Anyone heard of the new CCNA changes? And are there any extra steps needed to conquer it?
See below:
Lots of emphasis on PCAPs, DNS and Network Management in the new version.
Hello David
Yes indeed, the CCNA has been updated to 200-301 v1.1, but it is not a completely new exam. The core is still routing, switching, IP addressing, subnetting, VLANs, STP, OSPF, NAT, ACLs, wireless basics, security fundamentals, and automation. This means that the core content on NetworkLessons is still the bulk of the course.
The newer version seems to place a bit more attention on modern operational skills, which include understanding DNS, DHCP, NTP, SNMP/syslog, device management, cloud-managed networking, and basic automation/configuration management concepts like Ansible and Terraform. Cisco also added newer awareness-level topics such as AI, machine learning, and cloud network management. But these are very
As for PCAPs, I would say that packet-level understanding is becoming more important. To really conquer it, don’t just memorize commands. Practice reading outputs, troubleshooting basic connectivity, understanding ARP, DNS, DHCP, ICMP, TCP/UDP, and looking at simple packet captures so you understand what is actually happening on the network.
So the new CCNA is still very achievable with much the same expertise, but the best preparation is less “memorize answers” and more “understand how networks behave.” And this is the direction networking has indeed been taking the past few years. In any case, if you have further questions about the content or how to proceed, we’re here to help!
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz