CCIE LAB by Sep 2012

x5150

I'm trying to prepare for the ccie lab at the end of sept. Just passed the ccie written. I have lab workbooks from two different companys, dynamips server at home, rack time, no hardware. I will also be going to 3 one-week bootcamps over the next 4 months also. It does seem like a time crunch but I work better in that situation. Having a baby in Nov so I may not have energy to study if I don't get this done by Sept.

Problems already getting the ios images for dynamips. Mountains of work ahead...

MrBishop

wow, that is a big task to complete in that short time span. I mean, what did you practice with before, while studying for you CCNP? If you're dedicated I mean really dedicated with hours upon hours a day to study, then its probably still not practical! People who are going through workbooks offered by INE or IPexpert take more time than that just to finish those labs. I think its too much too soon and unless, you have years of experience under your belt already, its a recipe for failure.

reaper81

That is a VERY tight timespan. Not impossible but you need to pretty much lock yourself in a room and don't come out until lab day. That is the kind of preparation you need to do to hit that date. Good luck to you and it's time to start rolling.

jamesp1983

How much experience do you have? Do you have any access to switches? Like reaper said, this is an extremely short amount of time to prep for your lab. In any event, good luck! I'm having a baby boy in October so I'm feeling the pressure as well, but not planning on taking the lab until December/January.

x5150

For ccnp, i used the cisco press books, boson ccnp exsim and router switch simulation software, and went to a 2 week bootcamp.

I have little experience configuring eigrp/ospf/bgp switches in a production environment, just lab stuff mostly. For ccie basically none, never done multicast, tunnels, ipv6.

If I don't do well in the one week mock lab at end of sept, basically 5 days of test simulation, then I don't have a problem postponing till 2013 maybe March or whenever.

I'm only planning to do 2-3 hours m-f, then maybe 4 on sat/sun, and during the bootcamp weeks I'll do 10-16 hours per day. I will burn out if I don't get outdoor exercise during the week.

Just found some hardware today, couple 2950 switches and some dell switches.

MrBishop

Do you want help on getting a good simulator? I can point you in the right direction and you can see there is a lot to CCIE that you might want to look at first before you attempt this lab. Boson simulator isn't gonna cut it!

reaper81

You won't have much use for a 2950 for CCIE studies. Go for 3560 or 3550 if you can't afford the 3560. The real lab topology consists of 5 routers and 4 switches and all of the switches are 3560.

If you have any certain questions you can post them here and I'll try to answer.

rinoel

reaper81 wrote: »

The real lab topology consists of 5 routers and 4 switches and all of the switches are 3560.

So, this is all for the CCIE Lab?, I mean only 9 devices...

NetworkVeteran

You are ambitious, mate, but this is certainly not outside the realm of possibility. You do have a C.S. I noticed, and plans for three one-week bootcamps. May all go well in your preparation. And may I not be too far behind you in my own CCIE success. Best of luck to you!

jamesp1983

As several people have indicated you will certainly need at least some 3550s. Good luck with your studies! You are going to be a busy guy.

reaper81

rinoel wrote: »

So, this is all for the CCIE Lab?, I mean only 9 devices...

Yes, but you can create plenty of topologies with just those devices. And if you think that is few then the TS will give you something to chew on, it's roughly 30 devices

x5150

MrBishop wrote: »

Do you want help on getting a good simulator? I can point you in the right direction and you can see there is a lot to CCIE that you might want to look at first before you attempt this lab. Boson simulator isn't gonna cut it!

I don't think that boson has a ccie simulator package? I only know of dynamips, what do you have?

PsychoFin

You dont necessarily need real life experience to get the CCIE, but it sure does help. Most of all you will need dedication and TIME, lots of it... If you are short on cash, then you can get four 3550s and connect them to gns3 with the help of either 3 quad port NICs or usb hubs with usb to rj45 adapters... That'll let you do all the INE labs I dont think a couple 2950s and dell switches (most likely juniper EX switches) and lots of bootcamps will give you the hands on you really need...

Forsaken_GA

I'm going to be blunt -

Given your level of experience, if you were to take and pass the Lab with only rougly 4 months of prep, you're either a network prodigy, or you'd be cheating.

Trying to shoehorn that much work into such a small timeframe.... all I can say is that when the time crunch hits, and the panic sets in, try to avoid the urge to purchase the ****.

MrBishop

Can't **** your way through the CCIE lab...If you don't understand the material inside and out, you will fail this exam no matter what you've seen. Basically, doing the labs that are out there which takes people normally 6 months or more just to get through will force you to understand and learn the material.

