From: Manny Gonzalez (manny@xxxxxxx)
Date: Sat Mar 30 2002 - 15:38:10 GMT-3
Good point Adam,
I LOVE drawing my maps out. And then, when I finished drawing my man in
the actual lab, I noticed the CISCO provided map was just as good and
NICELY TYPESET :-)) Not a waste, but, I could have used the time better.
Definitely draw BGP and DLSw maps .... VERY IMPORTANT!
Adam Quiggle wrote:
>
> My initial read through the lab focused really on routing protocols,
> physical link connectivity and how I needed to make the core work. Any
> other subjects that sit on top of IP I just glanced at, since without the
> core they don't work and they rarely affect the core anyway.
>
> During my first attempt I did redraw the map, which in retrospect was
> a complete waste of time. While I prefer my method for drawing maps
> out, I did not think it was beneficial to spend that 15 minutes drawing
> everything out.
>
> Anytime I came across a new subject that required some kind of partial
> mesh connectivity I drew a very quick map to outline how things should
> come together. For example if I had DLSW border peers I would have drawn
> out the two border peers and how the other routers connect to that border
> peer. Or if I had BGP I would quickly draw any confederations,
> route-reflectors
> and ASes so that I could get an overall picture. However I spent maybe
> 45 seconds pulling those diagrams together and they were used to keep
> me from accidentally misconfiguring connections.
>
> Another problem that seemed to plague me was mistyping the ip addresses
> in my rack. For whatever reason I must have mistyped some addresses at
> least four or five times only to discover during my troubleshooting that
> I had entered an IP like 151.1.1.1 instead of 151.9.1.1. Accuracy during
> the configuration will save you a lot of time because you won't have to
> troubleshoot your configurations.
>
> Here are some other pointers:
> 1) Keep track of everything you've done as you go along
> 2) Make notes of what needs to be double checked
> 3) Put POINT VALUES by the tasks so that you can make sure the big ticket
> items get addressed.
> 4) Watch the clock, don't let time slip away. If you spend more than five
> minutes with something and you can't get it working, make a note and move
> on. Sometimes just stepping away helps to take the blinders off.
> 5) Constantly use simple debug commands like "debug ip icmp and debug ip
> packet xx detail" When doing redistribution, even if you haven't done your
> mutual redistribution its nice to know that you have one-way redistribution
> even if your pings fail.
>
> That's all I can think of and probably my last post on the subject, since
> I'm off for a week on vacation. :-)
>
> Enjoy and good luck on your journey! :-)
> AQ
> CCIE #9049
>
> At 10:50 AM 3/30/2002, ying chang wrote:
> >Hi Adam,
> >
> >Congratulations! Did you copy the map and read through the whole thing
> >before you start? I have about 2 months to go, and trying to build good
> >habbit to do things, I found my time management is poor and trying to
> >correct it before it's too late.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Chang
> >
> >
> >>From: Adam Quiggle <aquiggle@nc.rr.com>
> >>Reply-To: Adam Quiggle <aquiggle@nc.rr.com>
> >>To: Brian McGahan <brian@cyscoexpert.com>, ccielab@groupstudy.com
> >>Subject: Re: CCIE #9049
> >>Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 10:20:10 -0500
> >>
> >>DOH! I guess I was so high on life that I couldn't see
> >>straight. Good thing I wasn't driving a car when I found out. :-)
> >>
> >>AQ
> >>
> >>At 04:19 PM 3/29/2002, Brian McGahan wrote:
> >>>Adam,
> >>>
> >>> Congratulations! We knew that you had it in you. BTW... your sig sa
ys
> >>>CCIE #9409 :)
> >>>
> >>>Keep in touch,
> >>>
> >>>Brian McGahan
> >>>CCIE #8593
> >>>brian@cyscoexpert.com
> >>>
> >>>CyscoExpert Corporation
> >>>Internetwork Consulting & Training
> >>>http://www.cyscoexpert.com
> >>>Voice: 847.674.3392
> >>>Fax: 847.674.2625
> >>>
> >>>----- Original Message -----
> >>>From: "Adam Quiggle" <aquiggle@nc.rr.com>
> >>>To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> >>>Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 2:18 PM
> >>>Subject: CCIE #9049
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> > Hi everyone,
> >>> >
> >>> > Well I got my email bright and early this morning (it was postmarked ju
st
> >>> > after midnight, but I didn't get it until 6:00am). As everyone has sai
d,
> >>> > the waiting is a killer. I had convinced myself that I had failed
> >>> and was
> >>> > prepared to reschedule the lab again, but when I opened my email and sa
y
> >>> > that "Congratulations on passing the CCIE Lab" I jumped out of my
> >>> > seat! :-) Needless to say I've been on cloud 9 since early this
> >>> morning.
> >>> >
> >>> > As to pointers for those pursuing the CCIE here are some of the things
> >>>I've
> >>> > done.
> >>> >
> >>> > 1) Read, read and read some more. There are a lot of different books o
ut
> >>> > there and I don't have any new books to add to the list, although there
> >>>are
> >>> > a few that I did appreciate more than others: Ciscopress Internetworkin
g
> >>> > with SNA (Sackett), Doyle vI and vII, Halabi (starts hard gets easier
> >>> once
> >>> > you get past the NAP concept) and Caslow.
