My CCNP Route thread

emerwin

Thank you much for sharing.
I'm trying to work through OSPF this week, but I keep going blurry-eyed. Doesn't seem to matter if I'm reading from Simplified, FLG, or How To Master CCNP ROUTE - by Rene M....the GNS3 fella.

Iristheangel

IPv6 is where I go blurry eyed. I actually enjoyed OSPF and EIGRP. OSPF is a bit more to remember but once you start labbing, it starts clicking. The one thing about the Simplified book is that they'd explain a concept, show how to use it and then go down each show command and show you how to recognize it. Made OSPF easier to digest in my opinion

it_consultant

At one point I learned all the LSA's for OSPF. Talk about bleary eyed...

phoeneous

Iristheangel wrote: »

there are a large amount of dumpers out there with multiple CCNPs who can't tell their arse from a switchport.

They must be in a blocking state.

Sorry, couldnt resist.

Ismaeljrp

Awesome notes, and thank you for sharing Iris. I'll be taking my own notes when I go through my training, but having yours could really help as well.

Ismaeljrp

Iristheangel wrote: »

The sad part is that even though the CCNP is probably harder and more intense than the CISSP (Opinion), it doesn't get the same amount of prestige or industry recognition from employers as the CISSP. Sigh... I suppose that could be partially due to the fact that there are a large amount of dumpers out there with multiple CCNPs who can't tell their arse from a switchport.

That and maybe because CISSP is like the pinnacle Cert in security, where in networking CCIE grabs the attention even though CCNP is an awesome achievement in itself.

Iristheangel

I used to think the CISSP was a pinnacle cert in security until I studied and passed the exam. Does it mean you're an expert in security or even good at security? Nope. Just means you know enough lot of broad level material to scope 70% on a test that you couldn't ****. With Cisco exams, you have to score a high "percentage" to pass and they're more technical in nature and harder, but are easily dumped which bring down the value of it since there are so many imbeciles running around with a CCNA/CCNP/etc who don't even know what a MAC address is.

fredrikjj

Iristheangel wrote: »

, I'll have read a total of about 3,000 pages over the last 6 months for the CCNP Route exam (OCG, FLG, Route Simplified, and some guide notes I bought). Probably the most I've read in prep for studying for any exam.

Thoughts on reading lots of books vs. reading the same book over and over? I'm reading the FLG (gotten to BGP) and I feel like it does a good job of explaining things, and presumably, it has everything you need to know to pass the exam. Do you think it's worth it to get other books as well if you like the FLG?

Cat5

Iristheangel wrote: »

I used to think the CISSP was a pinnacle cert in security until I studied and passed the exam. Does it mean you're an expert in security or even good at security? Nope. Just means you know enough lot of broad level material to scope 70% on a test that you couldn't ****. With Cisco exams, you have to score a high "percentage" to pass and they're more technical in nature and harder, but are easily dumped which bring down the value of it since there are so many imbeciles running around with a CCNA/CCNP/etc who don't even know what a MAC address is.

Speaking of supposedly knowing something when you don't really know anything, this post tops them. The guy's looking to get a CCIE quick.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccie/21195-ccie-30-days.html

Iristheangel

@Cat5 - Jesus almighty. Talk about not knowing WTF is involved in a certification. Now I'm made some ambitious goals in my life and often didn't live up to them but that's just CRAZY.

@Fred - If it works for you, do it. For me, I was hoping the OCG would be enough but it was SEVERELY lacking. The FLG book is an excellent resource and definitely will get you through the exam but the Simplified book will get you a step above that. It feels like it's a CCIE prep and it's nice to have to complex concepts explained in a different manner. Sometimes one author is better than another on explaining different things but overall, the FLG will get you through the CCNP Route without issue. You could always google stuff you need more detail on. I just took the REALLY long route (no pun intended) to get through this exam.

Cat5

Iristheangel wrote: »

For me, I was hoping the OCG would be enough but it was SEVERELY lacking. The FLG book is an excellent resource and definitely will get you through the exam but the Simplified book will get you a step above that. It feels like it's a CCIE prep and it's nice to have to complex concepts explained in a different manner. Sometimes one author is better than another on explaining different things but overall, the FLG will get you through the CCNP Route without issue. You could always google stuff you need more detail on. I just took the REALLY long route (no pun intended) to get through this exam.

I started on the OCG book right when it came out three years ago, read about 3/4 of it then got sidetracked. I was going to go back through it again now that my CCNA is renewed, but after hearing that it's such a rotten book, maybe I should just start with the FLG one instead? I certainly want to avoid a "long route" like you took if I can avoid unnecessary time and money wasted.

