1st CCIE lab attempt blog and help for candidates.

Turgon

Ok my attempt to build out some MPLS core scenarios on the INE R&S remote rack has been thwarted as the 3560 and 3500 switches do not support mpls label switching. So the session is useless. I have never used the S&P rack before but will see if it helps any. Hopefully my tokens go across racks otherwise I will have to spend some money.

Turgon

Ok the credits are transferrable and I now have a SP rack session going. Found the SP physical topology drawing for the rack on the INE website. Im not familar with this topology but looking at it it seems rather simple to me. Perhaps Im doing the wrong CCIE...anyway Im top heavy on MPLS requirement at work right now. I have never seen the SP workbook but looking at this topology I imagine it does not require you to build MPLS cores. I need four routers in a row CE-PE-PE-CE to get moving with all this. R1 - R3 - R2 offer three strung together with serial links so they will be useful. But for the fourth, the CE router I will have to transit either a Frame Relay cloud or ATM to get the PE to it. Its been a while since I lit up an ATM datalink and I would imagine ip vrf forwarding just isnt going to work over frame relay!

Fun. I should really be spending time when the family but how else will I have time to get into something like this. I will fire up the routers now and see how I get on.

Turgon

Progress. I got the ATM P2P lit up between PE2 and CE2. Lets see if I can get the vrf forwarding working. If so VPN config next..

Turgon

Couldnt get the end to end solution working yesterday so abandoned and returned to the books. Continuing with research today. May take a rack session to lab a core and MPLS VPN.

Turgon

No agreeable timeslots available on racks today. Will resort to reading and working things out on paper.

Turgon

Some reasonable progress made on MPLS core and MPLS VPN configuration over the weekend. Still way too busy and intense at work to get into CCIE prep. Far too many non CCIE Cisco things to engage in..ACE, FWSM, CSM et al.

Turgon

The new job goes well. Having survived the blitz of taking on lots of unfamiliar infrastructure and numerous meetings and white board sessions Im now piecing it all together and directing my own research. Various small pieces of work are now underway plus lots of design projects. Cool. Will be on task with CCIE studies again very soon.

laidbackfreak

Glad to hear its coming together nicely hopefully with the perm gig you can get a bit more stability for the study to stay on track for the lab.

rogue2shadow

Congrats on the new job! I know I'm late lol.

Turgon

laidbackfreak wrote: »

Glad to hear its coming together nicely hopefully with the perm gig you can get a bit more stability for the study to stay on track for the lab.

The responsibilities as Lead Technical Architect are going to require lots of time and effort on my part, first to get upto speed with what we have, how it works, whats wrong with it and improving/future proofing it through design and new process as well as making sure the customers are provisioned effectively and incidents are resolved promptly. That's my whole week right there. There wont be time at work to disconnect and read Cisco books or do practice labs or anything like that. I simply have too much on there. But I do think some of the work will present an opportunity to leverage a number of things I have been learning on the CCIE track. In fact it already has to some extent.

Once things are settled I can start to spend more time and energy on lab prep again after work much to my wife's annoyance at times

gateway

Turgon wrote: »

Once things are settled I can start to spend more time and energy on lab prep again after work much to my wife's annoyance at times

I can certainly relate to that. It's hard trying to balance work/family life.
Still, it will pay off in the long run.

All the best Turgon

Turgon

gateway wrote: »

I can certainly relate to that. It's hard trying to balance work/family life.
Still, it will pay off in the long run.

All the best Turgon

Cheers man. Yup it is hard with a 2 year old running around..in fact he's here now and its the weekend!! A day out on the beach with the family tomorrow. No labs for me.

Turgon

The seaside trip is off as my son has a bit of a cold and blocked nose. Im watching him this morning while my wife gets some overdue sleep. We will be out later to do the shopping and may take a short trip into the countryside to get some fresh air. I confess I feel a bit snuffly myself. I dont think we will be going anywhere until this afternoon so may get an hours reading in. Documenting BGP from Vol 1 is the next task.

Turgon

Some BGP documentation done this morning. Then cleaned the car and took the family out for a trip to the toy shop and a late lunch in the countryside. Playing with the toys now with my boy indoors. Perhaps some more BGP documentation when he is in bed.

Turgon

Got some more BGP documentation in. A short break now to reconnect with the family for a short while and then I will press on and get it finished across this evening. Quite a lot covered so far across the suite of BGP options in Vol 1 and Im about halfway through the material.

