Welcome to Packet Pushers - the Data Networking podcast where we discuss events, technology, and worklife in the networking industry. Our motto “Too Much Networking Would Never Be Enough”.

During the week we gather articles, media and information various ideas then get together to discuss them. Basically, we get some senior network people around the table and talk about whatever is going on. We cover routing, switching, security, internet and happenings in and around the Networking industry, and sometimes we will pick a topic and go deep diving.

All three hosts are Cisco CCIE’s including Ethan Banks (they guy who wrote most of the material on the site), Dan Hughes (Security CCIE) and Greg Ferro (the guy responsible for EtherealMind.com website.

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If I am a member of your network or you of mine (how does that work anyway?), you may know I have been working diligently to reach as many hiring companies and CCIEs as possible. In my quest for perfection I am a student of the internet. But while I was still enrolling in the, “School of the Ether” I did a few things I was not sure at the time were wise. I registered URLs. Yup I was thinking that I might need them when I was starting out in this arena a few years ago specifically focused on CCIEs and Cisco Channel Partners. So even though there is a training company out there using CCIEJOBS.COM as a tag/keyword I actually own CCIEJOBS.COM along with ccienetwork.com, cciementors.com, cciecareers.com, cciementornetwor.com, cciestaffing.com, ccieagent.com, ccieflyer.com (of course), and more. (heck I can’t show my entire hand). At the time I was doing this I was not sure if I would need them or even use them. Then I started seeing the plethora of companies claiming to be recruiting CCIEs. Some were simply pulling down ads they found posted by competitors just to play games, others keeping postings out there just to collect resumes and still others taking time off from their real jobs to try their hand at recruiting. No disrespect but come on people, you just don’t start recruiting CCIEs because you can toss around the acronym. I get calls constantly from recruiters who want to partner or pick my brain. Typical questions are, “What is the difference between the written and the lab?” “Why do network engineers need certification?” “Why do Cisco resellers want CCIEs?” I will hop on LinkedIn while they are talking and pull up their profiles only find out they were working in sandwich shops, insurance companies, used cars dealerships, Wal-Mart, or they have been recruiting from utero. Now they claim to be CCIE recruiters.

So to make things easier I dusted off the old www.cciejobs.com URL and decided to use it for posting the work I am getting from around the world. Specifically from Cisco Channel partners and yes there are a few that do not require a CCIE, but network engineers never the less. So as I populate the site with my team’s activities and the demands from around the world I ask you to go have a look.

CCIEJOBS.COM a better place to see the jobs for CCIEs that will make a difference in your career.

Intellectually, I’m interested in the other tracks.  I love networking.  It would be great to take the SP or Voice written exam.  However, it’s a matter of practicality.  I don’t do MPLS at all in my current job.  I do minimal voice, mostly focusing on QoS schemes, not call managers or dial plans.  To ramp up to the level required to pass those written qualification exams would require substantial effort on my part.  I could do SP easier than I could Voice, but both would be a challenge…more of a challenge than I want to put time into right now.

As I dig back into the CCIE R&S book and begin reviewing, I’m finding that the material there is tough enough.  For example, one would think I’d know spanning-tree as a CCIE, right?  And I certainly do - but the details are elusive if you haven’t thought through the STP processes for a couple of years.  So I’m having to go back through the text and diagrams in the book, review all of the terminology, the packet level detail of BPDUs (how they are sent, who sends them, what kinds of information they contain, etc.), and bring all that knowledge buried in the back of my brain up to the front so that I can confidently use it to answer test questions.  My experience with Cisco multiple choice questions is that there are two or more answers you can throw out, leaving usually two answers that seem plausible.  Knowing your tech thoroughly makes the difference in being able to determine the best answer of the two plausible choices.  I know the new written exam has test questions other than multiple choice, but I’m making the point that “mostly” knowing the material isn’t the same as “thoroughly” knowing it.

That said, it’s a LOT easier to remember all of this material than it was the first few times I took it in as a CCNA and later CCNP.  But that’s still an awfully big book that includes more detail on MPLS than I had to know when I took version 3 of the written.  Let’s also keep in mind that the “official” book is just one book.  To really own the CCIE written test material, I’ll do additional reading on cisco.com and maybe some other books as well.  The one book will probably get me close, but I’ll need to consult other sources to round out some topics.

With the lab almost 2 years in my rearview mirror, my kids still get nervous when I make any statement with the term “CCIE” in it.  They’ll respond with a tentative question along the lines of, “Are you going to have to do all that studying like you did before?”  My kids don’t want to lose their Dad again.  The ”right” thing for me personally is to recertify in the most expedient way possible.  That means going for the R&S written again.  I think I have the best chance of passing that specific test on the first attempt, although since I’ve never seen the version 4 test, I admit it might take me more than once to pass.  There’s precious little I can find on the Internet regarding how people have fared on the version 4 test, although Anthony Sequeira seemed to think it was pretty easy.

To certify at the CCIE level a second time represents a choice.  You might think it’s not much of a choice (some would go so far as to call it a “no-brainer”), but it depends on what your perspective is on the value of holding the certification going forward.  One must exert an effort to study back up to a level sufficient to pass the written exam, especially as the body of required knowledge changes.  So then, is there a specific benefit to retaining the CCIE title?  For me, the answer is “yes”, although it’s a qualified “yes.”  I don’t work for a Cisco partner, nor does my employer provide any incentive to keep up the certification.  However, I am finding that the CCIE certification still opens doors that few other accomplishments can open.  I’m not sure when I might be in a position where I’m sorry I let the certification go away, so I’m choosing to maintain it for at least another cycle.  When a door is presented that I’d like to walk through, I don’t want it locked.

When I took the 350-001 written exam back in July 2007, it was version 3.  Now it is version 4.  To be honest, I’ll have to go back through the blueprint to see what’s changed.  More MPLS and less wireless I think are the highlights as I look at the table of contents in this whacking thick “CCIE Routing and Switching Certification Guide Fourth Edition” I just bought.  Mostly, the content is the same as before, though.  I think the test itself is a different testing engine, but that’s of no great concern to me.  If I know the material sufficiently well, I should be able to pass the test.  At least, that’s my presumption.

