Double Down - CCIE SP or bust!

With the R&S track recently behind me, I've decided to start working towards the Service Provider track as well. I work with a handful of service Providers in the South East and this can help me with some of the ASR and CSR technologies I work on from time to time.

I will be reviewing the following books towards my studies (will add more as needed):

BGP Design and Implementation (Bartell, Zhang, ISBN# 1587051095)
Cisco IOS XR Fundamentals (ISBN #1587052717)
End-to-End Qos Network Design: Quality of Service in LANs, WANs, and VPNs (Hattingh, Szigeti, ISBN# 1587051761)
IP Quality of Service (Vegesna, ISBN# 1578701163)
Internet Routing Architectures (Halabi)
IS-IS Network Design Solutions (Martey, ISBN# 157870220

MPLS Fundamentals (De Ghein, ISBN# 1587051974)
MPLS and VPN Architectures (Pepelnjak, Guichard, ISBN# 1587050021)
MPLS and VPN Architectures, Volume II (Pepelnjak, Guichard, Apcar, ISBN# 1587051125)
Traffic Engineering with MPLS (Osborne, Simha, ISBN# 1587050315)

I will also be reviewing the INE CCIE Service Provider ATC videos and taking notes in Evernote as I did last time.

Workbook will be the INE CCIE SP Vol I and 90% of the studies will be done in GNS, though I plan to spend around 100hrs of lab time using the INE Racks so that I have more than sufficient IOS XR and ME experience for when its lab time!

I plan to start studying in mid April and will take the Lab when I feel I confident with the technologies. I'm guessing either a late 2013 or early 2014 attempt!

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NetworkVeteran

Good luck! I suppose you already know what you're in for.

down77 wrote: »

I plan to spend around 100hrs of lab time using the INE Racks so that I have more than sufficient IOS XR and ME experience for when its lab time!

At 30 tokens per 2.5 hours, that's approximately 1200 tokens. At $.80/token that's about $1,000 for the lab time, $1800 for the exams, and few hundred for the vidoes/workbooks. Is your workplace going to cover much of this?

down77

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

Good luck! I suppose you already know what you're in for.

At 30 tokens per 2.5 hours, that's approximately 1200 tokens. At $.80/token that's about $1,000 for the lab time, $1800 for the exams, and few hundred for the vidoes/workbooks. Is your workplace going to cover much of this?

They will cover the exams/travel. I have close to 2k tokens left right now and hopefully won't need too many more than that! But now you also know why I will be using GNS as much as possible for the workbooks!!!

Unfortunately I know all too well what I am in for... and so does my family. I'm hoping that having the R&S behind me may make this a little better of an experience. I've talked with a few people who have passed the SP lab and they mentioned it was a bit better, not easier, but better than the R&S track!

I'll most likely take the written exam closer to lab time this go around.

jamesp1983

Good luck bro!

lrb

I've gone through most of the CCIE SP workbook in prep for the CCNP SP and I thought a few things were lacking, such as PBB, IPoDWDM, HQF, and some of the layer 2 VPN stuff, but overall thought the rest of the labs were excellent. I'm not sure if you're planning to go through the CCNP SP as well on your journey, but Layer 2 VPN Architectures from Cisco Press has definitely helped me.

Also a lot of the docs on MEF are good resources for specifications on E-Line/E-Tree/E-LAN designs.

Best of luck!

down77

Thanks lrb, that is some great feedback!

I will look into the CCNP:SP studies. I think I am missing two exams since I finished the CCIP a while ago. I may take them around the same time that I do the CCIE SP written. Regardless this could help if I ever plan to go for CCDE.

Just curious, did you read MPLS-Enabled Applications: Emerging Developments and New Technologies (Wiley Series on Communications Networking & Distributed Systems): Ina Minei, Julian Lucek: 9780470665459: Amazon.com: Books as part of your studies?

lrb

Nope - this is one I've had on my safari bookshelf for a while but never got around to reading. I'm pretty sure it was recommended on a few INE videos or blogs too so it must be pretty good. Maybe if I buy the print version like all the rest of my books I might get around to finishing it!

down77

I understand that! Safari is great but I do a lot of reading when flying out to client sites, so physical books are sometimes a necessary evil! I'm grabbing L2 VPN architectures to read like you had mentioned and also BGP Design and Implementation. I was given the MPLS enabled applications book by a friend who had finished his JNCIE-SP.

By the end of this journey I'll need another bookshelf!

down77

So I jumped the gun and started on the Intro and ME3400 videos from INE. Took some quick notes for review (below) and I am now waiting on some of my other books to arrive from Amazon. I'll be doing much the same as last time, studying 8p to midnight or 9p-1a depending on how things go.

