The Fun Begins - CCIE R&S Journey

mhonsky

Chasing my CCIE R&S track this year or early Q1 2014

Currently using INE ATC, WB I-IV. Please share your best approach using the INE WB's.

cheers!
mhonsky

MrBrian

Hello mhonsky and welcome!

Good luck on your journey. I lurk these CCIE threads to gain motivation for myself as well as to learn from their experiences. I've picked up a lot of tips from reading about their journeys that I'll incorporate to my own studies when the time comes.

There's currently a nice batch of members that have been on the journey for awhile and are getting close to their lab dates (Zartan, James, rakem, SteveO, unclerico.. to name a few). Anyways, take a look through some of their threads because some put in a lot of detail that will probably help you shape your studies.

Anyways, looking forward to reading about your experience and once again good luck!

rakem

INE workbooks are excellent. Start from WB v1 book1 and work through all 6 of them
Then get onto WB2 for labs.

I have only used WB1 and 2 so can't comment on the others.

Also, the standard book list...

TCPIP routing 1 and 2
Internet routing architectures
CCIE cert guide.
and much more!

Good luck, every hour spent on the CLI will help

mhonsky

Many thanks MrBrian and rakem for your valuable inputs!
Based on my reviews with other CCIE's aspirants approach, I will do the WBI section 01-07 (Core), followed by WB III Lab 1-10(increase speed), then go back to WB I section 14, 09,08 (Core). After that will do WB I section 10-13 (non-Core) following WB IV Lab1-10 (increase troubleshooting skills). After finishing the three WB's, i'll jump into WB II referencing to WB I, ATC & DoCCD.

I'm on my way to start BGP as it's one of my weak areas but before that I would like to finish first getting my hands dirty with our three Nexus7K. Planning to have doing heavy lab by Feb.11 but if time permits before that, I will do WB I-BGP.

Rakem, goodluck on your upcoming lab exam!

nel

Good luck mate!

mhonsky

Thanks Nel!

I'm trying to find where I can put my log time during lab practice and reading books. I believe it should be on the signature, but I cannot find it on my profile. I think I'm lost here :P Can someone assist please?

Anyway, spend good 3.5 hours doing INE WBI: BGP topics and will continue tonight or tomorrow..

I'm starting to love BGP

jamesp1983

Click the gear in the upper right hand corner--> then go down to your right and you will see "Edit Signature". The rest is easy...

mhonsky

Thanks James but I'm not sure if there is something wrong with my profile..
I cannot still find it Am I looking on the right area?



Thanks again.

alan2308

There's things like PMs that come after a certain post count. Sigs could be among them.

You are looking in the right place.

mhonsky

Thanks Alan2308 for your reply.
I will post my progress here always so I can gain access to Signatures

Just had the time to continue labbing last night & this early morning about BGP and got additional 2hrs..
I find exciting whenever I learned new topics, this is good I guess compared to that your getting bored

I just want to know guys if how/when do you do exercise, before studying or after? I'm starting to gain weight and I want to go back on my 62kls. 5yrs ago..

mhonsky

Got 1hr labbing BGP early this morning. Another one or two tonight..

mhonsky

Plus 1hr BGP labbing early this morning.. Tried to study last night but to be honest my mind does not absorb what I'm doing.

nerdydad

I am working through WB2 at the moment, following the kick start from:

Getting the most out of CCIE R&S Workbooks VOL1 and VOL2

I am off to a slow start, mainly due to the fact that I am going through the DocCD for everything at this point, but things should speed up as I begin to not look up things I am already comfortable with. I just want to be proficient with the DocCD, and make sure there are no options that I missing.

I just read your post about exercising, I gave up on it, I was working out 3 days a week. I need the time to study now, I'll throw in some push-ups or TRX on occasion, but not often enough to make a real big impact.

mhonsky

Thanks for strategy you shared with me. Did you finish the Appendix A before moving forward to Vol II?

I tried this one before but it kicks my b*** when I feel overwhelmed regarding the technologies i face for the first time.
That's why I decided to go back to Vol I and make myself comfortable with the technologies first..

Anyway, good luck with your preparation and please let us know your progress

cheers,
mhonsky

nerdydad

No I didn't. I don't have the Vol 1 workbook, I may break down in the future if needed, but after spending my money building the lab and the fact that they don't say you have to do the Vol 1 before moving to Vol 2, I decided to focus on Vol 2. That being said, I labbed a lot for my CCNP and feel pretty confident about the core technologies. I don't really keep track of my hours studying, I don't have a "target" other than just do more. I get at least 4 hours of study a day, but typically 6 to 8, I am "fortunate" at the moment to have a lot of down time at work. The down time introduces uncertainty in the long term employment situation, which gives more motivation to study.

nerdydad

mhonsky wrote: »

I tried this one before but it kicks my b*** when I feel overwhelmed regarding the technologies i face for the first time.

