It's my time: Mrock's CCIE thread

spiderjericho

That's awesome and probably intimidating. You've committed to the exam. Good luck to you. Hopefully the boot camp is the icing on the cake for your preparation.

Mrock4

Thanks man! It is intimidating..really intimidating. I said the CCIE was a goal of mine almost 11 years ago..bear in mind I decided that before I even worked with Cisco products..so I haven't been working on the IE all that time.

That being said, I focused in really well tonight and did some GREAT multicast labbing. It was really productive and I actually feel I understand multicast a lot better than before this session. It's funny, but I feel if I could study like this EVERY session I'd be golden for the lab. Unfortunately that's not always the case..a lot of the time I'd rather do almost anything else except study..but that's the sacrifice it takes, I guess! Either way, sessions like this make me excited to study more.

Off to bed..going to try to get some more multicast knocked out tomorrow. I'm going to attempt a full lab next week, I think. Before this week I said I was weak on the following: MPLS, Multicast, and IPv6..I now feel a lot better about MPLS and IPv6, and am pretty sure after tomorrow I'll be on a good pace to do most tasks I may be required to do as far as multicast goes.

Mrock4

Got several hours in tonight again..got through about half of the INE Vol I multicast labs. Multicast was easily one of my weakest areas, and I'm feeling a lot better. I have a long way to go before the lab, but I think I'm close to being able to accomplish lab scenarios regarding multicast with a little help from the cisco documentation.

Tomorrow will probably be my last day on Vol I multicast. Friday I will be traveling all day, so I'll probably make that some unstructured GNS3 labbing time, and Monday will probably be a full lab. Cutting it close..bootcamp is creeping up on me!

Mrock4

I was starting on Lab 2 tonight, and right as I really got into IGP (And was making good time) there was a power outage at my home, so I lost access to my rack. Power is back on, but now the internet remains down. Oh well....I suppose I will fire GNS3 up and do some unstructured labbing!

Mrock4

Finished Lab 2 tonight. Took a while because my home rack lost power during an outage and I was on the road, so I had to get my wife to power it back on. I really did well on IGP, but struggled in the following areas:

-Frame Relay Traffic Shaping- funny, I wrote some articles on this a couple of years ago, but haven't had to use it since. I mostly just need to review the syntax of traffic shaping as a whole and make sure I understand how to translate the requirements into shaping commands.

-Security- I used the documentation a lot here for various features. I did OK, but I need to bone up on things like Zone-Based Firewall (I passed this section with the doc's help), and reflexive ACL's (same as ZBF, passed, but I wasn't fast about it)

Overall I scored about 59/79 points, which is about 75%. Keep in mind, the difficulty on this one was only 6/10, and it took me around 12 hours to complete this lab.

Going to take the weekend off for some long overdue family time since I've been traveling a lot. Monday I'll be doing some FRTS Vol I labs, and watching videos on OER/PfR..I am trying to go through the whole INE PfR seminar, and am about 3/8 hours through with it. OER/PfR is hands down my weakest area, so I really need to fix that.

Anyway, with Mon/Tues dedicated to some technology-based labs, I'm going to knock out Lab 3 on Wednesday. My goal is to finish Labs 3 - 5 prior to attending the INE bootcamp in a couple of weeks.

Mrock4

On schedule so far! Did a deeper grading of Lab 2 and realized I made a few more little errors..mostly minor, but enough to cause me to lose a few points here and there. Not terribly concerned though, as my logic in these situations was good, I just need to do a better job of verification.

Configuring my rack for INE Vol II Lab 3 (difficulty of 8/10). Going to start it today, probably won't get too far (got chores to do around the house!), but I am definitely going to finish it up tomorrow.

Current goal this week is to finish Lab 3, and do any necessary Vol I labs to brush up on weak areas.

Mrock4

Up early to hopefully knock Lab 3 out today, or at least get pretty far!

Mrock4

Getting better, that's for sure. I started Lab 3 out today with the goal of finishing all IGP/BGP by noon, and probably would have gotten close, but I got stuck on a stupid problem, then an unclear requirement. What was it? Well, the problem was: a spoke wasn't establishing an OSPF adjacency with the hub, and I knew it was a frame-relay issue, but looked at it a good 15 minutes pretty clueless. Then I realized when I looked at "show frame pvc" I wasn't looking at the right PVC. So, I then looked at the subinterface config, and realized the base configs didn't assign the DLCI to the subinterface! Really simple..I should have seen that right away. On the bright side, I did catch a couple of other minor misconfigurations quickly, so that's good.

