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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DAY 66

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Did INE MPLS Videos - 3 hours
TSHOOT and Config
- Did Written Exam Practice Test - 1 hours
- Read MPLS Fundamentals - 2 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Hoping for that completion mid next week or end of next week. Then to do it all over again.

MPLS seems pretty straight forward, however there are a lot of moving parts and that is what scares me from both a config and tshoot aspect. I dare say it seems more complicated then Multicast in some aspects.

I must admit as well, after going kind of soft on studying the past week, its hard to get back into the feeling of pushing myself for 6 hours. Hoping to rekindle that this week.

DAY 67

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Did INE MPLS Videos - 2.5 hours
MPLS - All Routing Protocols
- MPLS Labbing - 3 hours
MPLS/VRF labs

Total Time: 5.5 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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Freaking MPLS man, adding this to my new "weak areas" part. There are just so many little moving parts that I feel like I need to be on point on this section. I do feel it is more complicated then Multicast, but maybe I just feel that way because I am in the thick of it. I am looking forward to beating this suite of protocols into the ground until I make it my strongest protocol.

Good to see you're still going strong! I've been doing a good 5 hours of studying every day on the weekend since I've gotten my home lab for CCNA. It's starting to feel normal to spend that amount of time on it!

It starts to be a life style pretty quickly... sigh... looking forward to 3-4 months from now when I can make a first attempt.

DAY 68

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- COMPLETED INE MPLS Videos - 2 hours

- Read MPLS Fundamentals - 4 hours
On Chapter 9

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

MPLS is starting to come together. But I think I am going to add VRF-Lite to my weakness list. We will see where I am here after my second pass, which I hope to get done before December... we'll see where it all falls in place.

Protip: don't get TOO hung up on obscure features (ODR, BGP ORL, Anycast MSDP etc.) and don't get freaked out if you don't know every single obscure nerd-knob in the INE labs. The real lab is heavy on basics (and sheer qty/volume) and a lot less wilfully obscure than the v4 (from all accounts anyway - I did the v5).

Don't forget you WILL have DOC-CD access.

And yeah you will need solid MPLS chops. I don't actually mind this - (truly) understanding MP-BGP is what separates the R&S men from the boys.

bender000 wrote: »

Protip: don't get TOO hung up on obscure features (ODR, BGP ORL, Anycast MSDP etc.) and don't get freaked out if you don't know every single obscure nerd-knob in the INE labs. The real lab is heavy on basics (and sheer qty/volume) and a lot less wilfully obscure than the v4 (from all accounts anyway - I did the v5).

Don't forget you WILL have DOC-CD access.

And yeah you will need solid MPLS chops. I don't actually mind this - (truly) understanding MP-BGP is what separates the R&S men from the boys.

Yeah that is what I hear and tell myself when I start to freak out haha. MPLS is coming together on its own, a little practice and its nothing. It's not so much the config, but the logic leading up to the config. What the packet does to get from point A to point B. That is starting to click, so I am hoping with a little more I can do a bunch of crazy stuff and put a nice bow on it as a technology I can place on itself without concern. Now, mixing it with other tech, that's another story

I am near 90 percent done of everything for the first pass (videos/labs/books, though I will probably be reading more books as I go) so I am getting pretty hyped that now its just going to come down to practice and putting all this tech into one basket to see what I can break.

DAY 69: .... ladies

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- FINISHED MPLS Fundamentals - 5 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I read slow, and I was distracted a lot tonight. But that being what it is I finished MPLS Fundamentals. I skipped chapters I found were out of scope for the test, such as AToM (I did read why its used etc though), VPLS and Traffic Engineering. I figure once I get a good understanding/mastery of MPLS VPN and VRF's etc and when I complete my CCIE Lab, I will definitely be coming back to look into TE because I know from my hosting provider experience it was leveraged quite a bit. I would love to learn it and be one of the cool kids that do well with MPLS.

Once I've spent more and more time with MPLS VPN, its is very simple really. And the most frustrating part is all the configuration steps, which by themselves are not huge, but they have quite a few reliance pieces. However, like anything practice is going to make that part simple I think.

Also, I seem to remember me looking at the INE book reading list and going "I am NOT reading 12 books!"... I realized today I think I have read about 7 of those 12 books already. And I'll be adding more with QoS. Do I remember it all? Absolutely not, that would be impossible. But reading help solidify things.

