Which certification path?

Hey all, new to TechExams.net, thought I'd rear my ugly head!

My place of work would like me to get certified with Juniper Networks gear, and I'm in a bit of a quandry.

We started off with 3xM7i 2xJ6350, but since then I've upgraded the network to 2xMX240 2xM7i 2xJ6350 2xEX4200 and about to add an additional 2xM7i when our new site goes live. So - you could say I already have a fair amount of experience with JUNOS!

I've been looking through the certifications, and from what I can see on the net, JNCIA-ER seemed to be very focussed on the product line as opposed to technical details. Hence, I decided to take the JNCIS-M (after thinking that the JNCIA-M would be too easy) and failed it.

I got very high marks (reaching 100%) on the common elements such as BGP, OSPF, Routing Policy, IPv6 and things like that - but I got terrible marks (~20%) on things like MPLS (never used it) SONET/SDH (never used it) VPNs (We use OpenVPN, not IPSec) which brought down my score to 54% in total.

For someone who would like to get this certification, and has very in depth knowledge of JUNOS, BGP, OSPF etc, and additionally has LINX Accredited Internet Technician status (Levels 1+2+3, so roughly CCIE level) what would people recommend? Stick with the M track and just read more widely, or swap back to the ER track and read up on specifications a bit more thoroughly? So far, I have the study guide from the Juniper site and the O'Reilly book.

I'd ideally like to take it to it's logical end, with a JNCIE - and my salary would rise in accordance with this, so I'm obviously keen to get things moving!

Any advice/input appreciated!

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rossonieri#1

hi waffle,

welcome to TE

well, i'm not a juniper expert - not even close, but i think i have the same experience in failing juniper exam

I've been looking through the certifications, and from what I can see on the net, JNCIA-ER seemed to be very focussed on the product line as opposed to technical details. Hence, I decided to take the JNCIS-M (after thinking that the JNCIA-M would be too easy) and failed it.

the certification itself it really depends on what you are working with eg. service provider or enterprise core.

on M/T track - you've founded those MPLS and the like thing which as you said you dont need them, whereas on ER track, you'll find enterprise related thing excluded SP specific material, but in the same weight - you'll have that BGP, ISIS, OSPF, L2 & 3 services and the like.

yes, on JNCIA-ER it can be categorized as entry level cert for experts,
but on the IS-ER - you'll find the same difficulties to what you've encountered on IS-M track.

so, zoidberg & aldur & zrcheng & the other will be your best junos friends here in TE,
i wish you a big good luck on the cert!!

cheers

zoidberg

Ah yes, the ongoing M vs ER debate, it's a toughy, so I did both :P Hahah, well, that wasn't quite the reason.

I don't have too much to add on top of what rossonieri#1 said. I would say, go to Juniper's website, look at their exam and course topics. Compare the ER and the M, see which matches you better. Or, see which interests you more. You said you don't know much about MPLS, so this could be your chance to learn and expand. Or, if you're looking to focus on getting certifications and to stick closer to topics your current job entails, then maybe you'll find ER the better fit.

You say you have OSPF, BGP, Policy, IPv6 nailed. That's a healthy portion of the ER track. Get L2 and L3 services down and you should have little trouble with the ER line. Plus, I don't think things like sonet and ATM came up in the ER track; just ethernet, frame, isdn. Things SMB enterprises would be more familar with.

If you go down the M series track, you will need to master ISIS, MPLS, L2VPNs and L3VPNs. These are service provider VPNs, and not client provisioned VPNs. You'll need to have some understanding of sonet and ATM.

I found the books published for the ER and M both to be top notch. The M series books are study guides and will get your certified in the M track. The ER book is focused less on certification and more on teaching you about Enterprise Routing. The JNCIA-ER may have been focused a bit on the product line, but the JNCIS-ER should leave that all behind. Even the JNCIA-M is a little like that. It's people first introduction to Juniper routers, so it's a good intro topic.

Anyhoo, give it some thought and let us know which path you choose.

I guess one more thought, if it's a race to the JNCIE, the ER track doesn't have a JNCIP pit stop, whereas the M track does. M = 2 lab exams, ER = 1 lab exam.... although Aldur tells me many people have been failing the ER lab, so it's not necessarily the quicker/easier path. It's all about your strenghts and weaknesses.

