From: Mark Lewis (markl11@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Thu Jan 11 2001 - 21:38:50 GMT-3
Actually that's not always true! When I did my lab I had problems with my
terminal server. I told the proctor that the terminal server wasn't working
and was told that I must have a problem with my routers. I checked again,
and again told the proctor that there was a problem with my t.s. Again she
insisted that it was a problem with my some of my routers. At this point she
went in to the equipment room, rebooted two of my routers (losing my
configs) and told me to try again. It turned out that there was a hardware
problem with my t.s. Unfortunately I lost about 45 mins and two almost
complete configs, which I had to reconfigure. That took about 30 mins, so
total time lost was 1hr 15mins. In addition, they didn't have a spare t.s.,
so I had to telnet from router to router - not very good, as of course there
is not end-to-end connectivity in your lab until you've almost finished! I
asked for this time back, and was told that I couldn't have it. This
happened on day 1. I had to continue with the same rack (with broken t.s.)
on day 2 am. Finally I complained again and was told that I could do my
troubleshooting on a spare rack (they had a few by this stage with people
dropping out!).
After all of that I still passed !!! Keeping my exasperation with the
proctor in check was probably my biggest challenge!
This all happened in Brussels by the way.
Mark
CCIE#6280 / CCSI#21051
>From: "Tony Olzak" <aolzak@buckeye-express.com>
>Reply-To: "Tony Olzak" <aolzak@buckeye-express.com>
>To: "Robert DeVito" <robertdevito@hotmail.com>, <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
>Subject: Re: Second Attempts
>Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 15:07:18 -0500
>
>That's not true. Actually, they tell you that if you suspect a hardware
>problem during day one, notify the proctor immediately and you will get
>time
>back for however long it takes to fix it. However, if it turns out to be a
>config problem, you lose all that time.
>
>Tony
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Robert DeVito" <robertdevito@hotmail.com>
>To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
>Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 6:31 AM
>Subject: Re: Second Attempts
>
>
> > I hear alot of stories of faulty equipment, especially cables, in the
>lab.
> > Is this on purpose or by accident? I am talking about day 1 and day 2
> > morning, not troublshooting.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Robert (Feb 10 SJ)
> >
> >
> > ----Original Message Follows----
> > From: "Doug Hammond" <dhammond@rcsis.com>
> > Reply-To: "Doug Hammond" <dhammond@rcsis.com>
> > To: "Price, Jamie" <JPrice@isgteam.com>, "'Michelle T'"
> > <mtruman@mn.mediaone.net>, <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> > Subject: Re: Second Attempts
> > Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 21:15:03 -0800
> >
> > I had a similar, although not nearly <so> bad, experience on my first
> > attempt. Faulty cables, wierd serial ports, etc. I lost a LOT of time.
>It
> > really didn't hurt me so bad, I really didn't belong in the room. On my
> > second attempt, I had another problem come up and after 2 minutes of
> > troubleshooting I went to the proctor and said, "Something's broke, can
>you
> > fix it?" 5 minutes later, he said, yeah it's broke use this port
>instead.
> > Didn't even slow me down, not that the outcome was any different! The
>moral
> > of the story is to trust your instincts, if it should be working and you
> > know it, ask the protor. They hardly ever bite.
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Price, Jamie" <JPrice@isgteam.com>
> > To: "'Michelle T'" <mtruman@mn.mediaone.net>; <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 12:56 PM
> > Subject: RE: Second Attempts
> >
> >
> > > My horror story from a few weeks ago:
> > >
> > > My day 1 was chaos. I had no less than 4 cable defects with my rack,
>a
>
> > > flaky patch panel (the proctor admitted this), and unstable routers.
> > Each
> > > issue (remember that on day 1 the rack is supposed to more or less
> > > work....troubleshooting doesnt occur until day 2 if you make it that
> > > far....1 or 2 issues are ok but I had many more than that) took 10-15
> > > minutes to identify, because I had to make sure it wasnt me, and then
> > took
> > > the proctor at least another 10-15 minutes to fix. One incideent
> > stretched
> > > beyond 30 minutes. Some examples:
> > >
> > > 1. I was tasked with creating an "environment"....no problem....but
>the
> > > cables that connected 2 of the outlying routers to the core were
>faulty
> > and
> > > therefore the interfaces would not come up. With no connectivity to
>the
> > > core, the routed environment, and any subsequent routing loops, could
>not
> > be
> > > proved/identified. After triple checking to make sure it wasnt a
>config
> > > issue and that things were cabled correctly, I told the proctor who
>then
> > > went into maintenance mode. I had 4 distinctly separate cable
>problems
> > like
> > > this which took them a fair while to fix. Maintenance guys were
>coming
> > in
> > > and rewiring portions of my patch panel!!! And the cable problems
>werent
> > all
> > > identified at once either, some cables/ports worked ok at the start
>of
> > the
> > > day but then went bad throughout.
