Just took IE’s Mock Lab #1

I took my first full scale mock lab from Internetwork Expert today.  It was lab #1, which is rated at a difficulty level of 6.  For reference, level 7 is generally considered the actual lab difficulty on their scale.  So it was easier than what I should expect on July 9.

Here are a few details on the IE mock labs.  You won’t have access to any of the lab documents (diagrams and actuall lab tasks) until you actually start the lab.  You gain access to them electronically after starting the lab from your members page online.  It also doesn’t look like you can print the documents (I couldn’t at least).  So you’ll need to just have everything up on your monitor.

When you start the lab, you’ll have 8.5 hours to complete the lab.  After then, you will get kicked off of your rack.  The lab format an documentation are pretty  much identical to what you get in IE’s volume 2 workbook.  So if you’ve done some of those, you’ll be right at home.  The mock labs also use the same topology as all of the other IE stuff.  So it helps having some familiarity with that as well.

I knew that this mock lab would be easier than the real deal.  But it seemed like it was really easy to me.  The tasks never really got too deep into any technology.  As I went through the lab, I really didn’t come across any tasks that stumped me.  I was able to run through all of the tasks and check them off with at least some confidence that I had them completed.  So I’m left wondering how much easier than the real lab this mock lab was.

I got done with my initial configs after about 5.75 hours.  After that, I rebooted and went through the tasks again and verified that things were still working.  That’s when I found one problem that stumped me.  One of my hub and spoke frame relay setups didn’t have their OSPF adjacencies come back up.  It came down to a virtual link breaking my adjacencies .  It works just fine when you get the adjacencies up first and then get the virtual link established.  But on reboot, it breaks again.   I really couldn’t make it work.  Seeing as I couldn’t gaurantee that my lab would be graded on my current rack without being rebooted, I just had to get rid of the virtual link.  That’ll drop me a handful of points.  But that’s a lot less than losing my hub and spoke adjacencies.

The mock labs take up to 2 days to get your grade back.  So I’ll have to wait a few days before getting my final results.  But I’m fairly confident that I got a passing score.

R&S change repercussions

As I’ve been following the forums regarding the R&S lab changes, something is becoming fairly clear to me.  I may only have 1 shot at passing the v3 lab.  My lab date is still scheduled for July 9.  If I don’t pass then, my next opportunity will probably be later in August.  By then, I don’t know if there will even be any pre-v4 lab dates left.

So I guess that means I really need to do what I can to pass on my first try.  Otherwise I may not be ready to take the v4 lab until close to the end of the year.  I’ve got my fingers crossed.

R&S changes announced

I had an email sitting in my mailbox this morning announcing the changes to the CCIE R&S track.

Looks like the big news is that there will be a 2 hour troubleshooting section at the beginning of the lab.  Once that has been completed, you’ll move on to the config section of the lab.  It’ll be interested to get more info on this section, as it looks like once you’re done with the troubleshooting section, your rack will be re-initialized for the config portion.  So that makes me think that it will be graded for you before you can move on.  I wonder, if you fail this portion, if you’ll be able to move on to the config section.

In terms of specific topics covered in the lab, Frame relay is still there.  MPLS has been added.  There are also some extra small topics added.

Here are a few quick links.

Lab Overview

Lab Blueprint

Written Blueprint

I’ll write more later.  But I jsut wanted to get this out there.  These changes take effect on October 18, 2009.

Thoughts on rumored R&S lab changes

I apologize for my long absence. Life gets busy sometimes and things fall by the wayside. I though I’d chime in regarding the rumored changes to the R&S lab as posted on IP Expert’s blog. The big content change rumor is the addition of MPLS and layer 3 VPN. MPLS has been on the written exam for some time now. Up to this point, I believe only the SP track has MPLS in the lab. Personally, I think it should stay that way. From an enterprise admin perspective, we don’t need to do any actual MPLS config work to use the MPLS solution. That’s all done on the service provider side. I think it’s good that we have MPLS in the written exam so we have to be familiar with how the technology actually works. But from a practical configuration standpoint, that should all stay in the SP track. I don’t think it belongs in the R&S lab. The other big rumored change is that there will be an extensive troubleshooting portion added to the lab. I personally hope that rumor turns out to be true. This would be good for a number of reasons. One, troubleshooting is a core skill that we all need to be experts. Two, if done well, this would be a great way to combat the brain dumpers/cheaters. Three, I’m praying that this will cause the core knowledge question section to go away. That has been such a stupid inclusion into the lab. I can only hope that it was a temporary measure until a better solution could be implemented. Over on Internet Expert’s forums, Anthony Sequeira said there were rumors that Frame Relay would be going away. That would be a little sad since it sure did introduce some “fun” twists in the lab with hub and spoke topologies and broadcast/multicast issues. But I could understand seeing as MPLS is where it’s at. Anthony also said that the changes are rumored to be announced on May 5. So we hopefully don’t have too long to speculate until we know for sure. My first lab attempt will be well before any changes come into effect. So hopefully I won’t need to change any study plans. But if I don’t make it on my first try, I’ll have about 3 months after that before the changes take place. 2 of those months will be with a new baby in the family. So it’ll be an interesting decision on making another try before the changes occur, or taking my time and shooting for a November/December timeframe for attempt #2.