Batter Up! CCNA

I am now working on my CCNA.  This is 4 years in the making.  I should have had this in 2006 but I stopped for work.  Instead, I worked on getting my RHCT.  I do not regret it since it helped a lot with Linux education.  I have a firm grasp of redhat AS and centos because of it.  But it is 2011, I need to get this done.  I am definitely doing self study since I know I am not paying 3000 dollars for a class room and I know my company is not paying for it.  Something that held me up was the $500 or so that is needed for the equipment but I am going to use GNS3.  It is an emulator which can map out an entire environment full of routers and switches.  For further research, go to the site, http://www.gns3.net/.  Warning: you will need to have the cisco IOSs' already in your possession in order for you to use it.  I am sure people can find a way to get that.  I mean it is for your education.

I also bought the book, Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, Sixth Edition, by Todd Lammle.  I also bought a book in 2008, Network Warrior, by Gary Donahue.  I remember liking the book very much but it was unfortuanate that I did not have enough hardware.  I want to read both books with the virtual environment I create.  I know I will still have to buy the hardware but I do not think it is necessary for this exam.  I know I will need it to do the CCNP which I do not mind.  I actually I want to do that. I will even buy a rack for it, I am sure.

This is the next step on my journey to become a great pen-tester and some day, a leader/CEO of a security firm.  The industry is changing.  It is becoming more and more perilous to ignore the dangers of technology.  I would love to be one of the good guys researching solutions to problems and using technology to warn people of the vulnerabilities of their home and organization. 

Anyway, enough dreaming, I am currently going through the commands since I have been through subnetting already.  I will try to keep my blog posts up during this process but no promises.  I want to get this done before December since the OSCE is calling me.  I still fuzz random software.  I want to some day work on 0-days too.  Have to start somewhere. I hope to follow this blueprint but maybe not to the letter: http://infiltrated.net/pentesting101.html.