CCIE R&S Journal: I Want To Be The Best

Hello!

I have found there are very few blogs and less journals out there about CCIE's. Until I found this site. I am looking for like minded people to help me keep my eye on the prize.

My Goal: ATTEMPT THE LAB IN 10 MONTHS

My Study Plan: I am following EXACTLY what INE is asking of me. Preparing for the lab and by proxy be prepared for the written. Study for 4 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends. I plan to read the books semi-outlined by INE, in that I will read probably 2 hours a day, until I've run out of books and then I will use the rest of the time to lab. So once I run out of books I will do 4 full hours of labbing. I would like to extend this to 6 hours a weekday and 6 hours each weekend day. While I am concerned about burn out, I've been in this situation before during my full time work and full time college days, so its at least familiar to me.

My Life: I work from home currently working on all JUNIPER all day every day. I've been in the field of network security with Cisco ASA for 2-3 years and have been in the R&S world with CISCO, specifically their newer command line platform as well as their IOS XE/XR type stuff. Working on Nexus for about 1-2 years. I currently work in my new job on all JUNIPER gear which makes studying a little more annoying, but nonetheless not horrible. Since I work from home I can study before and after my shift fairly quickly and easily.

Concerns: One of the main things I've noticed from stories is that the CCIE becomes longer then you expect, not due to your lack of wanting to study, but due to life stepping in the way. I am hoping that I can do my first attempt in 10 months confidently. I am also concerned if I am attacking this the right way, 4 hours a day, is that too little? Is that too much? Is 6 hours too much? I guess everyone is different.

Current Status: I am currently at the STP marker on the INE track. Doing Lab's in VIRL I've noticed unfortunate inconsistencies with how port-channels and STP works on that software so I may do rack rentals going forward.

Are there any tips? I will be updating daily (including today) to keep me honest with my goals. Is my goal of 10 months insane? Is it possible? I've seen some who've taken years on it, but I believe that is more due to life getting in the way and more important stuff to do then study hours a day on a cert.

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Comments

dirtyharry wrote: »

When you use an interface in the static route it shows as directly connected in the RIB. You can see to the left of the 'S' for static, though. Technically, the tunnel is directly connected. I look at Cisco RIBs all day and I thought it was weird too. EDIT: OH! I missed what you were saying. You're right, why doesn't it show the interface??

Thinking its a bug myself.

DAY 14: 2 WEEKS!!!

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Review ODR

THINGS I DID:
- Reviewed Cisco Docs on Route-maps - .5 hours <-- distracted during
- Labbed again the following - 1 hours
Reliable Policy Routing
GRE Tunneling and Recursive Routing
- Watched the following INE Videos - 2 hours
RIPv2 Overview
RIPv2 Authentication
RIPv2 Summarization
RIPv2 Default Routing
RIPv2 Commands
RIPv2 Route Filtering

Total Time: 3 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- GRE and Route-mapping is starting to make sense, I think these areas are simply needing lab time.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I've removed "Interesting Discoveries" because only I should care about that, but I put in place "Weak Areas" so I can keep a log of things I need to further strengthen and the reasons why.

There is one thing I couldn't figure out STILL tonight that I cannot get a full ENGLISH answer from Cisco on. So, for the config below:

route-map REDIRECT permit 10
match ip address ROUTER1
set ip next-hop verify-availability 2.2.2.2 1 track 1
set ip default next-hop 1.1.1.1
!
route-map REDIRECT permit 20
match ip address ROUTER2
set ip next-hop 1.1.1.1
set ip next-hop verify-availability
set ip default next-hop 2.2.2.2

So, I don't understand the difference of "set ip next-hop verify-availability 2.2.2.2 1 track 1" and having "set ip next-hop verify-availability" underneath the next-hop. What are the differences? Also, if I were to place "set ip next-hop x.x.x.x" and then right under it set "set ip next-hop y.y.y.y" would it attempt to send it to x.x.x.x first and then y.y.y.y or would it ECMP it? I believe there is an extended command that allows multiple in one line, for example "set ip next-hop x.x.x.x y.y.y.y" and I think THAT is for ECMP...

Lastly, TWO WEEKS! I did it. And strangely its feeling.... easier. I don't feel as fatigued and last night I didn't get good sleep due to a maintenance. So maybe I am getting used to this, or maybe I am not challenging my mind enough. Hmmmm.

