I have the CCNA cert and am interested in pursuing the CCNP. What should I look for in a home lab?

Also, what do I need to do to achieve the CCAI cert?

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If you are looking to create a hardware lab, I recommend a couple of routers (2600s are a reasonable, inexpensive choice) that have enough memory to support the IOS that route BGP and ISIS as well as RIP, IGRP and EIGRP. In addition, you should also purchase a couple of switches, one of which should support Layer 3 switching such as the 3550.

All this equipment can become very expensive, so as an alternative, you might want to invest in a good simulation software, such as Boson's NetSim, which comes complete with the equipment listed above and preconfigured labs.

To answer you Cisco Academy Instructor question, Cisco's requirements to become a CCAI are the following:

  1. Successfully complete the Academy Orientation Course including the online assessment and teachback.
  2. Successfully complete all courses of training within a given curriculum (including final exams and skills exams) as evidenced by the Course Completion and Certification page in the Academy Connection site.
  3. Successfully teach at least one course of the given curriculum including the use of online exams as verified through the Academy Connection site.
  4. Obtain the appropriate industry certification exam.

This was first published in November 2005

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