1st CCIE lab attempt blog and help for candidates.

Turgon

Rack put together this evening for Vol II lab 1 and I got through the IGP tasks fine. A good refresher. I will use tomorrow evenings rack hire session to work the switching sections in lab no 2. Sometime before that I will see if I can change the home rack topology for this lab so I can do the WAN and IGP sections as and when. If this works out I can see me using the remote sessions for switching practice predominantly.

Turgon

Now rearraging home lab to accomodate the lab no 2 topology. If I can get the WAN and IGP stuff today that would be very encouraging.

Turgon

Now rearraging home lab to accomodate the lab no 2 topology. If I can get the WAN and IGP stuff completed today that would be very encouraging.

Turgon

Got as far as WAN tasks mostly done anyway. Recabling rack, reconfiguring frame switch, all devices reconfigured, the works. Very time consuming. So time consuming I have overrun tonight's rack session. Another busy day over then and rather than batter on at 9:30pm on a Friday Im going to spend sometime with my wife. Although not working at the moment our days would be full without lab prep, but since returning from vacation two weeks ago they have been manic what with the theory prep and now labs again and the job search and catching up with all the house business. When my next contract starts I may be away from home for spells so Im going to rearrange things so I can spend more time with the family now. Morning and evening study sessions are out. I can get a really good two or three hours in during the afternoons when Im fresh. I have slots for Saturday and Sunday running 11 - 5 there.

The layered approach seems to be working quite well, concentrating on one technology at a time. Let's see how it goes.

Turgon

The weekend is a time for the family and we just got back from an outing in the park. Rack time now. Let's see if I can improve my switching work.

Turgon

Switching went well on the remote rack as did the WAN/IGP work on the home rack. Compromises made there with no switches or backbone routers but the WAN/IGP configurations could still be done. Redistribution was a handful. Good to get lab 2's core completed. More work tomorrow, switching, WAN and IGP on lab no 3.

Turgon

Lab no 3 on the rack rental now. Very strange, after checking out an alternative rack provider I took a look at the GradedLabs schedule again and slots have opened up throughout October. They were fully booked the next two weeks when I checked a few days ago. I don't know what they are playing at. I grabbed some slots for the week ahead.

Turgon

Lab 3 Core - DONE

One of the best sessions I have had with only small mistakes on my part. Your second and third attempt at a practice lab really help you straighten your process out. With each lab I now come away with a much better understanding of how things should be done after going over the solutions when Im stuck or when my configuration is a little off. Getting stumped on fewer things now, Im usually there or there abouts. Perhaps my config is not quite right or I have forgotten the details or syntax but all these things are getting much better. After each lab is completed I go into the next one with a sharper set of tools to get the job done properly. Clarity I suppose. While I improved bits and pieces across switching, wan and IGP work I would say redistribution was probably the important lesson for me in this lab. Lab 4 tomorrow.

Turgon

Lab 4 Core - DONE

All complete in 4 hours which is very pleasing. Im in between contracts at the moment so have more time at my disposal for things which is helpful. At the same time many hours that could be spent with the family are being sucked into lab prep which sometimes leads to tension indoors. To whit we are now having a couple of days away visiting family and a break from all things Cisco. I shall be back on the racks on Thursday and Lab 5.

Progress is good. On the job front I spent the morning getting around recruitment agents to hunt down a new contract. On infrastructure and networking generally it's very slow in the UK at the moment with companies looking carefully at capital expenditure and ways to reduce workforce. Think carefully about who you vote for next year. Cuts will affect projects and contracts.

We just crossed 800 hours of configuration time. Woot. A LOT of work.

Turgon

Lab 5. Got the WAN section completed tonight after an enjoyable couple of days visiting relatives. Some particular behavoirs of frame relay interface types noted. Will complete switching and IGP sections on Friday.

Turgon

Lab 5 Core - Done

Quite sprightly this lab. Main lesson was the passive-interface requirements for RIP. Some of the redistribution solution looks a bit off.

Ok so that's the core covered on the first five labs in Vol II version 3 of IWEB. I will not be doing those again. This process is working quiet well, I already feel some improvements on my core work, particularly right first time configuration and speed. Some of the finer points of the solutions are not lost on me this time either. I'm looking at getting to the BGP section inside 3 hours and at this rate that is very doable. My switching and WAN work is certainly getting better. Next off are the BGP sections for all five labs. I will do them sequentially on the remote racks. Once complete it's the core on labs 6 - 10 before finishing with the BGP sections and then a mock exam. That's my reward anyway. I imagine my marks on the post BGP sections will be down as I haven't configured multicast and what have you for a few weeks now, but that's ok. Im hoping that this stint at the core will at least get me moving more efficently through a mock exam so I can get to those parts with some decent time left on the clock to do them properly. I found with the mocks in early September I was left with 2 - 3 hours for BGP and all the remaining tasks. This simply wasn't enough time. I will be working over the post BGP tasks across labs 1 - 10 after the mock is done. I will then attempt another mock.