Last time I prepared for the written exam by reading every word of every paragraph of every chapter in the book (the Second Edition at that time). This time around, my plan is to use the “Do I Know This Already?” quizzes at the start of every chapter, and focus on the areas I’m forgetful of.  I will also use the Boson test question engine that came with the Ciscopress book, and possibly the NetMasterClass.com written test prep engine if I can figure out how to get back at that material (I seem to have lost access, even though I signed up for it just a few months ago).

I might post a bit more about that as I go along.

A CCIE Widow’s Request

CCIE # 5804 was one of the very few CCIEs in Alaska.  I met him at Networkers in 2008 the month before his death.  I did not find out about his passing until March of 2009 when a friend and co-worker sent me a message about him after seeing his picture on my blog.  I had exchanged emails with him prior to Cisco Live 2008 so when we met I was pleased to make the acquaintance of one of only 4 CCIEs in Alaska that I knew of.  After Cisco shut down the NASCAR Grille CCIE party, I hosted a bunch of CCIEs at the Hard Rock Café near there at Universal Studios Orlando.  The band Modest Mouse was just finishing their last set for the night and we had a few beers together along with seven or eight other CCIEs.  The other guys were from Holland, Texas and a few other places.  But Dave and I talked a lot that evening and I am happy now, looking back that I had that chance.

At the end of August 2009 I received this email from Lee Gahm, Dave’s wife;

Dear Eman,

Sincerely,
Lee

So I am posting this so that anyone who knew CCIE # 5804, Dave Gahm will share in photos or in writing their experiences with Dave.  CCIEs have a way of influencing others across borders so I am happy to help Mrs. Gahm and Dave’s parents in gathering what I can through this medium Dave loved so much.

If you have anything you would like to share about Dave Gahm please respond to eman@ccieflyer.com.

Thanks.

I for one do this, first I’ll read a chapter in a book about whatever subject I happen to be on. For this I’m going to use OSPF. I read that chapter on lets say, Routing TCP/IP by Jeff Doyle.. (Awesome book!). Rather than read the whole book, I go to lets say my Internetwork Expert COD and go through the OSPF videos. Then afterward, I open up an OSPF specific protocol lab, in this case Internetwork Experts’ VOL1 labs. Then go through my notes during the lab practice or after, refresh on anything and move on. Only after I’ve fully done all protocols in this scenario, do I move on to full protocol labs or mock labs.

What is your study habit? How do you prepare? Any pointers, comments or advice more than welcomed.

What does amnesty mean?  Well it has been years since I thumbed through my Funk and Wagnalls dictionary so I could not actually find it!  Instead I hopped on-line and looked it up.

Noun1.amnesty - a period during which offenders are exempt from punishment

Verb1.amnesty - grant a pardon to (a group of people)

If you have not been informed there are many ways to use your CCIE number.  A few of these methods are frowned upon by Cisco and can even cost you that hard earned number.  Yes, recently I personally witnessed the revoking of a pair of CCIEs who had associated their numbers to a channel they did not work for.  This is strictly forbidden by Cisco and can result in severe penalties to the Channel and the CCIE.  (see http://www.itworld.com/networking/69359/innocuous-or-unethical )

I felt pretty badly about the CCIEs losing their certifications and wanted to help prevent this as much as I can.  So I called Monica (my best friend at Cisco) and we put our heads together to come up with a solution.  From this chat the CCIE Amnesty program was born.

The rules are very clear about CCIEs whose numbers are used to help advance channel partners reseller status.  The CCIE must work and live where the company is located.  Number associations have been done in some creative ways both with and without the CCIE’s participation.  As I described in February on my blog http://www.ccieagent.com/ in the story , “CCIE Hostage Stand-Off”, sometimes unsuspecting CCIEs are fooled by a company simply to get them to associate their number.  The company in this story after passing the Cisco Audit put the CCIEs on unpaid leave.  In other cases the CCIE simply succumbs to the temptation to associate their number because their real employer has no use for it.  So they get a small fee for the number and are never utilized by the company, I call this a Rent-A-Cert.   This is a name used by a company acting as a recruiting company but in actuality putting certified individuals in harm’s way.

Here’s our plan, for the next 90 days I am asking any CCIE who is in a situation where their CCIE number is associated with a company they are not really working for to step forward and I will have their number released from that employer with no repercussions or penalties.  The company will then have nine months to resolve their need and the CCIE will help another CCIE have a shot at a real job.  Think about it, if you have your number associated with a company that needs the number you are taking a job away from another CCIE who needs a job.

How to proceed.

Send me an email eman@ccieflyer.com and I will call you to begin the process.  I will keep you out of hot water and help the channel partner replace you with a real CCIE to join their staff.  If you are the victim of a channel that is holding your number against your will I will help release your number also without reprisals to the channel partner in question.

Tell your friends tell your coworkers but most of all tell the man in the mirror (ala Michael Jackson) it’s wrong so let’s clean it up!  There is an effort to identify the fraudulent associations so please take advantage of this amnesty before you get a letter from Cisco about your CCIE number being revoked!

Peace!

I just happened to glance at my calendar today and realized that I need to get my butt in gear.  I’ve scheduled the CCIE SP written exam for August 1 and I’m only about 30% of the way through MPLS Fundamentals!

I’ll be updating this site as I progress through each blueprint topic as well as posting a plan of attack.

Talk soon…

So what else set Narbik apart? This bootcamp was fun. It was involved. He skipped over what we knew as the basics and got right down to the point on most topics. And when you thought you knew something… POW! You knocked you upside the head with fundamental scenarios that begged to differ.  What I really liked, is we were’nt follwing every keystroke while he configured an entire topology, watch us lab the whole time or try to dazzle us with his knowledge of english composition nor drink champagne with the aristocracy pinky finger up. This dude was straight down to earthand I loved that we got at least half the time in lecture. I mean, seriously, why the hell would I pay to go lab in a hotel banquet hall? I can do that at home for free. I want to have an interactive exploration of our favorite subjects and thats precisely what I got.  You don’t go there to feel smart. Join a bookclub if thats the case. You go there to be humbled and learn from it. 

