Networking class suggestions please?

[MaxBurn]

I wish to better my networking skills, can you recommend any decent classes for the type of things I actually encounter? I am hoping on something really low level and staying away from the windows administration side of things, because for my job we leave that up to the network admins. The stuff I would like to cover:

BootP, DHCP, BACnet/Ethernet, BACnet/IP, Modbus/IP, BBMD, subnetting, supernetting, network broadcasts.

A little while ago we had an integration that went pretty bad where we were trying to poll information via BACnet/IP across a different subnet. It just plain would not work even though we set up BBMD's on both machines, but it worked fine once we moved to the same subnet. I knew this was a networking problem but I really didn't have the skills to pull off the WHY of it all.

 

[ddrueding]

First I've ever heard of BACnet, so I can't help you. Good luck.

 

[Mercutio]

Likewise.

A CCNA course would probably be your best bet as a technical starting point to networking. Network+ just isn't very technical.

 

[MaxBurn]

Comp TIA network plus? I did that some years ago, agree it wasn't worth too much.

I will look into CCNA, seems to contain a lot of what I want. My company might not like that too much as they trained a bunch of engineers to probably the professional level. They all said thank you and left for a better job.

BACnet and ModBus are two communication methods for building automation and control that we are heavy in and I think I need to know more about the details as I am now in a support role.

 

[Howell]

I've worked with MODbus before. Or rather I've told the engineers that they don't make computers with 8-bit isa slots anymore and you are going to have to buy some PCI modbus cards. I really liked working with control systems but I haven't done it in a long time. CCNA all the way.

 

[Fushigi]

After training the people to be CCNAs, and for that matter training anyone to achieve a certification, does your employer reward their achievement with a salary bump? Generally a cert will up someone's pay base while making them more marketable. When I got my CISSP, not only did my employer pay for the pre-certification class and the testing itself but they gave me a nice raise over and above my normal annual. They've also been paying for what it takes to maintain the cert (annual renewal fees, conferences, professional association dues, etc.).

In short, do they realize that it simply costs more to have certified professionals on staff?

 

[MaxBurn]

No salary bump just for certs, but they do realize they can loose us after, case in point above where they lost all those people after training. This is something I might just do on my own though. I have been promoted recently anyway to internal support on our monitoring products for doing things above and beyond like this so they do recognize it in a way but you have to wait for it, without my BS and doing things like this I am sure I would not have made the cut for that.

My company typically doesn't pay top dollar but you will be plenty comfortable with a career path and it a job I enjoy. More of a total package deal and a company you can spend 20+ years with and there aren't a lot of those any more out there.

 

[MaxBurn]

Reasonable timeframe for someone working after work hours? CCENT 6 months, CCNA another 4 months after that?

 

[Howell]

It depends on how hectic and tiring your job is. I've been trying to study for one Citrix test for 6 months. Can't ever find the time.

 

[Mercutio]

Not sure how I missed this but...
For a motivated student with some experience of the topic, three months is a decent span of time for most studying and test prep. I think it's important to take the test inside a three to six month time frame, or you WILL put it off forever.

There is value in taking a test and failing. If nothing else, you'll see exactly what's on the test. If, on the other hand, you're just blown away, maybe you can refocus on something less complicated.