My adventure through CCNP Land

Hey everyone, I am a fairly new poster here but I am attempting to take a bit more time out of each day to chat it up with fellow Cisco Certees (new word I just made up

).

I am just about wrapping up the EIGRP portion of my exam prep. I'm doing a GNS3 lab with everything from EIGRP included. By the weekend I plan on starting the daunting task of OSPF. Someone told me - and I am starting to see it myself - that EIGRP is the easiest of the ROUTE topics. What does everyone else think so far?

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iamme4eva

Hey and welcome. I'm fairly new myself, finding it useful to read people's thoughts on here as I go.

You're about the same place as me then - I've just wrapped up the EIGRP stuff, and started OSPF today. Only read the neighbor relationship bits so far, but EIGRP is much easier!!!

Have a look around the forums, there's a few good links for GNS 3 labs - I like the look of the router Alley ones, although I'm saving them for my exam prep revision!

Good luck with your studying - hope we can help each other along the way.

Prog Snob

I'll look into those Router Alley labs. I came across a pretty good lab for EIGRP that I am going to use when it comes to finalize my prep before the exam.

I am sure we will be able to help each other out along the way. I am always seeking more knowledge and always willing to help others.

MrBrian

Yes I'd say EIGRP is probably the easier to understand at first than OSPF and BGP.. I think route redistribution is pretty easy once you know how each routing protocol works. When I was first going through OSPF I was pretty overwhelmed to say the least. Just when you're starting to feel comfortable you get into different area types like Stub/Totally Stubby and NSSA/Totally NSSA (Not-So-Stubby-Area).. just keep going at it every day and it will all clear up eventually you just have to be persistent

mykel.quito

Hi studymates.! count me in in your adventure

i'm also starting at EIGRP and doing some labs during my free hours. its good to stick around with you guys with the same intent.

Prog Snob

It always helps to work with or study with those aspiring to the same goal. The only thing that confused me at first with EIGRP was the bandwidth sharing when PVCs were involved. I know there are a few different circumstances whether it is no subinterfaces with multipoint or subinterfaces using a multipoint setup, etc.

Prog Snob

I just started reading the OSPF chapter in the FLG. So far, not so bad. Though the topics always start out easy.

MrXpert

I'd say EIGRP and BGP were easier to grasp than OSPF. I consider OSPF a bit fiddly with its virtual links and gre tunnels and there's quite a lot that can go wrong with it. If you need to practice on labs look at gns3vault. Rene has many labs in the OSPF,EIGRP and BGP sections.

Prog Snob

Prog Snob wrote: »

I just started reading the OSPF chapter in the FLG. So far, not so bad. Though the topics always start out easy.

I will keep that in mind for sure, thanks! I ordered his book How to Master CCNP Route.

f0rgiv3n

I guess I'm a bit weird... I can't stand EIGRP. When I was studying I found that it was more difficult for me to grasp mainly because I've been an OSPF fan. Just having to memorize bandwidth, delay, K values.... Advertised/Feasible Distance... UGH lol. For some reason the big picture for OSPF is easier for me to comprehend. I guess to each their own eh?!

MrBrian

f0rgiv3n wrote: »

I guess I'm a bit weird... I can't stand EIGRP. When I was studying I found that it was more difficult for me to grasp mainly because I've been an OSPF fan. Just having to memorize bandwidth, delay, K values.... Advertised/Feasible Distance... UGH lol. For some reason the big picture for OSPF is easier for me to comprehend. I guess to each their own eh?!

I agree.. I'm not a fan of the lingo for Eigrp either. Advertised distance can be referred to reported distance sometimes. Then you got feasible distance.. feasible successor.. query scope and SIA possibilities..the K values and metric calculation is weird, etc.

It does work so I can't complain too much, but I'm a much bigger fan of OSPF for some reason! And being that OSPF is standards based, you're probably better off focusing your studies on that one more.

WiseWun

EIGRP is easy to configure and get it going but it requires a bit more effort to know what is going on behind the scenes. Area types on OSPF are my least favorites but I haven't really spent much time. I should as I'm hoping to clear the route exam soon after I'm done with BGP.

iamme4eva

Bah. Not for me. Been reading / playing with OSPF for the last few days, I find it much more complicated that EIGRP. In EIGRP it's like "hello, I'm your new neighbor - have some routes" - The neighbor relationship in OSPF is a lot more complex to remember. I'm sure I'll wonder what all the fuss was about soon enough, but at the moment I'm finding there's a lot to think about in OSPF.

Prog Snob

I am still reading the concepts behind OSPF (taking it slowly), which is basically a review from the CCNA exam topics. I do love the FLG for that because it goes into the basics again before taking you further. I think the basics for both are fairly easy and memorizing numbers (ADs and costs) and such has always been easy for me. It's one of the reason I can subnet and summarize fairly quickly. Math was always my strong point in school.

instant000

The problem with EIGRP is that it is easy to set up ... almost too easy. Which leads to issues down the line, as it can get implemented without proper planning. At least OSPF is usually complex enough that people try to plan it out ... usually. ... now's not the time to describe how someone routed their WAN topology using a single area 0, is it? Hehehehe.

