My CCIE R&S Thread

Iristheangel

Great to hear things are going well with you, Ninja! I hope to see you on Slack soon. Life is a little less crazy - especially this week

Iristheangel

Good progress this week. I'll be through OSPF by the end of it. It's been a hell of a week off of work. Let's see:
- Finished out EIGRP and loved learning about the enhancements with named mode. The syntax was just so much more natural for me as well as opposed to putting things under interfaces directly. Since EIGRP isn't exactly the pre-dominate IGP out there, it seems sort of a freebie.
- Finishing out OSPF - It makes me realize that I have some weakness here. Especially in reading the output of the LSDBs and manipulating it a bit more than just at a CCNP-level. As I recall, OSPF was the hardest for me as well during my CCNP and I think I got through it well enough for the ROUTE exam but being a CCIE means I'm going to have to get out of my comfort zone on this one and just beastmode it.
- Got ALL the Micronics, INE and IPX workbooks. I'm going to save the INE and IPX ones for later and start on Micronics:

- As stated above, I've got the AAP at INE and IPX videos purchased. I'll have to come up with a plan to watch/lab through them. Probably borrowing from Jeff's spreadsheet (http://feralpacket.org/?p=282)
- Trimming down my essential list of what to read book-wise and starting to collect RFCs on my tablet. At this point, TCP/IP Vol 1, IP Multicast, End-to-End QoS are still on the list. I'll probably wait until TCP/IP Vol 2 is out since they're refreshing it. I also got a little book series from Amazon on BGP, MPLS and QoS tricks for the CCIE v5. It had great reviews and fairly cheap
... I am going to be very very very busy in 2016. Beastmode time.

Danielh22185

Iristheangel wrote: »

Been a little slow lately due to working on other side projects. Over 460 pages into CCIE Vol 1. I'm on the OSPF chapter now. I just need to be a bit more consistent on the reading in the morning. I'm also teetering on wanting to do CCIE Security but must. resist. temptation.... I do a lot of security labbing and POCs in the course of my work so besides ASAs, I think I'm pretty strong in terms of other topics on the CCIE Security track and what probably will be on the track in 5-6 months like WSA, ISE, Lancope, Sourcefire, etc. It would probably be an easy CCIE to get for me in comparison to R&S and DC but I keep reminding myself that waiting longer will be better since a) it'll be more relevant and b) since I'm on top of the newer technologies, it'll help me more to wait for the refresh and nail the new tech then as opposed to trying to teach myself some ancient IPS that isn't even sold anymore.

Work ended up giving me an INE AAP pass for the next couple years so I have access to all the lab workbooks and videos. I also jumped all over the IPExpert Black Friday deals and bought the security and R&S videos and lab workbooks. When I'm done with the security class on the weekends, my nights will be dedicated to those videos. I also picked up a couple books by Stuart Fordham since the Amazon reviews were really good:
http://www.amazon.com/BGP-Cisco-Networks-Protocol-Switching/dp/1496169212/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1451248115&sr=8-2&keywords=CCIE+v5
VPNs and NAT for Cisco Networks: A CCIE v5 guide to Tunnels, DMVPN, VPNs and NAT (Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0) (Volume 3): Mr Stuart D Fordham: 9781507646588: Amazon.com: Books
MPLS for Cisco Networks (Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Book 2) 1, Stuart Fordham, eBook - Amazon.com

I'll probably review these books when I'm done.

All in all, I'm having a blast cramming my brain full of R&S and Security right now This is still the early stages of my studies so ADHD is acceptable. I think in the 8 months or so of studying DC, I ended up taking a bunch of Palo Alto and Brocade certs as a distraction. That won't be possible later in my studies. Once this weekend class is over, it's beastmode time on R&S. Who knows... maybe I can get done with the written by the end of 2016.

