The Journey Resumes

carterw65

Only 2 hours of lab time yesterday. I was smoked and struggling a bit with IP Routing so I stopped and started watching the ATC vids.

Part of the problems I was having was old WB1 configs. I reloaded everything with the most current configs, but still had a break end to end. After looking again, I had an interface shutdown that should not have been. A simple mistake, but I was so tired it through me for a loop.

Read about 30 mins too. Not a bad day, but I wish it could have been more productive.

carterw65

Wasn't feeling well yesterday and still not today. Must have ate something bad. Didn't do any labbing, but read for half an hour and watched several ATC VODs. Hopefully I will get some labbing in today.

carterw65

The two 2811s will be reshipped today. Can't wait for them to get here. The post office confessed they messed up and refunded the guys money. The way over charged him and blamed him for not knowing rules that didn't exist on package size. The package never left the post office he mailed it at and they returned it to him saying he should have known the package size was too big.

Mrock has inspired me. I really need to get this done within the next 9 months. Major life changes after than and I need this certification.

carterw65

Spent a lot of time on the 2811 to get it in shape for the rack. Finally got an acceptable IOS loaded on it. I am waiting on the other 2 2811s to arrive. I have their flash cards loaded with an IOS and ram waiting on their arrival. The hardest part should be mounting them in the rack, being they will replace the 3640s that are on the bottom.

It is a bit nerve racking fiddling with the equipment rather than actually labbing. I feel like I really didn't accomplish anything. I did learn my new (to me) router pretty well though. I guess that counts for something.

I guess I will read the rest of the evening and hit the labbing again tomorrow.

bonne nuit!

carterw65

Just finished Routing TCP/IP Vol I! Yea! On to Vol II now.

carterw65

Read about 2.5 hours yesterday and fiddled with the 2811 to get it ready. It's good to be done with Vol I of Routing TCP/IP and starting on Vol II.

I figured out a schedule. If I can stick to it, I should have around a 1000 hrs by the lab day with almost 500 hours of reading. Hope that will do it.

Did any of you count the bootcamp lab hours in your figure?

carterw65

Hit a limitation on my 3460s tonight. Trying to configure IP SLA won't work on the IOS I have and the router won't take a 124.24T. So, I will be pulling one of the 3640s out tomorrow and installing the 2811 I have.

The other 2 2811s are on their way. Can't wait for them to get here.

carterw65

OK, did about an hour reading yesterday and 3 hours of labbing. I am going to pull one of the 3640s out and put the 2811 in as soon as I am don typing this.

I am struggling a little bit with WB1 wording of tasks. It will say something like: Create a static route to Router 1 loopback interface. So I take that literally and issue the command:

ip route 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.255 S0/0.

But when I go to the answer key, the answer is:

ip route 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0 S0/0 or the IP addy of the distant end serial.

I am wondering if the real lab is as vague - don't answer that!

It has been pretty fun so far though. I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.

carterw65

Policy Based Routing is killin' me! I always hated access-lists! LOL So, many buzzers and bells you can configure. Gotta figure this out for sure.

carterw65

OK, put away 4 lab hours yesterday, some ATC VODs and about an hour of reading. Most of my experience has been in switched networks that I inherited along with some basic routing and ASA/Pix firewalls mixed in there.

I wish I had learned policy routing better in my CCNP studies; it would have saved me a bunch of headaches in some of the messed up networks I have managed.

Almost through the IP Routing section in WB1. This particular section slowed me down a bit. I am really trying to understand what is going on and why rather than just blow through it trying to memorize commands. I am trying to us the Doc CD for all my answers, but sometimes I can't find what I am looking for. Debug commands really weren't part of my tool kit in the past, though they needed to be. I am beginning to really like them. All in all, this will be an enjoyable, and lucrative journey.

Just curious, is any one reading this thread?

carterw65

I guess not.

carterw65

Well I was hoping to get through Rip yesterday, but it didn't happen, almost though. Spent 7 hours labbing and was using the Doc CD extensively through that. I am more rusty than I thought I was.

After hour 7 I decided it was time to watch some more ATC vids and try to figure out what I am doing. Got stuck on 4.10 in WB1. I feel I really need to understand what is happening rather than just blow through an exercise.

Taking a break today and will hit it again tomorrow.

Mrock4

Just a random interesting tidbit that I missed on my written studies with PBR..

set interface f0/0 f0/1

Will allow you to first send traffic out f0/0, and if it's down, f0/1. I'm not sure if I was the only one who missed that when studying, but it's good to know.

Keep up the good work!

carterw65

Mrock4 wrote: »

Just a random interesting tidbit that I missed on my written studies with PBR..

set interface f0/0 f0/1

Will allow you to first send traffic out f0/0, and if it's down, f0/1. I'm not sure if I was the only one who missed that when studying, but it's good to know.

Keep up the good work!

Yup, missed that one....Thanks! That could be useful.

and36y

Yes, in same sort of boat, lab booked for feb, as always life's been getting in the way,
Andy

carterw65

As I getting deeper into the studies, I have started doubting if I will be ready by April. Some of this is hard to wrap my head around and always has been. Access-lists are one of them. They are simple enough, but I sometimes think that on it should be inbound, but instead it should be out bound and vice versa. Never did get that straight.

