Internetwork Expert Lab Workbooks

Has anyone going any thoughts on the Internetwork Expert Lab Workbooks for the CCIE R&S track?

They look good, the Cisco Press books always have a lack of labs so I'm looking for something with some good long labs to do.... but for the price just wanna make sure they are worth it.

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dynamik

Isn't a new revision (v4) of the CCIE out, or going to be out soon? You might want to check the schedule and make sure you get appropriate materials.

rakem

dynamik wrote: »

Isn't a new revision (v4) of the CCIE out, or going to be out soon? You might want to check the schedule and make sure you get appropriate materials.

Yea i'm not gonna start studying till next year but am just starting to do some research on what I will need...

rakem

So has anyone used the Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching workbooks??

Turgon

rakem wrote: »

So has anyone used the Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching workbooks??

Yes Im using them now. I started with IWEB in spring 2008. Prior to IWEB I used Ipexpert's workbook.

The workbooks are fine providing lots of examples of configurations that meet specific requirements across all the protocols. This is something that cisco press is hit and miss at depending on the book, the chapters, what is being illustrated, the author. The ancillary reading is very important though, as is building out protocols in isolation using the examples in Cisco Press books. I found that very useful to augment my workbook preparations.

My advice is don't get too much material. One workbook at a time is plenty, and use them alongside lots of reading and protocol topic scenarios taken from books you can build on your lab. After using one vendor, try a second to get a different perspective and to help reinforce those topics that didn't sit so well with your time with the first vendor. Avoid overloading yourself with too much content. The main thing is to find time to use it, patiently, carefully and regularly. Honesty in your study habits and a realistic study schedule you can stick to is more important than shelling out hard earned cash on more and more materials. Some folks get every book under the sun, CoD, VoD, the works and that's fine but unless you make the time to use them they don't help you. Vendor materials provide guidence and examples to get you thinking, the rest is down to the candidate.

The lab is changing soon, so rather than spend money on workbooks you could perhaps now simply take time out to work on as many Cisco Press examples as you can until the v4 materials appear. Solie, Duggan, Doyle, Odom all offer plenty of examples I built at home and helped me out.

kryolla

I found a lot of errors in IE WB1 which can be pretty frustrating. It seems they are trying to get the product out without any quality control. Im studying multicast and their volume 1 is laid out with the tasks first then the solutions. So I look at the task and try to complete it then you look at the solutions and what they're asking of you is totally different. I also found this out in BGP section. Just go to their online forum and you can see this. I brought this up to one of their senior instructors and it still hasnt been fixed. I would check out Narbik labs since they are on sale due to him releasing the 4.0 blueprint material. I plan on getting his advance lab workbook which usually goes for $500 and it is now $150.

rakem

Thanks for the replie....

Also with the INE work books, how did you actually do the labs? Did you rent some rack time, or model your home lab to what is in the books?

I have seen the diagram of the lab they use and its pretty big, would mean shelling out some serious cash to upgrade my home lab.

Of course there is always dynamips, but just wondering how other people did it

kryolla

rakem wrote: »

Thanks for the replie....

Also with the INE work books, how did you actually do the labs? Did you rent some rack time, or model your home lab to what is in the books?

I have seen the diagram of the lab they use and its pretty big, would mean shelling out some serious cash to upgrade my home lab.

Of course there is always dynamips, but just wondering how other people did it

I have my own lab modeled after theirs which consist of 2500s,2600s, 1 3640, 1 1760, 2 3550 and 2 2950. So it didnt cost that much I guess but its worth it. With the new 4.0 blueprint I might have to get some new routers or just use some rack time for the technology my rack doesnt support like OER or zone based firewall, although I havent checked to see if it is supported