BSCI lab and books

Hi!

I'm thinking about starting to prepare for BSCI so I have a few questions.

Will 3X 2610 and 2X 2610XM routers be enough to prepare for BSCI? Is there anything else that you would recommend or say that it's a must?

What about the books? Is official exam guide from Cisco Press with Lab portfolio enough? Official exam guide doesn't really have good reviews, so is there anything better that I should use? Thank you!

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Comments

trackit

Will 3X 2610 and 2X 2610XM routers be enough to prepare for BSCI?

You dont "need" physical routers for BSCI, all router sfuff can be emulated in GNS3...

What about the books? Is official exam guide from Cisco Press with Lab portfolio enough?

basically you should grab every material / study source you can get you hands on and go through as many of them as you can

i would recommend:

official study guide, lab portfolio, routing tcp/ip volume 1 and 2, cisco documentation, rfc-s, cbt videos (both cbt nuggets and train signal)...

newman555

Maybe I should explain a little bit more...I already have 3X 2610 and one 2610XM, so what else would really give me a nice lab for BSCI? Can someone be really specific so I can start thinking what to get and how to get it.

And I know that you should study form different materials but there's got to be a book form which you can learn over 80% for the exam? And by that I really don't mean the lab part...

So I'm really thinking about ordering some books from amazon and getting some equipment so please give me some advice on that

Btw, I already have Doyle's Routing vol. I. Is official exam guide from Cisco Press really not good enough? Thanks!

mikem2te

newman555 wrote: »

Maybe I should explain a little bit more...I already have 3X 2610 and one 2610XM, so what else would really give me a nice lab for BSCI? Can someone be really specific so I can start thinking what to get and how to get it.

And I know that you should study form different materials but there's got to be a book form which you can learn over 80% for the exam? And by that I really don't mean the lab part...

So I'm really thinking about ordering some books from amazon and getting some equipment so please give me some advice on that Btw, I already have Doyle's Routing vol. I. Is official exam guide from Cisco Press really not good enough? Thanks!

I'm just starting studying for the BSCI/Route exam and bought the Route Official Cert Guide, BSCI Authorised self study guide and Jeff Doyles Routing TCP.

So far the Cert Guide and the Self Study Guide leave too many holes in my understanding whereas Jeff Doyles books seem very good so I'm going to concentrate on them for now - I'm hoping they alone will get me to that 80% level of understanding if not 100%. Then I'll hit the Cert and Self Study guides and the Cisco web site. Cisco have a good PDF for routing - search for "irp_12_4t_book.pdf".

IMO GNS3 is also useful as it integrates with Wireshark, useful for looking at the packets the routing protocols pass around without messing around with SPAN ports.

trackit

newman555 wrote: »

And I know that you should study form different materials but there's got to be a book form which you can learn over 80% for the exam? And by that I really don't mean the lab part...

Well, if you want a single book, then i would say if you know routing tcp-ip vol 1 and 2 inside and out then you are in pretty good shape for BSCI

i have heard BSCI self study guide is also very good but i must admit i havent read it...

newman555

I also think I'll get official exam guide and self study guide, I hope that with everything else it will be enough.

But, actually, equipment is my biggest concern. Since I already have 4 routers (only 1 that's actually for ccnp), what do you recommend about equipment. Is there somebody who has a decent lab and could guide me trough my bsci lab setup?

And, I know this is BCMSN lab question, but I have one 3550 switch (with EMI ios) and 2X 2950s, and I have an offer to get one more 3550 from a friend that's selling it, so do you think I need 2 or I'll be able to manage with one layer 3 switch?

trackit

i would still say that you dont need physical routers for BSCI, the fact that you already have some dosnt change it

If i would have a ton of routers on my desk i would still use gns3 because its more convinient for me, no cables, smaller electricity bill, less noise, less hassle, cleaner topology view, easy backuping and loading of different topologies and configs, faster (re)booting (if using unpacked images) etc etc...

Ryan82

If I had to pick up two books it would be the self-study guide and Doyle's Routing TCP/IP vol 1. Any topic in the curriculum covered in Doyles book I would use that. There are some topics that aren't covered in that book to include multicast and BGP so I would reference the self-study guide for those. Also I would recommend the lab portfolio.

5 routers is enough to lab any of the material in the BSCI. In fact you could probably get away with just 3.

newman555

So, you think it's really possible to pass BSCI just with using gns3?

I mean, this could save me a lot of money I was gonna give for the equipment and maybe throw all that to BCSMN lab...

trackit

newman555 wrote: »

So, you think it's really possible to pass BSCI just with using gns3?

i would certainly say yes, but i will tell you for sure after my attempt in 2 weeks

Ryan82

It is most definitely possible. I just passed two weeks ago pretty much exclusively using GNS3.

stlsmoore

You'll learn a ton of tips and tricks that you wouldn't think about using the lab portfolio so I highly recommend that. For example I never paid attention to the fact that when you configure loop back addresses it shows up as a /32 by default in the routing table when you're using OSPF (do to using loop backs as RID's). A simple ip ospf network interface command fixes all of that lol.

agent2592

newman555 wrote: »

So, you think it's really possible to pass BSCI just with using gns3?

As far as lab goes yes.

However I cannot see passing this exam with only one book. I myself took the exam having only used the Official Exam Cert Guide by Stewart and failed. I would suggest the CCNP Lab portfolio, Authorized study guide and portions of Doyle's books.

Of course unless you have started studying it may make sense to work on the new ROUTE exam and not the BSCI, since you might not have enough time to prep. I have been working on the BSCI for 7 months solid and I am just starting to feel ready. (I took the exam once and failed.)