Tomorrow I should be done of MPLS for my first pass and then this weekend will be all QoS. I'm at the home stretch.. I can feel it.

DAY 70

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Horrible MPLS Labs - 5 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

You ever have one of those subjects that you just aren't getting it? I feel like MPLS is pretty much my kryptonite. I know, I know with time it'll get better. But I had a pretty good stride up until now. I just spent 5 hours of labbing, and each lab is taking me an hour minimum to do! Granted I am not looking up the commands in the cisco docs and just trying to smash out the commands logic from memory and thought process. I find this to be VERY slow, but I think its important for me to do this when it comes to a subject like this.

When I was doing multicast, I did the same thing and that didn't take me near as long because with multicast (as long as you're not doing Anycast MSDP or something crazy) there isn't a lot to it.

With MPLS there are things that build and leverage off each other. You have to create the VRF, then you create the routing instance in that VRF, you then redistribute and use whatever special options you need/want for it. If you need to setup a Sham-link, that is another step. This is of course, assuming you've setup LDP already (Which admittedly is very easy as long as its vanilla).

Its safe to say, without a doubt MPLS is going to be the hardest for me to master in configuration. I get the logic, I understand what needs to happen in all these cases. But when the type hits the screen, that is when the **** hits the fan and I just can't get it together.

Practice, practice, and more practice. I just feel stupid every time I take so long or get the lab wrong. Sigh....

Slight rant there...

As you say it will come with time.

You need to get to the stage where typing in 'vrf xyz' or 'vpnv4 vrf xyz' etc. is instinctive and you are not wasting time with "invalid command" LOL. Its not as nice as say NXOS in that regard. Also learn to read "show ip bgp all" vs "show ip bgp vpnv4 xyz".

70 days isn't a long time... it took me nearly 3 months in a real life heavy MPLS / VRF-lite environment before I 'got' MPLS and MP-BGP - don't get too hung up about it, you're on the right track, and frankly speaking, moving very fast. Remember on avg, it takes people 18 months to get there!

And also here's my sequence when dealing with a MPLS ticket.
- control plane - BGP - check if the correct BGP routes are in the vpnv4. If not, troubleshoot BGP, including extended communities. If BGP is setup OK, check RD/RT and import/export.
- If routes are in the control plane but it fails then there is a break in the LSP somewhere - check the MPLS path hop by hop. show ip cef and show mpls ldp bindings is your friend.

Yeah, doing this in 10 months, while isn't unheard of, is definitely outside the norm. I'm hoping with my crazy hours I can do it. I mean worse case scenario I can't and it goes a few more to get the CCIE.

I definitely want to get really good at MPLS because its more relevant to my current and future work. Which is why I am so hard pressed to get it right. I could care less about Multicast, because though I'd love to work with it, I have not seen it a whole lot. I've actually gotten job offers wanting MPLS experience, hasn't been a deal breaker but it'd be nice to let them know I studied it extensively.

Hoping by 90 days I'll have what I call the "second pass" of all these labs done and then I can look at either doing the Written earlier then I anticipated, or going through the foundation labs.

DAY 71

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Finish MPLS Labs - 4 hours
- Flash Cards - 2 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Finished MPLS first pass. It wasn't so bad today, things are starting to piece together. Onward to QoS and during my second pass on the labs I am going to punch MPLS in the jeans.

I swear this one of the best best post I have ever read in relation to CCIE studies!!!! This going to inspire so many people to keep pushing Bardlebee!!! Keep pushing bro and hit your goal!!! Do it for yourself, but also do it for the people that are following you through your journey on here, we believe in you!! I will start my IE soon and I swear you will be in the back of my mind every time my mind starts racing, and I am questioning as to why Im even doing this. The fact that you you are studying and writing these detail post on here, is remarkable. I get it though, this is your journal and you are carrying us with you through your journey on becoming a CCIE.

Throne wrote: »

I swear this one of the best best post I have ever read in relation to CCIE studies!!!! This going to inspire so many people to keep pushing Bardlebee!!! Keep pushing bro and hit your goal!!! Do it for yourself, but also do it for the people that are following you through your journey on here, we believe in you!! I will start my IE soon and I swear you will be in the back of my mind every time my mind starts racing, and I am questioning as to why Im even doing this. The fact that you you are studying and writing these detail post on here, is remarkable. I get it though, this is your journal and you are carrying us with you through your journey on becoming a CCIE.

