It is time to slay the beast...CCIE R&S, here we come

Well, since my boss is providing me with the moral/financial support and my wife is all on board, I am going to attempt to slay the beast. I have a decent lab built so far which consists of the following:
1 x 3640 (frame switch?? maybe)
3 x 2610xm
1 x 2620xm
1 x 1841
1 x 2811
2 x 3560 EI
1 x 3550 EI
3 x 2950
1 x 2960

I still want to get a few more 1841's, maybe another 3560, and a 2500 series for terminal server and perhaps a second 2500 series for a frame switch if I don't want to use my 3640. Boss man says a 3825 is a possibility if I need it since it is on the blueprint, but we'll see.

For study materials:
- CCIE Routing and Switching (Odom)
- TCP/IP Vol 1
- TCP/IP Vol 2

I'll be stopping off and getting my CCIP on the way so I should have BGP, MPLS, and QoS under control. I have my CCNP study materials as well. I'll be picking up INE audio/video/lab materials plus other supplemental materials that I find along the way. Depending on how I feel, boss man says he'll send me to see Narbik...not sure if it will be needed, but it's not a bad option.

I plan on having a life while I study so it will take me longer than most to get it done; my goal is 18 - 24 months.

Now that I've made my declaration public, there's no backing out!!! Good luck to those of you making your run, we'll definitely need it!!!

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unclerico wrote: »

Well, since my boss is providing me with the moral/financial support and my wife is all on board, I am going to attempt to slay the beast. I have a decent lab built so far which consists of the following:
1 x 3640 (frame switch?? maybe)
3 x 2610xm
1 x 2620xm
1 x 1841
1 x 2811
2 x 3560 EI
1 x 3550 EI
3 x 2950
1 x 2960

I still want to get a few more 1841's, maybe another 3560, and a 2500 series for terminal server and perhaps a second 2500 series for a frame switch if I don't want to use my 3640. Boss man says a 3825 is a possibility if I need it since it is on the blueprint, but we'll see.

For study materials:
- CCIE Routing and Switching (Odom)
- TCP/IP Vol 1
- TCP/IP Vol 2

I'll be stopping off and getting my CCIP on the way so I should have BGP, MPLS, and QoS under control. I have my CCNP study materials as well. I'll be picking up INE audio/video/lab materials plus other supplemental materials that I find along the way. Depending on how I feel, boss man says he'll send me to see Narbik...not sure if it will be needed, but it's not a bad option.

I plan on having a life while I study so it will take me longer than most to get it done; my goal is 18 - 24 months.

Now that I've made my declaration public, there's no backing out!!! Good luck to those of you making your run, we'll definitely need it!!!

Good plan. Unless you can divert signficant hours on an almost daily basis and 18 month + timeline is realistic. Start recording your reading and lab hours and good luck.

good luck man!

Thanks y'all! I'm on vacation at Disney/Sea World until tomorrow so all the studying I've got done this week was a few hours of reading on the flight down here. I'll hopefully be able to get a few more hours done on the flight back tomorrow as well.

Wow, I've really let this thread die haven't I!!

So I'm still working on my CCIP (passed BGP and MPLS, currently studying ROUTE) and have made some changes to my lab; I'll post some pics once it is complete. I should be done with my CCIP by now, but I've had a lot of extra hours at the office and traveling so I haven't been able to study as much as I'd like.

Yesterday I reserved my spot with Narbik for 7/23-27 in Burbank, CA so I am really excited about that! I don't think it's because I need to have a bootcamp, but I think being able to get some valuable time with one of the brightest minds in the CCIE world will do nothing but benefit me in the long run, not to mention working with other CCIE candidates over the five days. I'm not sure if Narbik's study materials will suffice for being the only mock material I use for lab prep, so I'll probably circle back around and grab some INE materials if I think I need it.

I've added the following books to my library for reference:
Internet Routing Architectures
MPLS Fundamentals
MPLS and VPN architectures Vol I and II
MPLS Configuration on IOS Software

I'll be adding a few more including Cisco LAN Switching and IP Routing: Packet forwarding and Intra-domain Routing Protocols plus a few more I'm sure.