Cycle is 1-5 Core (DONE) - BGP 1-5 - 6-10 Core - BGP 6-10 - Mock

1-10 Multicast - Mock
1-10 IPv6 - Mock
1-10 Security - Mock
1-10 System Management and IP Services - Mock

That's a sh1t load of work ahead of me and the whole gory process will be repeated for the 11 - 20 labs. We will just have to see how this goes in the remaining weeks of 2009 because I want this workbook nuked before I even start to look at all the new topics on the v4 blueprint. I'm not going to have time to get into any of that madness this side of Christmas. Let's get these subjects down properly first!

Turgon

No 10 hour sessions at the weekends for me. Spent the whole day with the family to give my wife a well earned break from looking after our son. Had a nice time outdoors. 45 minutes reading Doyle Vol II this morning looking over BGP filtering mechanisms. Will do BGP on remote racks Sunday.

Turgon

BGP sections across labs 1 - 5 to be configured today. Roll on another week with the core in labs 6 - 10 and a mock exam done. I can then start to pick off the post BGP subjects until the end of the month.

Turgon

Ok well the first lab BGP sections went smoothly. But the setting up of all the peering for each lab is very time consuming. I think I have peering and route reflectors and confederations down now so I will proceed by simply examining the questions covering summarisation, path manipulation and what have you and configure those things. I think a supermemo database would be a good idea.

Turgon

Configured the important BGP tasks from labs 1 - 3 before the remote rack session timed out. I feel that was a fairly useful BGP refresher. I will be using supermemo for some of these configurations in the weeks ahead. Some repetitive training is called for now. I understand the mechanisms, just need to practice configuring filtering and what have you regularly so I can do it on the fly.

Back to the core work on Monday and lab no 6!

Turgon

No racktime Monday as the day was spent scouring the boards for contracts and on direct marketing. More of that planned for today. But I do have a rack session this afternoon. Will do BGP from labs 4 and 5 and time permitting as much of lab 6 as I can. Put forward for a couple of gigs overseas. The pressure is on at home to spend time finding a contract ( which Im doing) and spend less time on lab prep and more time with the family.

You would think that with no work on at present I would get more lab study done but my wife's appetite for all that has simply evaporated. But a few hours prep each day just isn't going to cut the mustard Im afraid.

Totally understandable as my next job will most likely take me away from home for spells. But you gotta get some rack hours in somewhere! Most likely in a hotel someplace in the evenings after work at this rate

Turgon

Lab 4 BGP. Some simple filtering of prefixes that are not originated by AS 54 (customers of AS 54). Also useful refresher on BGP->IGP redistribution with filtering. It's work with either ip as-path access-lists and filter-list or prefix-lists and a route-map.

Turgon

Lab 5 BGP. Remove private AS, community no advertise, BGP dampening. Then we got way busy looking out for new contracts leaving only 30 minutes left on the remote rack clock so no time to start lab 6. Could grab tonights rack slot either. Set about putting a canibalised topology together on the home rack, but with no switches and old interfaces theres a lot missing there. Still, at least I can do the frame/wan and IGP stuff this evening. Well most of it anyway. So short on time here. Im beginning to think I should use the remote racks for switching and the BGP stuff and try and blag a topology on the rack at home to do the WAN and IGP things. At least the rack is always accessible here at home, even if some things are missing. But it's a drag recabling everytime and then scratching devices and re iping interfaces.

It *might* be time for dynamips. A whizzo PC and Ubuntu. Problem there is it may take me a week to get it all working properly. Im off the pace with that stuff these days

Dinner time then bedtime for the youngster then some painful WAN and IGP work tonight with old equipment. No labs Wednesday as we are very busy indoors. Lab 6 switching and BGP Thursday afternoon on the remote racks. Chances of lab 6 - 10 completion by EOW - zero

Turgon

Well I got the WAN and OSPF and RIP stuff done. A halt for today while I digest what was learned. Pretty good session. It will be redistribution and some EIGRP and GRE stuff tomorrow. Lab was heavy on authentication. Awful stuff, watch out for it. You need it on Virtual Links too.

Turgon

Well we got the house stuff done already and by a miracle Im back on with a remote rack session. Im done with redistribution and EIGRP on lab 6. The redistribution solution was awful and made no sense at all. They are trying to illustrate something that I want to get down better by way of a problem and well documented solution. But it doens't seem to add up with my way of thinking. It's the old redistribute connected situation, a requirement sometimes when redistributing protocols on a router. The choice of connected interfaces used just doesn't seem to add up. Why redistribute connected interfaces into RIP that are not covered by the RIP network statement and which are not needed downstream in OSPF anyway when you redistribute into OSPF. Weird.

