My CCIE Thread

Sorry I couldn't come up with a more creative thread title, but this one will have to do. So after I passed CCNP I was going to put CCIE on the backburner until Narbik's new "bridge" book came out. Since then though, I decided to set up all the vendors labs (INE,IPX,Narbik) in IOU. But then one lab lead to another and I found myself spending hours upon hours in the workbooks. So... I think I will take a rather odd approach to this certification.

I'm going to jump right into labbing without having read the dozens of books you usually need to read. I will read as I go though. I am not going to study for the written exclusively but will instead target the lab right away. When I'm ready for the lab, I will take the written then book the lab right away. How does that sound? Would love to hear some constructive criticism but after being able to do 101 Labs for CCNP in my sleep I feel like I can hop right into these labs and read as I go. What I don't want to do is read 20 books. pass the written, then scramble for the lab in 18 months. So with that out of the way, here is what I will read in the next month:

1. MPLS and VPN Architectures(almost done).
2. QoS by Odom(love Odom)
3. Developing IP Multicast Networks

I think these 3 books will hit my 3 weakest areas and I can still continue to lab, which I really enjoy doing.

Thank you for reading, I will update this thread as I go.

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gorebrush wrote: »

I found that keeping the thread updated helped me remember to actually do stuff. It's a worthwhile thing to keep doing.

This is very true. I have not done a good job of keeping the thread updated on regular intervals but I'm posting a small update today.

I feel like I can do the Narbik Foundation Workbooks in my sleep now. The Advanced books I feel pretty good on, but I need more work on them before I know them "cold". I really want to be in the % of people who pass this thing on the first try, so I'm going to try to master every single resource that I have.

So that leaves me with ALOT of things left to work on. I have the IPX workbooks which I got before they shut down luckily, and the INE workbooks which I need to spend a lot of time on as well. Sadly since IPX is no longer in business I cannot rent a rack to do the workbooks, so I'll have to just set them up myself in GNS3. This will save me some money I suppose, but I'd rather just save the time.

I have not done a great job of keeping up on the reading I have to admit. I love labbing so when it comes to spending time on this beast, I tend to default to labbing over reading. I will make a conscious effort this month to hit the books HARD.

On a side note, I recently passed SPNGN2 so I'm now CCNA Service Provider certified. Very glad to have laid the SP foundation and have it out of the way for now. I was going to pursue the Security track as well, but after starting Wireless due to job demands, I found out I fell in love with Wireless so I will be targeting the CWNP org certs and CCNA and CCNP Wireless in this coming year!

I have tons on my plate and it seems like a 24 hour day is just not enough. I don't have much of a personal life at the moment but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

I wish I did this stuff back in college, it would have been so much easier. Put in a great 4 hour block today after work. Did some reading and also did all of the INE L2 labs. I used four of my 3560E switches. Now I am going to bed and I feel like I can sleep for a month. I am so tired, and I'm not even close to the finish line yet, but still chipping away.

I have the alarm set for 4:30 tomorrow. I will continue on with the INE workbook.

Change of plans friends. I am putting R&S on the backburner and going 100% into Wireless. How did I come to this decision you may ask? Well, I started with reading the CCNA Wireless OCG and the CWNA book and I just couldn't put those books down. Absolutely fell in love with Wireless. I really enjoyed Math and Physics in HS/College so that aspect of Wireless doesn't scare me at all, in fact I enjoy it.

So what I am going to do is get all the CCNA/CCNP wireless knowledge that I can and dive right into CCIE Wireless. I am not going to get the CCNA and CCNP certifications because I just started a new job and don't plan on going anywhere for a while, so there is no point in shelling out $1500 if I feel that I know the stuff well. I ran this idea through Jeff Rensink from NetworkDojo and got his blessing, even though he cautioned me that it won't be easy.

So this is going to be my schedule for the next year or so:

4:30AM-5:00AM - Cardio(Insanity Max 30) I drink ALOT of beer. High intensity interval cardio cancels it out.
5:15AM-5:30AM - Drive to work
5:30AM-8:00AM - Reading/VODs/Labbing
8:00AM-4:30PM - Work ( I take a 30min lunch and no breaks )
4:30PM-7:30PM - Reading/VODs/Labbing. Boston traffic really sucks, okay. I figure I can hang out at work while the traffic dies down.
8:00PM-10:00PM - More Reading/VODs/Labbing.

That gives me about 6.5 hours of sleep. I think I can function well on that. If my math is correct, this schedule puts me at 7.5 hours of dedicated Wireless study each weekday. I plan to do 12 hours on Saturdays and 8 on Sundays till football season is over. Once it's over I'll do 12 on Sundays as well. So anywhere from 57.5-61.5 hours a week give or take. I'm motivated and excited, but the threat of burnout is very real. In any case, I will do my best.

