Routing TCP/IP vol 1- first impressions

So now I understand why everyone says that the Routing TCP/IP books from Cisco Press are considered must have books for CCIE study.  I started studying RIP today.  I first read the chapter in the Exam Certification Guide.  Then I read both chapters from Routing TPC/IP vol1.  I think I may need to buy some more highlighters just to get through that book.

What the few chapters that I have read so far, the book does an excellent job of really breaking down a routing protocol into its mechanics.  I think most people would agree that RIP is a pretty simple routing protocol.  Even with its simplicity, I was going nuts highlighting info that I had never really learned about it before.  Even with the detail that the book goes into, it does a good job giving examples to illustrate functionality that might not be clear from reading the description.

I’ll wait until I’ve gotten through the entire book to give an official review or recommendation.  But if the rest of the book is on par with what I have read so far, I have a feeling that I’ll be giving it 3 thumbs up.

On a related note, does anyone have an extra thumb that I could borrow?

IP Expert 1-week sale

If anyone is looking to buy training material or attend a bootcamp, be sure to check out these specials from IP Expert.

If you want to buy the Blended Learning solution for R&S or Voice, you can snag them for only $1000 each.  For that price, it’s a no-brainer.  I have a feeling that we’ll see these prices again in the future.  But I suppose there are no guarantees.

Also, if you want to do a bootcamp before the end of the year, you can attand a 5-day bootcamp for only $3000.

Lastly, there are 2-for-1s on lab rack rentals  when you buy bundles.

First crack at the IP Expert workbook vol 1

I have been prepping my lab lately to prepare to start doing some of the IP Expert labs from their workbooks.  I spent about 2 hours today creating a whole mess of cross-over cables.  So, I thought that I’d give one of the layer-2 labs a go.  I have already studied that material, and I’m a bit light on routers to do any of the other labs.

Right now, I have a pair of 2950 and a pair of 3550 switches.  So I knew I wouldn’t be able to hit all of the tasks.  But why wait for the perfect conditions, right?  I chose lab 2 out of workbook 1, which covers a number of layer 2 topics.  As I went through the lab, I used the separate proctor guide to verify my work and clear thing up that didn’t make sense.

Overall, I did OK.  I was able to do a lot of the tasks without help.  Although, I did run into a number of interpretation issues that bugged me.  For instance, here is one of the tasks.

Cat1 should send VLAN update with an MD5 one-way hash value.  Other switches should not be able to process these updates unless they have the same MD5 value.  Use a password of “1p3xp3rt#”.  DO NOT use VLAN database commands to accomplish this task.

So that seemed easy enough to me.  I setup a VTP password on Cat1as specified from global config mode and ensue that it is a VTP server.  I check the proctor guide and it has me first go into VTP v2 in order to require the MD5 hashes to match.  Now I am pretty sure that VPT v1 won’t accept updates if the passwords don’t match.  But maybe there is some aspect that I’m not aware.  But the thing that really caught me off gaurd was that it was supposed to be configured on all 4 switches in the lab.  I was under the impression that when doing the labs, I should do exactly what was asked for.  No more, no less.  Since the task never said that this should be configured on other switches, or that they should be able to accept the updates from Cat1, I figured I should leave them alone.  I guess that’s where it would be good to ask a proctor.

Here’s another one that I misunderstood.

Configure any interfaces connecting the switches together to appear as one link to STP per neighbor.  If either of the interfaces is damaged, the switches should manage one-way links.  Do not use industry standards, but make sure these links can negotiate their setups.

The thing that caught me on this one was the last sentence.  I was thinking that this was referring to the etherchannel links.  So I made sure to set the channel mode to desirable.  This would use PAgP (non-industry standard) and also negotiate the setups rather than being just on.  Well, they were referring to the trunking negotiations.

Both of these tasks were near the beginning of the lab, so I was a bit frustrated early on.  But as I went on, things got better.  There were quite a few tasks that I have no clue on.  But it was good, because I learned some new stuff.    I do wish that I had 4 layer-3 switches, so I could have done all of the tasks.  But, I don’t have the $3000 to pick up a couple of 3560s at the moment.  Since I’m only studying for my written test right now, it’s not that big of a deal to me.  And I don’t think it’ll be worth renting rack time, as I’m not sure what it would benefit me for the written.

So outside of the interpretation issues, I liked it.  I’m definitely looking forward to the other labs.  Once I get a bunch more under my belt, I’ll give you all my opinion on how useful I find them as preparation materials for the written exam.

