QOS, MPLS, and BGP In a Networking Career

bugzy3188

Hey all,

I am looking forward toward my eventual career in networking and am noticing a pattern with job postings of this nature. A very large part of them post BGP, MPLS, and QOS experience as a requirement for the position. After recently obtaining my CCNA, CCNP is an obvious step for me, however, I am noticing that the CCNP doesn’t cover MPLS or QOS at all and only consists of 5% BGP. After doing some research on MPLS and getting a very broad view I am seeing that this protocol is something that appears to be of concern for service providers in that the client uses a routing protocol and MPLS is used in the white fluffy cloud that magically takes the packets to their destined networks. How would this affect ones daily job as a network administrator? Are there any recommended resources to brush up on this? Same goes with BGP and QOS, I have a sneaking sensation that QOS is more subjective than it is a tangible item that can be studied. I would really like to at very least be able to explain the fundamentals of these subjects and have some idea of how they are used in the day to day operations of a network engineer, any advice, links, or general guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

OfWolfAndMan

I am not one of much knowledge on BGP or MPLS, but as I have been told, BGP has fundies in the NP side and the rest is mostly CCIE. I do, however, work with QoS as our network has VoIP phones and other things that occasionally require special priority. The first thing I learned about QoS when we implemented it was service policies (Just in case you're looking for a start) and of course, the concept of it. I have the books for BGP and QoS (For cert and work purposes):

http://www.amazon.com/Internet-Routing-Architectures-2nd-Edition/dp/157870233X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401851676&sr=8-1&keywords=internet+routing+architectures

Cisco QOS Exam Certification Guide (IP Telephony Self-Study) (2nd Edition): Wendell Odom, Michael J. Cavanaugh: 9781587201240: Amazon.com: Books

For MPLS, this is the book I was recommended:
MPLS Fundamentals: Luc De Ghein: 9781587051975: Amazon.com: Books

Best of luck to you!

fredrikjj

bugzy3188 wrote: »

however, I am noticing that the CCNP doesn’t cover MPLS or QOS at all and only consists of 5% BGP.

It's 5% of the questions on the exam, but the scope is as large as the other two routing protocols.

filkenjitsu

I work for a service provider and am currently working my way through the CCNP Service Provider certification. SPCORE covers MPLS, Traffic Engineering, and QoS which is what I am studying now. I passed SPEDGE which covers L2 & L3 VPNs in and outside of MPLS.

The content is amazing and lines up with exactly what I do at work on a weekly basis. I am not sure this knowledge would be that useful in the enterprise, but the QoS stuff is good everywhere. We do tons of QoS on our cellsite and MTSO routers.

SPADVROUTE covers BGP where basically the CCNP ROUTE test is concerned plus extra topics more in depth based on the old CCNP BGP test. Multicast is also covered.

Dieg0M

QoS is very important as most enterprises depend on it heavily for their branches connectivity Optimization. MPLS not so much in the sense of LDP/TDP but more for the L3VPN and MPLS pseudowire functionality of it. Also, some companies run their own MPLS backbone and you will again need to know how to configure L3VPN's, vrf's, follow the label etc...
BGP is probably the most important of all protocols that will make or break your interview. If someone knows very little on QoS/MPLS but is very confortable with BGP he might still be considered for the position but if he knows little on BGP and is super good with QoS and MPLS (well you gotta know BGP for L3VPN's ) you can be pretty certain he is not getting the job. You will need it for all connections between external clients and trust me if you are in a big enterprise, you will be connecting to many people.

networker050184

Depends entirely on the network you will be working on. QoS is probably the most wide spread of these three outside of service provider networks. If you plan on doing anything high level at an ISP you will need very in depth BGP and MPLS knowledge.

Dieg0M

Sorry, I was talking for a position within an Enterprise. You will obviously need all those in an SP environment.