Passed JNCIE-SP (#2332)
I finally got my score report and got my number, 2332. Nice and symmetrical. I wanted to pass along a few thoughts on this exam, strategies for taking it, etc.
Since I have two CCIE’s, the first thing people ask is: how does JNCIE compare? Well, I passed my first CCIE (R/S) in 2004 and my second (Sec) in 2008, so I don’t know what the current CCIE exam is like. However, I will say that the current JNCIE-SP exam is easily as difficult as the CCIE exams I took, and possibly harder. I failed my first try and I was troubled by the difficulty. I came in thoroughly prepared, and crashed and burned. As I walked out of the exam room, the other guy who was taking SP looked at me and just shook his head. “Terrible,” he said. This test is no joke, and you need to know the material on the exam objectives very well. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare is to fail the exam once, since it gives you the best idea of what they are looking for.
My preparation: I am a Juniper employee, which is an advantage. I have easy access to the education services slideware, which is excellent. If you are external you can purchase it. Do. Go through every slide and condense it into notes. You’ll want to know all the scenarios they present, and all the configuration options. Try everything in the lab.
I took the JNCIE-SP bootcamp here at Juniper in August. The course is mostly labs, of course, so don’t do it until you have passed your JNCIP and feel confident in all subject areas. The bootcamp was very helpful, and focused my studying. I learned quite a few things from the labs and slides, and also from our instructor, who knows the test quite well. Despite all the above, the bootcamp is not adequate in and of itself. There are some topics that are not covered (e.g. hub and spoke) which are on the exam objectives. Know all the topics listed in the objectives.
For lab scenarios, I just practiced the ones from the bootcamp. I supplemented these with self-designed labs on specific topics (e.g., hub and spoke VPN, VLAN normalization). After I failed the exam the first time, I created a much more complex lab designed to simulate a service provider environment, which is how the actual lab is designed. Due to NDA, I won’t be sharing that lab.
I used Junosphere for all of my labs, or an internal Juniper tool that is similar. I didn’t touch physical hardware for practice. Everything you need to do, you can do in Junosphere.
I managed to finish the lab 2 hours early the second time, and went back and fixed a few errors. I needed the full two hours to review and debug. I actually realized I had made a mistake on one section while I was driving home. Luckily I had enough points elsewhere to pass.
A side note: Juniper says it may take up to 15 business days to receive your score. It will take 15 business days to receive your score. Plan accordingly. Once you take the test, don’t check your email every five minutes. Put it out of your mind and go on with life.
These are just some initial thoughts. I’ve learned so much over the last months and I am happy to have done it. My third expert-level networking exam will almost certainly be my last. I will put some more thoughts down eventually on my semi-defunct blog SubnetZero | Routing, Switching, and anything else, but I am not sure when I will get to it.
To those of you who are studying for this test or any other: good luck!
Since I have two CCIE’s, the first thing people ask is: how does JNCIE compare? Well, I passed my first CCIE (R/S) in 2004 and my second (Sec) in 2008, so I don’t know what the current CCIE exam is like. However, I will say that the current JNCIE-SP exam is easily as difficult as the CCIE exams I took, and possibly harder. I failed my first try and I was troubled by the difficulty. I came in thoroughly prepared, and crashed and burned. As I walked out of the exam room, the other guy who was taking SP looked at me and just shook his head. “Terrible,” he said. This test is no joke, and you need to know the material on the exam objectives very well. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare is to fail the exam once, since it gives you the best idea of what they are looking for.
My preparation: I am a Juniper employee, which is an advantage. I have easy access to the education services slideware, which is excellent. If you are external you can purchase it. Do. Go through every slide and condense it into notes. You’ll want to know all the scenarios they present, and all the configuration options. Try everything in the lab.
I took the JNCIE-SP bootcamp here at Juniper in August. The course is mostly labs, of course, so don’t do it until you have passed your JNCIP and feel confident in all subject areas. The bootcamp was very helpful, and focused my studying. I learned quite a few things from the labs and slides, and also from our instructor, who knows the test quite well. Despite all the above, the bootcamp is not adequate in and of itself. There are some topics that are not covered (e.g. hub and spoke) which are on the exam objectives. Know all the topics listed in the objectives.
For lab scenarios, I just practiced the ones from the bootcamp. I supplemented these with self-designed labs on specific topics (e.g., hub and spoke VPN, VLAN normalization). After I failed the exam the first time, I created a much more complex lab designed to simulate a service provider environment, which is how the actual lab is designed. Due to NDA, I won’t be sharing that lab.