Well, it took me a month to get through Lab 1 in Vol 2, so I guess that would constitute kicking my butt. The DocCD is not the quickest read, I also bing a bunch of stuff (yeah I just said that), and read the blog posts of others that came before me, I'm going to owe a lot of props when I am done with this stage of the journey.

mhonsky

nerdydad wrote: »

No I didn't. I don't have the Vol 1 workbook, I may break down in the future if needed, but after spending my money building the lab and the fact that they don't say you have to do the Vol 1 before moving to Vol 2, I decided to focus on Vol 2. That being said, I labbed a lot for my CCNP and feel pretty confident about the core technologies. I don't really keep track of my hours studying, I don't have a "target" other than just do more. I get at least 4 hours of study a day, but typically 6 to 8, I am "fortunate" at the moment to have a lot of down time at work. The down time introduces uncertainty in the long term employment situation, which gives more motivation to study.

I think you are solid with "Core" thats why you are good to go with Vol II..

As they say, do what works for you,right? I'm thinking also to jump on VOL II once I'm done up to Multicast and just refer to VOL I + ATC for the technolgies I still need to improve.. I like this "I don't really keep track of my hours studying, I don't have a "target" other than just do more." On a side note, do you have plan in taking the lab exam this year?

nerdydad

First attempt in August, so that I can do a second in October and worse case third attempt in December, I don't have a plan if I don't do it by the third, but I am hoping it takes no more than 2. But I have my wife prepared for the expense of 3, just in case. I keep seeing rumors of a blueprint change in January and I'm trying to knock it out before then so that I don't have to build a new lab.

mhonsky

Nice! Looking forward with your first attempt

I hope also that the blueprint change will take effect next year so I can take V4 lab this year.. Nice idea on the attempts expenses, but my budget right now allow me to for one attempt only

Will be doing BGP tonight!

mhonsky

Some issues at work make me slow but will get back definitely tonight!

cheers!

mhonsky

I just realized that if only I can go back and get my certifications on CCNP-SP, I will do it because it's really helpful for taking the path to IE R&S.. my 2 cents anyway, solidifying now best path selection on BGP

happy studying to all!!

mhonsky

ongoing projects (Palo Alto + Nexus7K ) slow me down but still i'm looking for quality study whenever I can. on the way now to communities and just finished aggregation.

cheers!
mhonsky

mhonsky

WOW! That's a lot with BGP Wrap it today and I plan to go back on section 01-07 again to solidify my core knowledge. I hope this will be quick this time

I'll be attending the online bootcamp of nexus dc by INE using their AAP. Anyone joining the bc?

cheers,
mhonsky

down77

I will say know BGP like the back of your hand, especially the best path selection process.

I've talked with the 'Brians' and a few people at Cisco regarding the DC track. I am waiting on better lab and workbook availability before getting too far into the CCIE DC process.

FWIW with exam fees, hotel, flight, food, rental it was ~$2500 per attempt. INE covered the first attempt as part of the bootcamp fee and I used skymiles and hotel credits so I was only out $200. The second (and passing) attempt cost me about the full amount. Thankfully work will reimburse!

mhonsky

Thanks down77 for the reminders, surely all core topics should be second in nature, right?

FWIW with exam fees, hotel, flight, food, rental it was ~$2500 per attempt. INE covered the first attempt as part of the bootcamp fee and I used skymiles and hotel credits so I was only out $200. The second (and passing) attempt cost me about the full amount. Thankfully work will reimburse!

Actually this is a big deal for me as I have budgeted for it only for first attempt (cross fingers) and all of this comes out of my own pocket Anyway, I will not schedule my lab exam until i'm fully confident but definitely I will attempt my lab this year and not to wait for changing the lab to ver5. How did you work out with your company about the reimbursement?

cheers,
mhonsky

mhonsky

Did not have time to lab this week because of lots to do at work! My full time job is 10Hrs/6days a week, anybody with the same situation or worst
I need to get back on early bird as I don't find any time at work to study and my mind cannot focus during at night once I got home Anyone with the same situation? Any advice would be highly appreciated!

cheers,
mhonsky

mhonsky

Slowly going back with L2 topics on Vol I, feeling more comfortable on the second round.. Also, manage to perform labbing as early as 02:30AM from weekdays. Today, I'm done with ether-channeling and working on 802.1q tunneling right now.

Happy weekend!

mhonsky

I ended up reading DocCD before doing VOL I topics this past couple of weeks which makes me slow,but I find it very effective.

mhonsky

I'm still here... added 4hrs of quality study time..

mhonsky

Solidifying my core knowledge at the moment.. Tried some VOL III WB, seems to be easy but kick my butt on redistribution portion! Need to practice more redistribution..