> >>> >
> >>> > 2) Practice, practice and practice some more. I used the bootcamp labs
> >>>for
> >>> > a good understanding of what to expect. I did several of the FATKID la
bs
> >>> > and even created some labs to explore the various technologies. The
> >>> > bootcamp labs frequently took me much longer to do than I anticipated
> >>> > because I frequently went off on tangents to explore "what if's".
> >>> >
> >>> > 3) http://www.cyscoexpert.com I went there before my lab when I
> >>> thought I
> >>> > was ready and had done most of the bootcamp labs with minimal
> >>> > problems. However, they kicked my butt into gear and there is no doubt
> >>> > that I would have failed if I hadn't taken this "class". It's really n
ot
> >>>a
> >>> > class, as it is customized training. While many of the CCIE classes ar
e
> >>> > during the week and have a regimented approach, this one was
> >>> customized to
> >>> > your weaknesses. The first day they run you through a practice lab and
> >>> > subsequently evaluate your performance and you go from there. There wa
s
> >>> > always one and almost always there were two and sometimes three CCIEs
> >>> > during "class", which was from 9am to 10pm. In addition they were open
> >>> > through weekends (9am to 10pm), so you can go during the weekend,
> >>> which is
> >>> > a definite bonus. They are really nice people there to boot!
> >>> >
> >>> > 4) Time management is critical. It's all true true true. Several
> >>> times I
> >>> > looked at a problem and couldn't figure it out quickly, so I made a not
e
> >>> > and kept going. If I remembered how to do a little bit later I would g
o
> >>> > back and add it, otherwise I waited until the end.
> >>> >
> >>> > At lunch time I was barely half way through the lab. I don't know how
> >>> > other people get done by lunch, but my methodology was "how I can
> >>>integrate
> >>> > this concept/technology into the network without impacting the core".
> >>>I
> >>> > was always looking for problems as I went along, because nothing is wor
se
> >>> > than trying to deal with multiple problems at the same time.
> >>> >
> >>> > All was well right up until five minutes before he called time and I
> >>> found
> >>> > that my routes were recalculating every 10 seconds..ugh...giant routing
> >>> > loop...now I'm really hosed! How am I going to find a routing loop in
> >>>less
> >>> > than 5 minutes??? I'm not sure if I got lucky or if it was just
> >>>experience
> >>> > that led me to find what routes that were looping, but I managed to fin
d
> >>> > the problem and correct it just before he called time. Here is a tip,
> >>> > start shutting down interfaces one at a time until the recalcs go
> >>> away and
> >>> > then focus on how that stopped them. Sometimes you have to shutdown
> >>> > several interfaces (one at a time) to figure out the exit and entry
> >>> > points. I walked away knowing I didn't get 9 points (didn't fulfill th
e
> >>> > criteria) and thought I have 11 points to play with. Must have been my
> >>> > lucky day. :-)
> >>> >
> >>> > 5) Keep track of your progess. I wrote down every question on a piece
of
> >>> > paper and the number of points, with a space for notes:
> >>> >
> >>> > Num Pts Notes
> >>> > 2.1 2 Check for routes on R6
> >>> > 2.2 4 Look at authentication
> >>> >
> >>> > This is important when it gets toward the end and you start to make sur
e
> >>> > you've nailed the questionable stuff.
> >>> >
> >>> > 6) Don't overthink the problem. That is a direct quote from the procto
rs
> >>> > who were great. They are there to help and they do their best to calm
> >>>your
> >>> > nerves before the lab and during lunch. However, make sure you ask the
> >>> > right question, don't ask a "how" question, but if there is a requireme
nt
> >>> > to filter "LSA Type 5's" you might ask "Is it ok to filter Type-3 and
> >>> > Type-4 LSA's".
> >>> >
> >>> > 7) Aliases. I'm a 60 words a minute typer and I found that I had about
a
> >>> > dozen commands that I aliased so that I can access things quickly and
> >>>build
> >>> > from that. For example:
> >>> >
> >>> > alias exec sio show ip ospf
> >>> >
> >>> > can be used as:
> >>> > sio n - show ip ospf neighbor
> >>> > sio v - show ip ospf virtual-link
> >>> > sio i - show ip ospf interface
> >>> >
> >>> > In addition, for setting up the core I would recommend using the
> >>> commands:
> >>> >
> >>> > so - show run | begin router ospf
> >>> > se - show run | begin router eigrp
> >>> > sb - show run | begin router bgp
> >>> >
> >>> > These work great on the 3640's, but tend to be slow on the 2500's.
> >>>However
> >>> > you don't have to go scrolling for what is missing.
> >>> >
> >>> > 8) Groupstudy! Almost every question you can think of has been asked a
nd
> >>> > answered on this list and can be found in the archives. I used the
> >>> > archives extensively, which is probably why I didn't post that much.
> >>>Huge
> >>> > thanks to Paul Borghese!
> >>> >
> >>> > Well, that's all I can think of. Good luck to those pursuing your
> >>> > CCIE. I'll be here in the flanks continuing to listen, learn and
> >>>hopefully
> >>> > extend a hand to others. :-)
> >>> >
> >>> > Later,
> >>> > AQ
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > **********************************
> >>> > Adam Quiggle
> >>> > Sr. Network Eng II
> >>> > Managed Network Services Worldcom
> >>> > CCIE #9409, CCNP, MCNE, MCSE <----------- ;)
> >>> > **********************************
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