From: John Conzone (jkconzone@xxxxxxxx)
Date: Sat Aug 12 2000 - 14:12:52 GMT-3
I echo Brad's sentiments. I have purchased some equipment form Brad and
its helping a lot. The bootcamp virtual racks are great for ATM and Voice,
but are booked up. I plan on renting space on www.nantech.com. Naana is a
fellow CCIE candidate who has set up a rack, and I am getting ready to sign
up as we speak.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brad Ellis" <ironbrad@WANgurus.com>
To: "Arne Kuhlmann" <ccie-lab@arne.de>; <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2000 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: Budget for Lab
> Arne,
>
> Hi! Virtual labs are a great way to save some money and get good exposure
> to a variety of technologies. We have had many CCIE's use
> www.ccbootcamp.com to gain the necessary skills required to pass the lab
> exam.
>
> I used CCBOOTCAMP's labs to prepare for the exam mainly using my own
> equipment (with the exception of ATM, which I did on a virtual rack). If
I
> could re-do my studying all over again (I dont think I ever would!!), I
> would have just used a virtual rack instead of trying to track down all
the
> hardware I needed for my home lab (cables, Maus, switches, routers,
> transceivers, etc..what a pain!)
>
> For many people that are serious about their CCIE certification, the cost
of
> using a virtual rack is minimal ($200/day ave). Getting a home lab of 6
or
> 7 routers, a switch, and maybe an ISDN simulator (or ISDN lines depending
on
> location), and then using the Virtual Rack for ATM/VoIP/ISL trunking/etc.
is
> a great approach.
>
> As far as VoIP is concerned, I know that Marc Russell has the voice gear
on
> his rack and has helped out his clients in the past by actually assisting
> them with making the VoIP calls to verify configurations.
>
> ttyl,
> -Brad Ellis
> CCIE#5796
> www.optsys.net
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Arne Kuhlmann" <ccie-lab@arne.de>
> To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2000 8:12 AM
> Subject: Re: Budget for Lab
>
>
> > What do you guys think of renting time on a virtual lab? For those who
> done it,
> > has it been worthwhile?
> >
> > I have never used a virtual lab and am somewhat reluctant to do so:
> > - You have to book a certain timeslot, so you have to use it at that
time.
> With
> > a home lab, you can practice whenever you want. If you only used it for
3
> hrs
> > that day, you don't have to pay for 8.
> > - I like to have physical access to the routers so I can wire them
however
> I
> > want for different scenarios. At a home lab you are not stuck with the
> > predefined setup like on the virtual lab.
> > - The home lab does cost more, but when you are done you can sell it, if
> you are
> > lucky for about the same price you bought it for. The money spent on a
> virtual
> > lab is gone...
> > - There are some things that are very expensive to set up at home, like
> ATM and
> > voice. Luckily we have some ATM stuff at the place where I work, so
that's
> not a
> > problem. Can you really practice voice on a virtual lab? It's one thing
to
> > configure the voice ports on a router, but then I'd like to pick up the
> phone
> > and make a call with it...
> >
> >
> > To get back to the original topic: I am paying for the whole CCIE
journey
> > myself. Spent hundreds of $$$ on books, thousands on Routers (about 5k).
> And
> > I'll be taking a CCIE lab class with MTS in London late October (another
> $10k
> > with flight/hotel). After that I'm off to San Jose on Nov 18.
> > Not only are travel cost a major factor (I'm from Germany) but also the
> lost
> > income as a contractor for the weeks spent on training and the lab.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Arne Kuhlmann
> >
> >
> > Brad Ellis wrote:
> > >
> > > I paid $25,000 for my lab...it took a while to pay off my credit
> cards!!!
> > > (hence I started selling hardware). I would have never passed if I
> didnt
> > > buy my own lab. Now that I look back, I wasted WAAAAY too much time
> putting
> > > the lab together (hunting down hardware). I would have been much
better
> off
> > > purchasing virtual rack time from CCBOOTCAMP.COM or another virtual
rack
> > > place that had ATM and VoIP. I probably could have done that and had
my
> > > company pay for it as training...oh well. Good luck in your journey.
> If
> > > you need any cisco hardware, just let me know how I can help.
> > >
> > > ttyl,
> > > -Brad
> >
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