From: LASSERRE Grégory (gregory.lasserre@xxxxxxxx)
Date: Mon May 15 2000 - 09:43:46 GMT-3
Hi Guys !
As you should have guess reading the subjet :
I successfully passed the CCIE R/S Lab Exam in Bruxelles on last Friday
!!!!!
No words to describe my feelings after the results except that i feel
incredibly fine and quiet,
like if the time has stopped and the world was at my feet for a while.
The CCIE Lab is a real test that puts you on the edge,
and there is so much tense during the exam that the results deeply moves
you.
So, i write you this email to thank all of you guys who have shared with me
your knowledge during
theses last 3 months, and to express how i enjoyed to work with you during
this intense preparation.
This Group is really GREAT ! As you guys !!
So, THANK YOU !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, just to follow the path of my predecessors in this group here is a
presentation of my
backgroud and my preparation (zap it if you wish, it's a little bit long).
I'm 28 years old and start to work in the neworking business 3 years ago
with 3COM France
as technical support engineer.
I worked in this company til the merge of 3Com and US Robotics, and then
entered ARCHE Groupe
SIEMENS to build and grow up a brand new 3Com dedicated technical support
team.
After 1 year and half the team was grown and totally autonomous, so i
started to take an interesset
into Cisco Equipments. Thus it's only 7 months ago that i started to work on
Cisco routers (no experience
on Cisco til there). After a while i was sensed to be a CCIE and i was
launched in the CCIE preparation
in last december.
So, i followed the following courses :
* ICRC
* ACRC
* CATM
* SNAM
and a 2 week CCIE preparation at Global Knowledge in Massy-Palaiseau
(France).
I passed the Drake on my first attempt the 26th of January, and since this
date i spent
every moment of my life preparing the Lab.
As i was not allowed to prepare the CCIE Lab at my work (except 3 weeks off
before the lab),
i had to study every night (til 2AM) and each weekend (22 to 30 hours per
we)
In 6 months i went on holiday only once during a week in winter, and spent
only 1 week-end off not studying
a few months ago.
During this period i made all the lab i was able to concieve, and used a lot
of books to understand each detail
of my configurations.
Here are my sources:
CISCO Press - CCIE - TCP/IP Vol I - Jeff Doyle => My favorite book
CISCO Press - CCIE - LARGE-SCALE IP NETWORK SOLUTIONS - Razza/Turner => A
very good book, interesting tips.
CISCO Press - CCIE - LAN SWITCHING - Clarck/Hamilton => A great book, really
CISCO Press - CCIE - FUNDAMENTALS Design and Case Study => not so helpfull
CISCO Press - CCIE - ADVANCED IP NETWORK DESIGN - Retana/Slice/White => much
more recommended to already CCIEs
CISCO Press - INTERNET ROUTING ARCHITECTURES - Halabi => You definitly
should have it !
CISCO Press - CCNP BCRAN => A good book so start
McGraw Hill - ALL-IN-ONE STUDY GUIDE => A good book to start lab study. It
helped me a lot.
McGraw Hill - CISCO CCIE STUDY GUIDE => It could be a good book to prepare
the drake test,
if it did not contain so many mistakes.
And :
CISCO CD => The very first reference. Know it by heart.
Especially BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, IPX, APPLETALK, and DLSW conf/ref. Guides !!
So after this preparation i went to the lab the 11th May.
The trip to bruxelles went fine, but i did not succeeded to sleep the day
before,
thus i was really tired and stressed...
The First day i spent one hour reading the subjet and making detailled maps
of all the things involved in the lab (1 map for each main protocol) -
(Thanks Kinton and
you guys for your advices!). Then, and only then, i started to configure the
routers one
by one.
50 minutes before the end i stopped my router's configuration and started to
check
all the things i had already done.. VERY SLOWLY !! And i suprisely found 2
horrible
mistakes (certainly due to the stress !). I solved them and re-checked
quickly everything.
Then i came back to the end of the subject and finished the last part i
still had to do.
When the proctor checked my configs he found some errors and removed me 6
points !!
The proctor was really strict and gave points only if EVERYTHING was
perfectly right
and done By-The-Book !
He did not told me how much points i lost at this time.
I did not slept this second night too.
When the second morning started i was really stressed and tired, but i kept
focused on
the lab, and i think i did the second day great. The proctor got some
difficulties
to find any errors. However he founded something that was not absolutely
right and
removed me 1 point (Gee !).
Then i started the troubleshooting part in the afternoon.
(The most stressing part as for me).
I almost did it entirely but i did not had enough time to check everything.
When the proctor checked the config he founded some errors but the main
troubleshooting
was done : IP, all Desktop Protols, + other things... And he only founded 6
points to take away.
So, 100-5-6-1 => 88 Points ! I was gratuated !!!!!!!!!!!!!
What for a moment ! I'll remember it all of my life !
Thus, i went CCIE R/S certified on my very first attempt, in Bruxelles the
12th May 2000 !!
You'll see as great it is when you'll pass it (and sure you will guys! I
hope so for all of you !)
Here are my advices yet :
1/ You need time - Huge of time to practice. Train you on every architecture
you can get. Don't hesitate to reproduce the same architecture 4 to 6 times
if needed. You have to
know it by heart. Start with a quite simple architecture of (4 routers per.
ex) and each time you
reproduce it add one router and new fonctionalities. (I started with FR
NBMA, X.25, ISDN) and
with time i added ATM, another FR Cloud, etc. ). Try to put all the
differents protocols (IP &
DESKTOPs) on it together and keep on adding fonctionalities in each of them
whenever you reproduce
this lab from the beginning.
Don't hesitate to entirely change the Adressing PLAN each time. Get sure of
what you do and
how you have to do it. IOS 11.2 Entreprise is enough on all of you routers.
IOS 12.0 Entreprise costs
money (beause of the FLASH/RAM requirements) and is not absolutely needed
for preparing the lab.
2/ Whenever you reproduce this lab try to do things differently from what
you are used to do, and learn to
quickly check your configurations. Use the "Show ...." commands as often as
you can. You should be
able to understand an entire RIP + BGP + OSPF + EIGRP + IPX + APPLETALK +
DLSW config
without any "show run" !!! This definitely makes the difference in the
troubleshooting part of the CCIE LAB.
3/ Whenever you have time, read !!! Cisco Press Book are very good and if
you use them wisely you will
see that time spent reading books will allow you to gain precious time in
troubleshooting your architectures.
4/ Kinton advices. He surely will send you the email he send me before the
"great Jump" if you ask him.
Very Helpfull !!
So here's end my long mail.
Good luck to you know !
Cheers.
Greg.
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Gregory LASSERRE Tel. : +33 1 69 18 98 53
Cisco Technical Support Engineer
CCIE #5228
ARCHE Groupe SIEMENS Std : +33 1 69 18 32 32
FRANCE
E-mail : gregory.lasserre@arche.fr
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