Thanks, but I'm certain I'm not the only one putting this much time, nor am I the person doing the most. I am just the guy putting his hours on a daily basis on here. I do it more for myself, but I am glad that I've had people tell me it helps them get motivated. A lot of days I don't feel motivated, but I fight through it.

To me, it's only going to take one day of me NOT studying to spiral out of control. I need to seize the time I have now while I am in a good position to do so, before kids and working with a long commute or other life things.

DAY 72

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Read first 3 chapters End to End QoS - 3 hours
- Watched QoS INE Videos - 3 hours

QoS Overview
Hierarchical Queueing
Classification & Marking <== Going to re-watch tomorrow.. too tired to focus

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

While I've had experience in MPLS before from afar (my last employer deployed and I could only do show commands etc) QoS is BRAND new to me. Though I don't think there is a lot to QoS, it honestly sounds a lot like my firewall experience in that you can do class-maps, the device looks at the packet and sees how it's flagged and then just treat it how it was requested to be treated. Seems straight forward but all the terms and all the options is very Greek to me, so I think that will be the hardest part, is just getting familiar with the options.

Video/Lab Progress First Pass is 88 percent... I can feel the end.

DAY 73

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Did QoS INE Labs - 2 hours

MQC Classification and Marking
MQC Bandwidth Reservations and CBWFQ
MQC Bandwidth Percent
MQC LLQ and Remaining Bandwidth Reservations

- FINISHED QoS INE Videos - 4 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

QoS is by far easier to put together. I mean, its no MPLS multi-router setup so I would hope so. But the logic etc makes more sense. The big difficulty is honestly knowing what knobs they want you to turn based on the request. Such as shaping and prioritizing. I do think I need more logic knowledge on QoS then anything. I really could not connect with the logic on the INE videos so I may re-watch all of them to be honest and try again. As far as the labs, thus far I've gotten fairly close to the right answer on every request so there is that.

I'm going to add QoS to my weak areas. To be honest, its not like I didn't expect this. I never worked with Multicast or QoS and as far as MPLS I only saw it in implementation. So these are all three topics I will need to really focus on to bring it up to full strength. I need to be honest with myself here.

Oh I only have 10 hours worth of videos to watch left then I'm done of my first pass. Seems like it wasn't so long ago I was just starting all this.

If you want a good QoS theory book, check out QoS-enabled networks. I used it for my SP written for a QoS refreshser and it was pretty helpful

I'll give that a shot. I tried end to end and it was okay, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for recommending that book. I am 3 chapters in and its really putting the pieces together for me conceptually. I now just need to map those with the commands and I should be good. I was also very sleepy watching the majority of the QoS videos, so I may re-watch them for the sake of it. Same with MPLS, I may re-watch a lot of the foundation stuff.

DAY 74

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Did QoS INE Labs - 3 hours

MQC LLQ and Remaining Bandwidth Reservations
MQC WRED
MQC Dynamic Flows and WRED
MQC WRED with ECN
MQC Class-Based Generic Traffic Shaping
MQC Class-Based GTS and CBWFQ
MQC Single-Rate Three-Color Policer
MQC Hierarchical Policers

- Read QoS Enabled Networks - 3 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Reading another books helping me grasp QoS a lot better. It kind of clicks with most incidents in the labs the only thing I need now is practice.

DAY 75

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Completed QoS INE Labs - 1 hours

- Finished QoS Enabled Networks - 4 hours

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am going to have to get up early to get my hours in. No roasted turkey is going to stop me from training.

DAY 76

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Did TACACS/ACL Labs - 1.5 hours

- Watched INE Services Videos - 4 hours

Total Time: 5.5 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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Yeah, that's right. I studied on a holiday... as much as I could anyway and it was spotty... but it happened.

EDIT: I should also be done of the entire INE videos by the end of this coming weekend I believe. There are quite a few single one off labs left, but after those its just foundational/mock/tshoot etc labs. But as noted before I will run through the one offs again and again after this to make sure I remember how and why to configure everything.

DAY 77

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- Watched INE Videos Security - 2 hours

- Internet went out

Total Time: 2 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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The majority of my current study material is on the internet.

Guess what went out all day that day?

