1st CCIE lab attempt blog and help for candidates.

Turgon

GT-Rob wrote:

I think a week per lab is a good pace. Between preparing for it, going through the lab (8-10hrs), going over the solution, and reading up on anything you need to cover, its a good amount of hours each week on its own.

Only downside is it will take quite a while to get through all 20 if you do them.

Yes it will take a long time. I have some important work still to do and I don't want to spoil my preparation now by cramming. I really need to spend time over a lot of small things right now and for quite some elapsed time if Im to fine tune properly. Im already studying for the written on the side as I may need to take it again.

It's not just the 20 labs, there are 7 IPexpert labs left and I wish to do some mock exams. With everything on at home and at work it's a tad unrealistic to cover all this properly before my written expires in November. I think the lessons would be rushed and I would miss out on the real learning experience. Add a couple of months and I think I would have pulled everything in a sensible manner. There is a limit to what you can cover well in any given week, sort of an optimal study window for me to digest the lessons properly. Just one lab offers lots of insights and learning opportunities, but you need energy to do them and elapsed time to reflect on what you have just learned. While it's tempting to crash ahead and try and get more done in a week just to strike labs to do off the list, cranking more hours out to compensate affects quality in the long run.

We will just see how it all goes!

Turgon

7AM. Revisiting questions in Odom.

liquid6

Turgon - Good man for making your way through the exam the way you want to and not being forced to rush. I am thinking about starting the long road myself and I really like the way you are going about it, I have modeled alot of my theoretical training plan on what you have done so far. I have a family and a job and appreciate not being able to throw yourself into it all the time. I worked out that I probably have 17.5 hours of possible study a week, not including any study on sat/sunday. If I actually commit to the exam, I am planning on taking 4-6 weeks off work before the exam to do the final push, but I hope to be able to maintain the 17.5 hrs of study up(without burning out) to that point.

I wonder if doing a 18month -> 2year plan, what is the best way to retain the knowledge along the way?

Best of luck, and know that I/we are behind you in your quest...I always look forward to updates!

Cheers,
Mark

Turgon

liquid6 wrote:

Turgon - Good man for making your way through the exam the way you want to and not being forced to rush. I am thinking about starting the long road myself and I really like the way you are going about it, I have modeled alot of my theoretical training plan on what you have done so far. I have a family and a job and appreciate not being able to throw yourself into it all the time. I worked out that I probably have 17.5 hours of possible study a week, not including any study on sat/sunday. If I actually commit to the exam, I am planning on taking 4-6 weeks off work before the exam to do the final push, but I hope to be able to maintain the 17.5 hrs of study up(without burning out) to that point.

I wonder if doing a 18month -> 2year plan, what is the best way to retain the knowledge along the way?

Best of luck, and know that I/we are behind you in your quest...I always look forward to updates!

Cheers,
Mark

Hi Mark,

Your plans seem sound. So long as you study regularly you will retain the knowledge and improve it with elapsed time. It's not uncommon to find candidates taking 2 or 3 years to obtain their number, particularly if they have enforced study breaks or multiple lab attempts. If you have the free time available I think the whole track is doable in 12 months but that would require a LOT of work. Available time 9 - 5 helps there and relaxed commitments at home.

Regardless of how long it takes you, all candidates have to cover the same body of work to get to where they need to be to pass. The amount of time you have available to dedicate to CCIE study activity will determine how long it will take you to cover that body of work. In my case our son was born last September so this is the priority at the moment. I find that with work, if I also overdo the studies after work there is a tendency for my mind to be so preoccupied with my cisco life that I miss out on things at home and my attention to important matters at home (like supporting my wife) is diminished. So my study program is steady without being intense.

My written expires in November. If I feel I am ready I will take my 1st lab attempt before it expires. If not I will simply do the written again and take on the lab in January.

Turgon

Had a go at Odom and Netmaster questions again. Marks are fair but some subjects to work on. I would need to mug up on some of the **** details of protocol mechanisms and look over white papers on MPLS etc to be ready for a written attempt. Some of the 'non-lab' stuff has gone from my head, but in other cases my lab prep has given me a better feel for IOS and configs so working things out, even in subjects Im not strong on comes much easier than it used to. I also have a better understanding of some theory because of the lab work.

