A CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and apprentice, or foundation level certification, is a sub-part of the Cisco Career Certifications – IT professional certifications for products of Cisco Systems, Inc. The three levels of Cisco Career Certifications include Associate, Professional, and Expert. CCNA Certification is one of the two parts of Associate-level certifications (the other being Cisco Certified Design Associate) and is the most commonly held Cisco certification.
The CCNA certification indicates a foundation in and beginner’s knowledge of networking. CCNA professionals are certified to install, configure, and operate LAN, WAN, and dial access services for small networks (100 nodes or fewer), including but not exclusive to use of these protocols: IP, IGRP, Serial, Frame Relay, IP RIP, VLANs, RIP, Ethernet, and Access Lists.
Although there are no specific prerequisites for the CCNA certification, a candidate must be familiar with Cisco-specific (or not) IOS, TCP/IP, LAN and WAN management, switching and routing protocols, the OSI model, LAN troubleshooting, and a number of network protocols. A grade of approximately 85% is required to pass the Cisco Certified Network Associate Exam, which includes multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions, matching questions, and simulated “lab” questions. The other option is a combination of Introduction to Cisco Networking Technologies Exam and Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Exam.
CCNA certifications are valid for three years. In order to get re-certification, a holder can choose any of the four possible options: re-take the certification exam, pass the ICND exam, pass any 642 professional-level or Cisco Qualified Specialist exam (excluding Sales Specialist exams), or pass a CCIE written exam. This was put into effect after October 1, 2004.