So what didn’t I like? Eh, the location got changed at the last minute when I had my hotel reservations already, but it was only 10 min farther, so thats just plain old bitching. But LA traffic blows. And 9am start time was later than I expected, but then again, more bitching. 

Above all, it’s great to have a mentor in front of your face to answer and demonstrate you questions. Want to know the best part? I’ve made a habit of citing conflicting information from different sources, footnoting who it was said from. Then I put some of it to the test with Narbik. Well, lets just say he destroyed my footnotes and I enjoyed it.  Btw, I don’t think Narbik sleeps… at all.

Weight, Local Pref, Network(best origination), AS, Origin code, MED, External>Internal, RID which is shortened as:

We Love Negron’s Ass on Mondays Except If Rashed

Er.. I may have helped a little bit. Sick yet hilarious. Oh man, it was a goofy day. But much was learned. In short, Narbik is the man

For the longest time I have been thinking of either giving it up all
together or come up with something that will capture the entire
(CCIE) world, well I decided to really go after it and I mean full
ON, here are the changes that you may find in my future boot camps
starting in 2 months, here it goes:

The boot camp work book and the advanced work book will be combined
and sold as the new version 2.0.

The boot camp workbook will have the following:

• Brand New switching section, covering intense STP, RSTP, MSTP, and all new tasks.
• Brand new frame relay labs, 100 percent of frame-relay
• Brand new RIPv2 section, this routing protocol has 30 tasks in amini mock lab style, you have NOT seen anything like it, summarization and filtering like you have never seen before.
• Brand new EIGRP, if you think you had a hard ass EIGRP section, you wait till you see this one.
• Brand new OSPF and BGP section, everything is a fair game.
• Brand new redistribution and QOS section.
• Brand new Multicast section, this new section is over 150 pages.
• Brand new IPv6 mini mock lab section
• Brand new security and IP services section

I mean you have NOT seen better, listen guys I am NOT trying to sell you
the class, you have paid already, but I am telling you, even the lectures
have changed. YOU WAIT AND SEE.

My goal is to get 80 percent passing on the first try. That is a promise.

Introduction

Serving internet in MPLSVPN cloud is really a frantic job. This is what I used to think but after reading lot of articles and paper I got full understanding. Of course, if you are aware of MPLS technology then it’s really a calm job. In the given scenario MPLS is running in service provider cloud and from now onwards service provider wants to serve internet with the help of MPLS. The focal point is route target in MPLSVPN cloud and you should have the basic understanding of working of route targets with import and export statements.

 Apologies for not uploaing scenario pic. May be some problem with the server.

Internet———R2-PE-INTERNET—–MP-iBGP——-R1-CUST-VRF———CE

Working

Router R2-PE-INTERNET is connected with upstream service provider from where the internet bandwidth is allocated. R2-PE-INTERNET is only having a default route towards the R3 router.

Ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 2.2.2.2 [Default Route Towards The Internet Service Provider]

Before proceeding further on we need to understand the how the packet flow will work. It will be of two types :-

a)      PE itself works as internet gateway.

b)      PE is receiving the default route from another PE router and there after traffic will move towards the internet.

In this post I will keen towards the internet flow and its working configuration and simulation will provide in the upcoming posts.

Note:-On internet only IPV4 traffic will move. Internet doesn’t understand the vpnv4 traffic or label traffic.

Customer will send a request to the PE for shivlu.blogspot.com. The traffic sent by the customer will be ipv4 traffic; once it reached PE it will be entered in the vrf. So in vrf the traffic will look for the default route for internet. If the route will not present in the vrf, traffic will be dropped silently. So vrf must have a default route which should forward the traffic towards the internet gateway. Assume default route is in the CUST vrf routing table. Now the next question comes in mind what will be the next hop address of that default route? Definitely the next hop address should be the remote PE router from the router will learn the default route in vrf. I know its little sticky but don’t worry it will be cleared later. After reaching the remote PE traffic will look forward the ip address which will be available in global routing table and at last it will leave the service provider cloud. This is all about the traffic moving from CUST vrf to internet. Here we cannot stop because need to check how the traffic will come from internet and will receive by customer.

For reverse traffic forwarding; traffic will first arrive to service provider internet gateway router. After that global routing table will be checked for the destination address which is the CUST global ip pool. It means we need to advertise the CUST global internet pool in the service provider cloud. Now the question comes where it should be announced and how customer will receive ipv4 traffic because it is part of vrf? For achieving this service provider need to add a static route towards PE router which is directly attached to the CE.

Ip route <global route> <subnet mask> <outgoing interface address which is part of vrf> <next hop CE address>

Now the route is added in the global routing table and need to redistribute in IGP. There after route will be globally available on every router. So during the reverse path from internet traffic will come to know about the destination address via IGP and on reaching PE the ip traffic will forwarded in the vrf interface.

Now ping the global ip address 4.2.2.2 with source public ip from CE and you get the !!!!!.

regards

shivlu jain

Bought CCIE Command Memorizer today. My first impression of the product is very good. I already have IPEXPERT BLS as i mentioned in my previous post but this tool gives me different perspective that way i can learn. Even though i have to type the commands in full but i dont mind doing that. The whole thing is divided in parts. They cover most of the topics mentioned in the CCIE (R & S) blueprint. You cant type “  ?  ” for help, which means that you need to know the command before you type it. I think this is a good feature but everyone has a different view on things. The reason why i think it is great is that instead of typing ? all the times and drill down until i find the right command with COMMAND MEMORIZER i need to actually know what i am typing which means i can save a lot of time during my lab exam as i know the commands by heart. Another benefit of not having help when attempting any scenario is that it will change my habit of typing ? everytime and instead go to the CISCO DOC CD to find the answer which means i am improving my navigation skills for the CISCO DOC which can be very handy when i am doing my lab. But again everyone has a different view.