> > >
> > > 2. Realizing I was having numerous cable issues I (stupidly) jiggled
>an
> > > Ethernet cable in the back of a router thinking that that might be
>the
> > > reason this particular interface wouldnt come up. On doing that the
> > entire
> > > rack shut down and powered back on. Wasnt I overjoyed to find that
> > > everything I had entered on the routers had been lost to me and I had
>to
> > > reenter it. Luckily I was saving every 10 minutes but it was a pain
> > > nonetheless. But you'll be happy to know that after the power down
>of
> > the
> > > rack the Ethernet interface came up.
> > >
> > > 3. The patch panel only had a few ports patched to interfaces.
> > > So...thinking that router A was connected to router B, I was entering
> > > another realm of frustration as to why I was not getting connections.
> > > Admittedly I should have checked straight away but when you lose so
>much
> > > time because of other physical faults you start to get a bit rushed.
> > This
> > > in fact took the proctor a while to find as he expected them to be
>cabled
> > as
> > > such too.
> > >
> > > There were a number of other rack related issues that arose as well
>but
>I
> > > wont go into them - NDA and all. These additional issues totalled
>about
> > > another 4.
> > >
> > > Needless to say the proctor was very helpful and appreciative of the
> > > situation. I was given some more time at the end of the day to
> > compensate
> > > for the lost time in the middle.
> > >
> > > >From a personal standpoint though it didnt really help. As each
>issue
> > arose
> > > I had to move onto the next task (provided it wasnt dependant on the
>one
> > I
> > > was working on) and return to the original task when he had fixed the
> > > problem. I didnt have time to wait until the issue was resolved due
>to
> > the
> > > amount of tasks that you need to fulfill in the day.
> > >
> > > I ended up having to work on 5 different tasks at once due to
>physical
> > > failures and/or the dependency of that task on a different
>router/cable
> > that
> > > had a problem.
> > >
> > > That was the sort of crappy day 1 I had. So....to cut an excessively
> > long
> > > story short (for any of you that are still reading)....I arrive on
>day
>2
> > to
> > > find that I do not have my day 2 folder sitting on my desk. I had
>some
> > > issues with that. I'm not saying I would have blitzed it but I
>honestly
> > > believe I would have made it to day 2 had no errors occurred (but
>then
> > again
> > > you never know). The errors threw a gigantic speed hump into the
>flow
>of
> > > the day and as corny as it sounds, "the flow" is an important factor.
> > > Finishing half of one task to move onto another and only being able
>to
>do
> > > 1/3rd of that while I moved onto another simply screwed me up. I
>couldnt
> > > prove solutions, test for routing loops, etc until later towards the
>end
> > of
> > > the day - and then I had to prove/test them all at once.
> > >
> > > Geared up for a confrontation I suddenly get called to the side by
>the
> > > proctor. Before I could say anything he offered some acceptable
> > > compensation. I will not divulge what it was so please don't ask,
>but
> > > needless to say that both of the proctors were appreciative of, and
> > > sympathetic to, the situation and did all they could within the
> > boundaries
> > > of reasonable actions to make amends (thankfully I didnt pay for the
> > attempt
> > > out of my own pocket or my calmness may have been a different story).
> > >
> > > With regard to attitude and confidence though my second attempt was
>much
> > > better than my first. I had calmed down considerably - in spite of
>all
> > the
> > > crap - and by slowing the old brain electrons down I read the
>questions
> > for
> > > what they were, realized that many things were nowhere near as
> > complicated
> > > as I had imagined them to be on my 1st try, planned accordingly, and
> > > actually did well....considering everything else that had happened.
> > Within
> > > myself I feel I would have made it to day 2 had the rack been ok.
> > >
> > > Now I'm not saying that I would have passed the entire lab had my
>rack
> > been
> > > ok - I'll never know that - but I feel within myself that the
>learning
> > > experience of attempt 1 was very beneficial and applying that which I
> > learnt
> > > in attempt 1 (I'm not talking Cisco stuff here - more strategies and
> > > attitudes) to attempt 2 made me a serious contender for that 4 digit
> > cert.
> > >
> > > All in all my 2nd attempt - as frustrating as it was - actually
>instilled
> > > more confidence in me. Pity I have to wait another 6 months now :)
> > >
> > > Thats my brief story.
> > >
> > > Jamie
> > >
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