Incomplete vendor materials

I’m slowly getting into my Service Provider studies.  As I’ve been exploring the videos and workbooks from both Internetwork Expert and IP Expert, they seem to be not as complete as they should be.  They almost seem to assume that you’ve already gone down the R&S track.

 

Looking at Internetwork Experts videos, they don’t really touch some important topics such as frame relay, switching, and OSPF.  Things that form the foundation of your SP network and will certainly be tested in the lab.  These topics are heavily focused on in their R&S materials.  Also, looking at their volume 1 workbook, which is meant to focus on individual technologies, they skip a bunch of technologies.  There are no individual layer-2 or IGP specific labs.  Nor are there Security or System Management  specific labs.  Again, the R&S volume 1 workbook had significant labs covering these topics.

 

Switching over to IP Expert, their volume 1 workbooks at least break up most all of the major lab topics into individual technology labs.  So far, I’ve done about 5 of them that cover topics that overlap with the R&S track.  They are proving not to be as complete as IP Experts R&S volume 1 labs on the same topics.  Now this could be because these topics are not covered as in depth in the lab.  I can’t really speak to that.  But it feels like they should be getting a bit deeper into the technologies.

 

I have a few ideas as to why this might be.  One reason is that the SP track hasn’t been updated an a number of years.  So the workbooks and videos themselves are a few years old.  I think the R&S workbooks have come quite a ways in even the last 2-3 years.  So maybe these SP materials are somewhat on par with the R&S materials of yester-year.  Another reason might be that it is pretty common that those going for the SP to already have their R&S.  Looking at the global CCIE numbers, about 40% of the SP holders out there are dual R&S/SP CCIEs.  I’m sure a number of the triple+ CCIEs also have both the R&S and SP tracks.  That being the case, why would the vendors want to put in the extra effort to re-hash what a lot of these people already know?  Especially for a track that has less than 1/10 of the numbers than the R&S track has.

 

Regardless of the reasons, I’m finding it quite beneficial that I have already gone through the R&S track.  I have been going back to my R&S materials for videos and technology labs for a lot of the overlapped topics.  We’ll see what happens when the SP track finally gets an update from Cisco.  Hopefully the new materials by these vendors will kick it up a notch.  Though I’m hoping that I pass the SP lab before any new changes occur.

SP study materials have arrived!

My wallet is much lighter and my bookshelf is much heavier at the moment.  I ordered my SP study materials and most of them have already arrived.  I ordered 11 books (listed below) along with the Class on Demand/2-workbook bundle from Internetwork Expert and all the workbooks and lab mentor product from IP Expert.  I’ve received all of it except for the lab mentor from IP Expert.  Since it required a signature, I have to go into the post office to pick it up.  I tried to do that today, but they were closed to pay homage to some dude named Columbus.  Total bummer!

This track is shaping up to be much cheaper than the R&S track.  Part of it is because there are fewer training materials available, so there is less to buy.  Part of it is because I already have some useful stuff from my R&S attempt.  Also, I don’t have to shell out a bunch of money on a home lab since I’ll be using Dynamips and rack rentals.  If I’m fortunate enough to pass my tests on the first try, I’m estimating the total to be around $5000 for everything.

Now that I have my materials, it’s time to start studying!

Here is the list of books that I will be using for my studies.  I may pick up one or two more depending on if I hit any weak areas in the books.

• Routing TCP/IP vol 1 & 2 (already owned)
• QoS Exam Certification Guide (already owned)
• Internet Routing Architectures
• MPLS and VPN Architectures vol 1 & 2
• Definitive MPLS Designs
• MPLS Fundamentals
• MPLS Configurations on Cisco IOS software
• QoS for IP/MPLS networks
• Traffic Engineering with MPLS
• Layer 2 VPN Architectures
• MPLS Enabled Applications
• Interdomain Multicast Routing

Starting on the Service Provider track

I’ve been bitten by the study bug!  I’m one of those sick individuals that gets restless if they’re not learning something new.  So I’ve decided to start working towards my second CCIE.

I chose the Service Provider track for a few reasons.  There is a healthy amount of overlap with the R&S track, so it seems like it should be easier to pick up as opposed to the other tracks.  It also seems like the natural extension to the R&S track.  It builds upon a number of the R&S topics.  And it also shares the main theme of the R&S track, which is routing data from point A to point B in an intelligent manner.  Lastly, I’d like to go for the CCDE at some point, and a lot of the SP technologies are a part of the CCDE blueprint.  So I think that it will help to set me up for future successes.

Now that I’m back on the CCIE scene, I’ll be trying to get back to posting somewhat frequently again.  So be sure to check back every so often.