You can do the scenarios as many times you want. Once you are finished you can reset the whole page and do all over again. You dont even need internet connection, once you have activated the product you are good to go and you can use the product anywhere you want.

I tried the switching section and they have really good scenarios to work on. They start from basic and then complex scenarios.

Will update more once i have tried it a bit more.

Notes on Redistribution

• When redistributing from OSPF in to BGP, by default, BGP only accepts internal routes not external type-1 or type-2.
• When redistributing into OSPF all redistributed routes get a metric of 20, except BGP gets a metric of 1.
• EIGRP needs a default-metric command or a metric when redistributing with route-map or with the redistribute metric xxx command.
• Watch for RIP metrics set to redistributed routes, might end up with 16, use metric, again in route-map or redistribute metric command.
• Only IS-IS Level-2 routes are redistributed by default
• Watch for administrative distance problems, especially since EIGRP has lower distance than OSPF.
• Beware of the metric used by RIP
• Redistributing in to RIP requires a metric or default-metric or it may get set to 16.
• Always filter routes when doing redistribution the use of route TAGS is extremely useful and sometimes necessary (to conserve time and headaches).
• BGP only redistributes eBGP routes by default (bgp redistribute internal) to change that.
• Make note of routes in routing table and from which protocol. Only routes in routing table get redistributed.
• Always watch for multiple points of redistribution and routes from a higher AD protocol going into a lower AD protocol then back into Higher AD, use route TAGS as well for this.
• Only change Protocol AD if absolutely necessary.
• route-maps are extremely useful in redistribution as in BGP.

If you have further notes that are useful and wish to share, well then go ahead an leave me your thoughts

My study plan coming soon… Workbooks used and methods :0

Your Own Study Style

I’m no study or learning expert, these are just my ideas and what works for me. Possibly, I will do things differently in the future. But take time to think what might work for you and find you r own study style.

Exercise

Sitting still causes health problems, the human body evolved to use movement and needs to keep moving. Even simple things in your body like bowels and blood flow needs exercise to work correctly. Sick people get sicker partly because they are unable to move around.

Therefore some type of exercise keeps you brain in good working order. From my reading it needs to be aerobic exercise like riding a bike, or running - something that get the heart rate above 100 beats per minute for thirty minutes and you should plan to do that three times a week. More is better. I’m not an exercise junkie, I’m middle aged, tubby and ten kilos overweight, but I still exercise to be improve stamina and sleep better. No more than that really.

Also, treat your exercise as a break. Ask yourself: Can you make two hours of study followed by a fitness session of an hour or so, followed by two hours of study ? Good use of time.

Relearn Concentration

I am pretty sure that I have ADD((attention deficit disorder)) behaviour caused by the Internet and my Professional practice. I find it hard to concentrate on a single issue for extended periods of time. Think about turning off or blocking your Internet when you start studying until you learn or relearn to concentrate.

To help me with this, I use a timer on my computer that is set for 20 minutes of reading, 20 minutes of Flash card review and 10 minutes of break. A break is a drink, or some music or a walk around. It took me some time to be able to get to a twenty minute concentration span and I am working hard to keep it.

This means closing your email client, twitter, facebook etc etc, since they will interrupt your concentration.

It’s not easy.

Study is not easy. It’s not easy to relearn good study habits so don’t expect to be instantly able to study for 10 hours in day. You need to “exercise your study habit” and build up your stamina. I think the CCIE Written is a good place to practice and improve your “study stamina”.

It will take time. Persistence is needed and when you can’t study for four hours a day in the early stages because of poor concentration, rethink the way that you do it.

Learn Focus, Train to Focus - use Earplugs

OK, so no TV and no music. Now buy some earplugs (I use Moldex and buy them from eBay) and put them in your ears to block out all noise. Weird at first, but soon you will teach your body and mind that when the earplugs are in, you are in ‘concentration mode’. I use them at all times, even when there is no noise around me. I have earplugs at work and will use them to learn something new, or implement something difficult.

You might want to think about the movie Karate Kid, who spent weeks learning how to concentrate before he learned any Martial Art. Its not a bad paradigm.

Yeah, that’s a bit weird too but people respect an engineer who is working. It has been good for my career because I get things done, and because I look like I’m getting it done. Never underestimate both items.

No music

Part of learning to concentrate means concentrating. I use music breaks in my study time to rest my mind, but not when studying. Music breaks the focus you need to achieve cognition and learning.

Session Length

Studying is both a marathon and a sprint. The networking industry will require you to spend the rest of your life studying - its a marathon. But make your study sessions short, say no longer than two hours in the early days. Walk away after the two hours and treat your mind to the rest. Soon, your subconscious will know that two hours of work will get a reward.

Does this sound like a training program ? Well, yes, that’s how it turned out.

Don’t watch TV

First, Evidence shows that more than two hours of television per day causes dysfunction of the brain, causing demotivation and loss of cognisance functions in the brain. Specifically, the research suggests that it causes the learning and processing part of your brain to be suppressed. The effect lasts while you watch television regularly.

Second, TV is a HUGE time suck. 2 hours watching crap, means two of your life lost. And nothing worthwhile achieved.

That’s pretty grim

So that sounds bad to a lot of people. For me, not watching television has been a great, brilliant, awesome decision. Firstly, I have a better sleeping pattern since I go to bed about the same time during the week. I don’t “stay up for the wotsit show”. I go to bed when I am tired and/or can’t get any more useful stuff done. I do not recommend staying up late to study or “pushing yourself”, the information is not absorbed.

Second, I have much more time for family and our family outing and friends are not organised around TV scheduling. We schedule our lives, not the television.

Thirdly, after eight years of no TV, I find that television is boring. If I do watch something, I get bored after ten or fifteen minutes because it isn’t very stimulating. And I have lost the habit of sitting there waiting for something else to watch. This started to happen after a year or so. Now I just don’t bother.