Nevertheless, I finished Rip last night and started in on EIGRP. I will have to redo the tasks I did though. I didn't get the output I should have and couldn't figure out why. I was terribly tired though, so that may have something to do with it.

Put in a good 3 hours of labbing, about 1.5 hours of ready and watched a few ATC vids too. Not too bad, but I was left scratching my head on some things. I researched prefix-lists and couldn't find a whole lot on them. I am getting it though little by little.

I think this is the hard phase, learning the technologies, once that happens things should go a little better. I just need to "hunker down" and "get 'er done."

I think the other 2 2811s will be here this week. I sure hope so. I have a buyer for my 3640s already.

Well, back to studying!

carterw65

Well into Eigrp now. Not getting quite so hung up as I did on Rip. Some of the stuff is starting to sink in I think. Only got about 2 hours of lab time yesterday, but quite a bit of ATC vids. I read various bits of documentation yesterday vice reading in the book. I'll count that as about half an hour of reading.

Back into it today. I hope to get more lab time than yesterday, at least 3 hours. We shall see. I think I got my employer to pay for the hotel/transportation to the boot camp in January. That is a big plus. Now I don't have to worry about finding inexpensive lodging in London. London is quite pricey. The pound is much stronger than the dollar for sure.

EdTheLad

I think the big thing to know on Eigrp is that the FD of a prefix is not tied to the FD of the successor.
The FD of the prefix is originally assigned the value of the FD of the successor, but if lets say the FD of the successor increases, while
still abiding by the feasible condition and still being the successor, both can have different values or if a previous FS has now a better cost than the old successor, the old FS becomes the successor but the FD of the prefix is not changed.Only when no FS exists a recomputation is required, which will cause a change in the FD of the prefix.

But maybe you knew that already ...

carterw65

Thanks Ed. Yes, I knew most of that, but you made it a little clearer though. I appreciate that.

Yay! The other 2 2811s have arrived and I am configuring them now for the rack. Shouldn't be too tough, I already had everything ready for their arrival.

carterw65

Well drat! Forgot about one lousy cable. Need a Smart Serial to Smart Serial for the 2811s. I am using Wic-2Ts instead of Wic-1Ts for the R4 to R5 linK.

Ebay is my friend.

Other than that, every is up and running smooth. I am really liking the lab now!

carterw65

Just watched some ATC vids yesterday and installed the new routers. Didn't get any reading done, the day didn't turn out as expected. Accomplished nothing I planned to at work either. Today is a new day!

carterw65

Just thought I would sing the praises of the Digi CM 32 once more. That combined with Super PuTTy is awesome. The combination is too easy to use. I especially love the feature on SP where you can send a command to all the devices at the same time. This is very useful when you are trying to set the time and all devices simultaneously or enable a routing protocol with the same network statements etc...

carterw65

Well got stuck at 4.8 in WB1 - EIGRP Summarization. Scratching my head trying to figure out the actual requirement. Watched several ATC vids, but only did 1.5 hours of actual labbing. Hoping to get more labbing in today.

Got a Wic-1T on loan from work until my cable arrives so the lab is up and running with the new routers. The 2811s make the 2600s look like a VW bug compared to a Formula 1.

carterw65

Well, put in about 1.5 hours yesterday on the lab and watched more ATCs. What reading I have done is to search the Doc CD or books for an answer.

Today I spent about 3-4 hours watching ATCs and about 5 hours of labbing. Now I am gonna read for the rest of the evening.

Got through EIGRP so I am into OSPF now. Strange things going on too. I put a configuration on a device and verify. Later on, while on a different task I am not getting the output I need. Come to find out the config I did earlier has vanished. This has happened 3 times to me on real equipment. Maybe I need to wr mem more frequently.

carterw65

Thinking of using Freemind. Thoughts?

carterw65

Trying to put in the hours, but haven't been able. My home router went down yesterday, so I had to work on that. Then company showed up and I ended up getting no lab time last night. I only was able to lab about 15 minutes before work.

Here is hoping today is a better labbing day!

carterw65

So, did about 2.5 hours yesterday. Got a littile stumped so I looked at the ATC vids again. Hitting already today. Gotta get some digits! I have about 3 hours already today. I hope to add another 2 at least before I call it quits. Maybe I will be out of OSPF and into BGP today. We shall see.

carterw65

4.5 hours of labing yesterday. Finished up OSPF. Instead of going right into BGP I decided to read a bit and watch some ATC. Trying to study as much as I can at work too. I can't lab while I am there, but I can go through some online tutorials and other things. I haven't been keeping track of all that stuff, really just actual book reading and labbing time. I read about half an hour on BGP then turned to the vids.

carterw65

I have a question. How close to the bootcamp should I have my lab exam? I will go to the bootcamp January 13-24 and my lab is scheduled March 18th. That is just shy of 2 months. I wonder if I should give myself a little more space there.

reaper81

Sounds about right to me. You want to go to the bootcamp when you are pretty far in your studies. During the bootcamp you might find some weaknesses so you want some time to get rid of those before the lab.