Anyone Studying for the CCIP?

Anyone studying for the CCIP? What is your lab setup? What routers are you using in real life or in GNS3? What switches are you using?

What are your favorite study materials for this exam?

How are your studies so far? Anything causing you problems?

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networker050184

I used 7200s in dynamips for this one. I played around with some of the 3750s in our lab for the LAN part of QoS. My main sources for study material are below.

BSCI - self study and exam cert guides
QoS - Cert guide by Odom
MPLS - MPLS Fundementals
BGP - Internet Routing Architectures

For labs I made up a lot of my own or used scenarios form work.

filkenjitsu

Cool, thanks for the reply.

Anyone else going for this cert?

jovan88

I'm thinking about it, I'm currently studying for QoS.. Which means I will have BSCI and QoS under my belt and just need to go for BGP/MPLS.

But the job market and my current job position is making me lean towards CCVP more.

Decisions, decisions!

j4s

I am studying for CCIP. I have my BSCI valid until March 2011 so I am hoping to get the other three before this one expires.

I passed MPLS back in June after studying MPLS Fundamentals and using GNS to get hands on. GNS was a mix of 3600/3700 routers, I drew up a diagram in Visio that I wanted to build, and then adapted it to cover all the options covered in the MPLS book.

I am currently on my second read of Internet Routing Architectures, making some notes as I go, with the intention that my previous GNS network design can be further adapted to enable me to run some BGP labs.

Hoping to pass BGP by October, and then look for QOS in February next year, giving me a month or so slack just in case I manage to fail one of them.

filkenjitsu

j4s wrote: »

I am studying for CCIP. I have my BSCI valid until March 2011 so I am hoping to get the other three before this one expires.

I passed MPLS back in June after studying MPLS Fundamentals and using GNS to get hands on. GNS was a mix of 3600/3700 routers, I drew up a diagram in Visio that I wanted to build, and then adapted it to cover all the options covered in the MPLS book.

I am currently on my second read of Internet Routing Architectures, making some notes as I go, with the intention that my previous GNS network design can be further adapted to enable me to run some BGP labs.

Hoping to pass BGP by October, and then look for QOS in February next year, giving me a month or so slack just in case I manage to fail one of them.

Sounds great man!

I hope to use GNS3 for all out my ROUTE and MPLS/BGP needs.

Some people say to take the BGP/MPLS combined exam, why is that? is it easier?

Allthingscisco

j4s wrote: »

I am studying for CCIP. I have my BSCI valid until March 2011 so I am hoping to get the other three before this one expires.

I passed MPLS back in June after studying MPLS Fundamentals and using GNS to get hands on. GNS was a mix of 3600/3700 routers, I drew up a diagram in Visio that I wanted to build, and then adapted it to cover all the options covered in the MPLS book.

I am currently on my second read of Internet Routing Architectures, making some notes as I go, with the intention that my previous GNS network design can be further adapted to enable me to run some BGP labs.

Hoping to pass BGP by October, and then look for QOS in February next year, giving me a month or so slack just in case I manage to fail one of them.

Hey Im also looking at starting CCIP shortly, got CCDA exam next - j4s - Im sure that when you passed your MPLS in June that should have renewed your (BSCI/Route) for another 3 years as its part of the 642 Professional range?

Or is it only renewed if you have CCNP, Please correct me if i'm wrong

Cheers

ColbyG

Exams don't renew, just certs. The exams are valid for three years after you pass.

Trifidw

ColbyG wrote: »

Exams don't renew, just certs. The exams are valid for three years after you pass.

That's annoying!

I passed BCMSN in July, which renewed my CCNA (verified on the certification tracker) so I now have 3 years to pass my CCNP and CCDP. If I then take Route in February, I then have 3 years from this point to do the CCIP? And 2 1/2 years now to complete the CCNP.

Allthingscisco

ColbyG wrote: »

Exams don't renew, just certs. The exams are valid for three years after you pass.

