", not a bad product unless you need to create a lab using a slot-based router. Each virtual device uses only pre-set interfaces with no room for expansion. Therefore, when the student attempt to build something like a WAN, they are limited to two serial connections and two Fastethernet connections - there is no room for growth here.

We used the third-edition of this textbook in our CCNA classes and, out of the 9 students in that class, all nine failed the CCNA on their first attempt. One could assume that none of these students had any prior experiance on routers and/or switches, or that they were all just moronic idiots but only the later half of that statement is true :)! Indeed, 7 of these students had over 15-years working as Networking Professionals and the other 2 had over 20-years as Network designers who's companies were making them go back for their CCNA!! I hope that is of some comfort to those of you who have used this book, took the CCNA test, and failed it: now you know why.

So what would I suggest?

I would suggest an offering from Cisco Press entitled, "CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, exam #640-801, Sixth Edition which is written by Wendell Odom. Mr. Odom is the best author of CCNA exam books on the planet (in my not-so-humble opinion!!) and beats the author of this book hands-down when it comes to explaining all topics regarding the CCNA. Furthermore, even if you were to purchase an older editon (as far back as his second writing, which is the de-facto standard in the CCNA world) of Mr. Odem's title you would still be better off than you would reading Todd Lammle's latest edition. However, be advised that Mr. Odom is completely devoid of any sense-of-humor what so ever and, in fact he is down-right dull IMHO!! But we don't use these books as a joke, we use them to learn and that is what makes Wendell Odom my favorite author in "CCNALand".

Another good text on CCNA is brought to us by Boson who is the publisher of several CCNA books by the author Richard Deal. The latest edition (published by MH for Boson) isn't perfect but is much better than Mr. Lammle's offering AND it includes a CD which has some excellent applications on it as well!Applications like the "lite" version of Boson's Netsim v5.25 as well as Flash Cards and some useful utilites and ON that note: Boson's Netsim....I do recommend this simulator if you cannot afford a couple of low-end Cisco routers. I have to admit that true, it does have some "bugs" in it, but even with these bugs it beats Routersims "Network Visualizer" in most areas (which does, by the way, include Todd Lammle's course-work which tends to follow the Sybex book, 3rd editon) of study. Furthermore, the Boson product is downloadabe in its "Full Version" with a 30-day, limited trial. Boson also has their "new" Netsim v6 CCNP product available for download for those of you who care to continue in the education and become a CCNP. I can't recommend this latest version however because it is still in Beta...but so far, after testing it now for three-months I find it quite good to excellent and well worth the time it would take you to download it and give it a spin!

No I don't work for or have any interest in ANY of the above parties, thank you very much :)!!

I hope this helps because I too have in the past tried and failed to pass the dreaded CCNA exam and, after 26-years in the IT industry that can be a humiliating experiance. I do highly advise you to NOT go into this exam without some hands-on experiance either via an actual Cisco router and switch OR through at least a good network simulator!!

There are at least two "simulation" type questions on these tests, maybe several by now and they can be tough if you have had no experiance with a simulated lab so be warned!!!! And remember fellow underlings: DO NOT OVERLOOK THE SIMPLE!!!! Its the "little things that kill" in most of these kind of tests so if you are a Wizard at WAN and can't seem to remember how to subnet or ADMINISTRATIVE DISTANCES (uh...hmmmmmmmm :!!! wink!!), you know, THE BASICS then don't expect to gurggle-and-cew your way through this test it simply WON'T HAPPEN!!

One last thing and no it is not about how bad this book is but rather a probelem with Cisco, I believe and that is their tendency to cater to their Cisco Academy "cadets". These "cadets" are sometimes given a "test" with a LOT of
questions on them but YOU CAN'T really FAIL this test!!! How do I KNOW this? Because I watched in horror as, what has got to be THE worlds dumbest living Carbon-Based, bi-pedal human being, obtain his CCNA after attending the Ciso Networking Academy for one-year. I won't mention any names (like, "Dan E. Boltjes at School District 11, Colorado Springs, CO) but here is a guy who's technical prowess had been confined to that of a VCR Technician and who had a tough time spelling "IP", pass this so-called "test" on his first try! Unlike "The Rest of Us", who must have a firm grasp on networking subject-matter, it would seem that these Academies have somekind of "in" with Cisco and in order to make themselves look good want to make sure that their students succeed - at any cost. So hang in there, study
hard, practice a few subnetting problems EVERY DAY FOR AT LEAST A WEEK BEFORE YOU TAKE THE TEST and I'm sure you will do fine BUT, if you DON'T pass it first try do NOT DISPAIR because, believe me, you "are not alone" and you WILL eventually pass this exam IF you don't GIVE UP!!!

