From: Frank Jimenez (franjime@xxxxxxxxx)
Date: Sat Aug 18 2001 - 02:46:04 GMT-3
List Members,
Well, I have just had the honor of failing the new Lab Format (1-day lab) fo
r CCIE-Security out at San Jose this week.
I've waited a bit before posting for a couple of reasons - I wanted the fall
out from the current off-topic discussion to die down a little (my $0.02, it's
wasted noise on this list), and I wanted to reflect on what I can say about the
new lab testing format without violating NDA.
First, a couple of disclaimers - This message consists of opinions that are
mine alone and not necessarily that of my employer. Also, this message is my o
pinion and my viewpoints only, not facts carved into stone and carried down fro
m the top of Mt. Sinai, and certainly nothing to base life decisions upon.
Enough of that - onto the new format.
For those of you that feel that the 1-day format is going to cause a decreas
e in difficulty level in the lab environment, I only have two words for you: Wo
rry Not. The lab that I saw is every bit as difficult (if not just a wee bit m
ore so) as the two-day labs that I have seen.
The format changes can be boiled down into four bullet points, and mainly co
nfirm the speculation previously on the list. 1.) My rack was preset, with ter
minal server and IP addresses on many (but not all) interfaces, and with the wi
ring (again mostly) in place. 2.) The quantity of configurations required has
remained pretty much the same, you just have less time now. 3.) No explicit tr
oubleshooting section. 4.) No pass/fail at the end of the day.
In many ways, the new format jives with what most of my professional network
ing career has been. In the past 477 days that I've been employed at Cisco, I
can probably count on one hand the amount of new (built from scratch) networks
in which I've assisted customers. Usually we're bolting on new functionality t
o an existing infrastructure; or replacing a core component/protocol of a netwo
rk; or adding new locations, etc. The truly new network opportunities are now
becoming a rare breed in the US Enterprise market.
The new lab format gives you an already-started network that you will have t
o complete. Just like in the real world. You don't get to start completely fr
om scratch, and you don't want to mess with what's already there too much for f
ear of breaking something. (What if I need that later?! - Can I change that? -
Should I? - Dang, did I already commit those changes to mem?)
So, bottom line, you'll still need to know all of the same stuff to pass the
1-day format, you'll just need to know how to implement it that much faster.
The same rules apply as have applied since the mid-1990s....
-The primary enemy is still time. Given enough time,
you can do almost anything - here, you don't
have the time.
-Learn ways to avoid wasting time
(Hint: no ip domain-lookup is the first thing I put on
almost ANY lab router)
-The importance of Caslow's "Spot the Issue" technique
is increased. Find the issue in the lab question.
Configure. Test. Repeat until done.
-If there are three ways to accomplish a task, the lab
will typically ask you to do it in the fourth way.
-Type fast.
-Practice speed drills to be able to configure common
items in your sleep. If you can't configure a basic BGP
session in under a minute, you'll probably not pass.
I'm not kidding.
-Know the Documentation CD
-But realize that if you have to refer to the Doc CD
more than a few times, you're going to run out of time.
-Learn what to ditch. Don't obsess over a 2 point question early
and run out of time to even get to the last 30 points worth of
lab configs.
-And remember - NO STATIC ROUTES (unless specifically allowed).
The more things change, the more things stay the same. There's no substitut
e for knowing your stuff, spotting the issues, and configuring things quickly.
I'll be back to take the Security Lab again in the Spring, after I have some t
ime to lick my wounds and learn some more.....
Any other questions that I can address without violating NDA, post to the li
st. Good luck to all!
Oh, and if you want to buy a bunch of Cisco gear, who ya gonna call? ;-)
Frank Jimenez, CCIE #5738
Systems Engineer
Cisco Systems, Inc.
franjime@cisco.com
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