Meh! Nothing to CCIE here...
Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time to get serious. This year has been filled with some great success in the realm of cisco studies and I'm looking forward towards continuing the momentum into the next year and beyond as I move on in my pursuit of the coveted 5 digit number. Since I recently finished my CCIP studies with the completion of the composite exam, I am starting this blog to track my progress on both the Written and Lab exams. I may not post every day, but I will be updating this thread as often as possible.
First up is to prepare for and pass the CCIE R&S Written Exam. I will be using the following materials during my preparation:
Reading Material:
Recommended CCIE Books | INE
CBTs:
CCIE Routing & Switching Written Exam
CCIE Routing & Switching Advanced Technologies Class
The list will expand and grow as I further my studies. I have additional materials I will list when it is time (like my INE all access pass), but this should be sufficient to get me started.
First on the reading list will be a high level review found within the http://www.amazon.com/CCIE-Routing-Switching-Certification-Guide/dp/1587059800/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323471831&sr=8-1. Following this I will move on to re-reading Routing TCP/IP Vol 1 & 2 and reviewing selected chapters of the CCNP Foundation Learning Guides as necessary for completion.
My intention is to spend 2 hours per day studying on week days, and up to 8 hours per weekend. I will be taking at least one day off per week and there will be many times I go over or under the proposed amount of study.
For note taking I will be using a combination of legal pads, Ever Note (for synchronization between my MacBook, PC, and iPad), and highlighting the texts as necessary to earmark areas for review. I understand it will take around 200 hours of preparation for this first step and close to 1000 hours of prep towards the lab. There will be bumps and roadblocks along the way, but as many others have said this is a marathon and not a race. Slow and steady is the pace.
Cheers!
First up is to prepare for and pass the CCIE R&S Written Exam. I will be using the following materials during my preparation:
Reading Material:
Recommended CCIE Books | INE
CBTs:
CCIE Routing & Switching Written Exam
CCIE Routing & Switching Advanced Technologies Class
The list will expand and grow as I further my studies. I have additional materials I will list when it is time (like my INE all access pass), but this should be sufficient to get me started.
First on the reading list will be a high level review found within the http://www.amazon.com/CCIE-Routing-Switching-Certification-Guide/dp/1587059800/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323471831&sr=8-1. Following this I will move on to re-reading Routing TCP/IP Vol 1 & 2 and reviewing selected chapters of the CCNP Foundation Learning Guides as necessary for completion.
My intention is to spend 2 hours per day studying on week days, and up to 8 hours per weekend. I will be taking at least one day off per week and there will be many times I go over or under the proposed amount of study.
For note taking I will be using a combination of legal pads, Ever Note (for synchronization between my MacBook, PC, and iPad), and highlighting the texts as necessary to earmark areas for review. I understand it will take around 200 hours of preparation for this first step and close to 1000 hours of prep towards the lab. There will be bumps and roadblocks along the way, but as many others have said this is a marathon and not a race. Slow and steady is the pace.
Cheers!
CCIE Sec: Starting Nov 11
Comments
I look forward to following your journey.
Latest blog post: Let's review EIGRP Named Mode
Currently Studying: CCNP: Wireless - IUWMS
I started this morning with an overview of Ethernet basics: media types, pin outs, cable distances, etc. and moved on to VLANS and Virtual Trunking. I followed this up with the corresponding INE videos and started taking notes on my legal tablet that I will review later. While these topics may seem trivial, especially in consideration of the scope of the CCIE studies, it's important to remember that the best Engineers have a solid mastery of the foundation studies. There is much to be said about paying attention to detail afterall!
Time spent: 2 hours reading/watching CBTs
Next up will be Spanning Tree Protocol which can be a very detailed and important topic.
Tonight was a walk down memory lane with Spanning Tree Protocol and its many editions. It's important to understand the differences between CST, STP (802.1d), MST (802.1s), PVST+, RSTP (802.1w), RPVST+, etc.
To start with, you have to understand how the Root switch is elected, and then on the rest of the switches how the Root Port (RP), Designated Port (DP), and blocking port is selected. Moving forward know the process that takes place when a STP topology change happens (TCN and TCA bits in the hello messages) as well as how to optimize spanning tree.
Next we get in to some spanning tree protection mechanisms. Know when and where to use them and most importantly WHY! Also make sure to review how Spanning Tree is affected by port-channels and trunks.
I can honestly admit I've made a fair amount of money as a consultant working on poor spanning tree design issues. This particular topic is one I feel is one of the most neglected topics in the majority of campus infrastructures! I've actually had another consulting agency tell me that the easiest way to deal with STP issues is to just turn it off and all works well.
