CCNA and then JNCIA

It has been long time since I wrote certification exam. The last one I did was SCJP 1.4 (Java Certification in 2007).

My work is based on Network Management System (NMS), I was planning to give some network certifications for many years but could not do it due to work/family/masters degree commitments…

To start on this plan, I did CCNA R&S on February 2015 and JNCIA on April 2015.  Alhamdulillah.

Here are details about my JNCIA preparation which might help someone.

Take a look at Juniper Networks fast track certification program Click here

The syllabus of JNCIA (Junos) is not heavy as CCNA. JNCIA (Junos) is the first level certification and it is the Pre-requisite for all other Juniper Networks certifications.

JNCIA exam covers

  • Networking Basics – OSI, TCP/IP, Subnetting, etc..
  • Junos OS – You will love the beauty of Juniper Networks Junos OS CLI and its cool features!
  • Routing Fundamentals
  • Routing Policy
  • Firewall Filters – Like Access list in Cisco IOS

How did I prepare for this exam ?

#1) Take Juniper Networks Web Based Training (Free)

Networking Fundamentals – WBT  – It is worth taking this self paced training. It will help review the network fundamentals. Even if you are CCNA certificated, this training will help review basics.

Junos as a Second Language-WBT – Know the Junos OS CLI in this training.

#2) Day One guides

Juniper Networks provides great free Day One guides.  Below two guides will be useful for this course.

Day One: Exploring the Junos CLI

Day One: Junos for IOS Engineers – If you know Cisco IOS already, download this pdf.

#3) Free JNCIA Study Resources

Download the two small pdfs from fast track portal and understand the concepts.

JNCIA-Junos-P1_2012-12-19.pdf and JNCIA-Junos-P2_2012-12-20.pdf

#4) Take a practice exam at here

#5) Take pre-assessment exam to get exam discount (you will get 50% exam discount voucher).  You can take  pre-assessment exam as many as times you like.

#6) If you have Android/iPhone/iPad device, download Junos Genius App and practice the questions in it.

#7) If you find difficult to answer questions from any of the topics, then study those topics alone from old jncia study guide pdf.  I had difficulty in understanding Routing Policy, so I just study that chapter alone from this study guide.

You may need an account to download/view any of the above resources, so register for a login. It is again free :-).

Exam fee of JNCIA is 100$ and you will get 50% discount on successful pre-assesment exam. So fee will be 50$.

That’s it. You are good to go.  Book JNCIA exam and get JNCIA certified 🙂

Bonus Tips: If you need hands on experience in Junos device, you can download Juniper vSRX and deploy it in VMware ESXi/KVM.  Enjoy practicing Junos OS CLI!