Btw, what's the difference between the two? If they're both on SWITCH, it sounds like Cisco Press is just wanting to make double the money.

Iristheangel

OCG is usually the "official Cisco certification guide" for self-study. With the FLG, it's supposed to tie-in with their Network Academy classes but the reality is that the book has much more content than the classes and you can definitely self-study. Since there are a variety of authors, you'll get a variety of feedback on the OCG vs FLG depending on the test. I usually like to check out Amazon and check the book reviews before purchasing a book. You usually get a good idea of whether that book will work or not. I thought Wendell Odom was excellent in his OCG books for the CCENT and CCNA but he was absolutely horrible in the CCNP Route OCG.


If you're looking into the Switch exam, the FLG and OCG were both excellent. You could pass the test with either one but I felt the OCG was a bit stronger for that exam. It was divided into smaller and easier-to-digest chapters and I was able to get through it one chapter a day.

Iristheangel

FINALLY done with Route Simplified. I ended up taking 150 pages of notes for the whole book. Wow. That was a crazy detailed book but it was great.

Here is the link to my notes: https://app.box.com/s/udb4x5p8lduerpuj5a3r

Studies have been awesome. Now onto the hardcore labbing section of my studies. I am scheduling my test for 10/30/13. That should give me a comfortable 8 weeks to complete TSHOOT after

Fun bonus stuff at work: Had to install a new internet circuit into a branch router yesterday as part of a new Public WiFi project I'm leading for 21 sites across the US. Set up BGP between the public internet and MPLS cloud on a dual-homed device, filtered the MPLS routes from going out to the eBGP ISP neighbor, changed local-preference for the MPLS routes so that MPLS was preferred for all traffic, and since I needed to have JUST our WiFi go out the ISP circuit, I used PBR to take all the source traffic from that WiFi VLAN and set the next-hop over to the ISP and of course used PAT. Not overly complex but if I wasn't studying It would have taken me awhile and a whole lot of Googling to figure out a way to implement it. Now to rinse and repeat for about 20 more sites... Fun fun!

Ismaeljrp

So cool, have fun indeed!

krjay

You've already finished SWITCH haven't you? Are there a lot of concepts in the ROUTE material that would be beneficial to know studying for switch? I'm working on ITIL foundation right now but will be starting CCNP after that, can't decide which exam to start with.

Jackace

krjay wrote: »

You've already finished SWITCH haven't you? Are there a lot of concepts in the ROUTE material that would be beneficial to know studying for switch? I'm working on ITIL foundation right now but will be starting CCNP after that, can't decide which exam to start with.

Route has a lot of information in it and touches on a lot of topics. Switch is more focused. Both exams are pretty tough but in different ways. Route has more overall information, but switch seems to have a lot more trivia type information you just have to memorize. I probably spent 200 hours labbing stuff up for the Route exam to see how it worked and make sure I knew exactly what was happening and why. I probably only spent about 50 hours labbing stuff for the Switch exam. I spent a lot more time with Flash cards and reading books for Switch then I did for Route.

krjay

That's an interesting analysis of the two exams. I haven't seen it described like that in the countless 'switch or route first' threads I've read through. I was originally leaning towards switch first but I may go with route now. This probably has a lot to do with the fact I'm reading an ITIL book right now and it's boring me to death, I just want to play with some hardware . Anyway sorry for the hijack Iris. You seem to be chugging along with route pretty nicely, keep at it.

TBickle

Iris, it seems like you really put a lot of time into these tests. What would you suggest is the best way to study? Read, videos or lab? Which of the three do you spend most time doing?

I passed switch a few months back, but route, in my opinion, has much more depth to it. I'm finding it difficult to really hammer in all the concepts for Route, and was curious to know if i switched over to labbing might help.

Your suggestions?

Iristheangel

I have put a lot of time into Route and my way of dealing with this test actually has been pretty poor. I read halfway through the OCG and got distracted with life for a couple month so when I finally came back to studying, I had to reread the OCG. It ended up being a really bad book so I picked up the FLG (which was great) and the Simplified series. A lot of people like to lab while they're reading and that's a great method but I do things a little differently. I like to take indepth notes and just get through the book then go back and use my notes to lab. It works for me but different strokes for different folks...

What book are you using, TBickle?

TBickle

Thanks for the tips. I saw you posted your notes earlier, so I definitely plan on grabbing those. Your notes for Switch were a great resource for my week-of the test review.

For Route, I'm using the FLG book. It's well written and in-depth, but it can be a bit overwhelming at times. I guess i just need to try your approach and take detailed notes as I read through it. I'm looking at buying some routers as well. I used physical equipment for Switch, but thought I might save some money this time around and try out the Cisco Simulator. It's not that great.

