An Expected Journey (to CCNP)

Hey, guys! I joined a little less than a year ago and I've faded in and out, activity-wise. Really active for the first couple months until I got my CCNA and then slowly faded away, coming back once a month or two to browse. However, now that I'm interning in Managed Services at this ISP and wanting to get my CCNP(since I have a reason to), I want to become more active in the community. Most of you guys are awesome to interact with and I also really need motivation for CCNP studying. I'm labbing while reading the OCG now and I need to keep that up!

This is where this thread comes in. I want to track my progress and make sure it's actually happening. I was making posts in a personal blog to keep track, but it's a lot easier when receiving feedback and through a message board. I'm not sure sure exactly what kinds of things to post or what standard procedure is, but I'll start by posting what I'm studying and any questions and concerns I have/had while reading, and posting the answer if I found out. Feel free to encourage me on this journey. ^.^

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Comments

elderkai

This week I've only studied two days, which are the days I've been at work. During these days, I've been labbing EIGRP route filtering with ACLs, IP Prefixes, and route-maps. I've gotten a lot more comfortable with ip prefixes via route-maps. I was having trouble getting a range of networks to work with one statement; turns out I just had the wrong pref-length. >.<

Almost done with EIGRP. I skipped one section because I went over so much of it previously because not only did I read a lot of the FLG EIGRP content, but last summer I started my CCNP studies with INE videos and went through so much EIGRP but stopped near the end. So, I'm pretty much just trying to get pass EIGRP and to something new.

Also, I took a look at the TSHOOT topology and that kind of motivated me. When I finish my ROUTE and start on the SWITCH, I'm going to replicate the topology and make sure I get really comfortable with it.

Prog Snob

That's exactly what I did while studying for CCNP ROUTE. I am just finishing up my EIGRP lab. I basically included every topic I read about including prefix lists, access lists, variance, summary routes, etc.

vinbuck

Look forward to following your progress. The CCNP is won in the lab. The more you lab, the better you will get with the technologies.

elderkai

The only problem I have with labbing is knowing exactly how to set up the lab. I'm getting a little better, though.

Master Of Puppets

Preparing for ROUTE as well.This should be fun

elderkai

Got some more time to read yesterday. It's good to know that if a router recieves the same summarized route, it picks the one with the best metric to place in the table.

Monkerz

Building and ripping down my lab multiple times helped me a lot. Also, flying through the setup process by just throwing commands into the hardware without verifying anything, then saving all configs powering all gear down and coming back the next day to troubleshoot the typos and mis-configurations without the use of 'show run' really helped too.

elderkai

Oh, man. That sounds like the way to go!

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to study a whole lot this last week. I've been really sick. Lot's of vomiting.

However, at work I got to go into an unknown, big college campus network that didn't have any documentation and then document it with a diagram. That's been pretty cool.

elderkai

Haven't been able to study or go to my internship all week because I've been horribly sick. It feels terrible, but I really needed(and still need) to recover.

elderkai

Man, I'm really slacking on my Cisco studies but I've just felt like doing Linux lately and I always feel it's good to study what you're in the mood for while you are in the mood for.

Lots of stuff have been happening, though. I graduate in three weeks and the ISP where I'm interning is in the process of hiring me and making me an offer in the upcoming week or two! Perfect timing.

So that's really exciting. I'll be working in Managed Services, but will have the opportunity to do physical installs/circuit work should I want to. Very cool stuff going on.

RouteMyPacket

elderkai wrote: »

The only problem I have with labbing is knowing exactly how to set up the lab. I'm getting a little better, though.

Plan your lab out on paper as that is how you will design networks in the real world (white board). It will take you 3 minutes to come up with your entire lab design. Then you go and configure it up

elderkai

Oh, that is a good idea. I'm going to have to put that into use.

elderkai

I've been having downtime at work and studying a little, but I haven't made very much progress. It's because of my awful study habbits! So I've revamped how I read and study.

I've always been stressed on getting the right information, so I'd tyr to use Chris Bryant's AND INE's video material along with the book. For me, that's too much. So to simplify my studying and to help me actually do it, I've stopped using those for now and am now using Jeremy Ciora's material. It's lighthearted and works for when I'm tired coming into work, but want to start studying.

I've also started actively reading. Making up questions for the material in the reading and put it on flashcards. Helps a lot!

My work also wants to send me to a security bootcamp and have me go that direction. I'll get a raise for passing the CCNP, too.