The unclear requirement issue- It's not technically difficult, but it's one of those tasks I'd ask the proctor about. I can configure BGP to manipulate the paths, but the task is worded oddly, so I am not sure if my solution satisfies the requirement. That being said, I'm taking a lunch break now and once I get back to it I will give it a crack and keep moving on with the goal of finishing most of the lab today, and wrapping up the last bit tomorrow. I am VERY anxious to look in the solution guide and see what they were looking for here!

Mrock4

Guess I spoke too soon about the getting better part! I got to MPLS VPN (previously one of my weaker areas) and got it all configured (without any docs), routes being shared, etc- but no connectivity across the VPN. I've got to call it a day now, but tomorrow I can hopefully resolve the issue I am experiencing.

All in all I did pretty well up until this part, and flew through most of the IGP section without needing to reference any docs or troubleshoot for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, I'm only halfway through the lab (and put about 5 hours in today). I skimmed through some of the tasks coming up, and at first glance I'm guessing I'll have some issues with security/QoS sections.

I guess I should be happy that my IGP is pretty strong, but I've got to do some more MPLS VPN labs, and review the non-core material again.

Mrock4

So today I took a look at Lab 4 again (late, so unfortunately there is no way I'll get to finish it today..ugh), and immediately noticed something. I was peering my BGP VPNv4 sessions between loopbacks as I should, but the IP's were /24 on the loopbacks instead of /32's. I felt I was really stuck now, since the solution guide said to not change IP addressing. It DID say you could alter the OSPF network types where necessary, but that didn't do the trick.

So, with nowhere else to go and what I felt was the problem, I looked at the solution guide. The solution guide has them changing the subnet mask on the loopback addresses! I felt good I was right, but feel a bit cheated, I didn't think that was allowed..but I'll have to re-read in case I misinterpreted the wording on that previous task with OSPF.

Oh well, chugging forward! I think the rest of this week (mostly) tomorrow will be finishing up Lab 3 and grading. Friday I'll probably do some Vol I labs before moving onto Lab 4.

All in all I am feeling a lot better. The first few INE labs have made me much more confident in my IGP configuration skills, I just need to fine tune the other sections.

unclerico

Looking good brother!

reaper81

Remember that the important part to build the LSP is that the IGP route and LDP label match up. So you can use a /24 to peer with but by default since the network type is loopback OSPF will still advertise it as a /32. Your LSP will then be broken. If you set the network type to point-to-point it should advertise it as /24 and IGP and LDP should now match so you will be fine.

You may receive a warning that you are not peering over a /32 but it should still work.

Mrock4

Thanks Daniel. I think I had half of that complete (I changed the OSPF network type to point to point, but only on one side)- I'll definitely remember that as that one thing caused my LSP to be completely broken.

Dedicating a couple of days next week to doing the Vol I Security labs. I didn't do them in my previous prep since I felt pretty confident with security topics, but there's a lot of little features (like TCP Intercept) that I'm not familiar with, so it'll be good review. The latter half of next week I am going to dedicate approximately 2 days to learning OER/PfR. I started watching the INE vSeminar on PfR, but I only got about 1/2 way through it. I think if I get through PfR I'll be in good shape for the INE bootcamp (which is the following week).

My goal is to use the bootcamp to assess my readiness on various topics, and then immediately upon completion of the bootcamp start focusing on those problem areas while also mixing in some Vol II labs prior to sitting my lab.

Mrock4

On a side note, I'm now 90 days from my lab! I just paid my lab fee, and it's do or die now!

Essendon

You got this Mike! That number is waiting for ya!!

YFZblu

Mrock4 wrote: »

On a side note, I'm now 90 days from my lab! I just paid my lab fee, and it's do or die now!

That's exciting - Good luck

reaper81

Mrock4 wrote: »

On a side note, I'm now 90 days from my lab! I just paid my lab fee, and it's do or die now!

Nice! Say hi to Brian from me Make sure to ask lots of questions. It's not every day you get to pick the brain of a multiple CCIE. The bootcamp will be great!

Good luck!

instant000

Over here rooting for you, bro

Mrock4

Thanks guys! It's always nice to hear some words of encouragement (and realize I'm not talking to myself on here!)