Prog Snob

Very true regarding OSPF. I suppose its complexity would lead a network engineer to take more precautions when employing an OSPF setup. I just started reading through the first 10 pages of configuring OSPF and I grasped it rather quickly. I jumped onto GNS3 and put together a three router, two area OSPF network. I practiced some of the debug commands and broke them down to understand what is included with them. I'll increase the number of routers and areas used as I dig deeper into this. I figured if I read roughly 10 page or so a day, do a little labbing, and then spend time during the day thinking about what I read I should be able to be finished with OSPF in 2-3 weeks, probably less. How much time did you spend studying OSPF?

Zartanasaurus

There's just a lot more going on with OSPF. The different subcommands under area nssa alone make it more complicated than EIGRP.

Then throw in 9 different ways LSAs can be filtered along with rules for WHERE they can be filtered. Oh and don't forget network types, and virtual-links either.

The hardest part about EIGRP, IMO, is not confusing advertised distance with administrative distance. Always seemed a little confusing when I was first learning it. The terms for successor and feasible successor routes aren't exactly admin friendly either. Successor makes it sounds like it's a backup.

Prog Snob

I always wondered what the reasoning was behind then naming of successor and feasible successor. In EIGRP successor means the best route. However feasible distance is the distance of the best route, but FEASIBLE successor is not the best route. The nomenclature is can be obfuscatory to some people. I just read it over and over until the naming automatically translates in my head. The one part of EIGRP I have the hardest time with is the bandwidth over interface, sub-interfaces and dividing it up according to the CIR. Does anyone know of a article or video I could watch that clears it up better for me? Wendell Odom's book didn't help too much and Chris Bryant's videos briefly explained it.

Danielh22185

Very much agreed EIGRP is the easier part of route. OSPF is in my opinion leaps and bound more complex and harder to fully understand. Which in turn makes it more interesting as well!

I am actually enrolled in a CCNP route class and our first major topic we covered was OSPF. We are still covering some topics but it is a vast subject and can get complicated quick. Just keep hammering away at it. I lab as soon as I am done with a major topic to help myself further understand the content further.

instant000

Prog Snob wrote: »

The one part of EIGRP I have the hardest time with is the bandwidth over interface, sub-interfaces and dividing it up according to the CIR. Does anyone know of a article or video I could watch that clears it up better for me? Wendell Odom's book didn't help too much and Chris Bryant's videos briefly explained it.

Odom is legendary for being terse. Sorry, there's a lot of information to give, and only so many pages to give it in. I remember he was interviewed one time, and he said one of the struggles with publishing is that they limit the number of pages the book can be. (At least, that's how I remember it, I could be wrong ... and often am, LOL.)

I believe that most references to it might give the small amount of information shown here:
IP Routing: EIGRP Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 12.4 - Configuring EIGRP* [Cisco IOS Software Releases 12.4 Mainline] - Cisco Systems

This technote covers it a bit more thoroughly:
Configuration Notes for the Implementation of EIGRP over Frame Relay and Low Speed Links - Cisco Systems

This technote just goes over frame relay a good bit (recommended reading):
Comprehensive Guide to Configuring and Troubleshooting Frame Relay* [Frame Relay] - Cisco Systems

There isn't much to it, actually.
- By default, up to 50% of a physical interface's bandwidth will be used for EIGRP traffic.
- By default, EIGRP assumes a serial interface runs at 1.544 mbps
- If configured, EIGRP will use the bandwidth command to get a more realistic picture of the bandwidth available
- If the bandwidth command is already being used for another reason (manipulate routing, for example) and doesn't actually represent the actual interface speed, you can specifically use the bandwidth-percent command to influence EIGRPs usage of bandwidth on an interface

Possible issue: If you run EIGRP across the WAN, some WAN interfaces may have much greater bandwidth available to EIGRP than others.
Imagine, the 2,000 K interface at the main site, configured under EIGRP, decides that 50% of its bandwidth (1,000k) is available for EIGRP.
A spoke site has only 56k bandwidth, and decides that 28K of bandwidth is enough for EIGRP.
The problem between these two sites is that the main site can overburden the spoke site, because it sends a lot more traffic than it can handle.

What is the workaround for this?
This is where the subinterfaces can come in to save the day. You can make point-to-point subinterfaces between these two sites, and configure the subinterfaces for 56k bandwidth on both sides. then, run EIGRP between the subinterfaces. Now, you won't have the problem of the main site flooding the spoke site off the network.

Does this explanation make sense? (Especially in light of reading the first two articles on EIGRP?)

