Starting CCIE Written. Just had "the talk" with Mrs. Zartan.

Zartanasaurus

Random update

Going through the Routing Bits Handbook. It's fantastic. It's a really nice way to cover the entire blueprint and see what gaps you have in your knowledge. This is probably something everyone should read when they feel like they are close to being ready. Every section references the Doc-CD location. Finished the RIP chapter so I'm about 25% done now. Added quite a few new flashcards. Over 500 of those now. I remember when I barely had 100.

Did find one minor mistake so far. In RIP authentication, he says the key IDs don't have to match unlike EIGRP. This is technically true, but only the side with the higher key ID will accept the RIP updates. The other side will reject them. Kind of a sneaky way to filter RIP updates in one direction if needed though.

jamesp1983

Thanks for the review. I purchased that product when I was starting out so I'll have to read it over.

spiderjericho

Zartan, do you think Routing Bits is a better book than the cert kit or simply just a good review doc? It's only 400 pages

I do hate the format but its packed with useful info.

Zartanasaurus

I wouldn't use it in lieu of the ECG to prepare for the Written.

Zartanasaurus

Another small error in RHB.

He states that distribute-list out has no effect within an OSPF area. This is not true. When used on an ASBR (even in an NSSA), it completely blocks the advertisement of that external route. It even blocks it from the ASBR's LSDB.

SteveO86

I like the RHB for reference purposes more than anything else.

The fact your are finding these small errors is a good measure of how well your studies have been going!

Zartanasaurus

Did the first two labs from Narbik's TS workbook. It's 10 labs with 15 tickets each. I didn't realize it was 15 and assumed it was 10. It's not laid out like INE WBs where it gives you the list of tickets then the solutions in a different WB. After each task is the solution, so I was just CTRL+F my way through to avoid seeing the answers. I finished the first one after about an hour (or so I thought), did my verification then decided I should check if there was maybe an 11th ticket. Well it ended up being 15.

So far, these aren't any more difficult that what I've seen from INE. A couple things I haven't seen before to break something, but nothing I couldn't figure out.

Zartanasaurus

Two more Narbik TS labs taken care of. He seems to cover more ground than INE does in their TS labs. I've had to fix SNAT configs, lock and key ACLs and a few other things that are little outside of core config. Maybe I've had to fix similar things in the INE labs and I've forgotten, I dunno.

Zartanasaurus

Knocked out Narbik TS labs 5-7. I definitely do slightly worse on these than I do on INE TS labs. One of the tickets required fixing an IPSEC tunnel.
I think INE does a better job at being clear what they are looking for. Sometimes these tickets seem very convoluted. Still learning a thing or two and I continue to add to my flashcards.

Here's some info on how ACLs process fragmented packets.
Access Control Lists and IP Fragments - Cisco Systems

Zartanasaurus

Finished the last 3 TS labs from Narbik. That's 150 more TS tickets under my belt. I have INE ML6 and Cisco360 CIERS-LAB01 & LAB02 left. After that I'm done with Mock Labs, honest.

If you're interested in the difference between INE and Narbik for TS, INE is deeper on core topics whereas Narbik is broader across all topics even outside of core.

About 2/3 of the way done Routing Bits, but since I only have a few days left on the rack rental, I'm going to concentrate on Narbik's advanced workbooks before going back to Routing Bits. After that I'll redo some INE Vol2 labs and skim through all of them looking for stuff I may have forgotten/dismissed as unimportant at the time.

Zartanasaurus

Mock Lab 6 is percolating.

Zartanasaurus

No countdown timer on the TS section. Weird.

Zartanasaurus

And that's that. Tired....

No timer on the config section either. I don't know if they were keeping time internally or not, but I wrote down the time I started and made sure I clicked finish before 6 hours were over. Didn't even carry over the extra TS time.

Zartanasaurus

Finished Narbik's Advanced WB Vol I. Good stuff. Only a couple days left on the rack rental, although most of his workbooks are easily doable in GNS3. A lot of times the scenarios are focused on only 2-3 routers. I'll at least try to get through the QoS and Security stuff since that will involve L2 devices the most. After that I can just skim through it and throw it up in GNS3 if I feel like I need a refresher.