Jeff's rack rental goes live on October 25th, so I will be signing up for either the Gold or Platinum course. Not sure which one yet.

Well, I think if was going to try to get the CCNA W cert I'd already be booking for next week. I was flipping through the WIFUND blueprint and just checking off every topic. Feel good on just about everything. Time to move on to CCNP content. Only problem is, there is hardly any CCNP Wireless content! I have 4 "Quick Reference" books and I should be happy that I at least have them, because there is literally nothing else.

Well except of course there is always Global Knowledge but their prices are ridiculous. $3500 per each CCNP course. So yeah, 14,000 for CCNP Wireless. What a ripoff. 14k for a few documents, some rack time, and that's about it. For $3500 I can get Jeff Rensink to mentor me,3 workbooks, CCIE Written video series, lab series, 300 hours of rack time, and a bunch of other goodies. For $14,000 I can get rocket scientists to teach me CCNP Wireless.

My work does have some learning credits with GK but I'd feel guilty using them on CCNP Wireless. Better someone else uses them for CCIE training or something else. How is GK in business honestly? Is it because for some reason Cisco won't release OCGs for Wireless/DC/SP/etc but releases training content to only these ripoff vendors? How frustrating.

Re: training vendor prices. I agree that it's a huge problem when you are paying for stuff yourself, but the prices are probably set with corporate customers in mind. The optimal solution would for the training vendors to have more effective price discrimination in place so that they could offer a lower price to people like us because the alternative is no sale at all. They are basically leaving easy money on the table. Anyway, good luck on the wireless track, and keep in mind what I said about sleeping; really try to get more than 6.5 hours, it's really not good for most people to sleep that little.

fredrikjj wrote: »

Re: training vendor prices. I agree that it's a huge problem when you are paying for stuff yourself, but the prices are probably set with corporate customers in mind. The optimal solution would for the training vendors to have more effective price discrimination in place so that they could offer a lower price to people like us because the alternative is no sale at all. They are basically leaving easy money on the table. Anyway, good luck on the wireless track, and keep in mind what I said about sleeping; really try to get more than 6.5 hours, it's really not good for most people to sleep that little.

True. Well my company buys a ton of Cisco equipment so we get CLCs(Cisco Learning Credits) to use at GK. I just can't in good faith use them on CCNA/CCNP. I think you'd have to be a fool to pay for GK out of pocket but I'm sure some companies do. With a little bit of effort you can tell your company that you'll train for CCNA/CCNP on your own and if they really want to pony up $14k out of pocket then get me all the Narbik/INE videos, labs, workbooks, bootcamps, etc for CCIE.

Okay so I just bought Jeff's Silver bundle from NetworkDojo. Why Silver? Couple of reasons. I spent like a sailor last month so the other bundles are just not in the budget right now. BUT, I talked to Jeff and he said that if I wanted to upgrade my package in the future all I would have to do is pay the difference. He doesn't have the mechanism on the site but he can do it manually.

So the Silver Bundle is basically Lab Series 1 and Workbook 1 which is enough for me to get started. I'd really like the Written VODs but they are only in the Platinum bundle and I just don't have the money for it this month.

I still need to finish the CCNP Quick Reference books but they are very very short so I don't expect that to take long. I'm also about 75% of the way done through the LiveLessons CCNA Wireless course taught by Jerome Henry. It's a great course by the way, for any of you reading that are thinking of pursuing this track.

What I'm going to do is employ Petr Lapukov's notepad strategy(though I use Atom on Mac) and just lab everything out in a text editor. This will have to do until I get some tokens and I can practice speed while I'm at it.

Week 1 is in the books. Stuck to the plan and just went at it. I don't feel fatigued, overwhelmed, or most importantly bored. It is indeed a journey and I will continue chipping away 1 week at a time.

This may be thinking way too far ahead, but I need to figure out where I'm going to take the lab exam and how I'm going to get there. I absolutely hate flying so that rules out San Jose CA. RTP North Carolina is about a 13 hour drive from here. 13 hours in the car vs 3 hours on a plane = I'm driving. So RTP is the backup plan because Cisco has this thing called Mobile CCIE Labs that are hosted at places other than San Jose and RTP. Unfortunately Boston is not one of the sites and neither is New York for some reason, but the closest spots around Massachusetts are all in Canada.