Best wishes,
Wayne
Colorado

Took the exam 19th October 2004, Failed. This book is great, but is laccking badly in 2 main areas now covered by the Exam.
RIP Version 2 and NAT/PAT. both these subjects are now in the exam and in ther heavly. OSPF is also now covered in more detail.

Good book, indepth coverage of the materials it covers but you need more to pass the exam.

If you want to learn IP routing, this book will not take you anywhere close... For that, you would need "Cisco IOS for IP Routing" by Andrew Colton or Doyle's books. However, Lammle's book would probably be all you need to pass the CCNA test. Unless you're a complete beginner, then you may want to add one or two other fine CCNA books.

if u wanna pass the CCNA exam, this single book can help u pass. this book provides fast and effective way to review and prepare for CCNA exam.

i have spent about 4 weeks to read this book cover to cover and i just passed CCNA 640-801 yesterday in the 1st tried with score 950, and directly come to review this book.

WHAT IS THIS BOOK FOR: exam preparation
WHAT IS THIS BOOK NOT FOR: as a text book or reference
for the reason, read below

onething to mention: this book doesn't include any router simmulations, not even the educational edition, or else this book will b real perfect !!!!

IMPORTANT: this book is for "CCNA exam preparation" that means this book is not a text book or reference. this book is much like a review book, it gives everthing that CCNA exam requires, tell u every points, every topics that u must focus for the exam, ask u to du everything to make sure that u understand and r ready for exam. the method of preparation that this book provide is excellent, u won't face the problem that read the last chapter and forget the chapter1.

IMPORTANT: if u r a 100% beginner looking for a good reference or text that will teach u everything from 1 to 100, then this book is NOT FOR U, better look for cisco network academy CCNA text books (which is like 1200+ pages per volume, and there r more than 1 volume for full CCNA) from ciscopress that willl really start and teach u from the very beginning of networking world and explain everything every topic in details and leave no questions behind but they never ask questions that will b asked in CCNA exam,they just teach the technology in details (notice something from the thick texts, u read up to ch5 then u forget ch1 !!! this is very normal)

the highlight feathure of the book will b the "exam essential, writen lab and review questions" which previde the best and fastest reviewing metheod of each chapter.

the highlight chapter of the book will b the subneting chaper, this book really teach the best and fastest way to du subnetting, or at least a lot better way than what i studied from cisco network acedemy programs.

so now ... i hope enyone who read up to this point can find out if this book is for u or not

Todd Lammle's book is the definite guide to become CCNA.
I tried another book before but it doesn't bring me the confidence to take the exam. The topics are covered deep and in a friendly manner. Subnetting topic is vital to succeed the test and Lammle did a big effort to explain the topic in a frienly manner. I became CCNA taking the 641-821 (INTRO) and 640-811 (ICND), in both scored more than 900.
So, no matter what exam(s) you take to become CCNA, studying with this book definitevely help you to PASS!

I am a student and used this book for a network engineering class. I liked the authors writing style, and the book was an easy read but as stated before the example questions were not anything close to what is on the real exam. The biggest flaw though is that there is some incorrect info given in the fourth edition. The author states that RIPv2, subnet 0, and a few other technology areas will not be on the exam, however they were on the exam as of when I took it. All in all an ok book, but if you have little experience with this material, then consider getting additional study aids

Lammle manages to pull off a rare feat -- producing a detailed book covering all of the technical objectives necessary for passing the CCNA exam while using a conversational, and often humorous, tone to create an easy read, cover to cover. It is safe to say the book, coupled with the accompanying CertSim simulations - which matched the look and feel of the actual simulations - is the primary reason I passed my CCNA 801 exam. Lammle's Sybex book is a must have for anyone seeking the knowledge required for CCNA certification.