Zartanasaurus

Going through QoS now. RSVP finally "clicked" for me. I went through all the examples and explanations in INE multiple times and for some reason it just didn't stick. The couple of short examples in Narbik's book did it for me. He doesn't go as deep into RSVP as the INE Workbooks though but combined it works really well.

Zartanasaurus

Finished QoS. Not as much content as INE.

Zartanasaurus

Just finished the troubleshooting portion for CIERS-TU-LAB01. I would rate it as harder than the two new INE TS mock labs. Cisco360 has it rated 2/3 or "intermediate". It's scheduled for 3 hours, but I made sure I noted my start time and ended after 2 hours. Took me exactly 2 to finish including about 20 mins of verification. 2 hours until the config section starts.

Zartanasaurus

Just finished. I'd say this was easier than most INE labs due to not going crazy with Security and Services. 59/78 points are tied to core L2/L3 stuff. The rest was IPv6, Multicast, Services and QoS. Lots of easy 2-3 pointers in that with a few advanced configs that require more intermediate knowledge.

90% of the core is pretty straightforward IMO, it just requires a lot of attention to detail.

Zartanasaurus

That grader is fast.

Zartanasaurus

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Just finished the troubleshooting portion for CIERS-TU-LAB01.

Just finished the same for LAB02.

Same amount of points but only 10 questions this time. They can be very, very sneaky. Two hours before the config portion starts. I guess that's my least favorite part of this. Either make the TS section 2 hours or allow us to end the TS section early to start config. It's not like they have to wait until TS is graded and wiped before they fire up the config pod.

Zartanasaurus

Yeah... so I started a blog. Kind of spur of the moment and it was to help me document what I've been messing around with in OER. I dove into it quite a bit a month ago then let it lapse. Maybe this will help me remember it better. I'm sure there's probably some technical inaccuracies in there. I'm basically documenting each feature as I go along. It seems like most blog entries I find on OER are superficial at best. Configure the routers, turn on learn mode, watch it control traffic. I'm hoping this can be a little more comprehensive. And maybe I'll find I like writing a blog.

Network Nibbles | Another random CCIE network blog

SteveO86

Looks good man, I'll put a link to your blog on mine!

That's what I have been trying to use it for write about stuff that I tackle for the IE or just some thing random I run into in the field, I'm still trying to get back to my weekly post schedule. It's just been a little crazy for me recently.

Zartanasaurus

I think 4 blog posts on OER is enough for now.

jamesp1983

You're killing it! I know what I'm doing tonight.

Zartanasaurus

Flexible NetFlow was on my short list of "things I need to learn". Yesterday, I had the opportunity to configure it at work since NX-OS doesn't support the older syntax. That gave me the opportunity to skim through the docs and lab it some at home after work. Might throw up a blog post on that when I get a chance.

Zartanasaurus

Two more entries on IPv6 tunneling. This is certainly a nice process for learning. I probably have one more OER entry in me to cover BGP.

Zartanasaurus

Back to OER blog posts again. I think I've covered a good portion of what's possible with the lab IOS version. Only thing I haven't really covered are link-groups and OER + NAT. OER + NAT probably isn't even worth a blog post anyway. Even found what I think are a few bugs.

instant000

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Here's some info on how ACLs process fragmented packets.
Access Control Lists and IP Fragments - Cisco Systems

This topic is familiar to me. I came upon this while reviewing for the 'NP through the Boson exam simulator for SWITCH ... All this time I thought they were throwing out tangents to get me off track!

Zartanasaurus

Feels like it's been forever since I last updated. Haven't done anything with my blog either. Just been focused on lab time the last month or so and I'm feeling pretty worn out. Thankfully I passed my lab so I don't have to worry about that for a while. I plan on keeping up with my flashcards though since I'd hate to forget all of that stuff.

jamesp1983

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Feels like it's been forever since I last updated. Haven't done anything with my blog either. Just been focused on lab time the last month or so and I'm feeling pretty worn out. Thankfully I passed my lab so I don't have to worry about that for a while. I plan on keeping up with my flashcards though since I'd hate to forget all of that stuff.

Congrats! Glad to hear it.