Wow awesome! Cheap books! I like! Added them to my wish list that is ever-so growing for IE studies

Bardlebee

I've worked with OSPF my whole short career and I can tell you I still need work on that protocol, especially v3. It's so complicated in how restrictive it is (area boundaries etc) its very interesting. EIGRP is much more natural even though I have no experience with it. The named mode is stellar I agree. Good work man!

Iristheangel

Alright, here's my update for the week: Polished off Vol 1. Starting on Vol 2 soon which I'm excited to dig into. Looks like they saved QoS, Multicast, and BGP for that book

bigdogz

Iristheangel,

I wish you the best of luck during your journey.
Thanks for the posts. I will start on my CCNP tracks in mid March after I knock out some other security certs and then hit my CCIE's.

Regards,
Bigdogz

creamy_stew

Go Iris!

Could you do a short review of vol1? I was really looking forward to it (Narbik!), but most people seem to be underwhelmed.

Iristheangel

Creamy - I've heard Vol 2 is better and I'll be starting it shortly. As far as Vol 1, I think it starts out slower (Layer 1, Layer 2) and given the content, it's a little more boring. At this point, how is ANYONE going to make STP or subnetting exciting? It's good content but was a lot of review so I dragged through those chapters a little more. Even in Narbik's class, he doesn't spend a lot of time on those topics so spending half a book on it isn't fun.

The OSPF, EIGRP, Redistribution chapters were pure gold. The IS-IS chapter I would say skip. My understanding is that Narbik didn't write the IS-IS chapter and I felt it was too long. The author said that he was going to go into more detail than the written and while he was right, I probably less excited about IS-IS after the chapter.

I would say you definitely should not skip CCIE v5 Vol 1 and Vol 2 in your CCIE R&S studies. I know INE doesn't list it on their site as recommended reading but I suspect that's more of not wanting to support the competition than anything else. Even the INE forums are full of people saying you shouldn't skip the books.

creamy_stew

Iristheangel wrote: »

Creamy - I've heard Vol 2 is better and I'll be starting it shortly. As far as Vol 1, I think it starts out slower (Layer 1, Layer 2) and given the content, it's a little more boring. At this point, how is ANYONE going to make STP or subnetting exciting? It's good content but was a lot of review so I dragged through those chapters a little more. Even in Narbik's class, he doesn't spend a lot of time on those topics so spending half a book on it isn't fun.

I get ya.

The OSPF, EIGRP, Redistribution chapters were pure gold.

Sounds great! These are all topics I'd love to get a new perspective on.

The IS-IS chapter I would say skip. My understanding is that Narbik didn't write the IS-IS chapter and I felt it was too long. The author said that he was going to go into more detail than the written and while he was right, I probably less excited about IS-IS after the chapter.

Yikes, burn!

I would say you definitely should not skip CCIE v5 Vol 1 and Vol 2 in your CCIE R&S studies. I know INE doesn't list it on their site as recommended reading but I suspect that's more of not wanting to support the competition than anything else. Even the INE forums are full of people saying you shouldn't skip the books.

I'm not even anywhere near beginning to study for an IE, but I like to keep an eye out and try to study IE:rs topics as a part of studying for other certs or reading up for work-related projects. CCDP, CCNA:DC and CCNA:Wireless are all higher prio right now.

Probably also CCNP:S and CCNP:DC, depending on how we go for internal stuff as well as how we want to position ourselves as consultants.

/Creamy

Iristheangel

Been a little slower on my R&S studies these days just because I got behind in my security class. That problem is solved this week though so I'm throwing myself into BGP a lot deeper. So far so fun. I really enjoyed BGP when studying Route so this is fun.

The progress continues...

Iristheangel

Still kicking on this Reading my way through Vol 2. I had a lot of good progress this week and definitely found some weak spots I should be working on. As soon as my Z2H class is through, I'll probably do a mix of videos, labbing and book reading during the days. The book reading is getting a little monotonous and I can tell my brain really wants to try something different but I don't have the bandwidth to load balance. I'm in an ACI bootcamp this week, re-watching my Z2H class in the mornings when I wake up a couple hours early, reading the Vol 2 stuff at night along with the ACI bootcamp materials and trying to read the SSFIPS book in bed since I have that test coming up on the 23rd.

