The most important thing was that she approved. I told her the amount of time and work that would be involved in getting all the way to the CCIE lab and she supports me 100%.
Now with that hurdle out of the way, here's what I've been up to lately.
I read
Interconnections by Perlman. Great book BTW, despite its age. Her writing style is just perfect. I don't think I've ever read a better explanation of spanning tree or link-state protocols.
Currently reading
TCP/IP Protocol Suite by Forouzan. I know Internetworking by Comer and TCP/IP Illustrated by Stevens are the standard, but I chose the Forouzan book for a couple of reasons. 1) It had an ebook edition. 2) I was doing some research on books used by universities that offer Master's Degrees in Networking and I found this book being used at DePaul.
I bought the 2nd edition of TCP/IP Illustrated for Kindle and I just thought it was terrible. Nothing like the original which was well written and easy to understand. I gave it a good 5 or 6 chapters before I called it quits. I think a reviewer on Amazon hit it on the head when he said "
I disagree with the other reviewers who state that Fall retains the excellent writing style of the original. Whereas Stevens is known for succinct, clear prose that covers topics in a straightforward, readable way, Fall seems to have felt that adding verbosity was a necessary step in adding additional topic coverage". I read about 1/3 of the 1st edition then stopped in anticipation of reading the new updated version. I will probably go back and finish at some point.
The Forouzan book is well written with clear diagrams that aid in your understanding. I don't have much to compare it to with other books of its kind, but it's better than the TCP/IP Illustrated 2E. Has excellent reviews on Amazon as well.
Other book I'm currently reading is Routing TCP/IP Vol I. Only on Chapter 5, but I love it so far. I can see why it's so highly recommended.
I also have the following books:
Routing TCP/IP Vol II
Internet Routing Architectures
Developing IP Multicast Networks
MPLS & VPN Architectures
MPLS Fundamentals
BGP Design & Implementation
I've seen that the Cisco QoS Exam Guide and End to End QoS Network Design books come highly recommended, so I will pick those up eventually.
I also plan on getting an all access pass from INE. I've read that the ATC plus good reading material will get you through the written.
Any other books I should be picking up for either the written or lab? I've seen Cisco LAN Switching recommended a lot. Preference or Kindle or other ebooks over hardback only, but if it's a must have it's a must have. I see Cisco has done a good job converting lots of their older material into Kindle format if it comes highly recommended for CCIE studies.
My study plan is to go through Routing TCP/IP, a QoS book and an MPLS book then watch ATC/R&S Bootcamp videos on the topics I read about. I also plan on building the INE CCIE lab with a combination of GNS3 and 3560s for labbing.
Anything I'm missing?
