Last half of June Update…

Well, I changed part of the above plan just a bit. I felt inspired to go back and really hammer BGP, Multicast and QoS, my three weak areas. So, I used the time during the week to completely go through the topic-based labs (IEWB Vol I) for these topics. I spent several hours on creating the labs, configuring it like the book says, then running “what-if” scenarios. For instance when studying Multicast, “what if I mode the RP to this location?” or “what if I make some groups static and some use Auto-RP?” or “How will Auto-RP interoperate with BSR?”, etc. This has helped a lot to understand what protocols will do and how to predict areas that may need further troubleshooting.

I attempted Mock Lab#3 yesterday. In some ways I am so pissed and others I am cool about. Here’s the breakdown.

• I got so mad at doing a backup interface for backing up a FR link to an ethernet segment. I know I was configuring it properly, but when I disabled the FR interface, the backup went into disabled state, never to full up state. I messed with that for too long and eventually frustrated at being brought down by such a simple task. I just removed it and went on. After later looking at the solution after the lab, I have the exact right syntax, which leaves me to ponder what was going wrong…
• I also got so mad at configuring PPP over a serial link. I have never seen where I have configured PPP configured, PAP on one side and CHAP on the other, and not had it work. I did run the debug ppp authentication and debug ppp negotiation commands, I couldn’t stop the output (I forgot about that) and had to reboot the router to get control again. Once I regained control again, I reconfigured it all again. Man, I must have been missing something, because something so simple was making me so angry. After too much time, I took the authentication off of PPP and went on, marking my list to go back and fix when I had time.
• I was happy to get the redistribution working, I made it so one router wouldn’t take OPSF routes into the routing table at all using AD values and to prefer EIGRP instead. That worked out good. I did have a freak out about 30 minutes to the end when one of my OSPF routers wasn’t getting any routes except connected ones. I kinda freaked out myself which led to me supplicating with the divine powers to find the break. Well, the heavens were listening. I “discovered” that I had redistributed connected all my interfaces on an ASBR except one and it was a crucial one. A self-induced mistake. I’m sure glad I did go back and run some ping scripts close to finish time.

These were the quick ones that I saw immediately when looking through the solutions guide before stopping all Cisco activities for the evening. Man, when I finish a mock lab, I am so spent afterwards. When the console windows closed from the remote routers, I was cooked, well-done. Over the next 3 weeks, I want practice so much that going to the final lab in San Jose will be “just another day doing practice labs”.

Now my plan is the following. I hope to keep to this schedule as close as possible, since I have 3 vacation weeks off from work focus.

• 7-8AM exercise
• 8-9AM shower, dressed, b-fast, etc.
• 9-10AM CoD videos
• 10AM-12PM lab work
• 12-1PM lunch, brain-breather
• 1-7PM lab work
• 7-8PM evening meal, brain-breather
• 8-9:30PM speed labs, more CoD, read DocCD
• 9:30-11PM do necessary life-sustainments (laundry, grocery shopping, etc.)
• 11PM in bed

This will be altered for a few things, but not too much (I do have to go to church if I want the big man’s help with all this). I have mock labs scheduled for July 12th & 19th, so those will be different days as well. The last week, lab work will be changed up with speed drills and such.

My family will be in Denver visiting my mother-in-law starting July 1st. I will miss them so much, but I hope to be so busy as to not think too much about it. It will just be me and the dog, so hopefully all will be well around the fort. I figure we can’t do too much damage around here.

I was wondering why I am doing all this – torturing myself to do all this, using all my time to study, giving up hobbies and interests and focusing like I have never focused before. Well, I feel like I have been led to this point. I have been given all I need to do this – equipment, books, workbooks, training, vacation time, enough airline miles to pay for the flight to SJ, enough hotel points to pay for 2 out of 3 days stay, networking projects have all come my way at work, opportunities to work periodically with our IT network infrastructure team, a great family that understands, and especially a wife that puts up with the whole process. Without her, all this would not be possible. Someone once said, “Behind good man is a great woman.” Someday, I hope to be that good man behind a great woman as she desired to reach her goals.

I have been so blessed with so much and the path has been laid before me. Something is going to come of all this. I’m not sure what, but I know something will.