Sport. Frankly, who cares about a bunch of jocks/beefheads chasing a piece of pigskin. It’s the lowest form of entertainment on TV. I love going in person to experience the whole atmosphere but otherwise, … meh. I would rather participate in geek sports and then the jocks can find new ways to move up the food chain. Maybe they could learn something instead of being meatheads.

That said, its good fun watching the final of whatever sport (soccer, rugby, etc) with a bunch of friends. Reminder: It’s the bunch of friends that makes it fun, not the sport itself.

Movies

I like watching movies, and this gives me common ground with other people. So, yes I think a movie now and then is OK. But not one every night instead of TV.

Use Flashcards

Flashcards are tedious and hard to get used to. But that exam your are studying for will need to be done again in two or three years, then the flashcards are the perfect place to start revision. Refresh is easier than loading it again.

When I first tried flash cards, I didn’t like them. Couldn’t get to grips with it at all. But all the evidence shows that they work.

Use Spaced Learning

This is a newer concept. The idea is that you need to review a piece of data about eight times to memorise or absorb a fact or datum. But you need to see it four or five times in quick succcession with a longer and longer break between subsequent revision before it remain with you for life.

I use a software package Mental Case which is a flashcard creation package (including graphics), plus a scheduling system that will prepare “lessons” of cards on the schedule.

Read wikipedia for more information on Spaced Learning.

Start easy, don’t block your early successes, hard stuff in the middle

Start with something you know best. I have managed to block myself by starting with my least favourite or hardest subject and then having confidence problems and not being able to study. And don’t leave the toughest sections until last, save some easier or strong areas to keep your confidence up just before your go for your test.

Plan for the harder material, if you know it, in the middle of your program so that you have enough time to overcome it and adapt your schedule of you need to.

Make a Plan, Make a Deadline

So many people say, “I’m working towards that this year”, and at the end of the year have done nothing. A good thing about studying CCxP, is that you can book the exam 12 weeks ahead. That gives you a deadline and a goal. Sure, if you get sick or family pressures change, you can move that date, but don’t let that happen.

I have let myself do this too many times, and then never achieved what I wanted. I get lost, move onto something else, or let work tasks consume my personal study time.

Extreme tips

-
Just like an athlete who is approaching race day you should consider your final preparation for an exam or test.

• Don’t read the news or catch up on events.
• Don’t read your RSS feed, or Twitter. Most of it is useless data, fun but pointless.
• Use blogging to focus your planning and what you have achieved, but don’t read the comments or get involved in a discussion.
• Consider shutting down your social and personal life - athletes do this when preparing for the race for the same reason.
• Don’t let yourself lose focus
• Don’t stay up all night, go to bed, get some sleep and you will learn better. Staying up all night makes it worse not better.

Wrap up

Well, this is what works for me. It might work for you, choose the bits that suit your style. I have been studying networking for about thirteen years now. There are new areas constantly coming through, and I need to keep working on them. I am working on Enterprise Security this year, but I still need to be reviewing my MPLS and IPv6 knowledge. And a some research into applications has been useful in working on WAN Acceleration, Proxy / Caching and Load Balancing.

Remember, learning in networking will always be a requirement and, as a working CCIE, more than most people. I know now that I have to have a plan or method to keep that learning going. After nearly twenty years of University, job learning, Cisco and other vendor education and self prepared learning, I need to remind myself that there is another ten years before I retire to a management role, and there is much technical learning to happen before then.

PS : Lucky ?

Learning isn’t about luck, it’s about being prepared, memorised, comprehension and knowledge of the topics. Don’t plan on being lucky, plan on knowing it.

This post was originally published at http://etherealmind.com/2009/02/10/cisco-study-planning-tips/.

For example, I have been a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) for years since I was active duty military at Ft. Bragg, NC. At a base full of Airborne qualified paratroopers, there’s plenty of MMA gyms to go around. I Started my interest at a Brazilian Jui-jitsu (BJJ) school right off base. Thats where  you get hooked. Since then, I had devoted time to Muay Thai, BJJ, and wrestling as my favorite hobby. Even on a recent deployment to Iraq, I managed to find a group of soldiers and civilians who despite their jobs, spent any free time they had to training. So here I am now, over 1 year out of my element, studying for the CCIE, dreaming of the day that I will pass and can train once again. So the only thing I can do, is weight train as often as I can in the gym, but even so, I’ve been slipping hard.

Why you can’t give up

Lets be honest, chances are you may have to temporarily give up your favorite sport to pursue the CCIE, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop exercising entirely. Lets look at the first reason why you absolutely need to continue exercising.

• Stress

Stress is a roadblock to study, whether you realise it or not. Exercise has been proven to reduce stress and thats conducive to study. Not to mention your chances of depression are lowered drastically.

• Improved Brain Activity

 Aerobic (and anaerobic) facilitate a positive mood and better self-esteem. Those sound like good motivators for study to me. You read up on some benefits as published by the Surgeon General’s report here. And About.com has a quick generic overview of how exercise improves mental health.

How I survive

Look bottom line is, study is absolutely no excuse for not getting your workout on.  But its our time management that kicks us in the ass. So what I try to do is go to the gym a minimum of 3 times a week, and on other days, try to spare 20 min or more to some simple aerobic exercise such as running (taking my dog along for a run through the german forest can be refreshing). The key is to develop an weight training program thats extremely flexible. that Mon this, Tues that crap won’t cut it. You need to base training days on generic days (Day 1, Day 2 etc.) which can rotate to any day of the week, so any skipped workout keeps you on the same schedule.   So if I have a 3 day schedule, it would be “Push” on day 1, “Pull” on day 2, and “Push” again on day 3. The whole push pull thing suggests things like Bench press, squats for push, Pullups and say, deadlifts for Pull. there’s core exercises (abs and lower back) included in each day. So i’m never skipping a bodypart.

