All right, So you are a ccna. It will expire soon. You know, Maybe after a year or two, How would you recertify it? Well, You can take another associate level, Certifications like devnet or cyber ops, But it's better to go for cisco, Certified network, Professional or ccnp. The question is, Which is the best ccnp track? We have five and we have so many exam options.
We only need two to be a ccnp in this article. We'Re gonna talk about the best ccnp exam combinations from a multi-award-winning cisco, Certified instructor, Which is me, And for those who are new to this channel. Welcome, I am your host name: is dean armada and I'm your software-defined id instructor and what is my qualification doing this article again, I have delivered over 40 cisco official training courses, One multiple cisco excellence awards and the highly respected cisco distinguished instructor award on this channel. We talk about tech, Careers and certifications, Prevent tutorials in cyber security, Three gen tutorials in cloud and data center, And my journey as a knight instructor so feel free to check out the rest of the channel and consider subscribing. This is the cisco professional certification page and we'll be focusing on a ccnps.
So let's skip cyberops and devnet professionals, So we have five different tracks: enterprise data center security service provider and collaboration. If I click one of these look, We have many exam options, But we only need two one for exam and one concentration. The question again is what are the best exam combinations? I will pick the seven best pair, Based on my experience in training certification, Consulting id recruitment business and as an id instructor. So the answer will always depends on your job role and your interest as well, But our criteria will be based on market demand, Market value and which courses slash exams are related to the evolving technologies. So I will drop ccnp service provider.
Look not much going on here. T still have the same old, Bgp, Mpls related topics in the exam, It's good. If you're working in service provider, Network environment, But again not much relevant to evolving technologies, I will also drop ccnp collaboration. The evolution of voice and article technologies reach its speed.
No one's talking about advanced voice and article technologies anymore. Many people would go for ccnp enterprise. I completely understand because ccna is more about routing and switching and some wireless. You just want to continue what you learned.
That's fine, So the ecs would be encore which, Like a little advanced, Ccna, Very easy to pass. If you really know ccna topics, It's really not advanced, Even the routing part, Very basic bgp and very basic eigrp topics as well, We'll add implementing cisco enterprise, Advanced routing and services or nrc, Probably the concentration that is more related to ccna and encore. T added a more advanced topic such as mpls bgp, Dna, Dmvpn, Mpbgp and ipv6, Not a big fan of this exam, Though most of these are old and dna, Probably the newest technology here, But I don't think the technology is picking up. It's part of the sdx solution and to understand this. You have to know cisco wise, Not a big fan of this combination, But I will put this in the list because it's the easiest exam pair to be a ccnp.
Another good exam option is, Instead of nrc, Go for implementing cisco, Sd1 solutions or enswi, Though cisco is not the leading provider in the sd1 market. I would say this is still better option versus nrc and for me, It's better to learn and focus on the new technologies because think about it. If a company you are applying to has already implemented these new technologies like sd1 and regardless of which vendor.
Of course, You have all of the advantages you have a better chance of getting hard, Because you know the concepts know how to implement and manage sd1 devices in short, More money than nrc. For me, Cisco, Certified network professional in data center is a better track than enterprise. Now, First, You have to take and pass dc core exam. It covers various data center technologies such as ucs hyperflex, Intersight nexus 2k5k7k9k.
You also have acI and mds switches, And I almost forgot python network automation is also covered. Now, What would be a good exam combination? We have implementing automation for cisco data center solution or dca ui. Sometimes it is also called dc auto. This is all about programming and automation in cisco data center platforms such as aci, Ucs, Nx os and many others.
If there are networks that really need automation, These are the massive data center networks. Another advantage of this exam is, It may sound or look complicated, But the scope and the topics are lesser than most of the exam. The training course dca uI is only three days, Not only that.
You can also use this exam to be a cisco, Devnet professional. When you pass that core next cisco certified network professional in security, You can't debate with me, But I believe there are more and more companies are shifting to vpn solutions and moving away from mpls, Because broadband is becoming more and more reliable and less and less expensive. Not only that more and more people are working from home as well. So what is the solution? Of course? It's vpn cisco. It still has the best vpn solution and devices out there.
That is why this combination, Score plus svpn or implementing secure solutions with vpn is one of my top picks. So this exam converts many different types of vpn, Including the most popular and advanced vpn solution, Flex vpn. It also focus on asa vpn solutions and, Of course, You also need to pass score, Which covers many different security technologies such as asa firepower, Wsa, Esabrella and vpn running far power as well and many others. Another ccnp security. Exam combination that you may also want to consider is s core, Plus securing networks with cisco firepower or sncf exam.
Although cisco is not the leading next generation firewall solution out, There, Firepower is still based from s north and source. Far, The first, The original ids and ips solution, , So the ips functionality of firepower, I believe, Still the best out there and there are still many companies - are using firepower solution and it can do many things such as ips, Malware protection, Application, Firewall, Vpn solutions, And It can be integrated to cisco eyes. Security specialization is highly in demand in the market, And companies offers more money all right.
Next, Going back to ccnp data center personally, The best cisco skills that you probably want to invest with is cisco aci. It's the software defined networking solution of cisco. Huge companies runs this solution in their massive data center environment. It's an evolving technology and we see the increase of demand for cisco acI specialists since around 2018. If you are really good in acI and understand its concept, You can easily understand other vendor sdn technologies too, And you as a professional, Will have a very high market value and will have more money, So the best track is ccnp security. Of course, It's cyber security baby, Here's the reason why, Knowing cisco security technologies, Allows you to understand both the defensive and a little love offensive side of security? Well, That's already given, But knowing cisco security technologies can be also versatile.
If you want to stay in the enterprise networking. Fine you work on the security side. You can also use cisco security, Knowledge with service provider or data center network environments, Now which one is the best concentration exam combination with escort it's implementing and configuring, Cisco identity, Service engine or size, And why is that? Well ice? Is the identity and access management solution from cisco? And it's the leading network access control solution? you would only understand sd-access and the complete d-neck solution if you're knowledgeable with size. It also use in vpns posture assessment, Malware detection and many others. It can also be integrated with other csq solutions such as firepower, Stealthread and other non-cisco platforms too, Such as checkpoint, Fortigate and splunk.
It can also runs in many different cloud service providers to provide a better access management to various cloud applications. Some of you will say: I will still go for ccnp enterprise. I know because again that's the easiest way, But if you really want to be a successful cisco network, Professional go for a security track or specialize in application-centric infrastructure or acI having a ccnp security, You can easily move from a network engineer to a more securely related Role just learn more secure technologies such as penetration testing, Web security, Security management, Etc.
If you wish to make your career in network, the Certifications is considered to be the best certification, to jump-start your career. But gaining this certification isn’t considered to be that much easy. You have to go through lots and lots of study process unless you have the help of the CCNP 300-710 Dumps offered at the EveDumps.