August 26, 2025 - Reading time: 3 minutes

The CCNA 200-301 exam gives you 120 minutes for roughly 100–120 questions, which averages to about one minute per question. In practice, though, not all questions take the same amount of time. Multiple-choice theory questions can be answered in 20–40 seconds if you know the material cold, while labs and simulations may take several minutes. That means you need to “bank” time on quicker questions—including subnetting—so you’re not rushed later on. Think of subnetting speed as a form of time insurance: the faster you get at it, the more breathing room you’ll have for complex scenarios.

Read more

March 31, 2016 - Reading time: ~1 minute

Approved and released 04/11/16

Submitted for iTunes approval 3/31/16

NOW WITH HP PROCURVE SWITCH!
Oh yeah, we did that!

This update includes a new device, an HP ProCurve switch, allowing for HP to Cisco trunk configurations and testing. Trunk here refers to Cisco's definition of trunk, a port that carries multiple VLANs.

Like our currently supported devices, you can configure the HP switches just as easily with the supported HP provision commands.

Supported provision manager level commands:

show running-config
show config (startup configuration)
show vlan
show vlan port <1-12>
show vlan port <1-12> detail

Supported provision global commands:

interface <1-12>
vlan <1-256>

Supported provision interface commands:

tag vlan <1-256>
untag vlan <1-256>

Supported provision vlan commands:

tag <1-12>
untag <1-12>
no tagged <1-12>
no untagged <1-12>

Example:

provision# conf
provision(config)#vlan 10
provision(vlan-10)#untag 2,4-5 

In Cisco terms, the commands above configures ports 2, 4, and 5 to be access ports on vlan 10.

January 30, 2016 - Reading time: ~1 minute

The IOS Network Simulator now includes subnet practice questions. These are randomly generated resulting in an unlimited variety to test your skills. Find the new feature under tools.

Tip: You should be able to answer these types of questions within a minute before taking the CCNA certification exams.

January 29, 2016 - Reading time: ~1 minute

A simplified CME is available to configure the VoIP phones and simulate calls.

Please keep these points in mind when configuring a scenario that includes phones:

1. The DHCP server option 150 address pointing to the TFTP server must be the CME router.
   
   
2. The configured ip source-address for the telephony service is the CME router.
   
   
3. The TFTP server/router is assumed to serve the correct phone files.
   
   
4. VoIP phones must receive IP addresses via DHCP. Ensure a DHCP server is properly configured, as IP addressing is required for phone registration.

Configure the ephone and ephone-dn and you're all set. Happy networking!

*Get the mac address of the phones from the DHCP server by running the command:

Router#show ip dhcp binding