Yes, its sort of total body each time, because its a very condensed schedule. But the real trick its to cut the workout to about 40 min or less. Most of us can’t spare 2 hours a day to working out. Can you imagine? What if you get home from work at 6pm after traffic , spend 2 hours working out, get home at 8:30. Assuming you went to sleep at 11pm, you only have 2 1/2 hours of study! You have to budget warm up time of 5-10 min in your workouts too though. We’re all different, but that is whats been working for me so far. A sample day might have me get off work at 5pm, rush to the gym, be changed warmed up by 5:30 (My job is close to a gym, you may be different), drum up a  few Olympic lifts, 2 - 3 sets of various exercises, get in 5 min or more of planks for the core then hustle home for a quick shower and start labbing.

Its not perfect, in fact, I work out much less and have don’t see the results I did when I wasn’t studying. But thats not the point. I’m trying to maintain a minimum level of fitness during my studies so I haven’t sacrified much and can pick back up when I’m done. I’d love to hear how everyone else manages to keep their fitness sanity.

I’ve followed up on tons of blog posts and suggestions, but I’ve become kind of partial to certain resources. Check them out:

Internetworkexpert Online Community ( www.ieoc.com)

This is easily number one in my eyes.  I have loved this forum since it was introduced. I can’t quite figure what it is about www.groupstudy.com that I don’t like, but I guess thats the illogical side of me. But I’ve been visiting other forums, such as IPexpert’s http://onlinestudylist.com/ , but it just wasn’t the same. Much less activity, and less interaction from the instructors. I have no idea how they do it, but IE responds frequently and still develops material and conduct bootcamps. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m a member, but if I email any instructor at IE, they email me back pretty quickly with an answer to my question. I’m almost positive I get on IE’s nerves at IEOC, but its damn worth it. Most of the time you’ll get responses from other candidates, or those who have their number already, and no one feeds you wrong info (of if they do, someone will call them out immediately)

Cisco Documenation (the DocCD)

Need I say more? Actually, before I only referenced it here and there when I thought I needed to. But wow, I was so blind. Those expensive Cisco press books are a waste. The DocCD is in plain english, easy to understand their introductions to technologies, and important notes are bordered with horizontal rules so you won’t just browse over it. Now that I’ve been reading the DocCD page by page, there have been numerous things that I didn’t know before, and its become my single most reliable source of information when I feel like reading.

IP Expert’s Videos on Demand

When I got my hard drive from IP Expert, I was anxious to start watching the videos. And boy was I grateful! Straight to the point, simplied language that helps you understand instead of just make you feel smart, but wasn’t insulting either. IE’s class on demands are great for more material, but the IP expert videos are spectacular first pass materials.  Of course, what I haven’t mentioned yet is that the videos that i have from IP Expert are all done by Scott Morris, who is an instructor at IE now.

Personal Notes

Nothing beats your own notes, as long as your own paraphrasing doesn’t screw you. Thats why I footnote everything. Whats really helped is having one word document with bullet points of configurations or areas that have given me trouble. Sort of a cheat sheet.

RFC’s

Ok, I can’t read through all of an RFC most of the time, but they’re best for setting the record straight when you have conflicting notes (besides the DocCD).  I’ve had to reference RFC 2328 (OSPF) more times then I can count. You wouldn’t believe how many people will post wrong stuff about OSPF. Don’t forget to browse the April Fool’s RFC’s

Blogs

Your reading this one aren’t you? The after lab posts are the greatest, doesn’t matter if it’s pass or fail.

Nested Virtual Links

• You can extend to more than one area away.
• One Hope at a time.
• As you install Virtual link, you bring Area O outwards to the remote area.

OSPF without Area O

• In a single area system, Area O is not needed.
• Once you have more than one area, Area O is required.
• A virtual link by itself is part of Area O.
• To make a virtual link come up though, some area must exist in Area 0 already.
• Loopbacks work perfectly fine.

Link Metrics

• Router advertised dont include local link.
• Received Router have local link cost added.
• Frequently use ” SH IP RO OS” to see changes.
• May influence simple path changes on Per Router Basis.
• May influence Area exit point choices if multiple ABR’s exist.
• Use “SH IP O I | IN IS UP | COST”

What i have done so far for my prepartions and the materials i have used, The books list is not that extensive but for some reasons my bookshelf has started to fill up.

List of Books:-

• Routing TCP/IP by Jeff Doyle both Volume 1 and Volume 2.
• Cisco LAN Switching by Kennedy Clark and Kevin Hamilton.
• CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide ( 3rd Edition) by Wendell Odom, Healy and Mehta.
• Internet Routing Architectures by Sam Halabi
• Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN) (Authorized Self-Study Guide) by Richard Froom, Balaji and Erum.
• CCNP Official Exam Certification Library by Brent, Dave, Brian and Neil

Materials bought from vendors

IPEXPERT Self Study Blending Learning Solution.

Bootcamp Attended

Attended Narbik’s Bootcamp in December 2008. Planning to Retake it again before the lab attempt as it is free for students who have already attended and paid for the first one.

Workbooks used

Workbooks from Narbik
Workbooks and labs from IPEXPERT.

I think that sums up what i have been using for my studies so far. once again a big thanks to ETHAN for providing this opportunity and i will try to contribute as others have on the site.

Take a look, as WISB can help speed up configuration and information gathering in CCIE practice lab environments.  Let the author know what you think.

The class begins with a brief lecture on QOS to finish the lecture of Thursday.
Then we proceeded to Multicast. Narbiks style again was not to give you a mere
interpretation of the DOCCD but to put everything in a meaninfull context and to
create relationships between different areas in the technology.

The last part of Narbik’s lecture was about Lab Stratergy. He told us that the
important thing is that once you begin doing a workbook you have to finish it.
He also praised the 8 hours Lab workbooks from InternetworkExpert and IPExpert and
told us to do at least some of these labs.

We received a vast collection of material to work on;
01) The soup to nuts e-workbook (This is only for pre-bootcamp preparation)
02) The advanced ccie workbook consisting of five volumes
03) The Bootcamp workbook consisting of two volumes (498 pages)
04) Two mock labs
05) 17 PDFs with new material!