Only 2 hours I guess... oh well

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

DAY 78

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- FINISHED ALL INE VIDEOS! - 4 hours

- Did INE Labs - 2 hours
AAA Authentication Lists
AAA Exec Authorization
AAA Local Command Authorization
Traffic Filtering Using Standard Access-Lists
Traffic Filtering Using Extended Access-Lists
Filtering Fragmented Packets
Filtering Traffic with Time-Based Access Lists
Traffic Filtering with Policy-Based Routing
Preventing Packet Spoofing with uRPF
Using NBAR for Content-Based Matching
Packet Logging with Access-Lists
VLAN Filtering for IP Traffic
VLAN Filtering for Non-IP Traffic
Port Security

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Its been particularly difficult with my sister visiting to make the excuse to study. While I still study 6 hours a day (or well try to) it makes it hard as I am now thinking I am going to ramp this up. Some days I hit 6 hours like today, while others not so much. I find there are quite a few times where I will get more time in the day and just wipe my hands and say "Welp, there are my 6 hours" and I could study for 3-4 more hours. I'll see about tacking on more.

I am not at a cross roads. I am probably 2 days away from finishing all the INE single labs (non-functional etc) and now the choice is. Do the written, which means study topics outside the lab material or just go straight into labbing all day errday until my eyes bleed and pass the written by proxy of being so ready for the lab. Aka, the INE method per Brian in his videos.

Here is I guess my dilemma, I have been doing this for almost 3 months and while the knowledge I have gained is gratifying, it isn't immediately realized as I work on Juniper every day. That and looking up the mountain of the CCIE. I see the lab is at the very least probably a good 6 months out if I am lucky and 9 months if I am a normal human. This means, my new kid will be born by that time etc etc. I guess it comes down to that I need a morale boost. Don't get me wrong, I am not going to quit, but a interim success is much easier to take then a long term one. Also, it will help me think to myself "I am doing something right" if I pass the written now.

On the other hand... just studying for the lab period may make this process faster. Also I won't have to transition from studying written material, back to the lab material. For instance, I won't have to memorize facts like what is CDP's MAC address and odd ball stuff like that, and I can just focus on the lab.

A lot of words to basically say.... the jury is still out, but I don't have a lot of time to choose... whatever I choose I need to stick with it.

Finishing the Videos and the labs is just a small victory in the long trip to becoming an expert and gaining my number.

Why not go ahead and do the written it wont hurt!! Plus it will force you in to a time window to get the lab done. Btw what are you using to do your labs?? VIRL, GNS3, or etc???

Yeah, we'll see. Jury is out both in the community from what I see and my own mind. My study buddy is doing the written early so I may just do it based on that alone.

After a lot of introspective today and talking with my study buddy. I think I am going to just take the written sooner rather then later. I also found out that I was erroneously understood the retake cool down for the written. I had it in my head you had to wait 15 days to retake the exam. But its only five days. This may seem like a small thing to some, but if you think about it, if I fail the written I have to then study for another 15 days... which is half a month.

While that wouldn't be the end of the world, I am on a natural timeline (baby due in June) and so I have limited time to really dig into the lab material. Ideally if I don't pass the lab before my child comes to the world, then I would want as many days as possible to grind the lab to where I could have a chance post-fatherhood.

Anyway, a lot of words to say that once I am done of these labs (maybe 2 days out now) I will schedule my written and throw caution to the wind as I ramp up for that. Perhaps 2 and a half weeks from now roughly...

DAY 79

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:

- CREATED A ROAD MAP FOR MYSELF - 1 hours

- Did INE Labs - 5 hours
...a bunch of them.

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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

One of the most difficult things I had to do for my CCIE is pick a direction and go with it. Its laced with fear and the unknown. I feel like when I first tried to get my CCENT "Is this book going to be all I need? What if I get stumped? What happens if I chose the wrong material?" Except the questions are "What if I choose the wrong path? Will I have wasted 6 months of studying for nothing?" It's been bothering me more then it really should. I am not a man who is organized, takes notes, or even keeps a planner. But I will do this. I need a focus, a road I can look down towards because I am nearing the end of the INE/labs and videos and in fact tomorrow I will be done!

I am also getting sick... as a side note... gah... freaking flu.

Anyway, I took time out of my labbing today to focus in on a Road Map for getting my CCIE number. I feel I am nearing the end of what I am calling Phase 1 of 3. Generalized, this is how I see the next 6 or so months going. Notice I am also going to be increasing my hours on the weekends. I will also try to do the same for my weekdays as a lot of weekdays I pack it in once I hit 6 hours and go and play Steam or other video games.

