Started studying for CCNP SPEDGE

filkenjitsu

More CBT Nuggets videos completed today! I really enjoyed these videos and the "Transport Address" video helped clear up some confusion I had about LDP Transport Addresses from reading the MPLS Fundamentals book:

My book reading is not progressing as fast as I want it to as I only get through 3 or 4 pages per night before bed as I really sit and think through the content.

filkenjitsu

Ok, more CBT Nuggets videos this morning. I wake up at 4am every day and do not have to be at work until 9am, so I get a lot of time to study daily and get in a good chunk of time doing a Bible study and prayer time. I love my mornings!

Alright, I am watching the following today: VRFs, CE to PE Routing, Redistribution:

filkenjitsu

filkenjitsu

Finally finished MPLS Fundamentals Chapter 4. My reading has not progressed as fast as I want it to, but I have been making good progress through the videos. Even though the book is called MPLS fundamentals, it really covers what seem to be every option available with the protocols. The amount of info covered for the LDP protocol and detail was much greater than the explanations I got about LDP from CBT Nuggets and INE CCIE SP AT series.

This is a good thing though as the network I work with uses LDP and it helps me understand the configs we have and wants me to look into why we do not have some features that seem good enabled. It will be interesting to ask the Sr. Engineers their opinions on these features as well as examine the low level / high level design.

I am now reading the MPLS Fundamentals Chapter 4 Supplement: LDP Graceful Restart. Almost done with this chapter and will move onto Chapter 5, MPLS and ATM Architecture.

Chapter 5 does not have a lot of bearing on my current job nor the SPEDGE test itself. There are good tid-bits scattered throughout that I will read as I skim through it quickly. I plan to not waste too many brain cycles on the chapter though as what if covers will just be forgotten as it will not be used / thought about.



Here are the supplemental chapters, I will be reading all that apply to my studies for SPEDGE. I will be coming back to this book for SPCORE where applicable as well:

neonman

filkenjitsu wrote: »

Ok, more CBT Nuggets videos this morning. I wake up at 4am every day and do not have to be at work until 9am, so I get a lot of time to study daily and get in a good chunk of time doing a Bible study and prayer time. I love my mornings!

Alright, I am watching the following today: VRFs, CE to PE Routing, Redistribution:

You get up at 4am!! And still make it through a full work day....wow what are you talking

filkenjitsu

My wife gets up around 4am for her long commute through Chicago traffic. For us to have a unified bed time at night (when I am not on 24/7 on call) I wake up at 4am. It is a fantastic time to study! I try to be asleep around 8:30pm.

filkenjitsu

Skipped chapter 5 in MPLS Fundamentals after skimming through it. Frame mode MPLS is used in IP networks and that chapter was all about what to use instead of frame mode. Not necessary for the SPEDGE test.

Chapter 6 is Cisco Express Forwarding which is required by MPLS but not part of the core knowledge of the MPLS protocols. I am excited to read this chapter though as you have to know CEF well to be a good routing and switching engineer.

Not much studying this morning, I stayed up late working on some work I wanted to complete. I am in and LTE and LTE-Advanced class today as well as yesterday, so I had to be out of the house earlier than usual and I did not get to bed until almost 11:30 last night.

fredrikjj

So have you set up an XRv environment yet, or do you plan to?

filkenjitsu

We have a lab at work with a mix of XR and IMS devices that some other engineers setup for CCIE SP lab preparation.

I also work with Cisco ASR 9010s daily at work.

filkenjitsu

Alright, I am almost done with the Cisco Express forwarding chapter 6 in MPLS Fundamentals, only a couple pages left. I am excited to start Chapter 7 as well as it moves into the second part of the book: Advanced MPLS Topics.





From here, I will pick and choose the chapters I will read in the book as some of this stuff is for SPCORE and I want to stay on topic as I have A LOT to study when it comes to ATOM and VPLS concepts and configuration, VPN technologies (L2TPv3, GRE, IPsec, SSLVPN, GETVPN), various methods used to deploy IPv6 over MPLS, and lots of time on the command line!

filkenjitsu

Watching CBT Nuggets:



then I will be done with the series and return back to deep waters with INE CCIE SP....

filkenjitsu

Still working on these last three CBT nuggets videos. I have been going slowly through them, practicing the commands on some IOS XE and IOS XR routers through my work laptop.

Started reading Chapter 7 in MPLS Fundamentals!

filkenjitsu

filkenjitsu

Alright, finished up all the CBT Nugget MPLS Fundamentals videos this morning. I have also been reading through Chapter 7 of the Cisco Book, MPLS Fundamentals.

I am now getting back to the INE videos which had a lot more detail as they are advanced MPLS studies at a CCIE level. I wanted to make sure my foundation was strong! The book MPLS Fundamentals though, as the Amazon reviews say, is not fundamental as it has details that even are not covered in the INE CCIE SP videos I have seen so far.

I am enjoying reading and watching the videos in conjunction though as they help explain each other well.

VRF Enabled Utilities - Using everyday tools like Ping and Traceroute can be a bit challenging with VRFs on a PE unless we know the correct syntax to use. In this video Keith explains and demonstrates how to add VRF specifics to those commands for success at the CLI. Supporting files, including the full final configs of all 9 routers used in this course, are included in the NuggetLab files.

filkenjitsu

INE Time!

filkenjitsu

Quick update:

Over the weekend/week I re-watched INE videos 8-13 while driving around in my car through my magnetic dash mount for my Note 3 and the audio running through my speakers.

I have also been reading through Chapter 7 every night before I go to bed. No early morning studying as I have not been able to fall asleep early due to Grad school work.