I'm still moving along with this. I just think it'll get more straightforward in a month when I'm *only* studying this

joetest

I don't get it... how can you keep up that pace with all that stuff. Most impressive!

Danielh22185

Iristheangel wrote: »

Still kicking on this Reading my way through Vol 2. I had a lot of good progress this week and definitely found some weak spots I should be working on. As soon as my Z2H class is through, I'll probably do a mix of videos, labbing and book reading during the days. The book reading is getting a little monotonous and I can tell my brain really wants to try something different but I don't have the bandwidth to load balance. I'm in an ACI bootcamp this week, re-watching my Z2H class in the mornings when I wake up a couple hours early, reading the Vol 2 stuff at night along with the ACI bootcamp materials and trying to read the SSFIPS book in bed since I have that test coming up on the 23rd.

I'm still moving along with this. I just think it'll get more straightforward in a month when I'm *only* studying this

Just curious... how much sleep do you get on average daily?

On a serious note glad to see an update and some more progress! I'll be cracking open Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP Vol 1 here very soon. I can't wait!

Iristheangel

4-5 hours. Not ideal but I have a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I'm hoping it'll calm down in a couple months and I'll have a little bit more of a balance.

lostindaylight

Iristheangel wrote: »

4-5 hours. Not ideal but I have a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I'm hoping it'll calm down in a couple months and I'll have a little bit more of a balance.

Ah, so Jealous!

About 4 years ago I started needing more sleep. I can do 5 for like a couple of days (which I've been doing more than I'd like lately), but past that the wheels start to fall off.

Oh if I could turn back time. hehe.

-lid.

Danielh22185

Iristheangel wrote: »

4-5 hours. Not ideal but I have a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I'm hoping it'll calm down in a couple months and I'll have a little bit more of a balance.

About what I get these days too. I can't even begin to study until around 8-9pm with the kiddo running around.

Iristheangel

You do pretty well these days. I see you on the hangouts until pretty late some days and then it hits me that you're on EST. As your lab date gets closer, it's going to get worse for you, lid. All I can say is... (((Virtual hugs)))) because I know EXACTLY what you're going through in terms of stress

gorebrush

You ought to see me when I'm between my 12 hour day shift and first night shift... The two day shifts mean I end up getting jack all sleep (5 hours if I'm lucky) then I catch up after Day 2 - I've seen me have 13-14 hour sleeps - though 10-11 is common. Something about that is probably wrong.

DPG

Cherry Coke Zero = CCIE.

Iristheangel

Damn right, DPG! You have discovered my secret! :P

Iristheangel

I haven't given up or quit my CCIE R&S . I'm actually in the middle of purging my life of projects and distractions so I get do nothing but focus on R&S after hours. I realized somewhere towards the middle of the Z2H class that I was stretched too thin and I still had a bunch of side projects I needed to finish up for work and outside of work. The Z2H class ended about 2 weeks ago and I made a list of stuff I needed to finish off so I could focus on nothing but R&S. The list is:
1) Finish building my super security POC lab - Finished that a week ago
2) Write guides for my coworkers with instructions on how to use them - After 1.5 weeks of late night 2AM writing sessions, I've completed over 200 pages of lab guides and am almost finished.
3) Write some public guides for a security BU - This one I've been procrastinating for months and I need to clear it out. It'll probably take me 1-2 weeks to write all the guides and then you wonderful people will get to see them publicly posted on Cisco's site. Giggity. I just need to get it done and focus on them.
4) Get through my ACI tasks - I have a couple clients rolling out multiple ACI data centers and I don't want to be completely useless so I'm going to probably spend a week re-watching an ACI bootcamp I was in, watch Mark Snow's new Lumos videos, and doing some labbing with ACI
5) Knock out the SSFAMP and SSFIPS because the designation "Sourcefire Certified Expert" is pretty cool and I'm very close to being able to take these exams in my sleep. This week I'm at a 4-day AMP class so I will have to book both these exams soon. These tests can be taken on any free weekend
6) Finish my blog - I have like 25-35 different posts I need to finish. This will probably take me a week or two