IEWB Vol II Ver. 4.1 Lab8 & 9 -or- June Update…

I’ve been hitting the CLI almost every night, so blogging has been taking a back seat. I have been managing to keep track of my total hours on the routers, though. See the CCIE Prep Hours section.

I have completed IEWB Vol2 Lab8 and am working on Lab9. The labs are both at level 8 and seem to be getting a bit easier.

I came up with a plan for the month of June that I have been following pretty well. This plan has been keeping me from going outright nuts (and I would with the stress). As follows:

• Weekday evenings, 4-5 hrs a night – IEWB Vol2 labs (level 7 & 8 working slower through, verifying everying, checking answers, working on details)
• Saturdays, 4 hrs – complete IEWB Vol3 lab of choice to build speed
• Saturdays, 4-6 more hrs – bone up on topics that were twisted to me during the week using IEWB Vol1 labs
• Sundays, 2-4 hrs – review finished IEWB Vol 2 and 3 labs, see mistakes that were made are research answers

I will do this schedule until July 4th and at that time I will see where I stand and what needs to be addressed. As part of this plan, I have the following Mock Labs scheduled as well:

• May 31st – Mock Lab #2 L7 – score: 32%
• June 28th – Mock Lab #3 L7
• July 12th – Mock Lab #5 L8
• July 19th – Mock Lab #6 L8

I am not too down about the first Mock Lab results. I figured that I got 30-40% after looking through the solutions guide for it. Some were just dumb mistakes like using 11:59 for 11:59PM instead of 23:59, for example. I also was unsure about multicast and and a few BGP items. QoS was a bit challenging as well.

My main topics I need to work on are QoS calculations, BGP traffic engineering, multicast troubleshooting (reading that blasted mroute table), and believe it or not EIGRP variance. That varience stuff kicked my whitey butt this past week (my butt don’t get no sun sittin’ in a office chair all the time).

I am using the next Mock lab on June 28th as the next step. I am just looking to that one and concentrating on it, trying to not see further than that for the time being. I am trying to take this one step at a time. Studying every day has become habit and I don’t know what to do with myself if I am not touching the routers every day. It’s almost like the droning sound of the equipment is a comfort.

I am so grateful for my wife for hanging in there through this process. She needs to be commended and given the WOTY (Wife of the Year) award. It would be more like for 4-5 years running! She has buffered the family from me when I have needed to hit the books or have quiet to concentrate. She wouldn’t let me become a cop or go in the military, but I don’t think she thought going into IT would be like this!

The wife and kids will be in Denver visiting Grandma from July 2nd to July 22nd and I will be home jammin’ on the routers all that time (I am taking July 2nd through July 28th off to concentrate on studying). This will help a lot, although the dog and I may get sick of each other.

May update…

I haven’t been posting because I have been slacking. Not with the studying though… I have completed 2 additional IE Vol2 Level 7 labs and have moved on to the Level 8s.

On May 14th & 15th, we had major threats of serious thunderstorms and had tornado alerts. I shut off the routers both evenings to avoid lightining damage (I paid too much for these things to have them go up in smoke in a half second). This is one of the few times that I felt we needed to take shelter in our storm closet. Needless to say, I didn’t get much studying done those nights.

I am doing better and grasping the concepts. I now can read a good majority of the tasks and know what the solution is. Implementing the configuration can be another story. Like most candidates, noticing and not forgetting the details can be the challenge.

I did my first IE Mock Lab (#2) yesterday. I had two goals; I knew I reached one of the for sure. I wanted to get end-to-end connectivity before lunch (4 hr) and I did it. This includes switching, FR, PPP and IGP. I think people include BGP, but I didn’t. It all I needed was reachability for BGP as well, it would have only been 15-20 more minutes. My second goal was to get at least 60 points. After going through the solution guide, I’m pretty sure I didn’t get that many, but I did get probably 30-40. I’ll know when I get my score report tommorrow. Overall, I felt pretty good about the attempt and I know I have a lot of work to do.

I have July 4th through 28th off from work (3/4 of all my vacation) to work on this full time for two weeks. My 2nd Mock Lab is set for June 28th and the remaning two are set for July 12th & 19th. I am pulling out all the stops this time. I not only want to pass on this attempt, but I need to pass it for many, many reasons.