I think with effort I could get up for a written shot in 4 - 6 weeks on the side.

Im also thinking of taking a couple of weeks off in October to concentrate solely on lab prep. This may include doing a two week course. I think I would get a lot done that way and pull many things together nicely. Between now and then I will keep battering away as and when so I have a good foundation to polish off.

Turgon

A reading weekend on theory ahead, followed by a week returning to rack practice in the evenings.

Turgon

7.20AM. Back on with Odom network theory reading.

Turgon

7:50 AM. Back on with IWEB lab 1 on the remote racks. No rest for the wicked.

GT-Rob

I just went through Lab 1 myself in the past few days (my first multiprotocol lab).

Its interesting to go through them. Its a mix of "hey I can really do this" confidence, with some "omg what am I doing" when I totally miss something lol. I still have a long way to go, but there is so much you learn from these labs.

Turgon

Practice labs certainly are useful!

IWEB Vol II Lab 1 - DONE.

Battered the lab out today after spending a couple days prior reading the scenario, proposing solutions then checking the solutions guide before reading the whole thing and highlighting key points. Overall some good practice and worked on speed mainly, getting the configs in. Certainly some explanations in the guide that cleared up a good deal of small things. Clearly still a long way to go though. More of the tasks and solutions are starting to feel second nature now. I will be working on that and trying to spend less time on solutions guides except for the cryptic stuff. But Im not yet at the stage where I can make all this stuff up as I go along so the reading is a good tutorial.

Will start to look over lab no 2 tomorrow.

Turgon

8AM. Updating notes concerning lab 1 before reading lab 2.

Turgon

Read the Switching/PPP/Frame/IGP/BGP sections in lab 2. Will lab up tomorrow.

Turgon

7:45. Lab 2 rack time. The solutions guides read well as a tutorial, like a good book and Im clearing up a lot of small things with the alternative approach of IWEB as compared to IPexpert. Having done 32 IPexpert labs before hand looking at an alternative vendor's spin on things is certainly useful.

In the months ahead I see my work encompassing four distinct areas of study.

1. Task interpretation
2. Basic configuration
3. Fine tuning of protocols, timers etc
4. Filtering practice

Step 4 will be critical. With so many ways to filter almost every protocol I expect to be putting a few weeks aside at some point this year to concentrate on the mechanisms on a protocol by protocol basis, including redistribution.

Turgon

8PM. Calling a halt at the RIP section after putting 4 hours in today. Picking up some useful verification tips from this tutorial, but Im tired now and dont want to spoil the lab by rushing. Our son is bathed and in bed now and the working week is over so we will relax now and watch some TV. There's quite a lot of chores and shopping planned for the weekend so I dont expect to get a lot of studying done before Monday. But that's ok because lab no 2 is going well and will be complete soon enough. I should be looking over lab 3 sometime next week. The switching/PPP/Frame/IGP sections have come together nicely so far. Im getting some useful revision in, improving my verification technique, understanding finer points better and getting up on overall configuration speed.

Turgon

8:30 AM. Keeping an eye on our son while he plays with his toys so my wife can get some much needed sleep after night feeding. I will see if there is a session available now so I can carry on with the lab.

Turgon

EIGRP and RIP done. A family outing now. I will try and get a few more hours in this evening. Incidently 15 minutes before the end of my IWEB remote rack session I was unable to save my configs using the Beta Control Panel so watch out for that!

The ability to save configs through the control panel and reload on a different rack at a later time is a great time saver. I found cut and paste saving and reloading configs such a chore the last few months.

Turgon

Food shopping and furnature shopping today. Also need a new car seat for the baby. Followed by BGP practice (hopefully).

Turgon

Just got home. Bought the new car seat and did the food shopping. Found a wardrobe we like. Time to cput shopping away, dinner and bath time for the kid then racks tonight. Managed to grab a slot for a few hours fun in the evening.

Turgon

Delightful surprise visit by brother and kids rendered lab practice last night unrealistic. Will try again today.

