Interesting book. It was a quick read, kind of a cross between William Gibson, Dan Brown, and Michael Crichton. The ending was kind of weak (like many of Crichton's), but the rest held my attention. I'm also trying to ignore a morally offensive chapter near the end. I am really interested in picking up Crytonomicon next, once I get the SP lab out of the way.
Time to get back to studying and away from the book reviews. I'm planning on spending the rest of July experimenting with Inter-AS VPN, CSC, and Multicast to see what kind of trouble I can get myself into. After that I'll probably knock out the last 3 IPX labs and repeat a couple more INE labs before my 3rd (and hopefully final!) attempt.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Next Attempt Scheduled
I went ahead and schedule my 3rd attempt for August 21st. My plan in the meantime is as follows:
Step 1: Read a novel to get some relaxation in. I picked up Snow Crash from Borders today.
Step 2: Read MPLS Configuration on Cisco IOS. I used a soft copy of this book as a resource for CCIP and the written and found it really helpful. I'm going to pick up a hard copy and read it from cover to cover this time.
Step 3: I might redo one or two vendor labs, but for the most part I want to break away from hard core labbing and do more experimentation. Try putting together interesting architectures on paper and see if I can make them work.
Step 3.5: Pray that core questions don't come out by August 21st.
Step 4: Pass the lab :)
Step 1: Read a novel to get some relaxation in. I picked up Snow Crash from Borders today.
Step 2: Read MPLS Configuration on Cisco IOS. I used a soft copy of this book as a resource for CCIP and the written and found it really helpful. I'm going to pick up a hard copy and read it from cover to cover this time.
Step 3: I might redo one or two vendor labs, but for the most part I want to break away from hard core labbing and do more experimentation. Try putting together interesting architectures on paper and see if I can make them work.
Step 3.5: Pray that core questions don't come out by August 21st.
Step 4: Pass the lab :)
Thanks
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your comments. I'll tell you what, when I undertook this journey 9 months ago I was under the impression that the SP lab wouldn't be a big deal. After 2 attempts I'd say that this is much harder than the R&S lab.
To answer some of the prep questions, after doing all of the INE labs and many of the IPX labs, I'd say both are great resources but neither are enough to pass the lab. I can't really get into why too much, but in general I'd say about 30 points on the my last attempt were either based on, or required by, items that weren't coverd by any of the labs I've completed thus far.
Also, while I haven't talked about it much, I have reviewed some of the SP mini scenarios as well. They do a great job covering some of the topics that aren't covered in the other labs.
For any of the vendors out there who might be reading, there's something that I would really LOVE to see in a product. Put together 10 labs based on the same core. Have the same BGP, IS-IS, and OSPF domains and areas preconfigured. Load the configs and start from there. Maybe even make lab 1 building the core. Then make lab 2 an option 1 inter-as vpn, lab 3 an option 2, and lab 4 and option 5. On the lab 5 labs throw in different complexities such as internet access and CSC, on top of the cores. Just my thoughts...
To answer some of the prep questions, after doing all of the INE labs and many of the IPX labs, I'd say both are great resources but neither are enough to pass the lab. I can't really get into why too much, but in general I'd say about 30 points on the my last attempt were either based on, or required by, items that weren't coverd by any of the labs I've completed thus far.
Also, while I haven't talked about it much, I have reviewed some of the SP mini scenarios as well. They do a great job covering some of the topics that aren't covered in the other labs.
For any of the vendors out there who might be reading, there's something that I would really LOVE to see in a product. Put together 10 labs based on the same core. Have the same BGP, IS-IS, and OSPF domains and areas preconfigured. Load the configs and start from there. Maybe even make lab 1 building the core. Then make lab 2 an option 1 inter-as vpn, lab 3 an option 2, and lab 4 and option 5. On the lab 5 labs throw in different complexities such as internet access and CSC, on top of the cores. Just my thoughts...
Bottom Line
I'd say the score was pretty representative on how I feel about the blueprint right now. I'm really comfortable with the core and basic vpn topics and have an "I know I can make just about anything work" attitude.
But when it comes to advanced vpn topics, the configuration is more like a house of cards to me. I can play with it and eventually make it work, but then I'm kind of afraid to touch it and make it all fall down. I need to have the same level of confidence with advanced vpn topics as I do with the rest of the lab.
So I've decided to go back and do some reading. I'm still torn on scheduling an exam in August. Two months out would give me a month for reading and another month for labbing. I might as well go ahead and schedule it.