P.S. since I was distracted during my half hour study, I am not going to count it.

Oh man I missed updating yesterday but I did study, albeit it wasn't value studying:

DAY 15

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE RIPv2 Filtering - 1 hours
- Read RIP (Yes, version 1) in Routing TCP/IP 1 hours
- Taught colleague difference between DV and LS protocols - 2 hours <--- not sure this counts

Total Time: 3 hours?

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I was running around with my head cut off this day. Probably only got 2 hours of value studying to be honest. Making up for it tomorrow.

=============================================================================

DAY 16

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE RIPv2 Filtering, again (too tired the first time) - 1 hours
- Read RIPv2/RIPng/DVvsLS/ODR/Route-Maps in Routing TCP/IP - 4 hours
- Labbed the following INE labs - 2.5 hours
RIPv2 Basic Configuration
RIPv2 Authentication
RIPv2 Split Horizon
RIPv2 Auto-Summary
RIPv2 Send and Receive Versions
RIPv2 Manual Summarization
RIPv2 Convergence Timers
RIPv2 Offset List
RIPv2 Default Routing
RIPv2 Conditional Default Routing
RIPv2 Reliable Conditional Default Routing
RIPv2 Unicast Updates
RIPv2 Broadcast Updates
RIPv2 Source Validation

Total Time: 7.5 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Made up for time lost yesterday, I'm feeling like this RIP protocol is too easy and the only things that trip me up seem to be very rare corner cases, but I guess that is the point of the CCIE. The lab "RIPv2 Reliable Conditional Default Routing" was particularly surprising because I attempted to use a "match track" route-map for default-information originate and it didn't work. Apparently you can't do that, you have to make a dummy route to track, add a prefix of said route and it put it in the route-map.

It reflected a previous route-map one that was non-tracking too, so I guess when you specify a prefix list match in a route-map and tie it to a default-information originate, it checks the routing table in general. So theoretically I guess you could have a dummy route always be there with no track and always have it pass, but I guess that's not the point...

DAY 17

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE Videos - 1.5 hours
DMVPN Overview
EIGRP Overview
- Read RIPv2 Cisco Command Reference/Config Guide - 2 hours
- Labbed the following INE labs - 1.5 hours
RIPv2 Filtering with Passive Interface
RIPv2 Filtering with Prefix-Lists
RIPv2 Filtering with Standard Access-Lists
RIPv2 Filtering with Extended Access-Lists
RIPv2 Filtering with Offset Lists
RIPv2 Filtering with Administrative Distance
RIPv2 Filtering with Per-Neighbor AD

Total Time: 5 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I would have liked to hit 6-8 hours tonight like last night, but today I must go do a sleep study. Here is hoping I get something that helps me sleep and by proxy helps me study

Finished RIP, onward to EIGRP

Good job so far man! I love your way of keeping a journal. I need to use a similar format in mine I think

BTW, I'm also working almost 100% with juniper gear since years, but I have the same reasons and feelings to go for the CCIE as yourself. Also, the learning material out there is much better for CCIE than it is for JNCIE.

Keep up the good job!

Honestly this journal is the best thing I could have ever done. I feel like if I don't update it daily, then I failed and then publicly the internet will know I failed. So it helps me a lot when I think to myself "Today I can take it easy".

Granted there are others doing more hours then me, but I think my schedule is pretty rigorous as it gets. I may bump my weekends up from 6 hours and 5 hours minimum. To 8 and 7, we'll see.

It's been confirmed that I apparently have sleep apnea. If not just slightly, I apparently woke myself up 24 times in an hour, the cut off is 20 times an hour to be diagnose (which I find pretty high). In any case, this is good and bad. Good because it means I can be more alert once I get it treated, meaning more study time. Bad because it sucks haha... but oh well, damn my parents genes. They both have it and are not overweight, I am overweight by 20 pounds, but I don't believe its a large contributing factor. Maybe I can add 2-3 more hours of study time after I get treated!

I basically see my days like this now. Weekdays = 4 hours, with 3 hours minimum. Meaning that I MUST get above 3 hours of study time. Weekends = 6 hours, 5 hours minimum. I am thinking of bringing up both by an hour. I am going to try starting that today.