I used Junosphere for all of my labs, or an internal Juniper tool that is similar. I didn’t touch physical hardware for practice. Everything you need to do, you can do in Junosphere.
I managed to finish the lab 2 hours early the second time, and went back and fixed a few errors. I needed the full two hours to review and debug. I actually realized I had made a mistake on one section while I was driving home. Luckily I had enough points elsewhere to pass.
A side note: Juniper says it may take up to 15 business days to receive your score. It will take 15 business days to receive your score. Plan accordingly. Once you take the test, don’t check your email every five minutes. Put it out of your mind and go on with life.
These are just some initial thoughts. I’ve learned so much over the last months and I am happy to have done it. My third expert-level networking exam will almost certainly be my last. I will put some more thoughts down eventually on my semi-defunct blog SubnetZero | Routing, Switching, and anything else, but I am not sure when I will get to it.
To those of you who are studying for this test or any other: good luck!
Comments
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zoidberg
Member Posts: 365 ■■■■□□□□□□
Way to go! That's a tremendous accomplishment! And a great number
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fredrikjj
Member Posts: 879
Congratulations!
PS.
I read the about page on your blog and laughed more than once. Great stuff. -
oldman1980
Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
Congrats on the pass and thanks for the write up. This helps me a lot. You are so right about waiting for your results. Move on and don't think about it. My CCIE results came in after 4 hours, my JNCIE results was 3 weeks. I work for Juniper as a contractor and have taken the bootcamp a year ago. This was before I had my JNCIS-SP and JNCIP-SP(got these two a few weeks ago) and when I was focused on the JNCIE-ENT. There was a free spot on the bootcamp and my manager let me go. I agree on the boot camp. I had similar experiences with it. I ordered the InetZero material also. I used their material with the Juniper bootcamp material to get my ENT. I plan on using the same material for the SP. I have my own hardware and will use Junoshere also. I am glad they revised the text recently, means I can focus on the material without it changing on me anytime soon.
Congrats again and thanks for sharing,
Oldman1980 -
snadam
Member Posts: 2,234 ■■■■□□□□□□
congrats on the pass, and thank you for sharing your experience! Helps us "E hopefuls" out a lot.**** ARE FOR CHUMPS! Don't be a chump! Validate your material with certguard.com search engine
:study: Current 2015 Goals: JNCIP-SEC JNCIS-ENT CCNA-Security -
ccie14023
Member Posts: 183
oldman1980:
You're welcome. Incidentally, when I passed CCIE R/S in 2004 I had my results in 10 minutes. If only... -
cciejncie-sp
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Great share !
Quick question, which version if your Bootcamp course ware? I got version 10.a which I bought 2-3 years ago when they use to sell online. -
ccie14023
Member Posts: 183
cciejncie-sp:
10.b. It's probably very close. They are in need of an overhaul since they updated the test. I was one of the first to take the newer exams. -
fuz1on
Member Posts: 961 ■■■■□□□□□□
congrats!timku.com(puter) | ProHacker.Co(nsultant) | ITaaS.Co(nstultant) | ThePenTester.net | @fuz1on
Transmosis | http://transmosis.com | LinkedIn | https://linkedin.com/in/t1mku
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The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. - Buddha
If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you. - Unknown -
junperuser
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hi, JNCIE-SP 2332, thanks for your post. I am going to take the exam recent days. I have also prepared based on workbook from inetzero, bootcamp 10.b. are they enough for the exam ?
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ccie14023
Member Posts: 183
junperuser wrote: »Hi, JNCIE-SP 2332, thanks for your post. I am going to take the exam recent days. I have also prepared based on workbook from inetzero, bootcamp 10.b. are they enough for the exam ?
As I said in the post, the bootcamp was very good, but lacking some subjects that are on the blueprint. Hub and spoke VPN, for example. See my blog (link in signature) for coverage of that topic, although I still haven't finished it.
I actually have never seen inetzero's stuff; if they cover the missing subjects then you should be well prepared.
Unfortunately the best preparation is to sit the exam. After I failed I learned a lot about what they were looking for and was well prepared for the next attempt. All I can say is they made a very, very hard exam. Be ready to be surprised by the level of difficulty unless inetzero has managed to replicate it. And remember: the later stuff in the lab builds on the former. You are not going to get layer 3 VPN working if you didn't get basic MPLS working. So know your stuff up and down the stack.
Good luck. -
junperuser
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Thanks a lot for your reply. I try my best.
Have a nice weekend -
aladin1985
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
dear all
I alo have plan to take JNCIE-S exam end of this year
Can you help to write down the book neccessary for this exam
Btw, in gns3, I cannot test VPLS and CoS and multicast. Is there any body have experient on this?