Turgon

IWEB Vol II Lab no 2 - DONE

A useful tutorial this one. Picked up more verification tips. Clearly work to do in some areas. I will be revisiting the security sections at some stage in my revision. Overall learning a good deal. My proposals to solutions are close but I need to keep practicing the details. The examples help there and more rack time.

With two labs out of the way in this workbook the show is on the road. I now need to reflect on some of the things covered. I intend to look over lab no. 3 this week and get configuration underway as soon as possible.

Turgon

IWEB - Lab no. 3. Completed Switching, Frame and PPP sections. Some good pointers picked up again. Having a breather before OSPF.

Turgon

OSPF mostly done. I will try and get EIGRP and RIP done tomorrow. Looked over the sections tonight and BGP. If I can get to the point where the L2/IGP and BGP is done sometime this week that would be good.

GT-Rob

You have a good pace going. I need to catch up I think!

Turgon

GT-Rob wrote:

You have a good pace going. I need to catch up I think!

Yup. 600 hours is the target now. Gotta keep on track!

Turgon

Having some fun loading my previous config from the IE control panel for their remote racks. It's a great timesaver when it works. Its not working for me today. Logged a support ticket by email and will keep trying to load that config.

Let's see what happens.

dynamik

You need to write some more interesting content. All these alphabet lab posts go over our noobish heads. You're not even at 50k page views. There's no way you're going to break 100k before you snag your CCIE at the rate you're going. You need to get your priorities in order! Talk about how you use your Cisco skills to pickup chicks or something...

Turgon

hehehehehe..Im not sure my wife would agree with your motives but there we go.
I doubt the loading configs from the IE graded labs control panel issue will be resolved before my session ends so Im just going to configure what I can. A bummer as Im halfway through a lab. What can you do

Turgon

It seems to be working now. I have managed to load a previous config. Will press on with the rest of the IGPs.

Turgon

IWEB lab no 3.

Got the IGP and BGP sections done. Worked on getting some bugs out before doing BGP. Had a bad username preventing a PPP link with PAP authentication from lighting up. Made sure all the interfaces were up/up and verified things in OSPF using some of the verification commands mentioned in the solution guide.

The redistribution section was educational. I like how the routes were tagged at one redistribution point, and upstream at the next redistribution point the metric was changed depending on the tag received in a route. This affected the prefered routing path meeting requirements.

The BGP section was solid covering no-export, set as-path prepend, weight, advertise-map, allowas-in. Prefix lists are used a good deal. Lots of good examples for BGP best path selection. Verification practice was good also.

I like this workbook. Having spent so many hours prior to IWEB with the IPexpert material and nothing but the final configs to go on, it's nice to have some instruction by way of the documented solutions in the IWEB labs. The layered approach works well in the IWEB workbook, and I find documented solutions read like a good book, helping me improve and fine tune what I already knew and enlightening me on what I dont already know. The verification steps are helping.

I would say though, that to get the most out of IWEB Vol II you should either do IWEB Vol I first (as recommended by the vendor), or instead do what I did and amass some serious rack time before hand with an alternative vendors product or cisco press examples in books or on CCO. Im finding that all that prior work is helping me get the best out of this workbook whch is serving as a great tutorial working protocols together.

I still have the Multicast/QoS/IP services et al sections ahead of me, but with L2/IGP/BGP done the main part of this lab is essentially over. I hope to finish lab no. 3 before Monday before setting about reading lab no 4. Once I have a battery of these labs under my belt I will then attempt a mock exam. I tried a couple out in the beginning of April but I was far too slow to get through the content in 8 hours so simply concentrated on the early sections. I have come a fair way since then so I hope to do better next time around.

GT-Rob

I have been having some problems myself with the racks.

About a week ago I could log in to devices, but had no control via control panel. They said they were "doing some work" and moved to another one.

Then yesterday I couldn't load configs. By the time they responded to my ticket it was resolved though.



I got through lab 2 myself yesterday. Seemed easier (for me) than lab 1, except a few tasks I was very lost on (dot1x task was a mess lol)