Montreal Mar 1-3
Toronto Apr 5-7
Toronto Aug 2-4

I love Montreal and it's probably my favorite city to visit but I won't be ready by March. Same for April in Toronto. But, Toronto in August to me sounds like the perfect date to book and it's only a 9 hour drive. By then I would have already logged close to 1800 hours if I stick to the plan. Overkill? Maybe. But since I'm doing it in such a short span I'm sure my retention is not as good as someone who say would do the same amount of hours over a 2 year span. I'm going to try to get the Written done ASAP so I can book this date to reserve a spot and keep myself motivated.

Anyway,

Hours logged Week 1: ~58
Hours total: ~58

koz24 wrote: »

Change of plans friends. I am putting R&S on the backburner and going 100% into Wireless. How did I come to this decision you may ask? Well, I started with reading the CCNA Wireless OCG and the CWNA book and I just couldn't put those books down. Absolutely fell in love with Wireless. I really enjoyed Math and Physics in HS/College so that aspect of Wireless doesn't scare me at all, in fact I enjoy it.

So what I am going to do is get all the CCNA/CCNP wireless knowledge that I can and dive right into CCIE Wireless. I am not going to get the CCNA and CCNP certifications because I just started a new job and don't plan on going anywhere for a while, so there is no point in shelling out $1500 if I feel that I know the stuff well. I ran this idea through Jeff Rensink from NetworkDojo and got his blessing, even though he cautioned me that it won't be easy.

So this is going to be my schedule for the next year or so:

4:30AM-5:00AM - Cardio(Insanity Max 30) I drink ALOT of beer. High intensity interval cardio cancels it out.
5:15AM-5:30AM - Drive to work
5:30AM-8:00AM - Reading/VODs/Labbing
8:00AM-4:30PM - Work ( I take a 30min lunch and no breaks )
4:30PM-7:30PM - Reading/VODs/Labbing. Boston traffic really sucks, okay. I figure I can hang out at work while the traffic dies down.
8:00PM-10:00PM - More Reading/VODs/Labbing.

That gives me about 6.5 hours of sleep. I think I can function well on that. If my math is correct, this schedule puts me at 7.5 hours of dedicated Wireless study each weekday. I plan to do 12 hours on Saturdays and 8 on Sundays till football season is over. Once it's over I'll do 12 on Sundays as well. So anywhere from 57.5-61.5 hours a week give or take. I'm motivated and excited, but the threat of burnout is very real. In any case, I will do my best.

Jeff's rack rental goes live on October 25th, so I will be signing up for either the Gold or Platinum course. Not sure which one yet.

I'm in the exact same boat. While setting up my ISE lab, I began going through the CWNA and CCNA Wireless Guides to get around setting up wireless a little more and I was hooked. I could not stop reading, so I'm taking a break on my CCNP Security and work on CCIE Wireless knowledge while actively going through the CWNP tracks. Like you, I'm in a position where I like what I do and feel that I'm about to take it to the next level, so I'm not in a rush and feel that I can take my time with no pressure

Good luck on your studies!

jahsoul wrote: »

I'm in the exact same boat. While setting up my ISE lab, I began going through the CWNA and CCNA Wireless Guides to get around setting up wireless a little more and I was hooked. I could not stop reading, so I'm taking a break on my CCNP Security and work on CCIE Wireless knowledge while actively going through the CWNP tracks. Like you, I'm in a position where I like what I do and feel that I'm about to take it to the next level, so I'm not in a rush and feel that I can take my time with no pressure

Good luck on your studies!

Haha that's funny! Wireless is addicting!

I'd highly recommend NetworkDojo past the CCNA level. Jeff Rensink knows his stuff.

koz24 wrote: »

Haha that's funny! Wireless is addicting!

I'd highly recommend NetworkDojo past the CCNA level. Jeff Rensink knows his stuff.

I followed him on Twitter 10 minutes after I finished the first chapter of the CWNA book. I have the Gold Bundle on my radar. I just need to get a couple of 3650s.

Week 2 almost in the books. I've almost exhausted all the Written resources already. Here's what I've used so far:

1. CCNA OCG
2. CCNA Quick Reference
3. CCNP Quick Reference books
4. LiveLessons CCNA Wireless by Jerome Henry
5. CBTNuggets CCNA Wireless by Keith Barker

That leaves me with:
1. CCIE Quick Reference
2. INE CCNA Wireless course

As you can see, most of the written resources are CCNA-heavy. There are less resources for CCNP and even less for the CCIE. I'm actually a little worried about the Written because of this. I am hoping Jeff's Written VODs and quizzers are good. I also plan to spend some time with the blueprint and do some heavy Googling to make sure I cover all the topics.

