CCIE wannabees

Well I thought I would put up a thread that may be a sticky. Essentially anyone with a written pass who is fully engaged in lab prep please let yourself be known here. This can be a good thread for those actively working on lab prep and to swap notes on workbooks, resources and general banter on lab preparations. It will also be useful for observers with CCIE aspirations. I encourage everyone to keep their own CCIE lab thread/blogs going. This will be an officers mess to exchange ideas, keep people motivated and workgroup.

I can swap ICQ number to students if they send me a PM.

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nopixel

rdrum wrote: »

Congrats on the pass lid! Definitely a major accomplishment.....

Anyone have tips on finding an effective study group? I've done self studies for all my certifications to date, but the amount of information on those was far less than the CCIE. Been working on my CCIE Security (off and on) for the last 13 months or so. I think I read someone in this particular post mention taking time off. One of my time spans was almost 3 months. Even for just fundamental knowledge, it took a toll. My written is next week, but I still plan to target the lab towards the latter part of 2016/early 2017.

Look for a local CUG (Cisco Users Group). The one in my area is pretty decent about starting them or looking for volunteers to organize one.

airwrck

Hello everyone, I'm restarting my CCIE Routing and Switching pursuit. I'm 2/3 done studying for the CCIE Written, which I failed last August. Looking forward to some good discussions here and also finding a study partner for the CCIE R&S Lab in the near future. I'm in San Diego so anyone local or in the same timezone would be great!

-Eric-

gorebrush

Welcome (back) to the shop floor! Good luck.

delanajero

Yes i would have to consider myself a wannabe, in the pursuit of getting my number:) passed the written 6 months ago and now studying for the lab hopefully to be taken early next year. i read about a comment about memory decay, yeah i can relate to that. I was doing dmvpn and there are moments during my studies when my mind would be like "dude do you remember how to configure BGP filter-list etc" and they i get distracted, stop and had to revisit BGP again.

Yeah I guess consistency is the key, support from people like in this community specially your own family and will power.

GT-Rob

Back from the dead....I think Im going to take another shot at CCIE R/S.

Briefly my history here for those that haven't been around for a decade

I attempted the R/S lab in 2009 with pretty decent results, but not a pass. IPv6 and BGP were the big ones that pulled it down. I didn't attempt again. Since then Ive become pretty expert level with cisco voice, and even a lot of security and wireless.

CCIE has little to no financial incentive, my current employer probably doesn't care but its a personal goal now. I have no issues getting a job, I currently live on a tropical island making more than I ever thought I would 10 years ago. But its nagging me to not have finished this, I always made the excuse its not worth trying again (and maybe it isnt), but Im at a point where I wish I just did it. I just purchased the year access pass with INE and will go from there. I prefer the online labs so don't plan to build one other than spares at work. I have little intention of reading big heavy books and plan to spend most of the time on labs and online doc. Not to knock cisco press, its just not how I learn, and you can't take the books with you into the exam

So to those who have failed, keep at it, because pass or not it will be forever!

hurricane1091

I started to study for the CCIE this week. Unlike the poster above me, there are huge financial reasons for me to do it being so young and still relatively new to the field. Heck, even just learning QoS and furthering firewall skills over a year would have huge financial implications for me. The CCIE though would be unreal. I never thought I would do the CCNP, let alone the CCIE. I have no idea what this means, but my boss says I have the same personality traits as the CCIEs he knows. I did not make a thread, because I'm really just testing the waters. I picked out 8 of the common books to read and started with the OCG, and I'm on the 2nd chapter.

I'm nervous about the entire thing, because I've only been in the game for 20 months and have only had my CCNP since July. I'm basically not going to have access to CBT or INE unless I buy it myself. My boss thinks maybe I could get sent to a bootcamp, but I am doubtful of that. So basically, it's just going to be me, 8 books, Google, and a real life lab where I make up my own scenarios. My boss says the CCIEs he knows did it this way, but I am sure it's not the optimal way of doing it. I would like to purchase labs at the end of reading everything. I have the support of my boss who will let me study during downtime at work. I have a lab already with 6 routers and 6 switches and can add more to it. I think that is a huge pro. I don't know if I can commit to the hours needed, but I think I am in as good of a position to try as I'll ever be. I get exposed to everything with there only being 3 engineers + a boss in a company with 3000 people and 110 offices. My boss is the smartest person I've ever met as well.

For now, I did lab a bunch of BGP stuff. I lab everything as I go and did that for the CCNP successfully. We are not doing RR, confederations, backdoors, etc. There's no need for the first two since our edge environment with BGP has 2 routers who run iBGP, and 2 switches who run iBGP but in another AS, and each peers with eBGP to the router above it. So I mean, feeling smart and successful labbing, but not practical so far. We use local preference, we do redistribution, and you know I am exposed to it. BGP doesn't scare me much at all, I actually enjoy it a lot. OSPF is the protocol I hate. I find it overly complicated and it took me a long time to understand all the area types.

I posted in this thread 9 months ago I just realized. Damn. To the people who said even trying the CCIE makes you a way better engineer, I will agree. I feel smarter already lol. But wow, I can't imagine not passing. I am going to go thru the OCG and if I remain interested, fully commit and go thru TCP v1/2 next. IPv6 and Multicast would be the hardest, since we're not doing those things. QoS will be the easiest I think, because my boss wrote the entire QoS policy here and will be a tremendous resource. OSPF was terrible when I was doing the CCNP. I totally overstudied it though, so maybe I'll thank myself for that. Once I took the route, I realized how overkill I studied for it. I said I was doing that on purpose though in case I ever studied for the CCIE, so I'll thank myself later.