On the other hand, if you willing to pay $1500 trying to pass this exam without understanding all areas of the 4.0 blue print; then Cisco will be more than happy to take your money.

Zartanasaurus

MrBishop wrote: »

Can't **** your way through the CCIE lab...

I've heard otherwise. There's been a lot of chatter on the INE forums lately about how people are failing this "new" version of the lab that Cisco released recently. Makes me wonder if the lab isn't more difficult, but people were going there expecting one thing and getting another.

About a year ago, one one of the networking blogs I frequent, the author was talking about taking and failing the CCIE written at Cisco Live and being advised by several CCIEs there to just **** the written because he's already put the work in.

PsychoFin

Unfortunately there are **** with complete layouts of the whole lab out there. There seems to be a few slightly different versions of the lab, and these **** give all the solutions etc. I have no idea how one could memorize the complete solutions etc, but oh well. It's sad.

MrBishop

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Makes me wonder if the lab isn't more difficult, but people were going there expecting one thing and getting another.

I'll agree that some people will take the risk of preparing for one lab / troubleshooting exam and hope they get it! Again, its a lot of money to waste by wishing to get the exact exam by chance.

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

About a year ago, one one of the networking blogs I frequent, the author was talking about taking and failing the CCIE written at Cisco Live and being advised by several CCIEs there to just **** the written because he's already put the work in.

Well, come on man...do you think someone is going to lose their CCIE status after passing the lab? Everything in life isn't played by the book and if companies wouldn't put so much emphasis on people passing these exams and keeping their number, it would probably be a different story but sadly its not!

Honesty don't really exist in the business world or professional for that matter. Everyone is looking for that edge and if you want to be the one who gets there 10 years later than everyone else and make less money then so be it! Is anyone really gonna care how you got there? NOPE As long as you didn't kill anyone in the process.

Its life and nothing is gonna change the fact the money rules the world and most people will do anything to get it!

MrBishop

PsychoFin wrote: »

Unfortunately there are **** with complete layouts of the whole lab out there. There seems to be a few slightly different versions of the lab, and these **** give all the solutions etc. I have no idea how one could memorize the complete solutions etc, but oh well. It's sad.

I don't think its possible and that is why you must know how it works with the technology. There is also a troubleshooting section and if all you know how to do is configure the lab, you will get caught on the troubleshooting section. I feel it take a least a good year or some before you can even think about attempting it will confidence, but everyone learns at a different pace.

NOC-Ninja

I just dont know how are you going to pass with that little time and that little experience. Goodluck. Only time will tell if you will pass.

Forsaken_GA

MrBishop wrote: »

I don't think its possible and that is why you must know how it works with the technology. There is also a troubleshooting section and if all you know how to do is configure the lab, you will get caught on the troubleshooting section. I feel it take a least a good year or some before you can even think about attempting it will confidence, but everyone learns at a different pace.

Then you're a fool.

The entire lab is configuration. All of it. Which means that it *can* be memorized, even the troubleshooting section. While Cisco can change the lab on a whim, development and vetting of CCIE lab tasks is not a quick process. The companies that sell the **** can send people to take and **** what they can remember out of the lab and build comprehensive packages that people desperate to pass the lab will purchase.

Nobody's system is foolproof, and just because you don't believe it's possible doesn't mean it is.

MrBishop

@Forsaken, do I believe that people have use lab material to help assist them in passing the exam? No doubt! But do I believe that you can do hours upon hours of configuring an not pickup on how the technology ties in together? No Learning is learning no matter how your taught! If it from teaching yourself, or someone is mentoring you ever step of the way, it learning. Stop believing that all it takes is some documents of labs and your gonna pass the exam1

Its just like people who say if I took steroids I can be a big as Ronnie Coleman! LOL, you gotta put in the work baby...no magic pill is going to do it for you!

reaper81

While there are only a couple of different lab topologies at the CCIE lab Cisco can still do things to make the exams unique. They can change some tasks around or change the wording a bit. Also with that large TS topology it's really simple to change the errors induced.

What some people have criticized Cisco of including I is that it is a bit too service oriented. I would prefer that it was more focused on the RS stuff and services had a lesser part. On the other hand if you know all the services then they are "easy" points. Cisco makes the rules though so we all have to play by them.