I'm also planning on powering up the 3550 switches for a review on configuring the various spanning tree types, as well as playing around with port priorities and load balancing. I can see a number of fun troubleshooting scenarios that can come out of this topic alone.
Next on the agenda for tonight's review is IP addressing, CIDR, and NAT theory. Total time spent reading tonight will be ~3hrs.
I started to get the feeling Wendell Odom threw as much into one chapter as he could and left it up to use to research further into the topics at this level. I took this as an opportunity to start getting familiar with the Doc CD! I'll review some of the topics in more detail after my VMware vSphere 5 What's New class completes tomorrow.
Tonight was a 1 hour theory review with no video and no lab time.
A few links for later:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk362/technologies_configuration_example09186a0080094e90.shtml
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/configfun/configuration/guide/fcf018_ps1835_TSD_Products_Configuration_Guide_Chapter.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_1/configfun/configuration/guide/fcd303.html
I'm hoping to spend a bit of quality time (4hrs+) tomorrow doing labs to make up for the time I didnt spend the last 2 nights.
Tonight's review was on EIGRP. One of the things I decided not too long ago, especially when it comes to the routing protocols, is to not only understand the theory and implementation but also to pay particular attention to the authentication aspects of the protocol. I intend to implement authentication as much as possible when performing the labs! For EIGRP, I also made sure to review how neighborship forms, the metric weights (K values), and verification/debugging commands.
At this level we should all be familiar with the neighbor and topology tables for EIGRP, so I took it a step further to review what happens when an event occurs, affecting convergence.
I made sure to review the sections in the CCIE Written R&S, Routing TCP/IP Vol I, and ROUTE FLG (selected sections) and took notes. Time to start paying attention to the details!
Time spent reading: 1hr
Time spent reviewing INE Videos: 40min
Time spent chasing my 2 year old back in bed while trying to study: Too much!
I just received the CCIE ECG today.
Will start next week 'cause I decided to go for JNCIA-JUNOS exam early next week. A Juniper based project is coming very soon... To be kinda prepared with basic cli knowledge is not a bad idea...
Good luck to you!
CCIE R&S written ==> Mar 2012
CCIE R&S Lab ==> ??
Getting married ==> ??
Having children ==> ??
Thank you thank you, and good luck on the JNCIA-JUNOS exam! I get to dabble in some Juniper gear but am putting off the JNCIA until further down the line.
I'm planning to take no short cuts in my approach to the CCIE studies. Its one thing to know the material, its another to know it well! In the labs I'll be making things interesting... IGP authentication, ODR, DHCP for Layer 3 interfaces, PfR, etc... As I go through the labs I'll post some of the "fun things" I decide to change so that others have ideas to borrow.
Great idea about authentication, it stands to reason that if continually increase the level of difficulty and operate at that level then you will become more comfortable with it and you'll probably discover interactions/limitations that otherwise you wouldn't have.
Love the quote about the two year old...i've got one of those too and chasing him around is partly why it took me 11 months to pass ROUTE
I realized that the more I challenge myself towards the CCIE, the easier things will become so that when it comes time to tackle the real lab, it'll be less of a challenge and more of an adventure!
Tonight will be the first half review of OSPF ,and I'll probably finish that section as well as IGP Route Summerization, Redistribution, and Troubleshooting on the first flight. If all goes well I'll even finish the BGP review on the second flight and then work on the corresponding INE videos as well. By the end of the trip I have Friday - Monday, I should be about half way finished with the CCIE R&S Certification Guide and 40% finished with the INE videos.
Now I know I am getting ahead of myself,but I'm guessing I'll have the first text completed by Christmas and I'll start reviewing selected portions of Routing TCP/IP I and II and then take an attempt at the Written exam sometime in January. Once that's out of the way, I'm planning to spend as much time as possible in the INE Vols and working with labs. If I consider part of my CCIP studies as "CCIE Prep work..." then I should be getting close to the 200 hour mark. I'm not tracking hours until I complete the written at which point the clock starts ticking.
Time spent reading: 90 minutes
Time spent in labs: 30 minutes (EIGRP review)
Time wasted researching the features of my new Nikon DSLR... too much!
Here's the d90+tokina in action:
I just upgraded from a D80 to a D7000. I have all Nikon DX glass right now: 35mm F1.8, 85mm f1.8, 18-135 f3.5-5.6, and 70-300mm f4-5.6 VR. I'll probably end up picking up a 28-70 f2.8 and/or a 24-120 f4 VR next year (both FX glass but tack sharp on a dx body). Eventually I'll save up the money for a 70-200 f2.8 VR2... which will be my celebration gift for passing the CCIE!
