ONT Progress

Just figured I'd chronicle my progress on the ONT. My plan is to sit the exam on January 10th, 25 days from now.

I just finished one pass of the first chapter of the ONT official Cert Guide, Cisco VoIP Implementations. It's seems to be a lot of overlap with BCMSN, although it goes just a tiny bit more in depth.

Not feeling 100%, so I will be taking another pass between today and tomorrow. I wasnt feeling confident on the Bandwidth Calculation section.

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SysAdmin4066

Those daddy skills are hard won, i'll tell you that much. I feel like i know my daughter pretty well, when she cries a certain way, I know she's sleepy. When she cries because of bathtime, I know how to make her smile and stop giving mommy grief for long enough to undress her and get her to the fun part again. Those little things all add up, and its a rough first going. But as they get older, they get more and more interactive, more and more reactive, they are such a joy. You dont think things can get any better, and they do. My daughter looks older and different everyday I come home from work. I wish you luck devilwah, luck and blessings. Children are truly lifes greatest jewel, sent from God to be protected and nurtured by us "adults". I still feel like i'm much to young to be someones father, but my parents were this age when they had me. And i'll be my parents age someday God-willing.

Anyway, I got my NM-FE-TX modules tonight and low and behold, they work in the 2600XMs, so I'm golden. I ordered 2, and with the 2611XM I ordered and recieved last week, that makes 3 of my core routers 2 FE port capable. I am going to find one more NM-FE-TX tonight or tomorrow, get it ordered. I've got a NM-1E2W and 3 WIC-2Ts coming to complete my frame relay router, with one of those WICs going into my R2 router. I've cabled the switches, i'll cable the router FE ports tonight with the exception of the one I dont have and I'll cable the serial ports when I recieve the 2 packages I'm waiting on. I will then start doing my QoS stuff. Meanwhile, nothing but practice exams, videos, and light reading when necessary. I feel pretty good about this date and ready to be finished so I can move on. The CCIE is mine, I wont except anything less.

Mrock4

Yep, they are fun as they grow up. My daughter (remember, she's only 4) was singing "pants on the ground" from that vet off American Idol today...because she saw some kid with his shorts nearly touching the ground. It was priceless! I couldn't help but laugh. Of course, there are the hard times. Being on-call 24/7 for all kinds of problems, from nightmares to "the magic people in the bathroom" to her being thirsty...it's all become normal these days.

I know how you feel about being ready to move on. I've been brushing up on the CCDA material a little, although I feel very confident about the exam. Regardless, I still feel like I have it hanging over my head, before the true prep begins for the written exam. Oh well. Best of luck either way, I'm sure you'll do fine.

SysAdmin4066

Thanks Rock. Good day of practice exams, nothing more really as far as progression. I'll be doing the same thing til the 21st really. Cant come quick enough...

devushka

Taking ONT tomorrow. Wish me luck. I started CCNP with ONT (honestly, just loved the size of the book compared to the rest). That was a mistake. I think I didn't have enough understanding of routing and switching that you do need to pass it. So after failing it I re-thought the process and started with BSCI and BCMSN. Reading the same book again now was much easier (apparently my memory can still hold some information in it). I don't remember much about the questions I had a year ago, but I do remember myself thinking that I was paying way too much attention to details which caused me not to see the whole picture. So trying to take another approach with studying this time. Wireless now makes much more sense too (thanks to BCMSN), as well as security. So a few more practice tests, going over my notes and I'm going to get it!!!

gorebrush

ONT is looking promising as a final exam for me. Everyone seems to be saying that taking it last is yielding best results (i.e. it's relatively easy)

DevilWAH

devushka wrote: »

Taking ONT tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Good luck

devushka

I passed!!! One suggestion - don't underestimate the SDM, was tested heavily on this topic...

gorebrush

Why must a CCNP expected to be able to use a tool for n00bs...

Escapes me.

The day they start putting SDM into a CCIE, i'll think twice about sitting it, lol.

devushka

gorebrush, i'm with you. What's even more stupid is expecting to know what green or red light here or there means... Seriously, you couldn't think of something more topic related, like an output of QoS configuration and it's interpretation... grrr...

DevilWAH

First of all, Congratulations on the passs..

I wondering what it will be like on the SWITCH exam? wonder if there's still a load of SDM, in the new exam path. I really hope not, as as much as possible I don't touch SDM day to day. I think it makes it more complicated than CLI, that to me is as logical as it can get.

mikem2te

DevilWAH wrote: »

First of all, Congratulations on the passs..

I wondering what it will be like on the SWITCH exam? wonder if there's still a load of SDM, in the new exam path. I really hope not, as as much as possible I don't touch SDM day to day. I think it makes it more complicated than CLI, that to me is as logical as it can get.