Bonus - I posted about how I made a great DMVPN lab and we still haven't implemented it, but I learned a ton. So that would be a topic that wouldn't need a ton of reading on. Also, I set up a great lab for work that simulated a real branch set up, with a BGP link and an OSPF link. Our MPLS links connected to a NID, which is like some sort of layer 2 monitoring device. So we have problems with the interface remaining up, but BGP going down. 90 second hold times, so phones unregister and it's really not a great process. I am testing BFD though, which is working way better. I have a phone in my lab, and tested with real phone calls. I find if we are only advertising a default route, the convergence time is a couple of seconds and hardly noticeable. One way audio occurs briefly which seems to make sense. We do need to advertise all the routes though, and it takes a few seconds to build the routing table. If we were using EIGRP over our backup links, I think it would be quicker, but we won't be changing that. Still much better than the 90 second hold time. We could lower the timers on BGP too, but I believe BFD is a better option.

aaron0011

I am a CCIE wannabe... Pretty sure I am going to take a run at Collaboration in 2017 before our adoption is finalized. I do not anticipate being able to do post the family growing.

EANx

I've been down this path before but the last time I attempted the lab was when it was still two-days long and they were testing on token-ring switches and voice-over-ATM (my first Cisco class came with an actual book that was the command reference). Layoffs hit and I wasn't in a position to keep trying. Work took me other places and eventually to management where I'm now managing a very large virtual infrastructure.

While I don't need the cert, I don't like having left it out there. It also seems that in my organization sometimes poor decisions are made regarding QOS or routing. I've caught the engineers in a few errors that would have wide-ranging implications and they aren't used to being challenged by management in deep technical matters, my predecessor was very hands-off, so I can use the knowledge gained through preparation. I'm also trying to be the manager I would have wanted to work for and I always preferred to work for someone who understood technology as opposed to a manager who didn't.

I'm still banging out the CCNP again so I'm not yet ready to start a thread but the NP is simply a way for me to get warmed-up to the habit of studying for Cisco exams again. I'm aiming to finish the NP in Dec and get rolling with IE prep in early Jan with a projected run at the lab in Jan 2018.

bharvey92

Started my CCIE studies about 2/3 weeks ago, I've not started a post so far, I should do though to keep traffic of things. Bought the TCP/IP Vol 1 and 2 and CCIE LAN Switching. Running through TCP/IP Vol1 at the moment. So far it's a very good book! Supplimenting this with the CCIE INE Training Bundle that my company purchased and also doing labs in GNS3.

I'm doing this for multiple reasons, not only financially. But knowedge wise also, having a CCIE will benefit not on;y myself but my comany as well, so I see it as a 2 way thing.

kristianbrun

First post

Having passed CCIE Wireless written 6 months ago, Im taking the LAB at December 6th in Brussel.

Since there is little information about v3 yet, Im pretty anxious about the exam..

Will give a heads up if I pass or not

d4nz1g

hopefully ill pass CCIE RS written in January, on my second attempt.

Planning to take the lab on August/17

hurricane1091

I started with volume 2 of the OCG, and am nearing the end of it. I think I will re-lab everything once complete before starting volume 1, and then I'll end up repeating the same process and moving on to the TCP/IP books. I refuse to make a thread, because I still can't believe I'm actually doing this. It's very real at this point though.

I struggled with multicast chapters. Not because I do not understand it, but because I am unsure of how to really lab it. I need to make multicast traffic, and I need a client to want it. Just not sure how to do that right now. Using real gear if it matters.

bharvey92

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I started with volume 2 of the OCG, and am nearing the end of it. I think I will re-lab everything once complete before starting volume 1, and then I'll end up repeating the same process and moving on to the TCP/IP books. I refuse to make a thread, because I still can't believe I'm actually doing this. It's very real at this point though.

I struggled with multicast chapters. Not because I do not understand it, but because I am unsure of how to really lab it. I need to make multicast traffic, and I need a client to want it. Just not sure how to do that right now. Using real gear if it matters.

Best method I have seen to simulate Multicast is by using the ip igmp join comamnd on a Router in GNS3 and the by checking the multicast routing table to verify routes. You can also configure static RP and BSR in GNS3, which will help solidify your knowledge. I haven't read through all the Multicast chapters in Routing TCP/IP vol2 - but I have done some labs as I am working on PIM SM at work!

Good luck with your studies!

d4nz1g

ip igmp join is great if you want to observe how the trees are built.

However, if you still want to see mcast traffic behavior, or even adjust the RPT to SPT switchover rate you can use the VLC video player to generate and receive streams. it is kinda straightforward and works like a charm.

Jamm1n

Anyone ever just go for CCIE and skip the exams (CCNA/CCNP)? I am not saying skip the studies at that level but don't worry about the exams.

ccie14023

Jamm1n wrote: »

Anyone ever just go for CCIE and skip the exams (CCNA/CCNP)? I am not saying skip the studies at that level but don't worry about the exams.

Lots of people. I did the CCNP even way back when in 2004 when I did R/S. However, I did security without touching any of the lower-level stuff.

Most people want a little sign of progress along the way, but do whatever you feel is best. All that matters is that you come into the lab with the knowledge you need to success, regardless of how you got it.

BTW, when I did JNCIE, Juniper requires you to do all the lower-level certs, so it was a bit of a slog.

dppagc

May I know how much did you all spend and on what?