Iristheangel

A lot of people like GNS3 and it's great for the Route exam. I like physical equipment but that's more of because I got a bit of it for free and I plan on expanding it to a CCIE lab eventually. For Route, you could easily get by with 4x 2801s (about $100 each). Heck, you could probably get by most concepts using 4x 2651XMs. You'll be a bit behind on the IOS version so some slight syntax changes but it'll work for the major concepts.

sadfjlfdo24

Iristheangel wrote: »

A lot of people like GNS3 and it's great for the Route exam.

I saw a YT video of a guy who runs GNS3 on one NIC and connects his PC out as a trunk. You can have multiple topologies, routers/switches in GNS3 and combine them with your existing hardware.

fredrikjj

I checked out your notes and wow, I can see why you do well. My conscientiousness detector overloaded

Iristheangel

@Sad - I know I could do that. It's a combination of laziness and that I just like playing with physical topologies as well. I guess it's a preference for me. I've played with GNS3 and sometimes things get a little wacky or some commands just don't work how I want them to work but it'll work in a physical topology. I'm sure there are workarounds and things I can do but it's just easier for me to physically lab and break things up and down on there.

@fred - Yeah, I'm OCD about notes. When I was first starting out, I would keep my notes in a notebook but it soon became unmanageable to reference back to. These days I keep all my notes on Google Drive so I can access them from the cloud and use Ctrl-F to find certain parts of my notes. I usually disregard the books when I lab and just try to reference my notes if I can.

Weekly update for this thread: Spent a good part of the weekend doing EIGRP labs from the 101 CCNP Lab book. So far I'm pretty impressed with the book. I did a total of probably 7 labs and I only needed to reference my notes once (forgot about offset lists). There is a total of about 80 CCNP Route labs in the book it seems so I'm going to go through them all before taking the test. I'm going to shoot for 3 labs a night and 5 per weekend day. That probably will put me closer to taking the test at the end of the month at the latest but hopefully I can get through the labs quicker than how I was doing it this weekend.

aaron0011

These notes are awesome, thank you.

I paused on ROUTE and started CCDA studies. A lot of it is stuff I already know so I'm reading the OCG and headed for the exam in 3-4 weeks. I want to get it out of the way now rather than have to do it post CCNP.

CCNA_Ric

Would just like to give a a quick thank you to you for the notes I found in this post. Haven't had a chance to look at them yet, but I am very meticulous about keeping notes as I go through material, so looking at someone else's notes will be quite nice. Thank you very much!

Iristheangel

This week was sort of a bust. My boss has been flying me all around California to set up new dual-homed routers, performing network refreshes, bringing up new WiFi at sites and troubleshooting CCTV which has kept me at work until midnight to 2AM every day so labbing didn't exactly happen this week.

Next week I'm being sent up to Northern California to bring four sites up there so I won't be able to lab as much. My entire next month looks slammed until at least November 7th.

Sigh... looking like I'll have to put off the test for a little bit longer since I don't feel comfortable taking it without some more lab time.

Dieg0M

Hello Iris,
I would like to say that I've been following your progress for a while and find your dedication in your studies admirable. I understand how hard it must be for you to be working long hours at work and studying at the same time. Also, it must be very frustrating to be held back in your studies because of work. I'd like to wish you good luck in your exams and hope to see you go for a CCIE soon afterwards.
Diego

Iristheangel

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, it's definitely frustrating but it is what it is. I'm hoping I still get my CCNP by the end of the year but if it takes longer, I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

Iristheangel

Here's my weekly update: I'm in Northern California for work all this week until Saturday. Since I'm away from my lab, I'm utilizing GNS3 pretty heavily. The 101 CCNP labs book is a pretty decent lab prep for the test and I'm slowly but surely getting through the labs in there. I feel like a lot of the labs in this book are CCIE prep though so I'll definitely skip some labs and come back to it after the Route test. Some of the labs are pretty comprehensive and include the following: FHRP & EOT, PBR & SLA & EOT, EEM, Netflow & SNMP traps, NBAR, Cisco Configuration Archive & KRON, RITE & RSPAN, Multicast, etc. Lots of stuff above and beyond the CCNP but definitely within the realm of CCIE...

I have no idea when I'll take the test or even have time to take the test at this point. It might be delayed until the middle of November. My work schedule has pretty much become stacked from now until November 7th and every time I think I have a weekend off, I find myself dealing with installations during a weekend. It's the end of the year where I'm wrapping up two major projects that I'm leading so study/practice time is limited.