A while back, I had the idea for this site and finally got to work on it. The articles and lab exercises available now are only the beginning of what will eventually be the #1 site for lab exercises for those studying for the Cisco CCNA certification.
In the spirit of “kicking off” the site and because September is apparently “Shameless Promotion Month” (weird, huh?), I decided I’d give some things away and maybe draw a few people to the site. Hey, everybody loves free stuff, right!? Right.
Alright, Whatcha Got?
I know that’s what everybody wants to know, so I’ll skip right to it. Here’s the loot:
- One copy of uCertify’s Cisco CCNA Prep Kit
- The winner’s choice of one of two CCNA study guides
- A total of five (count ‘em, 5!) 8-hour vRack sessions on IPExpert’s CCIE racks
uCertify Cisco CCNA Prep Kit
uCertify was gracious enough to donate a copy of their Cisco CCNA Prep Kit which fully covers the CCNA exam objectives. It contains a total of 871 review questions and 376 quizzes in addition to practice tests, articles, how-to’s, flash cards, study notes, and more. It normally sells for $169.99 USD, but they’ve been awesome enough to agree to give away a copy to the winner. There is one little stipulation, but I’ll cover that in a minute.
CCNA Study Books
When making the decision which book to buy to help you prepare for the CCNA test, it usually comes down to either Wendell Odom’s CCNA Official Exam Certification Library or Todd Lammle’s Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide. The main purpose of Free CCNA Labs is to help newcomers to the world of networking pass the CCNA certification exam, so I’m going to give one lucky person whichever of the two books they want. I’ll order it from Amazon and have it sent directly to you. There’s one small catch here too (see below).
IPExpert vRack sessions
While the prep kit and study guide are aimed at those preparing for the CCNA, here’s something everyone can use and appreciate. I’m going to give away a total of five IPExpert Routing & Switching vRack sessions, split up among three winners.
Each vRack session is good for eight hours of time (well, seven hours and 45 minutes, for you pedants) on IPExpert’s CCIE racks, consisting of Cisco 2800 & 3800 Integrated Services Routers and Cisco Catalyst 3550 and 3560 switches. There’s plenty of Frame-Relay, Serial, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet connections to experiment and study pretty much anything you want!
Just one of these sessions would set you back $35 USD, but I have sessions left over so I’m giving some away. One lucky winner will receive three vRack sessions and two other lucky winners will receive one vRack session each. You don’t even need to be studying for the CCNA to use these. You could be a triple CCIE and still make good use of ‘em!
Okay, So What’s the Catch?
Alright, here’s the catch. Well, two of ‘em actually.
If you win the uCertify Cisco CCNA Prep Kit, you agree that within 30 days you will write up an honest review of the product and send it to me so that I can post it here. There’s no minimum length but it should be long enough to give others an in-depth review of the product. You can describe the product, the quality of the review questions and practice tests, and whether or not you believe it’s worth the purchase price (and why). That’s easy enough, right?
Next, the winner of the CCNA book must be in the United States or Canada. Remember, I’m paying for the book and the shipping out of my own pocket. I don’t know what it costs to send a book to the Middle East or South Africa but, honestly, I don’t really want to find out. I know that’s going to exclude a lot of people from winning and I apologize, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Sorry, maybe next time.
There are no restrictions regarding the IPExpert vRack Sessions. If your name comes up, you win.
How To Enter
Each participant can receive up to three entries.
Entry #1: At the time the giveaway ends, each person who is listed as a “fan” of the Free CCNA Labs Facebook Page (e.g. you have clicked the “Like” button) receives one entry.
Entry #2: You can receive an entry by leaving a comment below on this post. If you are currently studying for the CCNA, you should answer the question “What are you struggling with?”. If you’re just starting out this might be subnetting or IP addressing. If you’re nearing the date of your exam, it may one of a number of things: spanning tree protocol, EIGRP metrics, and so on. Just let me know (and be as detailed as possible, please).
If you’ve already earned the CCNA certification, your comment should include a “tip” or otherwise useful information for those who aren’t there yet. Just be sure not to break any NDAs.
Entry #3: Lastly, you can receive a third entry by placing a link to Free CCNA Labs on your own blog or web site. Once you do that, send me an e-mail (jeremy AT freeccnalabs DOT com) with the URL. If I draw your name and there’s a link on your web site, you win.
How I’ll Pick The Winners
The details on how to enter are below, but I thought I’d better go ahead and explain how I’ll pick the winners. At the time the giveaway ends which is, tentatively 12:00 noon (1600 UTC) on 30 September, I’ll begin tallying up the entries.
- Everyone who is listed on the Facebook Page receives one entry.
- Everyone who has posted a comment on this post (meeting the conditions stated above) receives one entry.
- Everyone who has sent me an e-mail with the URL to their own web site which contains a link to Free CCNA Labs receives one entry.
I’ll begin at #1 and assign each entry a number which I’ll punch into a spreadsheet (or, more likely, a CSV file since that’s how I roll). Once that is done (sometime on the afternoon of the 30th), I’ll use the random number generator on random.org to generate winning numbers from the list I’ve created. Winners will be contacted either via Facebook or e-mail (depending on how they entered) and will have 48 hours to “claim their prize”.
The prizes will be given away in this order: uCertify Cisco CCNA Prep Kit, 3 vRack Sessions, CCNA Book, 1 vRack Session, 1 vRack Session.
If I drew your name and you respond within 48 hours, you win. Easy, huh? Winners who don’t claim their prize within 48 hours automatically forfeit and I’ll draw another winner.
If you win, I prefer that you would let me publish your name here on the site, but I won’t require it. I’ll ask you about it when I contact you to notify you that you’ve won.
That’s It!
That’s all there is to it. I think that’s easy enough. If something isn’t clear or there are any questions (though, really, there shouldn’t be), leave a comment below (and no, that doesn’t get you an entry!)
NOTE: Privacy stuff… As you probably know, I hate spam. As part of the contest, I’ll probably end up with a lot of your e-mail addresses. They won’t be given away or sold or anything else, with one exception: whomever wins the uCertify Cisco CCNA Prep Kit allows me to give his or her e-mail address to uCertify, who will send a license key via e-mail.
IMPORTANT!
One other thing… this is my giveaway. I made up these rules and I reserve the right to change them as I see fit. I can disqualify any entrants for any reason whatsoever or even cancel the whole thing if I feel like it. Of course, I wouldn’t do either without a damn good reason but I reserve that right. Just sayin’.
Now, let’s have some fun with this and give away some stuff.
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