Introducing the New CCNA Books and Great Deals (2024)
This post is short, sweet, and straightforward. It answers the most common questions about the CCNA Official Cert Guide products. It details the new 2nd Edition books, out in calendar year 2024. It also mentions the discounts available from the publisher!
Read this Post, or Watch this Video
I launched the YouTube channel Network Upskill in April 2024. You can watch a video about the same topics in this blog post or keep reading – your choice!
Other Posts/Videos in the 2024 Announcement Series
My current plan has about 10 posts and matching videos related to the 2024 announcements. I made them, and even I’ll get confused about what’s what. So, here’s a repeating reference to the blog posts and matching videos.
Introducing the New CCNA Books for 2024
Titles: New Books State “2nd Edition”
The new books, which include coverage of the new CCNA 200-301 v1.1 blueprint, are considered second edition books. Here’s why.
First, look at Figure 1. It shows a timeline at the top, with the years that Cisco released all the iterations of CCNA. On the left, in the early versions, a new blueprint included a change of the exam number. There was no concept of a blueprint version number at that time. So, the matching books were all first edition books – basically, if the exam number changed, the title changed, so by publisher’s rules, they became 1st editions.
Figure 1: Release Years, CCNA Exam Numbers, and Blueprint Versions
Beginning with the huge changes Cisco made for 2020, Cisco now instead keeps the exam number static when thy revise the blueprint. Instead, they change the blueprint version number. But the blueprint version number is not in the book titles – instead, they use traditional book wording like 1t edition, 2nd edition, and so on.
So, the new books in 2024, that include coverage of the CCNA 200-301 V1.1 blueprint? They are all 2nd Editions.
Same Vol 1 + Vol 2 Equals CCNA Library Structure
For the last twenty years or so, the Cisco Press CCNA Official Cert Guide books have indeed been two books. You needed both to cover all the topics in CCNA. (CCNA is a pretty hefty certification!)
For perspective, Figure 2 shows the covers of the existing books (as of April 2024, when I published this post.) That is, these are the books that:
- Cover the CCNA V1.0 Blueprint
- Are 1stEditions
- Were released around January 2020
- Will be replaced by the 2nd edition books
Figure 2: CCNA 200-301 OCGs, 1st Editions (for Blueprint Version 1.0)
The new books here in 2024 follow that same convention, with a Volume 1 and Volume 2 book. You need both to learn about all CCNA topics. Basically, Volume 1 covers about half the content, while Volume 2 covers the other half.
The CCNA Library is – literally – a cardboard box, with a pretty cover, with the Volume 1 and Volume 2 books inside. you get nothing more by buying the library vs. the separate books, other than the pretty box. You also save money – the list price of the library is less than the combined price you pay to buy the Volume 1 and Volume 2 books separately.
To help you find the right new books, here’s an image of the new covers. Note that they show the “2nd Edition” text in white over lime green on the bottom left. They have different photos than the previous edition as well. But other than that, the covers are pretty similar – so be careful out there when you go to purchase, to make sure you buy the correct edition.
Figure 3: CCNA 200-301 OCGs, 2nd Editions (for Blueprint Version 1.1)
What Changed in the New Editions
The new CCNA 200-301 V1.1 blueprint includes a small number of changes, but the books have gone through more significant changes. I blogged about that a few days ago. You can look at that post for more detail about the motivations behind the changes, but for a quick review, Figure 3 shows the four driving factors that drove the choice for new editions of the books.
Figure 4: Motivations for New CCNA OCG Editions
While that other blog post focused on the motivations and big picture, let me mention a few more changes in the books here, as listed in the table in Figure 4. First, just to get it out of the way, look at the bottom two rows of the table below. The books, unsurprisingly, include the new exam topics. They also, surprising some, include topics found in the interim Appendix B for the 1st Edition books – topics added to Appendix B because of Cisco’s interim blueprint updates. (Look at that blogpost from earlier this week for more about that interim blueprint update.)
Figure 5: Table of Some Changes for the 2nd Edition CCNA OCGs
The first four rows in the table (Figure 5) mention specific topics just so you get a sense of what else changed. Working through those:
VLAN and Trunk Troubleshooting: This was my choice after rescoping the related exam topics. I added more about what could break a VLAN and VLAN trunk and how to recognize the symptoms.
Layer 3 Switching: My choice, with some consideration of the interim V1.0 update, and some per re-scoping. For instance, added coverage of configuring routers with embedded layer 2 switch ports in routers.
OSPF: Per re-scoping work, I wanted to add a little more about OSPF troubleshooting. I also wanted to improve the descriptions of how a router matches the IP routing table. That drove a need to re-organize the material, which I did, changing from three to four OSPF chapters.
IPv6: This was totally about modernizing – I hadn’t done a detailed scrub of those chapters for a few editions. I re-created all the examples, updated the output, and improved the descriptions. I also expanded the coverage of IPv6 on hosts.