Anyways, I figured it was time to include at least a short update.

unclerico wrote: »

I'll be adding a few more including Cisco LAN Switching and IP Routing: Packet forwarding and Intra-domain Routing Protocols plus a few more I'm sure.

Haven't read the second one you listed, but you can't go wrong with Cisco LAN switching. That book is personally my favorite with regards to it's spanning-tree coverage.

Best of luck to you.

Mrock4 wrote: »

Haven't read the second one you listed, but you can't go wrong with Cisco LAN switching. That book is personally my favorite with regards to it's spanning-tree coverage.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks for your feedback on the book, I can't wait to start reading it! Good luck to you as well my friend.

Mrock4 wrote: »

Haven't read the second one you listed, but you can't go wrong with Cisco LAN switching. That book is personally my favorite with regards to it's spanning-tree coverage.

Best of luck to you.

x2. It really helped me with the written.

unclerico wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback on the book, I can't wait to start reading it! Good luck to you as well my friend.

Thanks man. It's a rough time working and studying as you know probably- add on family time to that and it's admirable to even attempt certs IMO. By the way- I can't help but see "elk river, MN" and think of "elk snout" from the movie "Overboard" with Goldie Hawn.

Mrock4 wrote: »

Thanks man. It's a rough time working and studying as you know probably- add on family time to that and it's admirable to even attempt certs IMO. By the way- I can't help but see "elk river, MN" and think of "elk snout" from the movie "Overboard" with Goldie Hawn.

LOL, elk snout...overboard is a great movie...yeah, I have a couple of little girls and a very supportive wife which helps a ton. She likes the lifestyle that IT provides so she is more than willing to take up extra slack when needed...I can't wait for Narbik, that is going to be intense!

unclerico wrote: »

LOL, elk snout...overboard is a great movie...yeah, I have a couple of little girls and a very supportive wife which helps a ton. She likes the lifestyle that IT provides so she is more than willing to take up extra slack when needed...I can't wait for Narbik, that is going to be intense!

lol...sounds like my wife! I was once told I could do whatever I want, if I matched my current pay. As a result, I'm still in IT.

It's rough with the kids running around, but I generally find my spare time once they go to bed. Means staying up later (and therefore less sleep), but sleep is kind of overrated anyways, or so I'm told.

Stay with it man. It'll be hard- this is my 2nd (and hopefully last) time preparing for the lab- the last time family obligations took precedence and I had to abort, without even getting a lab attempt in. Slow and steady wins the race if you're a family guy. I'd love to be one of those who get 8 hours/day to study, but that's just not in the cards for me.

Good luck again. Keep us updated.

Hey, sorry for the late reply, I just got back in town.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, I appreciate them very much! Slow and steady is right. I'd rather let this thing take 3 years than devote every waking hour to it, family is way more important.

Good luck to yourself.

Well, I finally have my rack complete (for the most part anyway, I may add a device or two)

From top to bottom:
- 2 x 3560
- 2 x 3550
- 1 x 2960
- 2 x ASA 5505's
- 1 x 2811
- 2 x 2621XM's
- 1 x 2511 Terminal Server
- 1 x 3640 (FR switch)
- 1 x 3825
- 6 x 1841's (192/64)
- 4 x 2610XM's

Ended up getting 2 x 22" LED monitors and a really comfy chair (not visible) for the ultra long days/nights studying

Partial library. I'll be adding a few more books over the next year or so as I'm studying

Got Narbik booked 7/23 - 27...Needless to say I am ready to tackle this beast!!

Dual_Monitors.jpg

Holy crap where does time go...well, since my last post I've passed my CCIP and have put in about 60 hours of reading various texts, blogs, and whitepapers for this bad boy. I am getting my extra 20amp circuit run into the basement so I can hook all of my lab gear up so hopefully that will be done in the next week. Let's see here, what else...leave for Glendale on 7/22 for a week with "The Man" Narbik...I can't wait to see him in action and get to pick his and other students brains. I understand that we won't be getting much sleep so that means I'll turn into a zombie and then I'll want to eat their brains instead of pick them [snicker snicker].

