Buy two routers that run IOS of 12.0 or higher. 25xx, 16xx, MC3810,
26xx, 17xx, etc. Also get a back-to-back DCE/DTE cable appropriate for the interface type on your router. Both are available from numerous sources.
Buy Todd Lammle's CCNA: Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, 5th Edition (640-801) ISBN 0782143911. Go through each LAB, do them again and again. If it takes you one month to make it through the
1st chapter so be it - LEARN IT! If it is in that book and you are planning on pursuing Cisco, you will see it again.
Not to sound sarcastic but I would get very famaliar with the basics first, the ones you will use all of the time. And learn their shorter keystroke version. Config t (configure terminal) int (interface) en (enable) FA (fast ethernet) s0 (serial0) eth0 (ethernet0) lo (loopback) noshut (no shutdown) copy run start (copy running config startup config) and also learn to use the up and down arrows. These will also save you time when configuring a router.
You will use these commands 99% of the time you will configure a router, depending on the types of interfaces the router has
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