Final written study material has arrived

I had nice package dropped off today.  I received Routing TPC/IP volumes 1 and 2.  So now my study library for the written test is complete.  I took a nice photo of my completed study material family.  Now all that I have left to get is the rest of my lab.  I’ll be sure to take a nice photo of that once it’s complete as well.

(Pictured back row: Routing TCP/IP vol 1, Official Exam Certification Guide, Routing TCP/IP vol 2.  Front row: IP Expert Blended Learning Solution, representation of CIsco Documentation)

What certifications are, and what they are “supposed to be”

Have you noticed that there is a wide range of opinion on what certifications are supposed to be?  Often times, this comes from different points of views from those people that are involved in certifications.  This would include certification holders, HR people, hiring managers, trainers, and those working on getting their certifications.  These different points of view lead to a lot of the problems that surround the certification industry.

I think it’s actually pretty easy to define what a certification is.  It’s a validation that you have passed all of the requirements set forth by the certification issuer.  So anything outside of that description is an assumption that people are placing on the certification. I know my statement is pretty simplistic.  Maybe overly so.  But I think it’s the truth.  So let’s talk about Cisco certifications, since that’s what we’re probably all interested in here.  In order to get a Cisco certification, all you have to do is pass a test (or multiple tests) and agree to Cisco’s Career Certification Agreement.  Nowhere in the agreement does it say that you have to have a certain level of experience, or even that you’ve had to have touched or seen a router or a switch.  It also doesn’t mean that you know everything that the certification tests cover.  You can bomb a technology or 2 and still pass if you did well on the others.

So why do people add all of these other meanings to what a certification is?  Where does the disconnect of “what is” and “what is supposed to be” come from?  Well, part of it comes from how the certification vendors advertise their certifications.  Part of it comes from the public consensus of what a certification is supposed to mean.  And some of it also comes from our own ideas about what a certification is supposed to mean.  There are many other contributors as well.  The problem is that what a certification validates, and what people think that it is supposed to validate doesn’t always line up.

So how can I made a nerdy networking reference here?…  It’s like the difference between an inclusive summary route and an exclusive summary route.  An inclusive summary route matches all of the networks that you are shooting for.  But it can also include a bunch of networks that you aren’t shooting for.  An exclusive summary route only includes the networks that you are looking for.  Cisco certifications are like inclusive summary routes.  They do verify what people often think that they should.  In other words, they will certify those people with the applicable experience and skills relevant to the certification level.  But they don’t necessarily exclude the “riff-raff” that some people think should not be getting these certifications.  For instance, someone who has never seen a Cisco device in person, or been in an authentic CLI, but who studied the books and practice exams could get their CCNA.

So is this a problem?  I don’t think so.  Not a big one at least.  In order to exclude those people that shouldn’t be earning the certifications (according to some people’s standards), you then force the people who “should” be earning them to jump through some pretty annoying hoops.  I don’t think that you can really verify applicable experience.  Anything that you can put in a test can pretty much be studied for by someone without the on-the-job experience.  And trying to verify experience outside of the test isn’t really doable.  Some people seem to want to make the tests harder, but all that will do is just make them take longer to study for.  Others want the tests to be heavily simulation focused, but I think that makes it a lot harder to test a broad range of topics like the current format does.

The point I wanted to make in this post is that people need to have a realistic view of what certifications are, and what they are not.  A certification will not verify anything beyond what it requires to earn it.  If you do want to add assumptions to it (which we often do), you just need to use alternate means to certify those assumptions.

CCIE Lab community updates

A big round of congratulations goes out to CCIE Lab for passing his lab exam and getting his digits.  Please head over to CCIE Lab Preparation and send your own congratulations.

Also, CCIE Pursuit has posted about his lab experience.  Head on over to his site an check it out.  He has some good info and lessons learned.

Weekend Update

Well, I finished my second week of studying.  Didn’t quite get all of the studying hours in that I wanted thanks to some weekend projects at work.  But I should be able to make that up this week.  Here are some good posts from other blogs that I have been reading this week.  Check them out if you haven’t already.

The folks at Internetwork Expert have posted some reviews of the CCDE practical.  Pop on over to Internetwork Expert to check those out.

Greg at Ethereal Mind posted an interesting article about certifications vs. experience at Ethereal Mind.

The blogger at South African Networker passed his CCIE written exam this week.  Send some congratulations his way at South African Networker.

Lastly, the blogger over at CCIE Pursuit failed his lab exam this week.  Send you condolences, encouragement, and maybe gift certificates to a local liqueur store at CCIE Pursuit.