I will get BGP done this weekend then document the MPLS section to round off what I covered on that protocol last weekend. Next week it's time to tackle QoS. The Vol 1 section on QoS is truly awful in terms of large mass of complex content but I must get to grips with it not least for my work which involves a QoS rollout in the DCs which is still being worked out.

For those considering undertaking the CCIE I can tell you Saturday is paramount. Unless you are prepared to devote large chunks of time on virtually every Saturday until you pass the lab you can probably kiss goodbye to your CCIE aspirations. So for some of you it may be time to discuss that reality with your family and cancel the WoW subscription.

Turgon

Woot. BGP note taking from Vol 1 complete. A mighty fine spreadsheet I have now. I wonder when I will actually get time to revise its many and various complex contents

Some stress indoors today as the study efforts were adhoc and filleted into different parts of the day. My wife likes to know upfront what we are doing on Saturday and when the sickness put the trip to the beach on hold I just went off and did my own thing. Although I did clean the car and take us out for lunch..No matter, next Saturday is now in both of our diaries for QoS revision 9 - 2pm. Nice.

Im glad these notes are in because next week will be very challenging at work. Its 10:30pm, time for us to relax and watch some TV.

Turgon

Raining hard this morning. Aside from a trip for groceries this afternoon there should be some studytime. The note taking on MPLS will commence. That plus QoS (TBA) and a revisit of Switching should not only keep my studies on track but assist in latest things brewing at work on the design front. I may well crack open the Kennedy bible to remind myself how all the STP mechanisms work

gateway

Early start this morning Turgon!
Not raining here for once (touch wood)

Turgon

hehehe..still raining here in Sheffield

gateway

Not so far off then
Just north of Manchester the clouds are appearing and looking very grey - back to normal then.

Turgon

gateway wrote: »

Not so far off then
Just north of Manchester the clouds are appearing and looking very grey - back to normal then.

Very good. A local boy. Check your PM, if you are quick and choose to accept you have the acolade of being my 100th friend on TE.

MPLS notes are now in the can! Good work this morning. Cool.

Armageddon

Hey Turgon,
Have you taken the CCIE Lab Exam before? If you don't mind me asking is it your goal to take it this year? Also what type of Cisco equipment do you recommend to practice for the lab exam? Sorry I'm just full of questions.

Turgon

Armageddon wrote: »

Hey Turgon,
Have you taken the CCIE Lab Exam before? If you don't mind me asking is it your goal to take it this year? Also what type of Cisco equipment do you recommend to practice for the lab exam? Sorry I'm just full of questions.

Never took the lab. Total slacker

Yes Im shooting for November this year. For equipment use what you can afford at home and remote rack the rest. Dynamips plus switches seems to be highly preferred for home study these days if you dont want or cant afford a rack full of equipment.

Turgon

QoS is on the radar at work. To configure it for customer contracts in the datacentres. So Im hitting the books this weekend. Perfect timing as that was the study plan anyway.

Turgon

Some QoS reading over the weekend. CB Policing and LLQ mostly.

ITVince

Turgon wrote: »

Some QoS reading over the weekend. CB Policing and LLQ mostly.

Turgon I'm new to the forums, I hope that one day i'll be as smart as you bud .... I have a lot of work, studying and life expereinces to overcome....

Turgon

ITVince wrote: »

Turgon I'm new to the forums, I hope that one day i'll be as smart as you bud .... I have a lot of work, studying and life expereinces to overcome....

The more I learn the more I realise I still have to work on quite frankly. Good luck in your studies my friend.

Post script..perhaps some MPLS lab work tomorrow and some QoS note taking at the weekend.

laidbackfreak

Turgon wrote: »

The more I learn the more I realise I still have to work on quite frankly.

I know that feeling well, having recently completed my CCVP I feel like I've only just scratched the surface. I felt the same way when I'd done my CCNA way back.
Actually I can probably say I've felt that way all along my IT career. lol

It took me a while to realise that I can actually focus on one area and become an expert someday and I don't need to be an expert in everything.

Turgon

laidbackfreak wrote: »

I know that feeling well, having recently completed my CCVP I feel like I've only just scratched the surface. I felt the same way when I'd done my CCNA way back.
Actually I can probably say I've felt that way all along my IT career. lol

It took me a while to realise that I can actually focus on one area and become an expert someday and I don't need to be an expert in everything.

With a good base in R&S and other things you can learn almost anything. Attempting to be an expert in everything will send you to the funny farm and leave you living on your own. Which isn't cool.

Turgon

MPLS design plans for Friday were destroyed as the time was sucked up analysing a network performance issue and engaging in a QoS design project. No studies this weekend as I must spend time with the family and catch up on things.