But when it comes to advanced vpn topics, the configuration is more like a house of cards to me. I can play with it and eventually make it work, but then I'm kind of afraid to touch it and make it all fall down. I need to have the same level of confidence with advanced vpn topics as I do with the rest of the lab.
So I've decided to go back and do some reading. I'm still torn on scheduling an exam in August. Two months out would give me a month for reading and another month for labbing. I might as well go ahead and schedule it.
Friday, June 26, 2009
More studying to do
My score definitely improved, but I still have a little bit to go. I ended up around 70%, with quite a few perfect sections. Unfortunately, the couple of tasks I couldn't do put a possible pass out of reach.
I'm not too discouraged. This isn't a back to the drawing board score. There are just a couple of things I need to get better at.
There aren't any more exams available until August. I'm going to sleep on it to decide if I want to take try #3 then, or hold of a bit.
I'm not too discouraged. This isn't a back to the drawing board score. There are just a couple of things I need to get better at.
There aren't any more exams available until August. I'm going to sleep on it to decide if I want to take try #3 then, or hold of a bit.
Waiting Game
Well, I gave it my best shot. Things really started out great. I got stuck in the beginning for about 10 minutes on a trivial task, which seems to happen a lot as I'm getting rid of my morning jitters. After that, I was flying through the exam. By lunch I counted up 67 points and figured I'd have this thing nailed.
Unfortunately after lunch things got a lot tougher. Some things I didn't really know how to do, and others just didn't want to seem to work. And as they love to do, those two tasks that I was stuck on had another 9 points depending on them. So I had little choice but to work around it. I did consider a workaround, but it would have been tough. When I already have 67 points in the lab, I'm so hesitant to add duct tape and risk losing points elsewhere.
So by time I made my first pass, I counted 87 points and had an hour left. I was feeling pretty good because I think a rule of thumb is to expect to lose 6 of your "sure thing" points. But then I went through verification and one of my 3 point tasks was broken. I only had 30 minutes so I crossed my fingers and did a few reboots. Fortunately everything came back up. Unfortunately, my 3 points didn't come back.
I was left with 84 points, that I felt pretty good about. Not a lot of room to spare.
So at this point I'm figured I didn't pass. If I did it'll be a pleasant surprise, but I'm planning for the worst.
The shame is if I could have got that one task to work, I would have easily collected another 5 points after and would most likely be celebrating tonight.
Stay tuned for the results...
Unfortunately after lunch things got a lot tougher. Some things I didn't really know how to do, and others just didn't want to seem to work. And as they love to do, those two tasks that I was stuck on had another 9 points depending on them. So I had little choice but to work around it. I did consider a workaround, but it would have been tough. When I already have 67 points in the lab, I'm so hesitant to add duct tape and risk losing points elsewhere.
So by time I made my first pass, I counted 87 points and had an hour left. I was feeling pretty good because I think a rule of thumb is to expect to lose 6 of your "sure thing" points. But then I went through verification and one of my 3 point tasks was broken. I only had 30 minutes so I crossed my fingers and did a few reboots. Fortunately everything came back up. Unfortunately, my 3 points didn't come back.
I was left with 84 points, that I felt pretty good about. Not a lot of room to spare.
So at this point I'm figured I didn't pass. If I did it'll be a pleasant surprise, but I'm planning for the worst.
The shame is if I could have got that one task to work, I would have easily collected another 5 points after and would most likely be celebrating tonight.
Stay tuned for the results...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Squeezing in a little more
I went ahead and did IPX Vol 1 labs on l2vpn and multi-as vpn. I took my time with them and played around with some different configs as well.
I definitely learned some new things so I'm glad I did this.
Incidently, the SP grading takes a lot longer than the R&S grading did. Last time I knew I didn't have a chance, so the extra wait wasn't bad. If I think I'm close, the suspense is gonna drive me crazy.
I definitely learned some new things so I'm glad I did this.
- To do a frame-relay xconnect, the first the "connect" command must be used from global configuration mode. This specified the dlci and underneath it the xconnect is created
- When using multi-as vpn option 3, a three-deep label stack is created. In order: 1) ldp label 2) bgp label and 3) vpn label. The ldp label is used to forward the packet to the AS border router, the bgp label gets the packet to the downstream PE, and the vpn label associates the packet with the proper vpn. I never caught on to the fact that an additional label is used for the bgp label.
- Along with sh ip bgp label, sh ip bgp vpnv4 all label shows the vpn labels.
Incidently, the SP grading takes a lot longer than the R&S grading did. Last time I knew I didn't have a chance, so the extra wait wasn't bad. If I think I'm close, the suspense is gonna drive me crazy.
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