Narbik tells us to take the time to finish each volume and to make note of each
item we found difficult to accomplish. Then when we are finished doing all the
workbooks and PDFs we have to go back to our notes and redo the ones we found
difficult. Narbiks also tells us how to use the DOCCD as a reference.
One student noted that Narbik is teaching us how to become better engineers and
as a result of that to pass the CCIE Lab Exam.

The class ended at about 14:00 and than students began praising Narbik telling him
that this is the best class ever they attended. These dudes are not easily impressed
for they know a lot and several of them have at least one master degree in some
technical area.

For the skeptical reader. This was a retake of the bootcamp.
My first time was in Pasadena. I was not well prepared then and I had a
terrible jet-lag which lasted the whole week for I didn’t had time to
catch-up for the classes lasted 10 to 12 hours. This time I had no time
difference and I was well prepared. I paid for the bootcamp.
I blogged this five day bootcamp because I wanted to give the reader a
honest impression of Narbik’s bootcamp.

-=end=-

Thanks and cya soon

I’ve spent the month of January balancing study, work, and sharing one car since my wife’s car had transmission problems But I stayed diligent, and I’m still on track. I was sort of rushing things but sicne I have a bootcamp in Pasadena, CA next month (Mar 22 - 27) I’m slowing my pace down and doing more reading. Especially with everyone up-in-arms about the short answer portion of the exam. Want to see how pissed off people are? check out these posts

http://ieoc.com/forums/t/5105.aspx

For the most part, I’ve regressed to reading the Official Exam Cert Guide 3rd edition and the Doyle Routing TCP/IP volumes. Thats alot of ground to cover from now till April. I have no official date, but with the change last year in the payment policy, there’s more dates open in a shorter time frame. I’ve changed my labbing approach to forcing myself to look things up in the Doc CD, and fully verifying everything. I’ve had a bad habit of saying eh, its practice, and assuming the config is correct, only with a glance at the solutions guide afterwards.

So far If I had to summarize my biggest problem up until now, its forgetting key configurations done earlier in the lab. Now, I draw my own diagram, and make notes on it, as I will during the actual exam. Seems like a no brainer right? But I took it for granted. Forgetting I used a virtual link somewhere, or forgetting to include loopbacks in summaries, the list goes on.

You know, i’ve noticed no one ever talks about notes? does everyone even take notes? are they structured,  mind mapped, or random loose leaf papers? Its so easy to talk about what we think every one wants to hear, but to be honest sometimes its the small details we want to know. Myself, I have about 10 word documents of different topic domains, where I copy my notes into and format later; though I write them into notepad real quick first, and it usually takes me several days to actually transfer that data to word. Works for me though, kind of reinforces it for me. But there’s one key thing I’ve had to do, which coincidentally our cisco rep said he did for his IE too. Thats adding footnotes of my sources. Too many times have I had conflicting tidbits of info, and its pissed me off like all hell.

The audio classes, doesn’t matter if its my copy from IE or IP expert, hasn’t really helped that much. I guess I’ve out grown them. You can’t get as detailed as you can with a CoD, and I’m not really in the car so much anyway. 

Lastly, another thing I’ve done to lend myself a hand was print out my modified version of the configuration options blog post that Anthony Sequeira at IE wrote. I always forget ways to configure something when i’m in a lab, but I do remember some.  But honestly, the absolute best resource at my disposal right now has been www.ieoc.com ’nuff said’.

Yesterday the dinner was really nice. I had a mini tour through the “old” part of
the city and really enjoyed it. I had like 1 1/2 liter of fine beer and
really enjoyed the evening. We were making jokes in QOS lexicon and everybody was
laughing and having a good time. I noticed that the Slavic food is as healthy as it
can get, which off course is a big plus because the portions were enormous.

We began with RIP today after which we were given time to complete some bootcamp
scenario’s. Although RIP is considered an easy protocol, it has its quirks.
We were shown the quirks and how to deal with them.

After lunch we had a QOS lecture which once again was very methodically given.

I really enjoyed the QOS lecture. Narbik has a way to transverse the student his
expert view. Narbik has a holistic view and he transverses this to his students.
I will not say that the IOS is perfect. But I will say that Narbik made me see
how consistent the IOS is. That made me see relationships where I haven’t seen
them before and because of that I have learned to appreciate/enjoy the IOS more
than I did before.

Tomorrow is the last day.

So, here is my journey summarized with the least amount of overlap

Written

I passed my written exam on January 22, 2008 ….it took me two attempts.  This test was a pain in the rear for me.  I’m hoping the Service Provider written exam is not as bad.

Materials

For the lab:  (in order of preference / worth)

1.)    Narbik Kocharians bootcamp

 2.)    Cisco Documentation Site

 3.)    Cisco ASET Labs

 4.)    Internetwork Expert - CCIE Routing & Switching Lab Workbook Volume I & II

 5.)    IPExpert audio on demand class

Narbik’s class was invaluable and greatly contributed to my success.  I plan on taking his Service Provider class as well as soon as it becomes available.  (time to start looking in the couch for loose change)  Before I start on the SP track, I need to finish my CCVP which I put on hold during my CCIE R/S prep.  2 more tests left 642-444 CIPT4.1 & 642-426 TUC.  I’m hoping I can knock these out by the end of March and then I will get started on the CCIE written prep.  (actually I’ve already started some MPLS & IS-IS study because I’m a geek)  Narbik will tell you when you take his class that reading through the Cisco documentation is critical…he is right, once again.  I can’t describe how much reading through the documentation, even if I thought I knew a topic 100%, helped.

The Cisco ASET labs were great for me because they were a no-cost study prep option for me.  I did most of my 3550/3560 practice on these racks.

The IE labs were fantastic as well for getting me ready to search through the Cisco documentation for obscure topics.  Very challenging, but looking back, pretty fun too. 