DAY 18

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN

THINGS I DID:
- Watched Routing TCP/IP = EIGRP - 2 hours
- Watched INE Videos - 2 hours
Classic EIGRP
EIGRP Named Mode
EIGRP Classic Metric Calculation

- Labbed the following INE labs - .5 hours
EIGRP Network Statement
EIGRP Auto-Summary
EIGRP Multi-AF Mode

Total Time: 4.5 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Didn't spend too much time on labs for EIGRP, want to get the book material and logic in first.

Are you using some flash cards or SRS to help with retention? I find I wouldn't have a chance if I didn't use an SRS tool

PsychoFin wrote: »

Are you using some flash cards or SRS to help with retention? I find I wouldn't have a chance if I didn't use an SRS tool

What is SRS? I am not using flash cards, though maybe I might invest in that idea. In the past I never used them, but CCIE isn't particularly typical of an exam. A lot of people also write down notes for retention and I don't do that either, I feel like it eats up a lot of time. I may find out the hard way (failing the exam) that I haven't retained as much as I hoped, but hopefully they don't have the exponential back off if I fail next year.

Spaced repetition?

DAY 19

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN

THINGS I DID:
- Watched Routing TCP/IP = EIGRP FINISHED - 1 hours

- Watched INE Videos - 2 hours
EIGRP Wide Metrics
EIGRP Traffic Engineering & Unequal Cost Load Balancing
EIGRP Classic Authentication
EIGRP Automatic Key Rotation

- Labbed the following INE labs - 1 hours
EIGRP MD5 & SHA-256 Authentication

Total Time: 4 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
That lab was LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Well, in comparison to the rest to be honest. As you've seen the INE labs kind of just go "This is the tech, this is what you should know, here are some useful commands" so I burn through them fast. This one, they have you set authentication on Classic Mode EIGRP and that takes FOREVER. Really highlights the ease of "as-interface default".

Since I am done of the EIGRP chapter, I will watch more videos and do more lab time.

SRS = Spaced Repetition System is the bomb when it comes to retention of various facts

It's based on a system where the frequency of how often you repeat a flash card depends on how well you remembered it during the last review. Since I like to use Anki as my SRS tool of choice, you can read up more about Spaced Repetition here:

Anki Manual

And here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition

I highly encourage you to give it a try!

Yeah I'll take a look into that, thanks man!

This is what I've used:
Welcome to the Mnemosyne Project | The Mnemosyne Project

DAY 20

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE Videos - 2.5 hours <--- really more like 2.75 but whatever
EIGRP Named Mode Authentication 19min
EIGRP Summarization 56min
EIGRP Traffic Engineering with Summarization 32min
EIGRP over DMVPN

- Labbed the following INE labs - 1.5 hours
EIGRP Key Chain Rotation
EIGRP Unicast Updates
EIGRP Summarization
EIGRP Summarization with Default Routing
Some Debugging Fun

Total Time: 4 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
No reading today. But I do need to work on my comprehension when I read my lab objectives. I had a lab that asked me to redistribute only a specific network. I put the network command in and then filtered it via a wildcard mask. The same result was achieved, but that won't fly during the lab.

Also, day 20, it seemed so long ago that I started and now I am in full study mode and don't feel so much stress from all this studying. I am concerned whether I am internalizing all this information or just going through the motions. It will really hit me at full scale labs I guess. Perhaps I will look into doing flash cards.

Bardlebee, if you don't mind, I'd like to copy your journal format for future cert journal threads I do.

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Bardlebee, if you don't mind, I'd like to copy your journal format for future cert journal threads I do.

You just mean my daily posts (insanities) I make? Yeah you can use it. :P

Yea haha. Thanks. It's really the perfect form. I've been wanting to do the same type of daily log/posts but haven't felt the need but now that I am looking at some more technical and difficult certs, I think it would be beneficial.

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Yea haha. Thanks. It's really the perfect form. I've been wanting to do the same type of daily log/posts but haven't felt the need but now that I am looking at some more technical and difficult certs, I think it would be beneficial.

Yeah like I said, it keeps me really honest with myself. And something about random internet strangers may or may not be seeing this will know EXACTLY when I slip up helps for some reason. Not that anyone is, but you know mentally it helps me think that maybe this will help people see what it looks like daily to do this.