In terms of study materials:
- I have found the Cisco LAN Switching book to be a major disappointment. I think it's an ok resource, but due to its age I think it's time for an updated version.
- I am looking at adding the Routing-Bits Handbook to my library as well since it came so highly regarded and looking at the sample chapter it looks excellent...$98 is a steal for how much time and effort Ruhann put into this masterpiece.
- My boss purchased the INE value deal that they had going on there for a while (the one with the free iPad) so I got a bunch of downloadable content as well as Vol I of their workbooks. I'll definitely be buying up the others in the future.

Don't ask me why, but my favorite subject so far is Spanning-Tree. When you get really deep into how every piece of STP works it is pretty slick. Granted, I think STP is the root of all evil, but it does its job if configured right and those responsible for the implementation and administration know how to use it properly.

That's pretty much it. Hopefully I will post more frequently

Congrats on getting the CCIP.
It's good that you're getting the Narbik experience at this stage as it'll probably give you a nice idea of what, how and how much to study.

MickQ wrote: »

Congrats on getting the CCIP.
It's good that you're getting the Narbik experience at this stage as it'll probably give you a nice idea of what, how and how much to study.

Thanks! The CCIP was a lot of fun with the exception of the QoS exam...what a drag. Don't get me wrong, I love QoS and use it extensively in my production environments, but man those chapters got long. Anyway, I obtained CCIP for the sole reason that all of the subject matter is on the CCIE blueprint. Hopefully I'll be able to move pretty quick through those subjects and be able to concentrate more on the other 920 areas covered on the exam.

As for Narbik, yeah I planned it exactly like you state. I will get absolutely throttled in the mock lab, but I look at it as such a huge learning experience that it will do nothing but help in the long run. Since work is paying for it, I figure why not

Congrats on your success so far! I too am kind of in a similar situation only through NP studies. I am trying to allocate time as I go too but family tends to pull my focus away sometimes, which is not at all a problem, just slows things down a bit from time to time. I will look forward to reading more about your journey into CCIE. I think I will find you a motivator as well. Good luck and keep it going!

Well, tonight was a wasted night. Had to build out a couple of SharePoint environments and configure the NetScaler for load balancing. At least all of the SharePoint boxes are VMs and I could deploy them via templates (gotta love VMWare). Anyways, didnt get jack done for studying besides skimming over some notes and watching the INE VTP Review video. Tomorrow I hit PPP and HDLC!

Danielh22185 wrote: »

Congrats on your success so far! I too am kind of in a similar situation only through NP studies. I am trying to allocate time as I go too but family tends to pull my focus away sometimes, which is not at all a problem, just slows things down a bit from time to time. I will look forward to reading more about your journey into CCIE. I think I will find you a motivator as well. Good luck and keep it going!

Thanks for checking in Daniel. Yeah, that whole family thing gets in the way, but I wouldn't want it any other way! Good luck on your studies; hopefully we see a thread from you in the not too distant future.

Glad to see you're still in the fight! Don't feel bad..I have had several false starts with the CCIE due to family obligations. It'll all be worth it eventually!

hey man, don't sweat it...just keep pushing forward.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback/reassurance...as you know, any little bit helps!

As for tonight, my study time was broken up to take me girls to gymnastics. I managed about 1 solid hour before and then about another 1 1/2 hours afterwards.

Materials used:
- Odoms ECG
- ICND2 text
- INE CCNA PPP video
- a few white papers online

I haven't been deep into PPP for a while now so the CCNA materials were a good refresher. Wheres HDLC in all of this you ask? There are about three sentences on cHDLC out there so that took all of about 5 minutes to review.

Tomorrow I'll put the finishing touches on PPP and begin transcribing my written notes into Evernote. I'll officially be done with Section 1 of the written blueprint tomorrow.

Very good idea going back to basics. Each bit of covering the material helps.