So realistically, I probably have 2 months until I can invest myself 100% in R&S. I continue to read books and take notes but it's not giving it the amount of time in a day that's really necessary to pass the CCIE. I'm mostly doing my reading from 5AM-7AM. As anyone who has passed the CCIE can tell you, that's not really the amount of time you can dedicate to an exam like this and pass. This is more what I call "cruise control" on a city street. I've already talked to my superiors and as long as I knock these tasks out of the way, nothing new or crazy will be coming my way outside of my regular day job until I get done with the CCIE R&S.

The biggest factor that discourages people from the CCIE is life happening. In my case, these are a lot of projects I had outstanding that were bubbling up or I put on hiatus to finish my last CCIE. I just want to clear the slate, get everything extra done, and then start the beastmoding for R&S. I watch Bardlebee, Lostindaylight, and lrb labbing their butts off every day in a chatroom we're all part of and I really can't wait to join in.

aftereffector

You work harder than any three people I know! I am sure you will have your second CCIE before long. Is CCIE Security on the table for you after that?

Iristheangel

Yep. I'm stubborn and want to wait for the next version of Security. It'll be like learning something new if I have to study the old track but I'm already doing crazy stuff with the new versions and technologies.

And yes... I work a lot. Partly why I don't post as much as I did 5 years ago. Hard to find the time for lots of extras

Iristheangel

Sigh... Life getting in the way. I am knocking out some tasks before I go all-in on this CCIE. Here's where I am so far:
1 - Getting through the ACI videos and labbing - Almost done. Still need to get through Jason Lunde's videos but I'm starting to feel a good understanding of ACI which is done
2 - Security lab - Done and I even added some awesome stuff for some stuff in beta
3 - Security lab guides - Done
4 - Guides for the BU and Communities page - Still to do
5 - Finish the SSFIPS and SSFAMP - Not done yet.
6 - Blog - Not touching that until some of the beta products I am using in my lab come to market. That way people don't get confused by my screenshots

EricsLearning

SSFIPS and SSFAMP aren't bad exams. Cisco has a week long class on SSFIPS that covers everything you need to pass but certainly not everything you need to deploy the stuff. They are REALLY light on the ASA integration portion and barely cover the ClamAV signature writing for SSFAMP. Its definitely better if you can get your hands on some equipment and play for a few weeks. Preferably with live data.

Iristheangel

I have equipment and been playing around for the better part of 8 or 9 months with most of the security suite. I just haven't had time to go do the tests themselves.

DPG

You abandoned R&S for Security?!

Iristheangel

LoL. Yepppppp... I've spent the last 8 months building up my super security lab on all new technologies so it'd be an EASY transition. I have a feeling that the security track is changing very soon so it's the best time to jump on board. My new life goal: That the CCIE Security v5 lab exam the DAY it comes out. Literally, the day. If I pass, AWESOME - I'll be the first CCIE Security v5. If It don't, I'll get pretty damn close because I have a LOT of exposure to all the new technology.

R&S I'll still do... just not the order I was originally going for Also I'm getting a promotion at work so I'm going to be on the security side of the house for a bit and it aligns pretty easily to that in the meantime.

Danielh22185

Bummer to hear you put aside R/S but I know you are doing it for all the right reasons! I will continue to tune in for your Security progress or whatever you set to conquer next. I'll probably go hard core into R/S prep to chase it down after my 2nd kiddo is born in Oct. and push for real study efforts begining in early 2017ish. Maybe in the near future you and I can do some study prep together for R/S. Good luck to ya!

dxp3253

Any idea if we should expect RS v6 next year? Im afraid that I should cram to pass it earlier))