On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:45:30 -0800 (PST), " snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" wrote (with clarity & insight):
Seems good, but I see no obvious way to "get" it, is it only available through being in a Cisco Academy class?
I presume that one advantage of a simulator is a quick & easy way to load lab examples, ready for troubleshooting. It looks like PacketTracer does that but with instructor-created labs - am I reading that right?
no, not only that. Regardless if you use pre-set labs for troubleshooting or create your own lab from scratch, a main advantage of any simulator is to get hands-on experience. This is essential to a) master the simulator-questions in the CCNA exam (which score many points - failing all of them will certainly make you fail the entire exam). I doubt that one can pass these questions with only theoretical knowledge but without having hands-on experience on real boxes or at least a simulator. And b) a simulator is a convenient way of unterstanding all kinds of CCNA topics, some of which are hard to understand by only reading the theory.
Of course, for people who deal with cisco boxes at work every day or something like that, a simulator is not necessary...
PacketTracer is -in my opinion- an excellent simulator at least for the CCNA stuff. If it's not available to you - many CCNA books on the market come bundled with a software CD with some simulator software.
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