Using notepad during your lab practice

When you hear about what you have available to you when you take your CCIE lab, you learn that you’ll be using SecureCRT (an older version before tabbed windows), Windows Calculator, and Windows Notepad.  Originally when I heard that, I thought that I may use the calculator for subnetting or ACLs.  But I really didn’t think that I would use notepad.  After watching a number of the IP Expert Blended Learning Solution (BLS) videos, my mind has definitely been changed.

As I watch Scott Morris do his thing on the videos, he makes good use of notepad in terms of helping him write up configurations.  The more I watched, the more I realized how much easier it made things, and also how much of a time saver it is.  And if there is one thing that most CCIE candidates are looking for, it’s ways to make yourself faster.  8 hours goes by pretty quick.

After watching Scott, I started using notepad myself in my lab practice time.  I can already see how much of a difference it has made for myself.  So here are some of the benefits that I have seen myself in making use of notepad for configuring your devices.

Let’s start off with an example.  Often times when doing tasks, you’ll need to enter the same (or at least similar) commands across multiple interfaces or multiple devices.  For instance, say you are setting up hub and spoke frame relay across 3 different routers.  Each of the routers connects to the frame relay switch using s0/0, and you are supposed to use a multipoint subinterface to set things up.  So pop open notepad and enter the following.

R1 (just signifies that the following code is for router 1)

int s0/0
encap frame
no shut
exit

int s0/0.10 multi
ip add 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
frame map ip 192.168.1.2 102 broad
frame map ip 192.168.1.3 103 broad
frame map ip 192.168.1.1 102

So far, you really haven’t saved any time.   But you do have a nice clear config to look at.  Sometimes as you are entering commands into the router, it’s hard to get a clear picture of everything that you have entered since messages are popping up as you enter commands.  Also, say you had a whole bunch of frame map commands to enter.  Just copy one or a small group and paste more lines into note pad.  Then you can easily change one or 2 octets of the IP address or a few of the DLCI digits very fast.  Much faster than you could in the CLI.

So now let’s write up the configs for R2 and R3.  Simply copy what you already wrote for R1, paste it twice, and just tweak it.  All you’ll have to change is the IP addresses and DLCIs.  You just saved yourself a bunch of time, and probably a bunch of typos.  See the config for R2 below.  90% of the config stayed the same.  It took me about 10 seconds to edit R1’s config to fit R2.

R2

int s0/0
encap frame
no shut
exit

int s0/0.10 multi
ip add 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
frame map ip 192.168.1.1 201 broad
frame map ip 192.168.1.3 201
frame map ip 192.168.1.2 201

(router 2 is a spoke if you are wondering why I used the same DLCI for each IP)

Finish out what you want to configure for the task, then just copy and paste into SecureCRT.  Configs go in nice and quick.  If you did make a mistake, it’s pretty easy to fix.  Just correct it on the config you copied from in notepad and paste the updated config into SecureCRT.  If you need to get rid of a command or two (or 10), just plop a ‘no’ in front of your command(s) in notepad, copy, and paste.

Now when it comes to a unique config on an individual router, notepad might not buy you much.  But any time you start to repeat commands on a device, or across devices, notepad can be a great tool to use.  And as you get used to using it, you get pretty fast.

Smacked down by Frame Relay

So I moved on from studying Bridging and Switching, which was my first topic (and probably my best one as well) to Frame Relay.  So far, I’m not very encouraged.  I read the chapter in the Exam Cert Guide and watched the first video from the IP Expert Blended Learning Solution (BLS) and I felt like I was seeing this all for the first time.

Things definitely started getting better as I watched the Frame Relay Examples video from the BLS.  I am definitely glad I picked this product up earlier than planned.  Watching the configurations, verifications, and troubleshooting of the technology is such a great help.  After watching that, a re-read of the material made much more sense.   I’ll start getting my hands dirty in my lab tomorrow, and that should really get things to sink in.

Previous to my CCIE studies, my only experience with Frame Relay was when I studied it for my CCNP.  And I don’t recall getting into much detail at that time.  So I guess it should be no surprise that I felt like an idiot trying to comprehend all of the info that was flying in front of my face.  I have a few other subjects that will be this way as well.

The nice thing (if you want to call it that) about studying for the CCIE is that I am now forced to learning everything in great detail.  Especially when it comes to the core technologies.  Some of it will be fun, and other times not so much.  But that’s the trek of the CCIE I suppose.