Thats a bum, thanks for clearing up

Cheers

ilcram19-2

Im i had already pass the QOS one but im having a problem on fully understanding MPLS i need to find the key factors and i probably need to be working for an ISP any ISP hiring in houston?

j4s

ColbyG wrote: »

Exams don't renew, just certs. The exams are valid for three years after you pass.

As stated the certs renew, so my BSCI will disappear off the radar come March, don't really want to have to take the new route exam, and so my hope to be clear of the IP by March 2011.

As for taking the MPLS/BGP composite I did think about it. It saves some money and it's an exam less, not sure if a composite exam is easier, someone who has taken it would have to let us know.

I quite enjoyed MPLS study, not used it in anger before, I have more knowledge of QOS and BGP so I am hoping I can get through them first time.

ColbyG

ilcram19-2 wrote: »

Im i had already pass the QOS one but im having a problem on fully understanding MPLS i need to find the key factors and i probably need to be working for an ISP any ISP hiring in houston?

Just lab, lab some more and do some labs.

I don't work for an SP, nor do I touch anything MPLS (or much BGP) at my current job. You just have to put in the time.

Edit: One thing to add. IMO, you really have to get into the technology if you're not working with it daily. I don't do voice and I don't really care for it, so the CCVP would be extremely hard for me. I really, really dig BGP/MPLS and all things layer 3, so that helped a lot. If you're not really into it and you're not working with, I wouldn't bother with the cert.

jovan88

ColbyG if you don't deal with MPLS/BGP at your work did you go for CCIP just because its a good stepping stone for the CCIE? Or was it more of a personal acheivement?

ColbyG

jovan88 wrote: »

ColbyG if you don't deal with MPLS/BGP at your work did you go for CCIP just because its a good stepping stone for the CCIE? Or was it more of a personal acheivement?

A combination of things, those being two reason. Also because I dig the technology and I'd like to work for an SP (again).

gorebrush

Thinking of doing the CCIP myself once I've finished up the MCITP:EA as another step towards CCIE

filkenjitsu

I monitor a nationwide mpls network at my work. Just basic show commands for troubleshooting. Have not gotten my ccna yet though.

ilcram19-2

ColbyG wrote: »

A combination of things, those being two reason. Also because I dig the technology and I'd like to work for an SP (again).

i do want to know about this technology, my problem is that after i pass this it is going to be really hard for me to keep playing with unless i move to ISP level, right now im work alot with IOS IPS, zone based firewall, OSPF, IOS WebVPN, DMVPNs, VTIs, etc and i can do them on my sleep and the CCNP dont cover all those technologies as deep as i knw, so i know i can study and pass the test but im probably considering to move to an ISP to master the technology cuz i cant tell u that i probably remember about 40% of frame-relay stuff that i learned from my CCNA 4 years ago and i also manage a about 5-10 AD enviroments with windows 2003/2008 servers so im on a big deleema here

ColbyG

ilcram19-2 wrote: »

i do want to know about this technology, my problem is that after i pass this it is going to be really hard for me to keep playing with unless i move to ISP level

Yea, it will be. It is for me. I've forgotten a lot of what I learned for the CCIP (and the other studying/certs I've done) because I don't work with a lot of it daily. I don't think I've forgotten the fundamentals though, and hopefully if I moved to SP I'd pick it all back up pretty quick (and dig much, much deeper). I learn the technology and do the certs for things that interest me and may be beneficial to my career, if I lose some of it along the way, it shouldn't be hard to relearn if I ever need it.

Sett

Currently I am reading hard for the CCIP. I plan to take MPLS+BGP at once and will go on QoS after that. I hope someday I'll be able to practice all these cool things which are in the topics.

APA

One cannot go past the combination of BGP Design & Implementation by Randy Zhang & Internet Routing Architectures by Sam Halabi.... in the quest to absolutely knock the BGP exam out of the park

I used dynamips and physical gear for my lab scenarios.....plus hands on experience working for one of the larger ISPs in Australia.