Just got to Glendale and checked into my hotel. Tomorrow the fun begins...I hope Narbik lives up to his billing and is as kick ass as I'm hoping he will be. Anyways, I watched RIP, EIGRP, and Multicast INE videos on my iPad during flight down to CA so at least I got a little study time in. Until tomorrow...

So, was today a kick-ass today in terms of preparing for the CCIE Written?

unclerico wrote: »

Well, I finally have my rack complete (for the most part anyway, I may add a device or two)

From top to bottom:
- 2 x 3560
- 2 x 3550
- 1 x 2960
- 2 x ASA 5505's
- 1 x 2811
- 2 x 2621XM's
- 1 x 2511 Terminal Server
- 1 x 3640 (FR switch)
- 1 x 3825
- 6 x 1841's (192/64)
- 4 x 2610XM's

Ended up getting 2 x 22" LED monitors and a really comfy chair (not visible) for the ultra long days/nights studying

Partial library. I'll be adding a few more books over the next year or so as I'm studying

Got Narbik booked 7/23 - 27...Needless to say I am ready to tackle this beast!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYj7T9eEQ4U

It's so. beautiful. It's a golden rack of Cisco Equipment.. and Books. So. much. knowledge. Makes me want to jump ship on Security+.

Women read 50 Shades of Grey. I think the MPLS books will be mine.

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

So, was today a kick-ass today in terms of preparing for the CCIE Written?

Well, today hasn't officially ended yet lol...it's 8:42 EDT and we will have about four more hours of lecture and labs. The first thing we did after we sat down was brief introductions and then right into a Cisco 360 8 hour lab. We're talking about Native-VLAN's, Port-Security, DHCP Snooping, IP Source Guard, DAI, VACLs, PVLANs, and 802.1x and this is before we receive our assignments for back at the hotel. I can vouch for Narbik, the guy is funny as hell and he knows his stuff better than I've ever seen anyone know their stuff...money well spent if I do say so myself.

Thanks Rogue, it has taken a lot of time and money to build that bad boy and accumulate the books. The sad thing is, I probably need more material to read

unclerico wrote: »

Well, today hasn't officially ended yet lol...it's 8:42 EDT and we will have about four more hours of lecture and labs. The first thing we did after we sat down was brief introductions and then right into a Cisco 360 8 hour lab. We're talking about Native-VLAN's, Port-Security, DHCP Snooping, IP Source Guard, DAI, VACLs, PVLANs, and 802.1x and this is before we receive our assignments for back at the hotel. I can vouch for Narbik, the guy is funny as hell and he knows his stuff better than I've ever seen anyone know their stuff...money well spent if I do say so myself.

Wow, that sounds intense. Enjoy!

End of class for day 2. We started the day with about a 1 1/2 hours worth of Frame Relay labs otherwise it was all OSPF and EIGRP. I thought I knew OSPF pretty well, but Narbik exposed me for a fraud

; well me and about 90% of the class lol. Anyways, the night is not over yet!! Now it's time to hit a few hours of EIGRP labs and then to bed...

unclerico wrote: »

End of class for day 2. We started the day with about a 1 1/2 hours worth of Frame Relay labs otherwise it was all OSPF and EIGRP. I thought I knew OSPF pretty well, but Narbik exposed me for a fraud ; well me and about 90% of the class lol. Anyways, the night is not over yet!! Now it's time to hit a few hours of EIGRP labs and then to bed...

Nice. So its well worth the money?

James, absolutely it is worth the money...lots of really good quality content and people as well. If you want to really learn the subject matter, and I mean really learn it, definitely look him up and get a seat in one of his classes. His lab content is really good with lots of tricky subject matter.

As for today, it was BGP and MPLS all day. Every BGP attribute was covered six ways from Sunday and MPLS was broken down in such a way that a third grader could do it in their sleep, or as Narbik says "it's so easy my grandmother could do it in her sleep".

So tomorrow is going to be the day/night from hell. We will be learning new content throughout the day and then at about 9PM we'll be sitting an 8 hour mock lab which is supposed to be more difficult than the real thing. Anyways, off to do some BGP labs

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