What Involved in CCNP

Can someone let me know what i need to know about CCNP. I want to know which courses i need to start preparing for as regards CCNP.

hei, to know abt CCNP (CISCO CERTIFIED NETWORK PROFESSIONAL) uve got to pass CCNA (CISCO CERTIFIED NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR) its an exam that focuses implementation, configuration, installation of cisco products and equipments.

I've already taken CCNA but do u have any idea of Courses to be taken under CCNP as i found out it has 4 exams under it.

Huge topic,
To post a proper reply to this question i gonna require someone that has tasted the waters and i guess im going to take the bull by the horn right now.
First off, the CCNP, i guess, is the coolest thing anyone will want to lay thier hands on at the moment because it will not only boost your chances of getting a better employment opprtunity, but it will expose to the details of cisco networking technology.
In your CCNA days, you know routing protocols, access control lists, VLAN and interVLAN routing, basic router and switch security, spanning tree protocol, wireless LAN, basic file management etc, but you really don't know these stuffs in detals.
As a CCNA, you have the skills necessary to manage a small office/home office network of about 50-100 hosts but as a CCNP, you would have aquired the skills to manage and optimize an enterprise class network that consissts of thousands of nodes in different locations and brach offices.
For example, in the CCNP track, there a module that is dedicated to routing protocols alone. You will have a ten thousand foot view of each of the routing protocols you learnt about in CCNA(OSPF, EIGRP, RIP) and also learn new protocols such as IS-IS and BGP(routing protocol of the internet).
There is also another track that is dedi cated to switching alone and in this module, you will know the details of enterprise switching technology such as PER VLAN spanning tree protocol, VLAN design and implementation, Layer 2 and Layer 3 ether channel and a lot of other technology that were not introduced in CCNA.
the third and fourth modules are deicated to Security and optimisation respectively. You will be exposed to things that were not even mentioned in CCNA at all. Things like AAA,(authentication authorisation and accounting), Quality of service, IOS firewall basics, Intrusion detection and prevention, Voice over IP, MPLS, DSL technology etc.\
I bet you, by the time you are said and done, you will see yourself as a fulfilled man because you have a wide varity of thechnology aat your disposal and you will never be afriad of getting fired by your employee, isnt this cool.
Below is a list of corses you have to pass before you can be certified.
1) BUILDING A SCALABLE CISCO INTERNETWORK (BSCI) 642-901 (ROUTING)
2)BUILDING CONVERGED CISCO MULTILAYER SWITCHED NETWORK (BCMSN) 642-812 (SWITCHING)
3)IMPLEMENTING SECURED CONVERGED WIDE AREA NETWORK (ISCW) 642-825 (SECURITY)\
4)OPTIMIZING CONVERGED CISCO NETWORK (ONT) 642-845 (OPTIMIZATION AND MANAGEMENT)
Four papers in all, but you can make it three buy writing the Routing and switching composite exam i.e. you can write the first two together and the exam code for that is 642-892.

As much as the CCNp track looks so huge and enormous, it is not that difficult to pass if you have direction, the right materials and the proper instructor to put you through. The concepts you have to learn arent as difficult as the concepts you learnt while in the UNIversity or POLY so Get started today.
Regds dele

@dellydigit, i can't ask for a better explanation. Thanx a mil.