FAQ - Cybersecurity SECFND and

SECOPS Courses
Last Updated August 25, 2017

Before submitting feedback, please check the Frequently Asked Questions below to see if your question is
answered below.

This eLearning course is the same material you'd get if you sat down in the 1-week in-person course. While
we've had some users tell us they passed their exam on the first try using only the ELT as their study guide,
we do recommend combining it with other learning materials, including:

Cisco Learning Network Study Groups—an online community where you can ask questions and share
resources related to certifications.

Cisco Learning Network Premium—a package of study tools with a (small) fee associated to it.

 GENERAL
 CHALLENGES AND ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
 LABS (including error messages in labs)
 EXAMS
GENERAL

Q: How can I get a picture to show up in my account?

A: To have an avatar appear:

1. Go to http://en.gravatar.com/
2. Create an account using the email address you used for the Cisco course.
3. Log in to the Cisco ELT course, and click Settings.
4. Associate the email used in the avatar account with the email address in the Settings area.
5. Click Save Settings to add the avatar image to your profile.

Q: Why do I get a message that says “Content Unavailable. The content is unavailable in this version of the
course.”?

A: You are running a Demo version of the course or you’re running the course on SalesConnect. You will only
see the TEXT (not the videos, review questions, challenge questions, discovery labs, or challenge labs).
You can purchase the full course, with all of its content and components, here:
https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/

Q: Can you provide the content in a Word, PDF, or EPUB file? Can I download the content myself?

A: No. ELT courses are only available online. We do not provide a copy in another format, nor is there a way
for you to download the content.

Q: Can I print the course so that I have a hard copy of it?

A: No, this all-digital course is optimized for online viewing with integrated labs and videos and cannot be
printed.

Q: Is there a way to highlight text in the course?

A: There is not. However, you can create a bookmark. From there, you can enter a brief note.
Q: How do I create a bookmark?

A: Follow these steps to add a bookmark:

1. Click the
bookmark icon at
the top of the page
to save that page
in your bookmarks
list.

2. Go to the
Bookmarks in the
Table of Contents
to view your
bookmarks from
the full menu.

3. Type notes
(if you want to)
and press
<Enter>.
Q: Where is [X] discussed in this course?

A: There is a Search feature at the top of your screen. If you enter the word [X] that you’re looking for, all of its
instances (and associated links) will be displayed.

Q: Why doesn’t this course display properly on my cell phone?

A: The courses, especially the labs, are optimized and designed for a standard PC or laptop. Although they
function on tablets, they are not supported on cell phones.

Q: While I was in the course, I got a message that the content was updated and I got kicked out. What
happened?

A: We released an update to the content. When you get that browser message, click OK for it to be updated
immediately, and then sign back into the course. If you’re doing work that you don’t want to lose (like a lab),
click Cancel. The content will be updated the next time you refresh the browser or go to a new page.

Q: While I was in the course, I got a message that the session was terminated and I have to sign back in. Why?

A: Make sure that you only have one instance of the course open. You cannot sign into the course if you’ve
already got another session open where you’re signed in.
Q: Why did I, all of a sudden, get a message on the top ribbon of my browser that says “Achievement
Unlocked”?

A: Congratulations! You just did something that awarded you a badge. You can see all the badges and medals
in the Badges & Medals section, from the full menu of the Table of Contents.

Q: How do I see the full menu of the Table of Contents?

A: If your Table of Contents is collapsed to allow for more screen space, click the icon on the upper left of your
screen:

Click the icon again to collapse the Table of Contents.

Or, click Back to full menu to return to the list of all of the course components.
Q: When I click on an acronym that’s hyperlinked, it takes me to the Glossary page, but then I have to manually
find my way back to where I was. Can you fix that?

A: To view a single term, just hover your mouse over the acronym to see the definition. Or, from the Glossary,
click the Back button in your browser to return to the page with the acronym you clicked.

Q: Why isn’t this acronym hyperlinked to the Glossary?

A: There are two possible reasons:

1. Some acronyms are common enough that their expanded definitions are not required. CPU is an
example.
2. We typically only link the first instance of the acronym in a course.

Q: I just pressed Ctrl-W and my browser just closed. Why?

A: Ctrl-W is a browser shortcut key that does exactly that—closes the browser window.

Q: The images are too small. Can you make them larger?

A: Unfortunately, we can’t enlarge most images due to space and formatting constraints. However, since the
course opens in a browser, you can magnify the viewing screen. Just remember to reset the Zoom level
afterwards so that everything else isn’t too big. Here is an example in Chrome:
Q: Can you make the videos stop freezing or buffering?

