User manual
3 Boson NetSim User Manual
Using NetSim to Prepare for Your Certication
By incorporating NetSim as part of your process of achieving a Cisco certication, you can learn and
master the skills necessary to help you successfully complete your certication track. The purpose of
NetSim is to help you with the practical, hands-on portion of your education and to ensure that you not
only understand the concepts of routing but can actually congure and implement routing on Cisco
devices.
Mastering Cisco networking involves two fundamental tasks:
1. Learn the theory of routers and switches.
2. Gain the hands-on experience of implementing that theory by conguring the devices in a network
and testing them in a lab.
Self-studying for a Cisco certication can be a daunting task. The amount of information a CCNA
candidate is required to know and the skills that candidate is required to possess are quite extensive.
To begin learning the theory of conguring a network, you can nd a good reference book or listen to
an instructor (Boson Training, www.boson.com/training-support-topics, offers a full slate of classes and
bootcamps). But a reference book might not be enough. The book will not give you the practical, hands-
on experience of routing and switching that you can learn from NetSim—experience that will help you
build on the theoretical knowledge you learned from the reference book.
Real equipment gives you the ability to practice on actual routers and switches, but it also is a very
costly way to practice and leaves a lot of room for error. The Boson NetSim, on the other hand, is an
excellent tool to help you prepare for the CCNA (www.boson.com/certication/CCNA) and CCNP (www.
boson.com/certication/CCNP) exams. NetSim simulates the behavior of a network and does not just
return preprogrammed responses to expected command inputs. It allows you to create virtual packets
and virtual frames that will be routed and switched through the simulated network. Aside from physically
plugging in the cables and listening to the fan noise, your experience with the simulated network will be
much the same as your experience with a fully functional lab rack without the expense of the hardware.
NetSim will enable you to practice various congurations and master helpful skills.
Once you feel you have mastered both the theory (www.boson.com/training-support-topics) and the
practical labs (www.boson.com/support/netsim-cisco-network-simulator), you can test your knowledge
by using the Boson ExSim-Max practice exam products available at the ExSim-Max home page (www.
boson.com/exsim-max-practice-exams). Boson ExSim-Max products include complex multiple-choice
questions, drag-and-drop questions, Boson NetSimX simulation questions, and trouble tickets.
The Boson NetSim Network Simulator is the most comprehensive product on the market for learning how
to congure a Cisco router. The Boson NetSim will not only help you become certied, it will actually help
you learn and understand how to congure routers, switches, and networks.