The IPExpert audio class that I had was a little dated (Scott Morris was still with IPExpert), but it really helped keep topics fresh in my brain.  A 1.5 hour one way commute to work gave me ample time to listen to this class.

Study Time

Beginning in August of last year I started my “hard-core” lab study.  I spent the first month going back through Jeff Doyle’s Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1, 2nd Edition & CCIE Routing and Switching Official Exam Certification version 2 and 3.  I used Dynamips (didn’t discover GNS3 until a little later) and created network scenarios for each routing protocol.

My lab study really kicked into high gear when I decided to attend Narbik’s bootcamp.  I received the Soup to Nuts workbook and worked through the workbook in about 3 weeks, but I had to skip a good bit of the switching because I didn’t have access to 3550 or 3560 switches.  I attended Narbik’s bootcamp in mid October.  This class was exactly what I needed.  I only wish that I had been able to attend his bootcamp earlier in the year. 

I then spent the next 2 months going over Narbik’s workbooks, doing each lab 2-3 times and reviewing the Cisco documentation.  At the end of December I started IE 8 hour labs from their lab workbook.  I started out my 8 hour lab practice with an IE Mock Lab (Lab 3).  It kicked my butt, but it made me realize that I needed to really crack down.  During this month-long period I also utilized a few of the Cisco ASET 8 hour labs.  You really need to be able to sit still for 8 whole hours and maintain focus on the tasks at hand.  I would wake up early Saturday and Sunday morning and then tell my wife “I’m going in” - 8-10 hours later I would emerge, sometimes fairly dejected, but always fully determined to continue.

I finished my lab prep by re-attending Narbik’s bootcamp in Pasadena (Monday - Wednesday, well actually only Tuesday & Wednesday because I was sick on Monday).  I drove from Pasadena to San Jose on Thursday and arrived in the late afternoon at the Marriott, a welcome change from the Comfort Inn in Pasadena.  I’m not knocking the Comfort Inn as I stayed there both times in Pasadena, but the Marriott was a tad-bit nicer. 

Day of the Exam - January 30, 2009 (I visited the Cisco facility the day before to ensure I knew where to go and when to be there - 8:15am in building C 150 W Tasman Drive)

I decided to forgo any additional study the day before the exam as many of you suggested.  Thank you for that!  I really needed to rest my brain and a movie, workout, and nice dinner really helped me do just that.  I went to sleep around 10pm that evening and woke up at 5:30 the morning of the exam.  After saying the longest prayer I had in a while, I had a Starbucks coffee and a small protein meal bar and decided to drink as little water as possible.  I tend to drink a good amount of liquid during the day, but I didn’t want to have to be making many trips to the restroom at the testing facility.  (strange I know, but it allowed me to stay a little more focused on the lab)

I arrived at building C on the Cisco campus at 7:45 (a little too early, but better early than late I guess).  I then sat for a bit in the waiting area…followed by some pacing back and forth under the stairwell.  The next 30 minutes seemed to go by really slowly.

At 15 minutes after 8:00, we were ushered back to the lab area and given instructions on what to do & what not to do.  When the lab began there was no shotgun start and nobody saying Start Now!  We just started at exactly 8:30.  I spent the next 30 minutes reading through the lab, drawing my topology, and creating my score tracking checklist.  I did enter my alias commands and they did seem to save a small amount of time…not sure I’ll use them in my next lab.  I asked the proctors many questions during my lab.  They were helpful and patient.  I know some of my questions were a bit basic, but I had to know that I was answering the question properly.

I finished all questions by 2:00pm and spent the next 2 hours reviewing my work…very important to review, reading EVERY word.  One word changes things dramatically.  I left the exam an hour early feeling very confident, but as time went by I started re-thinking some of my answers.  Did I read the question right?  Did I really answer EXACTLY what they were asking?  Oh crap!  I will never take an exam on a Friday again.  

I got very little sleep over the next 2.5-3days while waiting for my score.  The Super Bowl thankfully took my mind off the subject for a small while.  (lifelong Steelers fan, so a good night for me)  I went to be around midnight on Sunday after watching the post-game interviews.  I was not asleep long when I woke up and decided to check my email around 1:45am.  The email was there, but I could not open it on my blackberry…the next 5 minutes seemed like an age!  I could not get logged into the score report on my iMac either…oh, wait, I was typing the wrong date, nice!

I then saw the phrase “Congratulations on passing the CCIE Routing and Switching Lab!”  Was I reading it correctly?  Generally the word “congratulations” does not accompany the word “failed”, right?  I re-read the score report at least 10 times to make sure I was reading it correctly and oh wait, there’s my number!  Wow, I was ecstatic…I woke up my wife and told her (I had to tell someone).  She tells me now that she’s glad I woke her up, but I probably should have / could have waited…okay who am I kidding, I had to!  :)  

Now What? 

Where do I go from here?  Well, I have to finish my CCVP as mentioned above, but I really want to get to Service Provider prep.  I may end up buying Internetwork Expert’s training on SP so I can go through the on-demand class, but I should probably focus on the voice stuff for now. 

I’m very relieved to have passed the CCIE R/S exam, but something inside is telling me that it’s not over yet.  I have had a discussion with my wife who is again behind me 100% if I choose to go through another track.  I’m a very lucky person for that.  I have, however, been mandated to take a couple of weeks off.  (which is one reason it took me a while to make this post) 

So, how many other people are doing Service Provider?  What did you use for your prep?  If Ethan doesn’t mind, I will probably blog about my CCIE SP prep here as well. 

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has followed my journey.  There were a couple times that I thought I needed to take a break, but encouragement from those of you who have been there before and those of you that are going to be there soon really helped.  It is a great feeling knowing that there are other people out there who are going through the same trials and tribulations on the way to a CCIE #.

Thanks to Ethan as well for letting me track my journey on this site.  What a fantastic resource.

Good luck to Lucio and Luis!  I look forward to reading your success stories as well.

I’ll hopefully be back soon to blog about my Service Provider journey….but for now, time to shut down the laptop and get back to house repairs and family time.