The Written VODs come out Nov30th, so I'm maybe looking at sometime in January to take the Written.

Hours logged will be less this week since I've been hooked on the MLB World Series, but with today I should get at least 50 in. I'll update later.

Well, I didn't get in as many hours this week as I would like. I watched too much baseball and I'm about to go watch Game 7 of the World Series. To me, it's more interesting than the Super Bowl which is a bunch of commercials and a concert interrupted by a football game. This is actually a real game, and it's Game 7!

Week 2 Hours: ~48
Total Hours: ~106

koz24 wrote: »

Well, I didn't get in as many hours this week as I would like. I watched too much baseball and I'm about to go watch Game 7 of the World Series. To me, it's more interesting than the Super Bowl which is a bunch of commercials and a concert interrupted by a football game. This is actually a real game, and it's Game 7!

Week 2 Hours: ~48
Total Hours: ~106

What a game huh! Perfect night to skip studying.

jahsoul wrote: »

What a game huh! Perfect night to skip studying.

Definitely a great game. Glad I staid up to watch it but I'm the paying the price this morning. Going to be a long day at work.

You're definitely racking in the hours, Koz. Keep up the determined mindset!

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

You're definitely racking in the hours, Koz. Keep up the determined mindset!

Thanks! I don't know for how long I can keep up with this schedule but I will keep going till I feel the burnout. Then I will have to slow down and take a break. Right now Sunday is kind of my off day because I get up at 4:30 and study till about 12:30 then the football games start at 1:00PM. Weekends are real easy though I feel. It's the weekdays that hurt--usually my brain feels like mush at the end of the day.

I feel pretty good on the Autonomous AP section of the exam. It's only 10% of the exam according to the blueprint, but if I'm following Brian McGahan's advice on getting a basic understanding of the technologies and then basic hands-on experience, I have done that and more.

The labs that cover this 10% portion are:

Open and Static WEP SSIDs
WPA-PSK and WPA-EAP SSIDs
Band Select
External RADIUS
Local RADIUS
Multiple RADIUS Servers
Guest SSIDs
Client Filtering
WGB
Universal WGB
Root/Non-Root Bridge
Radio Configs
Management Authentication
QoS
Services

So far all the work has been done in Atom. I'm at the point where I can look at the task and I already know the solution in my head before typing it out. So far I have been typing out the full commands. The next step will be to figure out the best possible shortcut to save some time.

AireOS has been kicking my ass. I feel it's going to take a while to get familiar with the syntax since it's quite different. Found a page though that has some useful mappings. Cisco AireOS to Cisco IOS XE Command Mapping Reference, Cisco IOS XE Release 3SE - Cisco AireOS to Cisco IOS XE Configuration Mode Commands [Cisco 5700 Series Wireless LAN Controllers] - Cisco

Week 3 in the books. I think my original schedule was a little ambitious. I will do as much as I can next week then I will probably look to cut the hours down to 40 or so.

So I'm on the Centralized section of the blueprint. It's a huge chunk--23% of the exam. I will look to spend about 400 hours here since AireOS is brand new to me.

Week 3 Hours: ~42
Total Hours: ~148

I was a super slacker this week. Only put in about 32 hours worth of studying. Noticing a pattern and that is I do less and less each week. I need a more realistic goal and I think 40 hours is a good number.

I am patiently waiting for the Written VODs as I have exhausted all resources available to me so far. About 2 weeks till those come out, so I will just keep labbing the Centralized section of Jeff's workbook.

Week 4 Hours: ~32
Total Hours: ~180

Got 41 hours in this week and I'm happy with it. Still chipping away at the Centralized section of the blueprint. Still waiting for Jeff's Written VODs. Boring week I know.

Iristheangel sent me a really badass site called LabMinutes which has tons and TONS of Wireless lab videos all free, http://labminutes.com/video/wl

I will line these videos up with Jeff's videos and do them in parallel.

Week 5 Hours: ~41
Total Hours: ~221

By now, you should be finding your groove. What works well for someone won't work at all for someone else. Don't be a slacker but there's nothing wrong with realizing that your carefully crafted plan just isn't going to work.

koz24 wrote: »

Iristheangel sent me a really badass site called LabMinutes which has tons and TONS of Wireless lab videos all free, Video: Wireless | Lab Minutes

Absolutely!! LabMinutes is epic!! I've been using LM for wireless, ISE, and ASA studies.

Metha (Labminutes guy) is awesome. I had to work with him with a client this week. We were sitting in a conf room labbing ISE. I felt like a little fan girl :P

Hope you get some good use out of those videos

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