DAY 21

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE Videos - 1.5 hours
EIGRP Stub Routing
EIGRP Route Filtering

- Labbed the following INE labs - 3 hours
EIGRP Summarization with Leak Map
EIGRP Floating Summarization
EIGRP Poisoned Floating Summarization
EIGRP Metric Weights
EIGRP Unequal Cost Load Balancing
EIGRP Traffic Engineering with Metric

Total Time: 4.5 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I feel like I move SO SLOW with these labs because they deal with summarization, engineering of routes and filtering. Most of this is due to may inexperience with when to use what tool. Such as route-maps and prefix-lists, I am hoping this gets faster.

I imagine once I get to the full scale labs I will be pretty proficient at it.

DAY 22

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE Videos - 2 hours
Basic Redistribution Examples
DHCP & DNS

- Labbed the following INE labs - 2 hours
EIGRP Convergence Timers
EIGRP Stub Routing
EIGRP Stub Routing with Leak Map
EIGRP Filtering with Passive Interface
EIGRP Filtering with Prefix-Lists
EIGRP Filtering with Standard Access-Lists
EIGRP Filtering with Extended Access-Lists

Total Time: 4 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Nope

ODR is funky, but shouldn't take you too long to study.

Yeah I looked into it a little bit, just seems to pass prefixes through CDP, not sure that its worth a whole lot of study time outside an hour or two. Seems like INE doesn't really touch on it, so perhaps it is unimportant.

DAY 23

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation

THINGS I DID:
- Read Cisco Configuration Guide EIGRP - 2.5 hours

- Labbed the following INE labs - 2.5 hours

EIGRP Filtering with Offset Lists
EIGRP Filtering with Administrative Distance
EIGRP Filtering with Per Neighbor AD
EIGRP Filtering with Route Maps
EIGRP Bandwidth Pacing
EIGRP Default Metric
EIGRP Neighbor Logging
EIGRP Router-ID
EIGRP Maximum Hops

Total Time: 5 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Didn't really feel like I got a good stride today, but 5 hours is 5 hours I guess. I'll see if I can do do 7-8 tomorrow and iron out the weekend strong. EIGRP is done, onto OSPF now. Tomorrow I will wrap up on questions I have on EIGRP and review the Command Reference docs.

DAY 24

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.

THINGS I DID:
- Read Cisco Command Reference EIGRP - 2.5 hours
- Worked on Interesting Split-Horizon issue - 1 hours
- Watched INE Videos - 1.5 hours
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) Protocol & Operation Overview
OSPF Single Area Configuration
Troubleshooting OSPF Adjacencies

Total Time: 6 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Wow, the days are flying by at this point and I am already on OSPF. I hope that by the time I come back to EIGRP/Layer2/RIP that I haven't forgotten absolutely everything.

*cough* flash cards *cough*

Good job man! Time sure flies by like crazy doesn't it?

PsychoFin wrote: »

*cough* flash cards *cough*

Good job man! Time sure flies by like crazy doesn't it?

Haha! Thanks for the reminder, I actually forgot. I might look into that this week.

DAY 25 Such Videos, Much LSA

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE Videos - 4 hours
OSPF Areas and LSAs
OSPF Media Dependencies & Network Types
Configuring OSPF Network Types
OSPF Virtual Links

Total Time: 4 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Going to be a rough couple days for learning to stick. I am going to purposely make myself tired, I have my second and final appointment for sleep apnea treatment this Wednesday so I can wrap that up. Sleeping in a hospital with 400 diodes on you apparently is hard from what I experienced.

DAY 26

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.

THINGS I DID:
- Watched INE Videos - 2 hours
OSPF Stub Areas
Configuring OSPF Stub Areas
Traffic Engineering with OSPF Stub Areas
Configuring OSPF Not So Stubby Areas (NSSA)

- Read Routing TCP/IP OSPF - 2 hours

Total Time: 4 hours

WEAK AREAS:
- ODR - WTF is this. Need review/videos.
- Route-maps / IP SLA - Need practice/labbing
- prefix-list/wild card masks - Need practice/labbing
- Reading Comprehension of Objectives - FOCUS!

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:
One thing to note about the CCIE, it really knows how to tell you that you don't know crap about networking. Learning how OSPF works is blowing my mind. You could go your whole career not truly knowing how it works and get by. Holy crap is it deep, yet very logical.

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