A: The videos are not hosted on Cisco servers—they’re all hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services), probably
on the east coast of the U.S. Distance may or may not be a factor. The problem is either a location issue in
regard to how far AWS is from you, or how busy their servers are at the time. Other students have said that
connections have been better at different times of the day or night, so please try again at a different time.

Q: The narrator in the video is speaking too quickly for me. Is there a way to make it slower?

A: Yes! Click on the 1x button at the bottom of the video. You can make it quicker (higher numbers) or slow it
down (lower numbers). Also, you might want to click the Open Transcript button so that you can read along
with the narrator.

Q: What do I have to do to complete the course?

A: You must complete each section with a score of 70% or higher. If there is a challenge lab, you must
successfully complete that as well with a score of at least 70%.
Q: How do I get a Certificate of Completion?

A: The certificate of completion is inside the course. When you complete the required material and have at
least a bronze in each section’s challenge, the system unlocks the Wrap Up page (see screenshot below)
from where you can print their certificate. The certificate is a PDF file that downloads onto your device, so
make sure that any pop-up blocker is disabled.

Q: Why isn’t my Certificate of Completion printing?

A: This function downloads a PDF file. It may be that your computer is blocking PDF files or downloads all
together. Check your settings or try it on a different device.
Q: What’s the difference between a Medal, a Badge, and an Achievement?

A: Medals refer to the completion of a Challenge section and whether you received a Gold, Silver, or Bronze
medal. They determine course completion certificates and look like this:

Not yet completed: Completed (Gold):

Conversely, “achievements” have no bearing on the course completion certificate. They’re simply “to do” list
items that you can perform.

Not completed: Completed:

Q: I’m going on vacation. Can I stop my subscription and restart it when I return?

A: No, subscriptions may not be paused.

CHALLENGES AND ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

Q: The answers to the Challenge questions are showing before I answer them. Why?

A: You likely already started this challenge. On the first challenge screen, instead of clicking the Begin button
(your previous answers will remain), click the Restart summary challenge link (your previous answers will
be cleared out).

Q: Can I re-do an entire Challenge?

A: If you click the Begin button, your previous answers will remain. If you click the Restart summary
challenge link, your previous answers will be cleared out.

Q: Can you explain the answer to assessment question [n]?

A: While we can say that questions are developed to be unambiguous, we can't answer questions directly
related to the exam. You can, however, go to the study group
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/learning_center/featured-groups and post your question there
if it hasn’t already been asked and answered. Or, submit feedback if you feel that the question or answer is
not written clearly.

Q: My answers to the Challenge questions stayed in the system, but my answers to the Content Review
questions disappeared. Is that right?

A: Yes, that’s how it’s supposed to work. Your answers to the Challenge questions (the questions that are in
the last topic in a section) will remain unless you click the Restart summary challenge link. Then all your
answers disappear so that you can start the Challenge again. Your answers to the Content Review
questions (the questions that appear on many topic pages within a section) disappear when you sign out of
the course. This is by design.
Q: How do I know how many questions have to be answered correctly to get a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal?

A: Every Challenge landing page (the page before Question 1 of the challenge) tells you exactly what you need
to do to get a medal. Here’s an example:

LABS

Q: I got an “albatross” error. What do I do?

A: The “albatross” error is actually a system/network issue between the client end and the websocket.

 Disable HTTPS scanning on antivirus software.

 Sign out of the course, re-launch it, and try the lab again, since this can be an intermittent problem.

If that didn’t help, see if you can access the sites below without any errors:

FOR SECURITY COURSES: https://vz-websockets.certsite.net/status.json

FOR ALL OTHER COURSES: https://websockets.certsite.net/status.json

If you were able to access the link but the lab still gave you an albatross error, please provide us the
following information:

 Browser (and version)

 Operating system (and version)
 ISP or network provider
 Connection (VPN, home, office, cable, etc)

It’s very likely, though—especially if you cannot access the websockets link above—that your internal office
setup is blocking access. We’ve seen this happen before. Try the lab at home. If it works at home, you’ll
know that the problem is that your office’s IT department has prevented access, and you should discuss it
with them.
Q: I got an “ant” error. What do I do?

A: The “ant” error sometimes occurs when you click the Grade button in Challenge labs. It can mean one of
two things:

1. There was a brief loss of connection.

2. The grading server returned an error.

Please sign out, re-launch the course, and try to grade the lab again. If the problem occurs again, please let
us know.

Q: What’s the difference between a Graded lab, a Challenge lab, and a Discovery lab?

A: The terms “Graded lab” and “Challenge lab” are used interchangeably. They are one and the same. A
Graded lab (or Challenge lab) has a Grade button and is found in the Challenge topic (always the last topic)
of a section. Graded labs must be completed as part of the section’s medal award.