I also have a few odds and ends for portrait photography (soft-boxes, flashes, backdrops etc). It's a hobby I enjoy and I'd rather spend the money teaching myself so that I can take great pictures rather than miss opportunities because a pro photographer wasn't available at the time to capture the moment.
FWIW I really liked the D90 but couldnt justify the cost at the time. The D7000 was an early xmas gift from my wife and I wasn't expecting to get this new toy.
I just recently passed this exam and I found it significantly easier than the Cisco exams. I bought the official courseware (Intro to Junos OS and Junos Routing Essentials - 2 free exam vouchers too!) from their website and found it to be quite a big meatier than the fasttrack materials.
You are going well. Once you are through with the Odom book I recommend you hit the Odom test engine and the Boson test engine each day for 6 weeks. Research any questions you struggle with open book. I find that helps your revision for the written and its satisfying to find the correct answer. Helps your understanding of all that stuff you read too. Then do the practice tests closed book for a week, finally printing out the few questions you continually get wrong. There will be a reason for that. Study the solutions for those then take the actual test.
When you do tha actual exam, spend no more than 2 minutes on any single question and commit to memory topics that give you trouble. If you fail the test you can focus on those areas.
For example, with OSPF you may find it difficult to calculate costs end to end when you have diverse paths on a diagram, or to predict traffic flow. You may find that you forget the formula to calculate a full mesh, or you may have forgotten what the k values in EIGRP are or how to choose a feasible successor in a show ip eigrp topology output.
So I was able to get through over 12 hours of review from friday - monday. I spent about 8 hours reviewing the last parts of OSPF and Redistribution on the first set of flights and then BGP "fundamentals" and the completion of more advanced topics on the drive back to the airport and flights home. Most of the BGP review was still fresh in my mind from the composite, though I did make sure to revisit synchronization and peer groups! My plan is to finish the last little bit of BGP tonight and start moving on to QoS! I have about a week off of work for the holidays and I told my wife that I will be spending a lot of time in theory review while we are with family. I'll be bringing the CCIE Written R&S book as well as Routing TCP/IP I&II books with me for review material over the holiday break. I'm actually hoping to have the majority of this portion of studies completed by the end of the year and follow up with Turgons suggestion and spend time going over the boson to identify and highlight areas where I am weak.
I mentioned to work that I will be taking the lab attempt Q1 2012 and they all of the sudden asked me to have the exam done by end of January. I'll have to start planning accordingly, but I found out there will be a few "curveballs" thrown at me during 2012 that if I am not careful, could prolong my CCIE studies. More on that down the road!
One more hour of work, and then hopefully 2-3 hours of review tonight!
Edit: I'll post some pics taken with the D7000 after the holidays! I'm asking the wife if we can take the little guy to Parrot Jungle in Ft Lauderdale while we are in S. Florida.
I also noticed that INE had emailed out stating they redid the CCIE R&S Written review videos using Brian McGahan rather than Keith as a presenter. I logged into to review the updated video set and found I could only download, not stream the videos. I watched a few of the earlier videos to see the changes and IMO the previous video set feels like it has a little more content. I'll give the new set a review but I'll also make sure to supplement with the "original" set.
Off to bed so I can pack and prepare for some vacation time.
Over the last 6 days I've spent over 24 hours reviewing... lets see if I can keep that up going into NYE.
Not yet. Once I finish reading the Written exam guide and start final prep motions I'll schedule the exam. If all goes well I may attempt it mid to late January and then move on to lab prep for 9-10mos, or more!
I'll say that it helped going through the CCIP before tackling the written.
The hardest part is not deciding when to start, but where to start. Like many others have suggested, check out the INE reading list and start there. I would probably pick up Routing TCP/IP Vol 1 first and then towards Vol 2, etc etc etc. There is no better time to start than now (well, tomorrow since its almost 10pm here and the stores are closed).
Again; I am planning to re-read a lot of Routing TCP/IP Vol1 and 2 as part of the lab prep. There are some areas where I understand the theory but want to make sure it stays fresh in my mind come lab time. There are also some sections I could use a refresher on, and other sections I have no problem with. Since this is a game of patience and practice, I plan to take my time and lab lab lab!
Off to continue reading IP Multicast before starting CCIE R&S Security which I believe is the next chapter. About 200 pages left to review in this tome.
I scheduled it before even starting
Well. At least I read the first 2 chapters (L2) from the OCG.
I kinda noticed that the book does not go in depth and also skips many things.
For example, PVlans configuration is not mentioned. Does this mean that the config part is not covered in the written??
I'm thinking about re-using the BCMSN book to review some topics (spanning-tree, PVlans...).
CCIE R&S written ==> Mar 2012
CCIE R&S Lab ==> ??
Getting married ==> ??
Having children ==> ??