It won't be so bad if they use Cisco Configuration Professional instead, atleast it works properly and is still an active development unlike SDM.

Regardless, using either tool for a zone based firewall is a nightmare!!

DevilWAH

Even the ccp I find hard going, its often slow and I still have it crashing.

jumping around on CLi is so much nicer. and if you can do it CLi then I think it shows you have good knowlage of a skill.

yuriz43

Find it strange that the SDM is heavily covered in the ONT. There is just so little you can actually use it for with QoS. Also, the version of SDM in the ONT is different from the newest 2.5 version of the SDM. ( I'm talking about QoS wizard which has more options in the newer version ). You can check this by looking at the SDM pages in the Book or Net Academy material.

ISCW obviously had a lot of material which was relevant to the SDM though.

Forsaken_GA

I honestly don't recall a whole lot of SDM on ONT. ISCW is the only exam which made me want to smack the monitor over it

SysAdmin4066

Sorry guys havent been on here in a while. Studying has taken a little bit of a backseat to family for a little while. Complications with the pregnancy, and it's still really early. Daddy has to take older sis with mommy on bedrest at this point. Not looking good, please pray for us. Anyway, I'm still gonna try and attempt it on the 21st most likely, no harm in a fail, as I havent failed one single one yet. I figure I can get one attempt out of the way and figure out what i'm still lacking if anything.

creamy_stew

Well, I'm not a religious man, but I'll pray for you nonetheless.

I would have had an older sibling, and I still wonder sometimes what it would have been like.

Mrock4

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

Sorry guys havent been on here in a while. Studying has taken a little bit of a backseat to family for a little while. Complications with the pregnancy, and it's still really early. Daddy has to take older sis with mommy on bedrest at this point. Not looking good, please pray for us. Anyway, I'm still gonna try and attempt it on the 21st most likely, no harm in a fail, as I havent failed one single one yet. I figure I can get one attempt out of the way and figure out what i'm still lacking if anything.

We'll be praying for ya'll. We go for our 3rd ultrasound on Tuesday, and have had our share of minor scares, so I know how stressing it can be. Best wishes to you and your family...we're at 16 weeks (as of today), so we still have a long road ahead of us, and twin pregnancies are known to have issues, so we'll see how that ends up.

SysAdmin4066

Mrock4 wrote: »

We'll be praying for ya'll. We go for our 3rd ultrasound on Tuesday, and have had our share of minor scares, so I know how stressing it can be. Best wishes to you and your family...we're at 16 weeks (as of today), so we still have a long road ahead of us, and twin pregnancies are known to have issues, so we'll see how that ends up.

I know right, that's a lot of strain and stress on your wifes body. I'm sure it will go as smoothly as it should though, God bless and good luck. For us, we've been told we are in the middle of the end pretty much, in non medical terms, but i've been down before and I know the power of hope and positive thinking. So we're hoping all will be ok despite the signs, and we're moving forward as if all is well. Planning for the worst, hoping for the best and hopefully ending up somewhere in the middle. Anyway, thanks for the prayers, even non-religious ones lol. We're not very religious ourselves, more spiritual than anything else. But when I look into my daughters eyes, I know there is a God and that he/she/it made her unique and special. That's about all I know. Surprisingly I've actually got some practice exams and some reading in today. Decided I wasnt going to finish the videos, unless I fail. Feb 21st is still looking like the day, come hell or high water.

SysAdmin4066

Still planning on taking this exam on the 21st, so this Sunday. I dont think that I've had adequate prep time, but I'm hoping i'm wrong. I have had so many things come up and this has been pushed, I cant wait anymore, I'm ready to definitely be done with this exam. So Sunday it is, If I fail, I'll take it again in 2 weeks.

jason_lunde

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

Still planning on taking this exam on the 21st, so this Sunday. I dont think that I've had adequate prep time, but I'm hoping i'm wrong. I have had so many things come up and this has been pushed, I cant wait anymore, I'm ready to definitely be done with this exam. So Sunday it is, If I fail, I'll take it again in 2 weeks.

Glad to hear it. Hope your wife's doing well man. Dont sweat the exam. I thought the same thing before I took it. You'll be good to go. Hooah

SysAdmin4066

OhhRah Jason, you're missing some letters bro

We got to see the babys tiny heart flutter on Wednesday. That was a relief and my wifes levels are still rising. So my little guy is fighting with all of her/his might. We'll be able to see a bit more improvement in 2 weeks, and hopefully all is well. I am still taking this exam on Sunday, probably as a walk in. I dont even have time to go on the site and schedule it lol.

