Which path to take?

[AmmarAlbakali]

Dear members,

I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in IT with specialism in Information Security Systems and have just recently registered for the CCNA training course.

I am aiming for a security path in the long term, I was wondering whether after completing the CCNA would I be able to commence to the CCNP Security? Or I would only be able to take the CCNP security if I took the CCNA Security from the start?

Please advise, and thank you in advance.

[varrao]

Hi Ammar,

If you are interseted in doing your CCNP-Security, you would definitely need to have CCNA security as a pre-requisite, so you can decide upon your track accordingly.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
Varun Rao
Security Team,
Cisco TAC

[AmmarAlbakali]

Thank you for your reply Varun.

However, what I can understand is that CCNA-Security is a pre-requisite for CCNP-security.

What if I go ahead and take the CCNA, and in the future I would like to take the CCNP-security; what would be the process? or would it even be possible to do that?

Appreciate your response.

[varrao]

Hi Ammar,

If you take CCNA exam, and in future you decide to go for CCNP-security, then you woudl still not to first clear your CCNA-security for it.

Here's the CCNP guide:

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/docs/CCNP_Sec_Prog_Sol_Guide_18July2011.pdf

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
Varun Rao
Security Team,
Cisco TAC

[Karsten Iwen]

For the CCNP Security you need the CCNA Security. For the CCNA Security you need the CCNA. So thats the way to go:

CCNA -> CCNA Security -> CCNP Security.

My recommendation is always a little bit different:

CCNA -> CCNP -> CCNA Security -> CCNP Security

If you are working in the Cisco Security field, you need a broad understanding of networking terms. For that it's not enough what is included in the preparation for the CCNA. In my opinion you should work some time in the basic networking field where you advance to CCNP, and then specialize to Security.

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