1.1 Catalyst ME3400
-Similar to Catalyst IOS Platforms
-UNI/ENI/NNI Port-types
UNI - Downstream towards customer
Typically connected to customer's end hosts
Can only send traffic to NNI ports by default (acts like Isolated port)
No CDP, LLDP, Etherchannel, or STP Support
ENI - Downstream towards customer
Typically connected to customer's routers/switches
Same functionality as UNI but supports:
CDP, LLDP, Etherchannel, and STP. Each must be manually enabled
NNI - Upstream towards Provider
Typically connected to SP router or switch
Found on Uplink ports and No Shutdown by default
Does not filter layer 2 control plane protocol
Supports CDP, LLDP, Etherchannel, STP, etc.
-UNI ports admin down by default
-No Dynamic Port States (static access, trunk, tunnel only)
Only Dot1q encapsulation
No VTP support
Rapid-PVST default
-Vlans are UNI Vlans
Vlans are in 'uni-vlan isolated' by default
UNI/ENI ports in same UNI isolated Vlan can only talk to NNI ports in same Vlan
Can change this behavior by specifying 'uni-vlan community' mode
-UNI Vlans can be converted to Private Vlans
'private-flan <community/isolated/primary>'
-Recommended to hardcode Speed/Duplex to CSR/GSR platforms
-IP routing must be enabled for packets to be received locally from a UNI or NNI port to a SVI

Configuration
Port-type <eni/nni/uni>(interface config)
uni-vlan <community/isolated> (vlan config)
private-vlan <community/isolated/primary>
cdp enable (interface config, requires ENI or NNI)
spanning-tree (interface config, requires ENI or NNI)

Verification
Show port-type
Show vlan

rakem

Good luck!
I'm tossing up between hitting the SP or Datacentre tracks... I'll be following your progress.

Just noticed, our CCIE numbers are quite similar

PCHoldmann

Good luck!

down77

Starting to read BGP Design and Implementation and then re-read MPLS fundamentals. Also ordered a book or two from Amazon that should be here monday!

jamesp1983

down77 wrote: »

Starting to read BGP Design and Implementation and then re-read MPLS fundamentals. Also ordered a book or two from Amazon that should be here monday!

How is BGP Design and Implementation?

mhonsky

Goodluck for the next track! I'm sure you will nail this one too

Zartanasaurus

There was a guy at RTP who had passed SP 57 days previously and was trying to pass the R&S lab that day. Something about beating the record of 60 days between lab passes. He had the INE shirt on. I checked IEOC the other day but I didn't see anything about him passing, so I dunno. You should go for the record.

reaper81

He didn't pass. His name is Ryan Werber, I know him a bit from IRC.

down77

As much as I would love to do the CCIE SP in less than 60 days, my home/work schedules won't allow for it! I'm shooting for a lab attempt either near end of year or early 2014.

down77

jamesp1983 wrote: »

How is BGP Design and Implementation?

About 670 pages. I have a number of trips coming up so I'll have plenty of time to read it!

Zartanasaurus

reaper81 wrote: »

He didn't pass. His name is Ryan Werber, I know him a bit from IRC.

Oh he's the guy who did that Star Wars tracert a few months ago. From sitting in the lobby listening to him talk, he seemed EXACTLY like the type who would do something like that.

reaper81

Yeah, he's a good learner because he's kind of obsessive with stuff

Has his own way of learning.

down77

Grabbed the wrong book before flying out. Looks like I am re-reading MPLS Fundamentals during this trip! I was planning to review this after I was done with BGP Design and Implementation.

down77

So it looks like I'll be doing a little L3VPN design for a Managed Service Provider in Tampa. Talk about great practice!!

Still working my way through MPLS Fundamentals and then I plan to go back over BGP Design and Implementation. I may end up sitting the CCIE SP written exam during Live! since it won't cost me a thing out of pocket. I should have hopefully finished the INE videos and at least 3 of the books by then.

SteveO86

Awesome, so you can count work time as study time.

Around 2 months till Live, you'll knock it bud!

down77

Still working on the SP theory for the written attempt coming up. I did want to post this little bit of good news though, INE dropped the # of tokens required for the SP rack from 30 to 18!

Service Provider CCIE Rack Pricing Change

down77

Working on some of the SP ATC videos tonight and taking notes. Tonight the topic is ISIS!

Mrock4

Keep up the good work man! I've been cursed..I mean, fortunate...to have landed 2x projects in a row where I need to configure/troubleshoot L3VPN. Awesome experience, but I'd really be thankful if I could land something that is on the R&S blueprint! At least you're getting some more hands on with stuff you're going to see on the lab.

down77

Having some motivation issues this week due to travel and illness. Will pick it back up on next week! I'll be spending some time with the family this weekend before heading to Alabama

down77

Taking a short hiatus while we build a new house and relocate to Orlando. Once things settle back down I'll finish the written portion and work towards scheduling the lab! I will at least be reading BGP Design & Implementation and IOS XR Fundamentals over the next few weeks rather than just dropping the studies.

vinbuck

Man I wouldn't sweat it...you'll knock it when the time is right. You've already got the hard part done...the rest is just gravy

srg

I passed the 350-029 written a week ago, looking to book a first lab later this year. Good luck guys

down77

Congrats on passing the written! I'm still going through some of the material albeit a little slower with getting things ready to sell my house and move to a new area.

I'm still planning a SP lab attempt early 2014, followed by the DC track... if the wife doesn't beat me for 5-6yrs of CCIE studies