I am seriously considering signing up for this course, but I have a question about the structure of the class. It says that classes begin on a Sunday, but I don't really feel like I understand what is considered a "class" since the online version from my understanding is Self paced videos and then a PDF lab guide to compliment the videos.

Is it just that the lab time starts on that day? I'm a little confused.

Thanks so much for helping me with all of this. I just spoke to my manager and submitted the syllabus with the course cost info and he seemed to think it was a good fit. The biggest problem would be finding the time to let me do it since we're all so busy around here lately.

Also, I just read your review of it on your blog and it made me even more excited about it. Thanks again!

Thanks. It does help. I'm just trying to make sure what I'm asking for from my management is feasible. Maybe I can get them to include some lab time in it, but I guess we'll see.

So do you get your own lab you can work on whenever you can or do you have a set of problems where you need to start a scenario and finish it in that same time frame. My free time comes and goes sporadically and it would be much better if I started something and didn't have to have it reset every time I exited it. I might have to see if I can find some more definitive info on the Internet.

I'm a little worried my lack of any programming is going to hurt me a lot in this though.. 

I just took a look at the live version and it's a 5 day course. I'm not sure how long each day is, but it seems to me like I could take the online course and do it in five days (almost like a vacation week) unless I'm missing something..

I know the labs aren't included in that time, but I'm hoping I can take some of my own time and set it aside for that.

Any thoughts on how long it would take to get through the course doing it about 7.5 hours a day (taking breaks for lunches etc.)?

The last thing I want to do is rush through the material. I am really looking forward to it.

Yeah. I found a similar question after searching, but I was wondering about people thoughts on taking a chunk of time off of work to work on it. It might be a stretch to think I could get enough time off to do it, but I figured I'd ask people that were familiar with the course.

If it's not a good fit for this type of thing I will look into something else.

I have been thinking of taking the PWB course for a while, but I haven't had the time to consider it. My manager keeps asking if there is any training we would like and I wanted to bring up the PWB course, but I'm not sure how to bring it up since it's pretty much learn on your own.

I was thinking of asking for the course and a certain amount of time away from the office to work on it like it would be for a course in a different city, but from all that I've read I still can't figure out how much time that would be.

Is this type of thing a bad idea for this course? What else would you guys suggest instead?

I'm sure there's someone here that's taken a few SANS courses so I figured I'd ask this here even though it seems like an odd \ stupid question.

I was looking at the laptop requirements and prep email I received after registering for the SEC 401 and everything made sense until I read the install document that was linked to. It says to install SP2 and follow the instructions because some of the labs require the vulnerabilities that are still present.

Anyway, the page itself says XP SP3 and even windows 7 will work. I'm pretty sure that means it'll be fine, but I just wanted to make sure that I'm not going to miss anything by installing an updated version of XP.

Is this document just ancient?

Here is the page if anyone wants to look..
http://www.sans.org/sansfire-2011/laptop.php?tid=4547

and the PDF..
http://www.sans.org/security-training/os_install2.pdf

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I have put in two requests for training this year. One for the SANS 401 and another for ASA. I'm doubting I'll get approved for both so I'll be forced to pick just one. I think at this point with all of this feedback, I'll end up going with the SANS course. Thanks!

By "that area", he was talking generically about Security. Unfortunately the role hasn't really been defined since no one in management around here takes security seriously in the least and when I point things out I am normally told to stop being so paranoid or an alarmist or asked why I like to try to make things difficult for everyone. (I was told this most recently when they told me to make it so our wireless was open [and by open I mean no security at all] so people could use their iPads and I pushed back.) Since our company has recently had a big push towards taking our business to the web, that has changed a bit.

I guess my first impressions I got from looking at the course got me thinking it was for someone with no security or networking knowledge at all. I think seeing "Network Concepts" being listed as the first thing scared me off a bit.

My current job role here is fairly wide spread. I do a lot of Windows networking \ AD, VMWare, Cisco Routers, Switches, ASA. The only thing around here I don't touch at all is the SAN. I don't have an official job role with security, but it's been a small side role for me since I got here.

My boss has mentioned that we have some funds available for training and since I'm the most security minded one of our group asked if I'd be interested in some more training in that area. He has taken some SANS classes in the past and said I should look into it.  I received the E-mail for the Security 401 course and while it looks good, I'm worried it might be a bit too broad or I'd go in already knowing a lot of if not most of the stuff in the course.

If anyone has taken these types of courses, how in depth do they go into these concepts? Is there much or any hands on? If anyone has any recommendations on other courses to look at, I'd love to hear that as well.

I am looking to take the CCNA exam within the next couple of months. I thought about taking the CCENT and then the other that gets you the CCNA, but now I think I am just going to take the "bigger" test.

Anyway, I am reading through some of the information and going through some of the CBTs and they all mention the sdm as a method to configure the routers. Is the SDM actually tested? If so, is there an option to drop to the command line? I have absolutely no interest in using the SDM since all it really does is enter in commands for you. That just seems really backwards to me.

Anyway, I just wanted to get some input from someone that has taken the new test since the cisco guys at work all took the CCNA before the last test revamp. Thanks!

Haha, that's funny. That's the article I read this morning that made me start think about taking that exam again. 

I don't know if it's just my area or maybe it's just with the people I've dealt with, but I've put it on my resumes and during most interviews I have people ask me what it is. That tells me that it's meaningless to have it if no one knows what it is. 

After browsing this forum and the rest of the site some more today I was actually thinking about looking into the CISSP again. I think when I was looking at it before I didn't meet the requirements for the CISSP, but I did for the SSCP so I went with the SSCP instead.

Right now, I am really trying to figure out how to make the jump to a more security related job. I have always had a huge interest in the security field and I'm having a hard time coming up with a plan to move more into that field. Maybe the CISSP would help me there too.

I am thinking about going for the CEH after I complete my CCNA cert. I plan to do it via self study. I was just wondering about the required 2 years experience. What counts as experience?

 I currently hold the SSCP, but haven't found it much use and don't plan to renew it.