I can't, I just can't do that crap anymore. I need my 100 percent focus on this. I need to say good bye to my family/friends/hobbies because I want this for myself. It sucks, but this is the CCIE. My family/friends understand so that is the most important thing.

Below is the game plan, if anyone sees this. I'd like any and all critiquing on it. Maybe I am being way over optimistic, hopefully not.... I'll know more as the months continue to spin.

Study Time: Weekdays 6 or more hours / Weekend Days: 8 or more hours

Phase 1) Build Up and Written September -December

Do all INE workbook/videos/reading first pass - Done
1. Do all one-off technology workbook labs once
2. Watch each INE video in conjunction
3. Read literature on each tecnology
Study technologies out of scope of the lab for the written - Dec 1 - 20
1. IS-IS and other technologies from books/videos
Take practice tests and repeat studies on areas missed - Dec 1 - 20
1. Take all wrong questions and study deeply the Cisco documentation on the subject
2. Identify week areas
Take the CCIE written - Dec 13 - 26
1. If I fail the test, I will reschedule a week later and assess the problem areas.
2. I will weep silently for the 400 dollars lost
Profit - I can move on to Phase 2

Phase 2) Lab Apocalypse - December - March

Do a "Second Pass" on the same one-off INE technologies and continue until mastered. December - January
1. Whichever labs are missed, not understood or not gotten right the first time, they will be added to subsequent passes
  1. There will be a "Third" a "Forth" etc etc passes until all technologies are done right the first time and most importantly the logic is fully understood from the lab
Do Narbik's workbook and all the labs and see how well I do January
Do the remainder of the INE Labs, Functional, Config, TSHOOT and Mock January - February
1. Fully understand what was wrong, and repeat these labs until you do them in extremely fast fashion.
Do Cisco 360 labs February - March
1. Time yourself, increase efficiency

Phase 3) Final Boss Fight - April - June

Schedule Lab Attempt - April - May
1. Assess from 1-5 where I am. Work on speed and accuracy.
2. Learn lab tricks to help with speed.
Perhaps attend Bootcamp - TBD
Achieve my career long dream to join the ranks of the CCIE

DAY 80

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:
- Read Chapter on IS-IS - 1 hours

- FINISHED ALL ONE-OFF INE Labs - 7 hours
...a bunch of them.

Total Time: 8 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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Finished the INE lab one-offs. Now tomorrow is going to be all prep for the written as well as the days after it. I think I did like 40 labs today... holy crap.

DAY 81

REVIEW NEEDED AFTER TODAY AND PAST DAY:
-Lab ERSPAN
-Variance and Unequal Cost Load Balancing Documentation <-- Test out the traffic-shared balanced command.
- Practice aggregate routes/advertise-maps and communities - BGP
- Practice Regex AS-PATH access-lists
- Practice conditional static routing again.
- Auto-RP (Also known as "How do magnets work?")

THINGS I DID:
- Read Chapter on IS-IS - 1 hours

- Did Boson Practice Test and Reviewed All Topics Missed - 7 hours
...a bunch of them.

- Scheduled my CCIE Written for the 16th (RIP 400 dollars)

Total Time: 8 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!
- Need more lab time on LSA lookups (recursive LSA lookup logic)
- Multicast Routing
- MPLS/VRF In General
- QoS foundations/logic shaping/policing/priority etc

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:
- None

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I spent a LOT of time tonight going through all the wrong answers I had in the Boson Exam. The scope is just so wildly different. You wouldn't think so based on such few things different between the Lab/Written, but I got my ass handed to me. 530/1000 meaning I got 53 questions right out of 100. Its 1 of 4 tests in the Boson Exam suite so perhaps I'll fair better next time. Also from my experience with Boson, it is a much harder test then the real thing. We shall see how that translates.

I spent the rest of my night going over every topics missed and documenting what Cisco docs I need to review. Most if not all the topics missed were either in two categories A) Topics PURELY on the Written and

Granular things such as what BGP attributes are transitive/nontransitive/optional/required etc... you get the point.

I can't say, I didn't count... but I would say the mis-rate between the two was about 50 50... there wasn't anything I missed I was surprised I missed, I'll put it that way.

Anywho, I scheduled my Written for the 16th, so now I told the internet so now I have to do it... and we'll see how I feel, if I need to push it back etc.

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