Re-wrote Advanced ACL Chapter: Formerly Vol 2 Chapter 3, I modernized the chapter, replaced examples with new scenarios and example output, and improved explanations.
Wrote New Applied ACL Chapter: Per re-scoping efforts, I decided to add more about matching specific protocols, with an entirely new chapter about matching overhead protocols.
Revised NAT Chapter: I hadn’t updated this chapter in a while, so this effort was totally about modernizing and gathering new output on more recent IOS versions.
Expanded FHRP: I stitched together more FHRP content in response to Cisco’s interim CCNA V1.0 update. This effort for the new editions took that material and built a cohesive new FHRP chapter so the material flows better.
There are lots more improvements in the new books – I’m pretty excited about how they turned out!
Electronic Books
When you buy the physical books (the “print” books), you get, well, paper, plus access to some electronic elements. The electronic features include the companion website and an extensive practice question database and testing engine. However, when you purchase the print books, you do not get an eBook version of the books. For that, you need to purchase those separately.
The publisher sells the best eBook, called a “Premium Edition eBook and Practice Test” product. For the CCNA books, yes, there’s a Volume 1 Premium Edition, and a Volume 2, and a CCNA Library. It’s cheaper to buy the Library (which is why the publisher offers it.) Figure 6 shows the covers that you will see online when you shop – it’s easy to notice those with the read top bar.
Figure 6: CCNA 200-301 OCGs, 2nd Editions – Premium Edition Covers
You can also buy eBooks from other retailers. Basically, the publisher creates an ePub file (an industry-standard eBook file format), sends it to booksellers who want to sell the book as an eBook, and they often convert it to their device-native format. For instance, you can buy a Kindle book version of these books from Amazon, which Amazon derives from the ePub file.
You may wonder why I said that the Premium Edition eBooks – which you can only buy from the publisher – are better than the same book as purchased from one of your favorite booksellers, like Amazon or Branes and Noble. Figure 7 details a few of the reasons. First, focusing on the books, with the premium edition, you get the ePub file, which you can read on most any device. But you also get a PDF, so you can easily use it on your laptop.
Second, you get a couple of unique features with the practice questions with the premium edition as compared with the eBooks from other retailers. First, the Premium Edition CCNA Library, 2nd Edition, has about 400 more unique practice questions vs. the CCNA Library, 2nd Edition, in any eBook version from any other publisher. That’s a lot. Those come in the form of eight total CCNA practice exams vs. the four that come with the standard CCNA Library 2nd Edition eBooks. Second, when you own any Cisco Press Premium Edition product, the practice test question app links to the book PDF. If you answer a question and want more info, there’s a built-in link to the PDF page – just click the link for more info.
Figure 7: eBook Options and Comparisons
When and Where to Buy
Figure 8 lists the in-stock dates that were true today. They will all likely get nudged one direction or the other. In-stock means that the physical product will be in the warehouse ready for workers to fill an pre-orders. So if you order before those dates, your order should be filled on the in-stock date, or within a day or two of that. For Premium Edition eBooks, those are the dates that those should release to your account. You should be notified of that if you pre-order as well.
Figure 2: CCNA 200-301 OCGs, 2nd Editions: In-stock Dates (As of April 24, 2024)
I’ve set up a separate page with links on it, as the links may change and grow over time. If you want to help me out a little, start at this site, at the products page, and click from there. If you later buy anything from Cisco Press, I’ll make a few dollars in an affilliate marketing commission. (Thanks for that!) Or just go to ciscopress.com/newcerts and start looking!!
Product Page: https://www.certskills.com/products
Discounts
I don’t sell books! The publisher does. I just write them. That said, I asked them, and here are the deals I know about. But you should always check ciscopress.com for ongoing deals and discounts.
- 35% off during this announcement phase. Yay!
- Watch for a sale around Cisco Live US, early June.
- Watch their home page for the “eBook Deal of the week” if you want the CCNA Premium Editions
Other CCNA Products from Cisco Press!
If you do become interested in the books, you might want to look at some of the related products. Here’s a list you can check out at the CiscoPress.com site!
Figure 9: The Cisco Press / Pearson CCNA Lineup
Next Posts: Understanding CCNA Cert Guide Practice Tests
One of the least-noticed benefits of owning the CCNA Cert Guides are the practice tests. I’ve invested much time and effort in improving and expanding the question set that comes with the book. All of the team is setting about to help people be more aware about the CCNA practice questions. The week of April 29th, I plan to release a pair of posts (and videos) about just that – one for practice tests that come with the print book, and another about practice tests with the Premium Edition eBooks. Watch for those!!
Key Links
Here are a few helpful links related to the announcement.
Wendell Odom
Cisco Press
Note: Pages for the new products will be available 1-2 days AFTER Cisco’s blueprint announcement.
Cisco
- Cisco Certification Roadmap: www.cisco.com/go/certroadmap
- Cisco CCNA page: www.cisco.com/go/ccna
- Cisco Learning Network CCNA community
Very enlightening. Thank you for sharing, Wendell!