Chris Bryant explains this also in his ROUTE book, on pages 70-74, and does a really good job of it, I feel. Between his book, and the first two links I post here, you should be good to go!

EDIT: Just realized you used Chris Bryant VIDEO, and not Chris Bryant's BOOK. Sorry

Prog Snob

Wow, thanks for those links. I'm going to print them up at work tomorrow.

I see what you are saying regarding the bandwidth command. It seems to be more of a workaround for avoiding overburdening links with low bandwidth availabiliy. Is this something that is needed a lot these days? Are there that many low speed links still around?

I have the Chris Bryant book too; I just recently purchased it. I was using the video however because I downloaded the MP3s of the videos from his site and I listen to them while driving to and from work. I do the same with the CBT Nuggets videos.

Regarding what Odom said about not having the freedom to be more descriptive, couldn't he release multiple books instead? I suppose it would cost more for us in the long run but at least he could devote a whole book to OSPF or EIGRP.

Prog Snob

I was reading the brief sections on MPLS VPN for Layer 2 and Layer 3. Does this go into greater depth in the CCIE book or is this something that would be in the Service Provider track?

instant000

Prog Snob wrote: »

I was reading the brief sections on MPLS VPN for Layer 2 and Layer 3. Does this go into greater depth in the CCIE book or is this something that would be in the Service Provider track?

The R&S would cover it more in depth. It would be covered most in depth if you went in the Service Provider track.

Corza

EIGRP was definitely the easiest to grasp. I just passed ROUTE late December. I literally JUST passed. I thought I did a bit better than the score I got, but I was glad I passed.

I think that the IPv6 tunnelling part is probably the hardest to grasp and then OSPF.

Prog Snob

instant000 wrote: »

The R&S would cover it more in depth. It would be covered most in depth if you went in the Service Provider track.

Corza, what did you use to study? books? videos?

Prog Snob

Prog Snob wrote: »

I was reading the brief sections on MPLS VPN for Layer 2 and Layer 3. Does this go into greater depth in the CCIE book or is this something that would be in the Service Provider track?

That's what I figured!

Now I am starting to see where OSPF gets difficult, with all of the different network types: broadcast, point-to-point, non-broadcast, etc. Each one has different specifics to them. I've already read it twice today.

Corza

I used the OCG, the cisco lab book and cbt nuggets. I work in networks everyday which also helped me as we use BGP here already, so for that topic I had the basics covered. I used GNS3 a little, but again work came in handy with a few spare 1841's I could muck around on.

I still don't think the OCG was the greatest for it. For SWITCH I have just bought Rene Molenaar's book and also Cisco CCNP SWITCH simplified. I am hoping these third party books are better than the Cisco stuff, which from what I have read is true. I also have the Cisco Lab book and am finishing building my home lab before starting.

EDIT - Also the CCNP ROUTE portable command guide was handy for the small price it is too. Nice and easy to look at config to achieve a task.

Prog Snob

Corza wrote: »

I used the OCG, the cisco lab book and cbt nuggets. I work in networks everyday which also helped me as we use BGP here already, so for that topic I had the basics covered. I used GNS3 a little, but again work came in handy with a few spare 1841's I could muck around on.

I still don't think the OCG was the greatest for it. For SWITCH I have just bought Rene Molenaar's book and also Cisco CCNP SWITCH simplified. I am hoping these third party books are better than the Cisco stuff, which from what I have read is true. I also have the Cisco Lab book and am finishing building my home lab before starting.

Congrats on passing by the way!

What didn't you like about the OCG? Do you think it missed certain points?

Corza

I think it is very text heavy and does not have enough diagrams for visual learners. I am more of a visual learner so just reading gets a bit much. I was cruising through a chapter a day and then doing exercises and labs the next. Took me around 4-5months to get it. I think another month of revision would have got me a better mark. I am now doing a few labs for some topics just to refresh/help understand.

I don't want to be a guy who has the cert but can't back it up.

Prog Snob

Corza wrote: »

I think it is very text heavy and does not have enough diagrams for visual learners. I am more of a visual learner so just reading gets a bit much. I was cruising through a chapter a day and then doing exercises and labs the next. Took me around 4-5months to get it. I think another month of revision would have got me a better mark. I am now doing a few labs for some topics just to refresh/help understand.

I don't want to be a guy who has the cert but can't back it up.

I agree. I want to do more hands on practice. I don't mind reading to get the main ideas of a specific topic, but sometimes I think the books tend to drone on. I bought the Rene Molenaar books for ROUTE and I also purchased the Chris Bryant videos and book. What do you think of the Rene's switch book?

Corza

I actually haven't started reading it fully, but just glancing over it straight away I like the fact that the text is bigger and there are plenty of diagrams throughout Also IT'S IN COLOR ! Unlike the OCG I think that will really help keep the mind stimulated. In the configuration examples etc, I also like that this has red text to bring attention to what he is talking about in the output.