I leave for the bootcamp in 4 days! Made a list of topics I'm not comfortable with and it is pretty large. Here's some of the items:

-MSDP (20% understanding, need to do the Vol I labs on MSDP)
-PfR (10% understanding from a theory standpoint)
-PPPoE (50%..have labbed it but it's been a while)
-Frame Relay Traffic Shaping (mostly just need to review, I understand how it works, I just mess up the syntax)

Up at 7am today and I plan on putting in at least 8 hours today. Going to be all Vol I labs. I am going to first try to finish the security labs (I am re-doing a few labs there I had issues with on Lab 3), then move onto other vol I areas I'm having difficulty with. My goal is by the end of this week to have everything with at least a 60% comfort level. After the bootcamp I'll have about 65 days until my lab, so I'm also hoping that exposes any gaps and then it'll be full throttle until I sit the lab.

reaper81

The bootcamp will open up your eyes for sure. You will learn how to think at a higher level. How to just look at a diagram and identify potential issues with redistribution, multicast etc.

Good luck!

Mrock4

Got 8 1/2 hours of labbing in today. Spent a bit of that on security and a lot of that on multicast Vol I labs. A lot of the labs I did were overlap, but I still learned a few small things I didn't know before, so that's good. Tomorrow I'm going to try to finish Vol I multicast, and then spend the rest of the day hitting smaller areas I've had trouble with. Friday will be all PfR.

Mrock4

Back at it today. Goal is another 8 hour day of labbing. Hoping to finish Vol I multicast and move onto PfR if time allows. My primary goal at this point is to be pretty good-to-go on multicast and PfR before the bootcamp. I'm sure I will be busy during the bootcamp, but I'd like to get a lab in on the weekend while I'm there if I can. I wanted to finish at least one more lab before leaving for the class, but I think in the grand scheme I'll be better off if I have a better understanding of multicast/PfR.

Mrock4

At the hotel now for my bootcamp. Really not happy with my hotel selection (I deviated from my preference of hilton's and chose the hard rock since the bootcamp is here), but I don't think it'll matter once the bootcamp gets started since I'll be in class most of the time.

That being said, I'm going to grab dinner and start some PfR studies! I'll try hard to post during the bootcamp so I can keep a running record of how it's all going..but of course the class comes first, so no promises.

filkenjitsu

Good luck!

Mrock4

Gracias!

Day 1 of the bootcamp down. Started kind of slow, but I think it'll be really good as we get into the more difficult topics. Tomorrow we're going over PPPoE, which is a bad topic for me- so I'm going to lab some PPPoE tonight before the class tomorrow.

Mrock4

Labbed a bit of PPPoE and then Private VLANs since I felt those were a weak spot. Did really well in PVLANs which was nice. PPPoE is still a rough spot, I need to read more on it and practice as the dialer/virtual-template interfaces are just odd to me. That'll come with time, but I need to make sure I continually press on that.

One of the big positive points to the bootcamp so far has been Brian's comments on lab strategy..lots of great information there that is invaluable.

Off to bed at almost 1am. Great day!

Mrock4

Decided to give a crack at the INE TS Lab 1 tonight. The recurring theme among CCIE candidates who have failed the lab exam is that the troubleshooting section is a killer. I can't imagine knowing I failed the TS section and being motivated AT ALL for the config portion..so I really want to pass the TS.

We'll see how it goes. Goal tonight is not necessarily to finish all tickets, but do a good job on the ones I do touch. I'll probably be labbing OSPF tomorrow evening and do a full lab this weekend.

In other news day 2 of the bootcamp went well. Went over PPPoFR/PPPoE as well as some OSPF.

Mrock4

Had the best lesson on OSPF Forwarding Addresses I've ever gotten today. I thought I understood them but I was definitely surprised! It was awesome though.

As a side note, I started my first Troubleshooting lab but couldn't finish it due to rack issues (I started about 30 minutes late because I couldnt' access my rack). On the bright side, I finished 5 tickets in 1 1/2 hours. I realize that's not good enough for the lab..but it's very promising for my first TS lab, and I am hoping to finish those remaining 5 tickets tomorrow (30 minutes is my goal) and move on to some other topics. As a side note, I took WAY too long on this lab on one ticket. I spent probably 45 minutes on it, and it turned out to be a dumb issue I overlooked. Once I resolved that ticket I averaged about 12 minutes per ticket for the rest, which is pretty much where I need to be (ideally faster).

This weekend I will probably do a full lab Saturday, and use Sunday to review smaller topics that are an issue for me still.

Mrock4

Oh, and as a side note, I was having a conversation with one of the other CCIE candidates, and mentioned how to unicast RIP updates without the neighbor statement (NAT 224.0.0.9 -> the unicast IP), and we both wondered whether or not it worked with EIGRP/other misc protocols. I decided to lab it up and found it did work fine with EIGRP, which is awesome. It's always good to have an extra tool in your belt to accomplish weird requirements!

instant000

MRock:

Thanks for posting this thread. I'm enjoying reading about your bootcamp experience with INE.