I also have a possible job change coming soon. A coworker alerted me to a senior position for a city near me, a pretty affluent city in the Inland Empire (where I live in SoCal), and it's very comparable to my current position as far as pay and benefits go. It's a little more money, my pension would transfer as it's the same system (CalPERS) and the benefits are identical. The draw was that it would be so much more autonomous, and I would be a bigger fish in a much smaller pond. So I applied, got a call for the interview immediately, went in, and did very well. I got the nod for the second interview immediately after and I just went in for that on Wednesday afternoon.

I hate panel interviews and both were panel, but I got some one on one time with my possible staff members, and with the dept manager, who i'd be reporting to. The manager said that I was the top pick, and that he would be moving pretty quickly in the selection process. I met with him for about an hour and a half and I got the impression that he was feeling me out as to whether I wanted the job, basically seeing if I would accept an offer. Yesterday, they called my current job for employment verification and they started education verification and reference checks. So it's looking like I will be getting the offer possibly next week. The manager confirmed the pay I want would be offered if offered and there is room for more in the next year or 2. So I think I will accept a reasonable offer, which is what I told my current boss. He was not happy to see me go, but happy to see a new opportunity for me. We are currently in the middle of a migration project that I am lead on, but the first phase is almost complete. I would finish it out before I left, as a courtesy of course. So cross your fingers guys, I could be moving to a new position within the next month or so. Gov is really slow on everything, at least my current employer was. Background check was freaking insane, FBI, Education, credit, etc. They go pretty far back, fingerprinting, medical exam, all that. Pretty rough, so it'll take a while to get through that.

mikej412

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

hopefully all is well

That's the important thing!

But it sounds like you've still found the time to take care of business. Good Luck on the exam!!

SysAdmin4066

Thanks Mike

DevilWAH

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

We got to see the babys tiny heart flutter on Wednesday. That was a relief and my wifes levels are still rising. So my little guy is fighting with all of her/his might.

Good new mate

magic moment that little movement on the screen... Good luck on the exam.

SysAdmin4066

Thanks Devil

SysAdmin4066

So today is the big day. I'm eating breakfast right now, two hardboiled eggs and a banana while just relaxing. I also found out last night that my instructor wants me to compete, so I will have my first tournament on March 6th in the 175lbs division (just about 80kg for the UK guys). Means I have some weight to cut, about 7 lbs. Shouldnt be too bad. My instructor wants me to compete in both gi and no-gi, novice division in no-gi and white belt division in gi. So I may possibly have my first competition win on the 6th, very exciting stuff.

Anyway, back to CCNP. Today is possibly the day that this part of the journey ends and the final chapter in this journey unfolds. Today may be the day I officially start study for the CCIE written. I've already looked over a few of the labs and some of the materials and I can definitely say that studying for the CCNP has really helped. Wish me luck guys, I'm looking at around noon PST.

chmorin

Forget luck.

I wish you skill and competence!

Bl8ckr0uter

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

So today is the big day. I'm eating breakfast right now, two hardboiled eggs and a banana while just relaxing. I also found out last night that my instructor wants me to compete, so I will have my first tournament on March 6th in the 175lbs division (just about 80kg for the UK guys). Means I have some weight to cut, about 7 lbs. Shouldnt be too bad. My instructor wants me to compete in both gi and no-gi, novice division in no-gi and white belt division in gi. So I may possibly have my first competition win on the 6th, very exciting stuff.

Anyway, back to CCNP. Today is possibly the day that this part of the journey ends and the final chapter in this journey unfolds. Today may be the day I officially start study for the CCIE written. I've already looked over a few of the labs and some of the materials and I can definitely say that studying for the CCNP has really helped. Wish me luck guys, I'm looking at around noon PST.

Go kill that test.

By the way, what style do you practice?

DevilWAH

Forget luck just enjoy and sure it will be fine mate.

Mrock4

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

So today is the big day. I'm eating breakfast right now, two hardboiled eggs and a banana while just relaxing. I also found out last night that my instructor wants me to compete, so I will have my first tournament on March 6th in the 175lbs division (just about 80kg for the UK guys). Means I have some weight to cut, about 7 lbs. Shouldnt be too bad. My instructor wants me to compete in both gi and no-gi, novice division in no-gi and white belt division in gi. So I may possibly have my first competition win on the 6th, very exciting stuff.

Best of luck on both the test and the tourney! Did I miss what kind of martial art? I was the Missouri state champ a couple of years in a row back when in Judo, did some BJJ and Muay Thai competition as well, but I've since been "out of the game" due to cisco..but I loved that stuff. I still have some skills, but nowhere near when I competed.