INE SP & RS CoD Reviews – Day 1

I am progressing through both the RS & SP CoD’s Bootcamps from INE and jotting down both key points from both and my own notes/observations. I am going through both as the SP CoD assumes RS knowledge so stuff like OSPF/Systems Management which are on the Lab are not covered in the CoD’s

IEATC – Section 1:

• Not all features listed in SP Blueprint are supported by IOS Versions
• Be aware of commands that have changed syntax or removed from IOS – this is key – I have experienced this in my SP Lab.
• Mis-documentation, incomplete documentation and no documentation e.g. Internet Access
• Master the locations of UniverCD –note blog post by INE -> http://blog.ine.com/2008/12/08/doc-cd/
• Don’t forget the TechNotes, Design Guides, RFC’s as well as command references and configuration guides
• Build and Verify, Build and Verify, Build and Verify
• 15 points per hour leaving 90 minutes for verification
• Make a points table with tasks & values for each major section – gives you a framework for the day
• SecureCRT for all devices individual icons on desktop, notepad, calculator, UniverCD
• Do NOT get bogged down on 3 point topic move on!
• SP Lab is hierarchical not compartmental – difficult to skip sections.
• In my opinion you must complete all L2, L3, MPLS & TE, Security, QoS & Systems Management before lunch. Why?
• Because you will need time to complete the MPLS VPN Section [20-30 points] & Multicast in the afternoon.
• End to end test can be accomplished if Internet Access question asked which may traverse the internetwork.

L2 Technologies

• Ethernet Switching – all preconfigured – some tickets placed in lab, troubleshoot same, all VTP, VLAN’s pre-defined.
• Frame Relay all pre-configured – make sure every working fine, watch dynamic mappings, troubleshoot.
• PPP supports authentication [PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP], multilinking & routing, know virtual templates, PPPoE [dialin & client] – Watch IOS!!!!! e.g. http://blog.ine.com/2008/01/20/example-configurations-for-ppp-over-ethernet-pppoe/
• Note that even Brian Dennis struggled to demonstrate this feature in the training video – Here are some IEWB-SP customers experiencing a similar issue -> http://ieoc.com/forums/p/4514/14608.aspx#14608

Final Peek of Home Lab inc. Cabling

Okay, last of the pictures – back to blogging labs – 2 weeks out from my payment date to Cisco!

Final CCIE SP Lab Peek

Sneek Peek – My SP Home Lab Setup

This is my lab at home minus the Octal, Serial and Cat6 cabling - details are…

1 x 2509, 2 x 2610xm, 1 x 2611xm, 3 x 2612, 4 x 3620, 1 x 3640, 1 x 3662, 1 x 3550, 1 x 3560 – adding up the NM’s and WIC’s there are 33 Ethernet Ports and 13 Serial’s [soon to be 18]. All running 12.2T for the 2600’s and 12.3T for the 3600’s with min 64MB DRAM & min 16MB Flash. Forgive the size but one size smaller and you can hardly see it.

CCIE SP Home Lab Rack

CCIE Interviews and SP Open Ended Questions Update

Three links here – 1st up from Cisco -> At Cisco Live we had the chance to talk with a number of IT professionals, some of them new Cisco Learning Network members, some of whom are an integral part of our community. Community Manager Ann Marcus asked a few of them for their advice on pursuing certifications and building a successful career. Interviewees include Scott Morris, Terry Slattery, etc. https://cisco.hosted.jivesoftware.com/community/cisco-live?view=overview

2nd link regarding the ongoing debate about open ended questions – the official Cisco response is here http://ciscocert.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4605/related/1 

My own thinking is that they will bring it in sooner rather than later and there will be one months notice of this. Also be aware from the SP Techtorials in Networkers this year that there are lab changes on the way for SP – check out Ricks entry here [3rd link] detailing those changes.http://rickmur.com/2009/01/26/networkers-09-ccie-sp-techtorial

Some more CCIE Resources

Whilst putting the final touches to my “Physical Lab” and finalising my prep for a VMware exam [VCP-310] on Thursday I came across these resources for CCIE SP & RS Prep. These are official Cisco Presentations and freely available to download so I hope they are of use.

Multicast Technology Foundations - Addressing, L2-IGMP, PIM, RPF, SSM, Bi-DIR http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02i_skollar_Mcast_fundamentals_I.pdf  http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02d_vlsettey_01_mcast_rp.pdf  http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02e_vlsettey_02_mcast_bidir.pdf  http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02f_vlsettey_03_mcast_ssm.pdf   http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02g_vlsettey_04_mcast_mngt.pdf

Multicast – High Availability, Load Balancing, convergence – L2/L3 , anycast SSM http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02c_vlsettey_0x_mcast_fc_ecmp.pdf

Multicast VPN – mVPN, SSM in mVPN, anycast. Multicast Security + QoS, Netflow http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02b_kbaksova_Techtorial%20Day_Mcast_Security_and_QoS.pdf   http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02h_skollar_MVPN.pdf

Interdomain Multicast MBGP (MSDP), Tools and Troubleshooting http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/02a_kbaksova_Techtorial%20Day_MSDP.pdf

CCIE R&S lab blueprint overview, CCIE test taking strategy http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/03a_pmesjar_CCIE-R_S-Techtorial-Overview.pdf

IGP deep-down, practical task using ASET Labs, Auto-Verify for IGP tasks
http://www.ciscoexpo.sk/slides/03b_pmesjar_CCIE-R_S-Techtorial-IGP.pdf

Turned my back [slightly] on Dynamips!

