BSCI conquered.

singh8281

Nailed it today with score of 877. Four months of hard work finally paid off.

btowntech

Congrats! Hope to have mine done soon.

singh8281

Thinkin of geting into Switching so gotta populate my rack with few layer 3 switches, I already have a 2950 and 2900. Any suggestion for a cheap layer 3 switch. Lookin into 3550 but not sure about the image.

scheistermeister

Congrats! I will be taking this one on Monday. What are your thoughts on it?

singh8281

The exam was one of the toughest I’ve ever taken. Unlike CCNA where they test you on command memorization BSCI exam will test your in depth understanding of routing protocols. I am not saying that don’t try to memorize commands, rather spend as much time getting familiar with the behavior of protocols. In my exam, every topic got equal weightage so make sure to know things that you least expect. Time is very critical in this exam; I answered the last question around 5 seconds before the end. Sources that aided me in preparation were

Certification guide
Study Guide
BSCI lab manual

mikej412

Congratulations!

The 3550 will work -- and you'd want an Enhanced Multilayer Software Image (EMI). The 3550 SMI versions can be upgraded to EMI image.

If you're planning (or thinking about) the CCIE, then it's probably a good idea to get a 3550 now. But even with the drop in price on eBay, it's still hard for some people to justify purchasing a 3550 for the CCNP.

shednik

Congrats on the pass!!

Plazma

Well I think it's been mentioned before, but if you get a decent rotuer you can do I believe almost anything an L3 switch can do (correct me if im wrong). From my angle if you had an L3 switch, you would simply enable "ip routing" on it.

But as mike mentioned, getting a 3550 now is a great idea especially if you plan on going on with your CCIE R&S.

astorrs

Congrats on the pass.

singh8281

Plazma wrote:

Well I think it's been mentioned before, but if you get a decent rotuer you can do I believe almost anything an L3 switch can do (correct me if im wrong). From my angle if you had an L3 switch, you would simply enable "ip routing" on it.

But as mike mentioned, getting a 3550 now is a great idea especially if you plan on going on with your CCIE R&S.

True, but it wouldn't have as many ports as switch. Since BSMSN also deals with Wireless, I wonder what kind of Access point and controller would suffice. I see some 1231G on ebay for under $150

It appears is that 3550 is not capable of supporting ver 12.2, and 3560 which has that capability is insanely expensive. Now how important is it to have ver 12.2, would all labs in the Lab manual be doable in 12.1?

jamesp1983

congrats!

singh8281

jimmypizzle83 wrote:

congrats!

Thank You.

Slowhand

Congratulations on the pass, good score too. And I add my vote for picking up a Catalyst 3550 for your BCMSN studies, as well as a couple of 2950s, if you can afford 'em. Having a layer 3 switch in addition to layer 2 switches won't hurt anything (except maybe give your wallet a slight bruise,) and you'll be able to not only play with the layer 3 switching material on the CCNP route, but also hang on to the same equipment if you choose to shoot for the top of the pyramid.

singh8281

Slowhand wrote:

Congratulations on the pass, good score too. And I add my vote for picking up a Catalyst 3550 for your BCMSN studies, as well as a couple of 2950s, if you can afford 'em. Having a layer 3 switch in addition to layer 2 switches won't hurt anything (except maybe give your wallet a slight bruise,) and you'll be able to not only play with the layer 3 switching material on the CCNP route, but also hang on to the same equipment if you choose to shoot for the top of the pyramid.

Thanks slow hand. I guess i'll pick couple of 3550's and as far as the wireless labs go, i have no option but to buy a rack time. I definately can't afford multi thousand dollar WLAN controller.