Good Luck!

Ryan82

I too am pursuing the CCIP. I started with QoS a couple of weeks ago. I had a really hard time getting into it at first but now I'm starting to dig it.

I am using Odom's book, End-to-End QoS, INE's advanced technologies QoS videos, and CBT Nuggets. Hopefully I will take it in a couple weeks.

jovan88

Good luck to everyone going for it,

Does anyone here know or care if the CCNP: Service Provider Operations will replace the CCIP (eventually)?

networker050184

jovan88 wrote: »

Good luck to everyone going for it,

Does anyone here know or care if the CCNP: Service Provider Operations will replace the CCIP (eventually)?

I'd assume thats the plan . Doesn't make much sense to have two SP tracks, but you never know. Seems like they are moving to something similar to the Juniper Certifications. More of a CCNA/P and with Voice, Wireless, Security on the end of that rather than CCVP, CCSP, etc. It will help capitalize on the notoriety of the CCNA and CCNP in the business also.

jovan88

Thanks networker050184, with that being said if you were just starting the CCIP - would you think twice and maybe go for the CCNP: SPO?

stuh84

jovan88 wrote: »

Good luck to everyone going for it,

Does anyone here know or care if the CCNP: Service Provider Operations will replace the CCIP (eventually)?

Personally I hope not. Everything in the SPO looks like teaching you how to work in a NOC, CCIP looks like teaching you how to work in an ISP network. Getting rid of the CCIP doesn't make sense in that sense to me.

APA

Not to mention SPO is very IOS-XR centric...... No XR covered at all in the CCIP......

I'm keen to go down the SPO path just to compliment my IP and NP...... However that will be put on the back burner, until better study aids come out.

Plus we are implementing some ASR9000's soon..... so I'll be looking forward to hitting XR hands on

networker050184

stuh84 wrote: »

Personally I hope not. Everything in the SPO looks like teaching you how to work in a NOC, CCIP looks like teaching you how to work in an ISP network. Getting rid of the CCIP doesn't make sense in that sense to me.

Have you actually looked at the exam objectives? They cover a lot of the same topics as the CCIP. BGP, IGP, MPLS, QOS and operations are all covered in the four exams.

Paul Boz

QoS wasn't hard because I did the QoS exam three weeks after the ONT. There is lots of overlap there. I did the BGP/MPLS composite which wasn't THAT tough except for the super outdated IOS on the sims and questions. I believe they were using IOS 12.0 so I’d prepared for configs and options that weren’t present. Thank god for the ? command. MPLS was the most up-to-date but it’s also the newest technology on the cert track.

For a lab I used three physical 7206vxrs running BGP set up as route reflectors. When I left my ISP job I just virtualized the exact same setup. MPLS is somewhat hard to lab because you really need a large network to get the full effect. QoS was cake because I used it in practical application at home. I set up QoS on my home network and put my xb360 and PS3 in the priority queue then put web traffic in the next best. I put everything else in the “good luck” queue. This way I could run torrents, surf the net, etc, and not hose my online gaming. Try to find practical reasons to do what you’re trying to practice.

stuh84

networker050184 wrote: »

Have you actually looked at the exam objectives? They cover a lot of the same topics as the CCIP. BGP, IGP, MPLS, QOS and operations are all covered in the four exams.

From reading over the exam topics, it looked to me like how to troubleshoot, how to operate, not how to configure and work with. Exactly what you'd expect in an Operations cert, compared to something like the CCIP going over how to implement the technologies.

Maybe I'm wrong on this, I guess it hards to tell without at least seeing some of the exam guides, but I just can't see an emphasis on knowing how to configure and understand individual technologies.

qplayed

@Paul
What reading material did you use for QoS? I'm using the following for BGP/MPLS
BGP:
BGP4 by John Stewart
Halabi and Doyle

MPLS:
MPLS Fundamentals