A Discovery lab is not graded. They can be found on any topic page within a section and have no impact on
medal standing.

Discovery labs are not graded, and provide guided practice. Challenge labs, typically found as the last
question in a Challenge topic, are graded and are designed for you to test what you’ve learned.

To see a list of the labs in a course, go to the Table of Contents. Then go to Lab Listing. The labs are filtered
by “All Labs,” “Graded,” and “Discovery.” Click Graded to see a list of only the Challenge labs. Click
Discovery to see a list of Discovery labs.

Q: I just initialized a Graded lab but there are no Tasks showing. Why?

A: In a Challenge lab, the Scenario text presents sufficient information to determine the issue.

 To mimic real life, you should be able to complete the lab with only the Scenario text.
 If more information is required, click the Grade button so that the Tasks appear and you can use
them as a guide.
 If you need more help than that, there is the Show Me option in the Tasks so that you can see what
the answers should look like.

Q: I’m working on a lab and I’m being asked for the device’s password. What is it?

A: It’s Cisco123! (with the ! at the end), unless otherwise specified.

Q: I’m working on a lab and it won’t accept the password. It tells me that it’s the wrong password. Why?

A: This could be because of latency or key repeat. Latency can be a problem when the VNC client sends a key
down message followed by a key up message and there is significant delay between those two packets.
This can lead to key repeats. Since the lab uses real hardware, the farther away geographically you are, the
 stronger chance that latency is causing the problem. Try to type slowly to allow the hardware to catch up.
Performing the lab at a different time of day might help as well.

Q: A lab can sometimes take a while to finish and sometimes I need to step away. During that time, the lab
resets. Can I save and resume it from where I left off?

A: Unfortunately, no, not at this time.

Q: Are the labs only available for a limited amount of time?

A: In ELT courses, labs are available for the length of the course subscription—unlimited time, unlimited access
for the duration of the subscription.

Q: How can I copy and paste in the CLI screens?

A: Highlight the text that you want to copy and use CTRL-C or “edit / copy” to copy, then click where you want
the text and use CTRL-V or “edit / paste” to paste. However, when working on a lab’s virtual machine,
copying will save it on your local PC’s clipboard so you cannot then paste it onto the virtual machine.

Q: Why do I keep getting disconnected from my lab?

A: There could be a few reasons.

- These issues are usually because of wireless connections.

- Make sure that your client is connected and not intermittently dropping the connection.
- Reboot your AP if you’re at home, plug in to a wire if you need to.

The connection might be fine for things that spool up, like movies, but the labs are quite connection-oriented
so they can be sensitive.

Also, please make sure that you allow some time for each device to initialize after you select it. Yes, the lab
itself needs to initialize—you know that’s done because you can get into it—but as you select each device, it
needs to wake up, initialize, and catch up to you. So give each device a few seconds as well.

Q. SECURITY COURSES ONLY: The lab is frozen; it won’t initialize.

A. We expect it to take about 5 minutes for most labs to spin up.

For the lab titled “Explore the Network Infrastructure,” it is closer to 10 minutes. This lab uses a physical
switch and it takes 5 minutes to boot itself. The physical switch must be booted in the first phase, and other
things depend on it so it takes even longer to initialize.

If you see that a lab is “stuck” at a certain percentage, like if it’s been on 17% for a long time, that’s the point
at which it’s bringing up the hardware. You’ll see it go from 17% right to “Ready,” with no countdown in
between.
Q: The lab initialized fine so why can’t I access the devices?

A: The lab itself needs to initialize—you know that’s done because you can get into it—but as you select each
device, it needs to wake up, initialize, and catch up to you. So give each device a few seconds as well. Also,
sometimes you might find that you have to double-click on the devices—or on the icons within those
devices—twice. This is normal.

Q: I’m taking the Security certificate program. How are labs graded?

A: Cisco has two types of labs: Graded and Discovery. All of the labs in the Security certificate courses are
Discovery labs. Discovery labs are not graded and so there is no completion event. Discovery labs have
some type of success criteria at the end, though—it’s usually something like “the packets will be allowed” or
“the user will/will not be allowed to connect” or “the devices have EIGRP adjacency” or something similar. To
see if you have completed a Discovery lab, you can evaluate your lab against that success criteria;
otherwise there’s no symbol of your lab being complete. Nothing will show under the Graded section of the
Lab Listing in the Table of Contents, because there are no Graded labs. The time that you spent performing
the lab is displayed in the “Time Spent” column of the Discovery labs list. When you’ve completed the
Discovery lab, simply click the next topic to move forward in the course.

Q: How are Graded labs graded?