BGP next and then the switching sections. Should get lab 6 core done today and then hurling headlong into the core of lab 7. I want to get to the end of lab 10 soon so I can then spend a day or two going over my notes and revising topics before my next mock exam. Momentum is critical for CCIE candidates in terms of regular lab practice. Without that you are dead in the water.

Turgon

Lab 6 Core - DONE

Useful lab and with the clock running down it was really hand to hand fighting to get the switching configs clattered in according to the solution guide. Just as the OSPF network type variants are becoming clearer so is meeting trunking requirements. QinQ tunnelling, port security minutia I need to work on. Trunking, Portchannel, VTP fine. Spanning-tree a little better. Main thing is speed with switching. Understand the requirements quickly and get it all battered in and verified soon. You don't want problems with your switch block. At the same time you dont want to expend too much time and energy there either. Keep moving. Practicing so many dot1q subinterfaces was a useful drill. Lots of good things to make a note of in this lab. Particularly in the switching and BGP sections.

mrmcmint

I have no idea what it all means Turgon, but it's inspiring reading it and realising the effort you put into this. I don't put in anywhere near as many hours as you and I already realise it's hard to mix the family/learning balance.

Good luck and all the best.

Turgon

Thanks. It's always a struggle keeping everyone happy!

Lab 7 CORE this morning.

Turgon

Took notes for the first five labs. The tricky BGP things. Cut and paste of the questions and solutions on the IWEB labs doesn't work so it's a very time consuming business. With notes now for switching, wan, igps and bgp across the first five labs I will be entering into mnemosyne later. This tool will be useful to prepare for my next mock at the end of October.

Turgon

Got through the switching section in just over an hour. QinQ again, storm control, voice vlans, switching QoS, private vlans. I understand private vlans better now. A breather and then the WAN stuff next.

Turgon

Lab 7 CORE - DONE

Great lab. It's a car crash loaded with 007 configs. Exhausting and just happy to get IGPs done before the end of the session. Had awful problems in IGPS but to be expected on a grade 9 lab. If you get something like that on lab day, get your coat because you aint gonna pass today. More thoughts later..I need a break.

vlans

Dude,

You are good!How many hours have you clocked so far and when is your tentative LAB date?
You have psyched me up after I slowed down on my preparation but now am out for it and I want to give it 6months since I had already started.

Cheers

Turgon

vlans wrote: »

Dude,

You are good!How many hours have you clocked so far and when is your tentative LAB date?
You have psyched me up after I slowed down on my preparation but now am out for it and I want to give it 6months since I had already started.

Cheers

I started 2.5 years ago on the road to excellence. We are at 819 hours of rack practice and 380 hours of reading. Starting a family and work commitments required a measured approach. Stay motivated!

We are looking at Easter. I need to box off my core preparations by Christmas and in the new year start working on the lab topics that will appear in the new lab exam that is coming out this week. I expect the casualties on the new lab to be very high.

Postscript Lab 7. I will take some time out to study the redistribution solution to this one as it was too awful to comprehend. But first..momentum..Lab 8

vlans

Fantastic,

819 hrs is good man,I can imagine a pilot who has 800 hrs of flying

Turgon

vlans wrote: »

Fantastic,

819 hrs is good man,I can imagine a pilot who has 800 hrs of flying

Even though it's taken a long time to amass those hours, overall it's gone well. Getting those hours done in one year would only have seriously stressed things on the work and family front. It's something to think about when one sees the I passed in one year emails flying through groupstudy from time to time. Good luck to those people but everyone's bandwidth to do this work sensibly is different. Wearing myself out wouldn't be sensible with the demands on my time and attention span. I see a lot of people hammering away at this at the exclusion of everything else. They don't pass the exam, have issues at work and home (exhaustion), give up and the rack goes on ebay. Be patient.

It's a case now of practicing until I reach a point when I can configure enough of this stuff right first time. I understand the technologies now more or less. So Im working hard on those detailed things that still escape me. Drills, repetition, that kind of thing is helping. The list is getting smaller. If I can improve on the shaping, queuing, summarization, filtering, and general metric manipulation stuff I should be fine. All CCIE candidiates put a lot of hours of preparation in, you cant expect to cover all the things that you may be tested on through experience in the field alone. I think instructors have a bit of an edge on field engineers in this regard. A good instructor spends many hours teaching the disciplines over and over in a vanilla way. That's gotta help. In the field the engineer spends many hours working narrow aspects of technologies on a given topology..and disregards the rest. A mixture of both helps as you get context for the learning and can see an application for some of it in a field setting. So some of what you are learning helps pay the bills. Field work helps troubleshooting too. Sharper instincts.