Work has been good this week though, very productive. Spent all day scripting in Cisco Prime today... My eyes hurt.

filkenjitsu

Rough week of 24/7 on call, could not get up early any day and get my videos in. I have continued through Chapter 7 of MPLS Fundamentals, but just a a couple pages per day before going to sleep. I usually meditate on the concepts I read on those couple pages as I lay in bed falling asleep. I tie them back to the section I read the night before and overall concepts in my head.

filkenjitsu

Watching the following INE videos this morning:



13
Basic MPLS L3VPN Configuration


14
MPLS L3VPN Verification & Troubleshooting


15
VPNv4 Route Reflectors

filkenjitsu

I have been spending a lot of time recently on Route Reflectors and CE to PE routing, and I realized in the middle of my studies this morning that I would like to take a break and do some reading of another topic. I don't want to get caught up in monotony.

I have decided to spend some time reading today. I logged into my trusty Safari Books online account through my local library to focus a bit on VPN technologies as I am weak in that area.





The books I found where I would like to read on these topics include the following. I am going to cherry pick the chapters or sections of chapters I want to focus on to meet the exam requirements. I have such a thirst for this knowledge that I do not want to get side tracked by mistake and start getting too deep on some of these topics. That would not be a bad thing if I was just trying to learn and be a better engineer.... which of course I am, but I have deliverables to meet. Passing these exams before the spring of 2015 is important because after that point I cannot use my ROUTE test with the CCNP SP to replace the SPROUTE exam. At that point I would need to take another test.

To put this all in perspective, I have to take SPADVROUTE, SPEDGE, and SPCORE by the spring of 2015. A year should be fine, but you never know! SPADVROUTE covers many topics already covered on the ROUTE test such as confederations and Route Reflectors, but from an IOS XR angle. SPCORE is QoS and Traffic Engineering which I know will take a chunk of time to master!! Luckily, the service provider I work for has these technologies in place and it comes up where we have to troubleshoot them as a team. Being able to see all of these configurations working and in place directly relating to the network I work with day to day will really help me learn them much faster.

My conundrum though is do I just seek a fullness of knowledge or do I seek the knowledge necessary to pass these tests and grow in that knowledge through work experience and leisure reading after already passing the exams? If the exam only covers 15% of VPN technology outside the scope of MPLS/VPLS, do I need to read two whole books to have a massive knowledge on these topics, even though that would be great knowledge to have?

With that said, I need to pass these tests as tangibly shows that I am gaining knowledge to my employer while working very hard in my own free time to grow as an engineer which makes me a valuable employee.

These are the books I am cherry picking my knowledge from:

SecurityThroughObscurity

Do you even lab?

filkenjitsu

I work daily with with these technologies at a tier 4 level, I feel truly blessed. My team supports a network of IOS, IOS XR, and IOS XR devices across 26 States (around 5000 devices).

We have a CCIE Service Provider lab at my work that I have access to as well. I am really focusing on the technologies and concepts right now to learn all the nitty gritty about the configurations and the details of the protocols.

Lobbing will be coming a little bit later, that is why I am taking notes and copying all configs along the way.

filkenjitsu

Spelling:

IOS XE, labbing,

shednik

In for updates, I finally finished my CCNP and am looking at the CCNP SP as something to work on next. I also work in a SP environment and really need to focus on MPLS and such.

filkenjitsu

Shednik,

I am really enjoying the book MPLS fundamentals. I think it is a great place to start. It goes deep into the subject as it covers some material in more detail than I have even seen in the INE CCIE video series. When it comes to configurations though, the INE series really walks you through the configurations multiple times in different videos. The INE videos are great for show commands as they do so many show commands and verification commands along the way as he is labbing.

What type of service provider and what technologies do you focus on the most? I am with a cellular wireless carrier working with LDP, RSVP, MP-BGP, OSPF, VPLS, and traffic engineering amongst other topics (carrier ethernet - QinQ, HSRP, VRRP, Metro Ethernet Standards).

filkenjitsu

Got some good reading in last night in MPLS Fundamentals on CE to PE routing. This morning I am watching INE videos, video 14 - Route Reflectors. This video basically has him configuring a network with four PE routers, numerous core routers, and 8 host routers. The videos are great because along with looking at a topic, he is also fully configuring all of the routers listed above from scratch.

It is a great way to get some pseudo-labbing done as I get to see him configure MPLS networks over and over and over again between the videos.

filkenjitsu

Sorry for my lack of updates but work has been crazy and I just forgot!

I am well into the Any Traffic over MPLS chapter of MPLS Fundamentals, I decided to skip IPV6 + MPLS for now and will read that last, wanted to get into a new topic compared to what I read in Chapter 7. VPLS is next before going back to IPV6 though.....

I have also done a lot of reading on layer 2 and layer 3 tunnels to get a strong grasp on the strengths and weaknesses compared to MPLS implementations. The exam document says that I am to describe layer 2 and 3 tunnels not implement. I have been putting together notes on show commands and configuration commands for the sections that need to be implemented.

I just found out I am going to Cisco Live this year in San Francisco! EXCITED!

filkenjitsu

Guys,

I know I have not updated my thread in forever, sorry about that. I have been studying like crazy over the last many months on top of working with MPLS, AToM, MEF technologies, and VPLS daily at work and I am proud to say I passed the SPEDGE test yesterday!

I have ROUTE and SPEDGE out of the way, SPCORE and SPADVROUTE are next to get my CCNP SP!!!

SecurityThroughObscurity

What did you use as a preparing material except mpls fundamentals?

ccnpninja

good luck with your studies

64:61:6e

filkenjitsu wrote: »

I just found out I am going to Cisco Live this year in San Francisco! EXCITED!

Just read through your thread. Great progress. Are you planning on taking any tests while at CLUS this year? I scheduled the SPEDGE for Sunday.