A: Here are some rules of thumb:

Rob is unable to complete the challenge until all the steps in the simulation have been successfully
executed. Is this normal for a challenge?

A challenge is not considered complete until each step in the scenario is complete. You should be able to
grade it as many times as you wish and "fix" whatever is red. That's common among users—to do some
work and grade it, then go back and fix what's red and grade again, and again.

I guess we expected to be graded, and if there were any error/missing configurations it would be
represented as a failed instance. Is that not the case?

See answer above. If there are 5 tasks and you do some work and click the Grade button, you may find that
1, 2, and 4 are complete while 3 and 5 are not. In that case, 1, 2, and 4 will be green while 3, and 5 will be
red. You can go back to tasks 3 and 5 and work on them, clicking Grade over and over as you make
changes. You will need them all to go green before it's considered complete.

The way it is set up doesn’t quite resemble an actual exam, but more of a sandbox. Is this the same
for every simulation challenge and has this always been the standard?

The challenges aren't meant to simulate an exam, they're for getting practice on the equipment and gaining
experience and confidence with the commands. In many ways the challenges are *more* challenging than
an exam simulation, so if you can get comfortable with the Graded challenges it should make the exam
simulations less stressful.
Q: I am using a keyboard that is not English. Why do some lab functions not work as expected, like the pipe (|)
symbol?

A: The equipment in the labs use U.S. English, therefore they will only understand U.S. English keyboards.

The solution is to install the English locale and use the virtual keyboard on-screen.

To do this, select the "Add a language" settings in Windows. Click Add a language and select English
(United States). Then use the input selector to change between one language and the other.

For Windows 10 users: http://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-your-keyboard-layout-windows-10

Q: Can you help me complete this lab?

A: Here are a few suggestions:

 If something isn’t working as per the Task instructions or Show Me text, make sure that you’re using the
correct device, as indicated in the instructions.
 Some tasks are dependent on the previous task(s) being completed, so make sure that they’re all done
correctly.
 Review the Topology, the Hints, and the Job Aid.
 Review the recordings of completed labs, if any were recorded and shared. These can be found in the Lab
Listing section (from the Table of Contents) and, if any are shared, will be indicated in the Community
Shares column for that lab.
 Click Grade to access the Show Me buttons that give you the exact steps (with explanation) that you need
to take to complete the lab.
 Please be aware that the order of the configuration entries is important for the lab’s success.
 Go to the Study Groups here:
o https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/learning_center/featured-groups

While we can say that questions and labs are developed to be unambiguous, we can't answer questions
directly related to how to answer or perform them. You can, however, go to the study group page linked
above and post your question there if it hasn’t already been asked and answered.
Q: Can I pop out a lab window to make it easier to read and so the device isn’t blocking the Task instructions?

A: You can't pop the text out, but you can pop out all of the configuration windows and then make the lab text
(nearly) full screen. If you have a large monitor, or if you have a second monitor, this helps.

1. Initialize the lab.

2. Then go to each command window and click the stacked rectangles (which may appear on the
bottom left or the top right) so the command line work is done in external windows:

3. Then resize and organize the external windows on the second monitor or "off to the side" on a big
monitor.
4. Then, at the top left, click the icon to close the Table of Contents so the lab takes up the most
space possible:

This is how you can set up your screen for three devices, two on the external monitor and one in the main
window.
Q: The instructions in the task are telling me to go to an icon that I cannot see on this device. Why?

A: If you’ve popped the device out into a separate browser window, if it’s not full screen, then you will have to
use the scroll bars to move side to side or up and down.

EXAMS

Q: When I’m finished with the course, will I know everything that I need to know for the exam?

A: All development starts with a blueprint, and then the course(s) and exam(s) are built to that. You can find
the blueprint online here: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/

In comparison to the exam, the eLearning (ELT) uses the same blueprint and covers the same topics, the
same labs (adapted slightly to add information because the student is not in front of an instructor to ask
questions), and the same overall material as the instructor-led training. This eLearning is the same material
you'd get if you sat down in the 1-week course, and we've had some users tell us they passed their exam on
the first try using only the ELT as their study guide, but you should combine it with other learning
materials.

You might also want to join the Study Groups:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/learning_center/featured-groups

You can go to the study group page linked above and post a question there if it hasn’t already been asked
and answered there.

Q: I have to schedule (or reschedule) my exam. What should I do?

A: Send an email to examcertsupport@cisco.com

Q: I passed the exam! How do I verify that it’s been recorded in my Cisco account?

A: Congratulations! Log in to the Certification Tracking System with your Cisco ID:
https://cisco.pearsoncred.com/durango/do/login?ownername=cisco&channel=cisco&basechannel=integral7