Forsaken_GA

MrBishop wrote: »

@Forsaken, do I believe that people have use lab material to help assist them in passing the exam? No doubt! But do I believe that you can do hours upon hours of configuring an not pickup on how the technology ties in together? No Learning is learning no matter how your taught! If it from teaching yourself, or someone is mentoring you ever step of the way, it learning. Stop believing that all it takes is some documents of labs and your gonna pass the exam1

That's an interesting rationalization. Learning is learning, huh? So if I learn how to pass the CCIE Lab exam because I have all the answers in advance, that means I'd be just as good as a CCIE who self studied without the benefit of the answers to the lab?

Obviously you need some frame of reference, you're not going to drop an English major who doesn't even know the difference between a router or switch, into the Lab and have them pass it. Your average CCNP? Yeah, pretty good bet they'll be able to do it

And go ahead, implement solutions to pass the CCIE Lab in a real production scenario. See how far that gets you

Forsaken_GA

reaper81 wrote: »

While there are only a couple of different lab topologies at the CCIE lab Cisco can still do things to make the exams unique. They can change some tasks around or change the wording a bit. Also with that large TS topology it's really simple to change the errors induced.

I don't think anyone is arguing with that. However, Cisco moves slow, and the lab exam isn't something you casually change, not without alot of QA. Ability and practice are two entirely different things.

What some people have criticized Cisco of including I is that it is a bit too service oriented. I would prefer that it was more focused on the RS stuff and services had a lesser part. On the other hand if you know all the services then they are "easy" points. Cisco makes the rules though so we all have to play by them.

Yeah, I've actually learned IOS is capable of quite a few things I never knew about. Unfortunately, I will never actually use them (Lock and key authentication? Come on)

MrBishop

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

And go ahead, implement solutions to pass the CCIE Lab in a real production scenario. See how far that gets you

I never said implementing solutions only is possible....I said that if you take the time to configure solutions, you gotta have an idea of how it works. Just going through the motions of typing in commands word for word isn't gong to teach you anything. I don't see anyone just typing through solutions and going into an exam is capable of passing. Candidates aren't receiving the same labs when they enter the examination room.

Morality has nothing to do with learning! End of story!

Forsaken_GA

MrBishop wrote: »

I never said implementing solutions only is possible....I said that if you take the time to configure solutions, you gotta have an idea of how it works.

You're kidding right? You've never worked with anyone who didn't necessarily understand how something works, but googled it, found a solution, and copied and pasted it, and lo and behold it worked?

Someone needs just enough knowledge to have a suitable frame of reference. After that, fake it till you make it can apply.

I understand your point of view, but I think you're being incredibly naive. A CCIE who cheats does not learn enough by cheating to make the cheating irrelevant.

x5150

Ok, so I found out I really do need four physical switches. Doh! This whole week has kinda been a waste. Setting up ubuntu, I couldn't get my wireless card working right, from command line, so installed the gui and that took care of it. I set up dyndns so I can get into my home network. Spent a lot of time setting up and learning how to use dynamips and debugging why the toplogy files and config files were not creating the right lab for me. I started trying to do lab 2 of iNE and I had no vlans on my switch...because my 3745 ios image doesn't even recognize vlan domain vlan mode commands. So that's why I need real switches! dynamips won't do them. Then I started researching how people were connecting real switches to dynamips. I found some good tutorials and posts. I've ordered two 3550s and in the process of getting two 3560s. Also ordered a 4 serial into one usb cable. I'm still looking for three 4 port nics that will plug into pci express, but can't find any.
People have mentioned these 3 cards,
Adaptec ANA-62044
DFE 580TX
HP A5506-60102

I don't see how they will plug into PCI Express ports though. I hope I don't have to get a new motherboard etc...

Forsaken_GA

Yeah, here's the fun part - you're going to spend one of your four months just trying to get a lab working right so you can actually learn

Chipsch

The above is why I chose to go ahead and dish out the cash for a real lab. I don't have the time with a family to try and determine if the problem is me or gns3. While the hardware can be expensive, if you shop it right you will be surprised. Personally I lucked out big time thanks to work taking care of the 1841's and 3560's. Even then I was able to snag an 1841 before work agreed to pick those up from ebay for 160, great deal imo. Also saved some money on the FR switch thanks to seeing a comment by Forsaken. Just using a 2610 with a NM-8A/S. That saved a large chuck of money instead of getting the 2522 from the INE topology. Only thing that stinks is the 1841's are the first gen so I have to get the more expensive rack mount kit.

x5150

Yep as far as rs protocols haven't learned a damn thing yet, lol.

Yah, I was just thinking that same thing about a real lab, "How much money have I spent in time, trying to figure out this setup" I saw some ccie real lab kits on ebay around $6k though. I wonder how much your electricity bill goes up running 13-15 devices all the time though?