During the 3 months off after the 1st attempt I was able to have a long hard look at the way I studied and what I used – As I mentioned in a previous post a more focussed approach was required – less study material more in depth, narrowed topics to be studied and labbed. I felt the use of a combination of Dynamips and Rack Rentals was the way to go. I now believe that not to be 100% true. The rack rental did not always work out – slots either too short [7 hours] or too long [11+ hours] – work also got in my way a lot whereby I would book several weekends in advance online but then work commitments meant I had to work a given weekend thus screwing up my rental time. Also some technical glitches whereby a ticket would have to be raised and a solution obtained by the support engineers [this was the exception and the response time was good but it did happen nevertheless], on one occasion my internet connection dropped for an hour and finally the continuous setting up of initial configurations and remapping of interfaces took up time - overall the experience was not 100%.

On the Dynamips front [and I'm going against the grain now] I never managed to achieve a full fledged SP Lab to my satisfaction. I used XP with 3GB RAM initially and then turned to Ubuntu with 4GB. It took many many hours playing with Idle PC Values to tweak the devices to as close to 100% peak performance as possible. Even then some of them bugged out once you got your full IGP/EGP configurations going. Sometime the GNS3 software crashed. Other times I would get spurious router errors/messages whilst configuring and having researched on Hacki/Google/IEOC, etc it would turn out to be a known Dynamips issue. Finally, I never got the physical interface bound to my NIC on the PC to allow physical access to my 3550 from the virtual routers. I am firmly of the opinion that Dynamips is cool and great for CCNA/CCNP studies or very narrowly focussed CCIE Labs but not for full SP Lab Exercises.

All in all, I found valuable time going astray in different directions rather than being focussed on the task in hand, namely the SP Lab.

With that in mind and with the current prices of hardware on EBay – I have gone and picked up quite a cool SP Lab for what I consider to be good value. I will detail the lab in my next post as the kit comes to hand but we are talking 2610XM’s, 2612’s, 3620’s, 3640’s and a 3662!

What are your thoughts regarding the above – did I waste my money on hardware? Has anyone found the same situations to be true for them?

Invested in additional SP study material!

As someone who has never attended a CCIE Training Class nor buddied up with a fellow CCIE Candidate, I had a feeling I was missing something – that extra bit of help or guidance to see an issue through another per of eyes. Following some research I chose the CCIE SP Lab Mentoring Kit from IPExpert. Ref: https://www.ipexpert.com/index.cfm/product/sku/IPX0533

What stood out for me was “The instructor will explain how the portion being discussed relates to all of the other tasks involved in a particular lab.” This is incredibly important for the SP Exam - the inter-dependencies between tasks which I can attest to – Even Nugroho references this fact in his blog entry here -> http://brokenpipes.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-become-ccie-v2.html

Finally, I would like to add that Mike Down in Ipexpert was very helpful regrding costs on the product and I would recommend getting in touch with him regarding IPexpert Purchases. Thanks Mike.

Impossible to get SP Lab Dates in Europe!

Hmm, SP seems to be very popular at the moment – I looked yesterday for a seat earlier than my current October Date and got some options in December – I went back in today and NADA.

From experience there are 2 seats in Brussels for SP out of about 26 seats total. There are 4 Voice I think and the majority RS [maybe 12 or more!]

Regarding the latest changes announced to the RS Track if I were an RS candidate I would not worry too much as they will not be in depth questions on the MPLS L3 Section as that is covered in the SP Track. Troubleshooting, I enjoyed in my SP Lab and it will be interesting how they handle scoring the TS Section prior to proceeding to the Configuration Section. Regarding the SP Blueprint, since Security went to V3 in April 2009, Voice changing in July 2009 and now the RS announcement effective October 2009, I guess an SP Announcement is in the pipeline – Nevertheless, they will have to give SP candidates 6 months notice of upcoming changes as per procedure so if your SP Lab is currently booked you should be fine!

I really am back!!

Hi,

My original “Back Online” post was a little optimistic!

I have been tied up work wise with major data projects and time with the family. Training wise I completed some VMWare and Executive Effectivenness courses since my lab attempt to keep the brain active.

Okay, so Lab Attempt number 2 is being planned – the keyword I have learned is “Focus” – more foccussed studying and using less materials than before – I have seen what is being asked and the difference between passing and failing is details – little details. Remember on a 3 part question with 9 points for that section, the 1st part may be okay to complete, the 2nd part might be difficult but doable however the 3rd part is difficult and will require an advanced knowledge. However this is the CCIE Lab exam.

I am scheduled for October 23rd – so here we go!!!!!!!

Back Online.

Thanks guys for the positive comments – very much appreciated – Blog will remain intact through the 2nd attempt and expect to see some technology focussed entries soon.

Regards, Steve.