Have fun!

Aldur

zoidberg wrote: »

although Aldur tells me many people have been failing the ER lab, so it's not necessarily the quicker/easier path.

yea, and I can't wait to add myself to that number of ppl failing the IE-ER

From what I've been told that IE-ER is much harder then the IE-M. The key factors being L2/L3 services of it being so hard. Keep in mind though that this is coming from ppl who mainly work in the core and so enterprise level stuff is not their cup of tea

But other then that the advice given so far is the best out there, just stick with it and study, study study.

zoidberg

hehe, i'm sure you'll do fine... but i am really curious to see what you think of it, and if they changed anything from when i did it. apparently, by the time i got to it, they had already removed some things.... so to that first batch of JNCIE-ERs beta victims, WOW! truly impressive! I ran out of time and the exam was even longer before? damn. sure glad i waited the extra month of two for the ER book to come out before diving into that lab exam.

Aldur

lol, yea, it was lucky of you to wait a few months to get the later version. From what I understand is that the test hasn't changed since then so I should have a hell of a good time

dotwaffle

After a lot of thought and consideration, I think I'm going for the ER track. Not because there's no P section, or that the L2/L3 VPN/Services don't play such a big role, but because I feel that I'm best equipped with this fantastic O'Reilly book, and I'd really like to give it a good going over!

Thanks all for your advice, here's hoping I pass the JNCIS-ER when I get around to it!

Aldur

dotwaffle wrote: »

After a lot of thought and consideration, I think I'm going for the ER track. Not because there's no P section, or that the L2/L3 VPN/Services don't play such a big role, but because I feel that I'm best equipped with this fantastic O'Reilly book, and I'd really like to give it a good going over!

Thanks all for your advice, here's hoping I pass the JNCIS-ER when I get around to it!

Right on! Have the battle is just figuring which direction to take.

I would have to agree that the O'Reilly book is amazing for the ER studies. I've been reading it over and over to prep for the JNCIE-ER. It was also a fundamental in getting my JNCIS-ER too.

Something else that would be helpful would be getting your hands on the OJRE and AJRE training material or attending one of the boot camps for these classes. I haven't attended any classes but I've went through the AJRE material prior to taking the JNCIS-ER and it helped tons.

dotwaffle

Cheers - while I have access to "AJRE" (three PDFs of various sizes) I've not heard of the other one, I'll have to have a look on the cert website again!

Trouble with these "boot camp" things is that they spend 3/4 of the time teaching you what you already know, and because I'm just outside London, they're usually a long way away.

We'll see though - I'll read my trusty O'Reilly book and keep plodding on!

zoidberg

If you're familar with Juniper already, and you're using the Enterprise Routing book and AJRE guides, you're likely fine and won't need the OJRE guides all that much.

ORJE is the intro to Juniper level of course, and it sounds like you already have that level of experience or higher, and, if there are a couple topics you're missing or week on from the ORJE, you'll pick them up in the Enterprise Routing book and AJRE pdfs.

However, if you like collecting pdfs or really want to read them, last I checked the ORJEs were a free download from the Fast Track website.

That said, I guess there's one thing I should mention, and applies only if you going JNCIA-ER then JNCIS-ER. Per Juniper's website on JNCIA-ER exam topics, it includes: "Enterprise router overview, management, and architecture; user interface of enterprise routers, installation and initial configuration." Not all of these topics are covered in the ARJE and Enterprise Routing book. For example, I believe there's no mention of J-Web, other than maybe, "we don't talk about J-Web." If you're looking at the JNCIA-ER, you may want to grab those ORJE pdfs to brush up on router management topics like that.

Anyhoo, Have fun!

dotwaffle

I have never used J-Web, though when I did the fast-track for JNCIA-ER, it did seen J-Web heavy...

Ah well, we'll see

Thanks again for your help!

Aldur

Yap, good point there on Jweb, the JNCIA-ER will cover that. IMHO I think that Jweb is worthless but that's because I'm use the the cli and I'm to stubborn to learn it

But the JNCIA-ER will cover it so it'll be worthwhile to look over the OJRE to learn it.