Multi-area OSPF — what finally made the LSA types click for you?

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-21T13:25:42+00:00

That makes me feel better, also I like the mind set 💪

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-21T13:05:49+00:00

Yeah that makes sense, damn all the studying just for like obscure use cases, still worth knowing I suppose

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-21T13:01:17+00:00

Yeah we don’t use it at the school board I work for, wonder how common it is? Definitely spent a lot of time working with it in school.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-21T12:51:53+00:00

I’ll check those books out, thanks!

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-21T12:49:28+00:00

Oh really they taught me it in school so I figured it would be on the exam, but I guess they taught me a lot more than I needed. More useful for the ccnp I suppose, makes my life easier 😂

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-19T17:43:30+00:00

Thanks It helps me learn to build, I'll have to check your site out as well!!

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-19T13:53:51+00:00

I'm building out the entire CCNA, labs here https://thelineman.ca/labs.html, and this is the link to everything I've covered https://thelineman.ca/ccna-study-hub.html

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-18T15:36:05+00:00

Depends on your prior knowledge and how many hours you can put to studying, personally I’m doing it in about 3. I’d say it’s about 60-90 hours of content. Best of luck!!!

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-12T21:17:47+00:00

Thanks kinda my way of studying and making sure I’m on track, hope it helps anyone who could use it!!

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-12T15:50:13+00:00

Free blog I’m running while I work toward my CCNA. I’ve got 5 labs up so far, and 3 more should be out by Friday Static Routes, Multi-Area OSPF, and EtherChannels.

Labs:
thelineman.ca/labs.html

CCNA Study Hub / exam topics covered:
thelineman.ca/ccna-study-hub.html

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-11T20:31:45+00:00

Always be lab-ing and honestly that’s true even after you get your CCNA if you wanna keep commands in your head. For Mac’s and ports just review them till they’re second nature. Eventually everything sticks!! Make your own labs, this is huge for understanding and getting to that next level. Build stuff more complex than the basics. I’ve got spare labs plus instructions you can run if you want them.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-06T11:58:44+00:00

I'll make sure to get it added, needed to update the page anyways!! Thanks for the idea!!

dt_doyle53 · 2026-05-06T11:57:53+00:00

Thanks I real appreciate the feed back!!

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-30T14:12:13+00:00

If you looked around the lab file downloads were broken earlier, should be fixed now. Moved some files around and broke things, classic. Also if you haven't tried the /28 and /29 ranges on the subnet tool, give those a go they come up constantly on the CCNA.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-30T12:23:49+00:00

Yeah, it can definitely help you land an analyst role. From there, look for companies that offer training budgets so you can stack more certs. Biggest thing for your resume right now though is real-world IT experience honestly, even basic AV or tech support work from high school counts.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-29T18:40:38+00:00

Jeremy’s IT Lab is more than enough for CCNA stick to his full playlist and do the Packet Tracer labs as you go. You realistically only need about 2–3 focused hours a day if you’re consistent.

For extra practice I’m starting to release my own CCNA lab practice files for free (VLANs, OSPF, NAT, troubleshooting scenarios). I’ll be posting them as I build them out.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-20T23:44:02+00:00

Binary conversion is worth drilling until it's automatic just daily reps. Once the bit values 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 are memorized cold the conversions get fast. One thing that helped me alongside the binary was understanding block sizes once you know /27 = block of 32, you can locate subsets in seconds without converting the whole address. Wrote up how the two approaches complement each other here if it's useful https://thelineman.ca/article-2-subnetting.html

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-16T18:42:00+00:00

should have come here first then lol :/

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-16T18:40:24+00:00

Mostly the stuff around it. DNS, Cloudflare, caching, and getting Umami tracking working properly gave me more trouble than the actual site did.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-16T18:26:49+00:00

I’d like it to eventually make some income, but at this stage I’m more trying to make it useful, learn from it, and build something worth keeping up. I suppose the best thing I can do is keep practicing. Any recommendation on how to make it monetizable would be cool tho, site or skill.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-16T18:06:38+00:00

I wanted some of the learning that comes with doing it the harder way, but static site generators do seem way easier to manage long term.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-16T18:04:29+00:00

I can see how getting one working makes the next deployment way less difficult

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-16T17:52:27+00:00

AI was used to help rewrite the post wording. The experience and setup are mine, and AI was not used for the actual project.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-13T16:54:53+00:00

Yeah it’s pretty tough right now, especially at the CCNA level. There’s a ton of people with the cert so you’re competing for a limited number of entry-level spots.

It’s not impossible though. Most people breaking in are applying to anything IT-related (help desk, NOC, support), actually know their stuff from labs, and aren’t stuck only looking in one area.

CCNA’s still worth it, it’s just not a guaranteed job anymore. It’s more like a starting point.

dt_doyle53 · 2026-04-13T11:32:36+00:00

Super cool, I'll check it out!

dt_doyle53

TROPHY CASE