From: Diment, Andrew (adiment@qwest.com)
Date: Wed Dec 11 2002 - 12:25:45 GMT-3
Way to go!!
-----Original Message-----
From: Zeb Khan [mailto:zeb.khan@environment-agency.gov.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 6:36 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Time to get off the rollercoater - Passed 8/12 Brussels (long)
Greetings All,
Took the lab on Monday. The past 48 hours have been one hell of a roller
coaster. Tried checking my mail and looking on the website and there was
nothing. Went back to the hotel and couldn't sleep until 4am, was reviewing
what I had done, considered I had nailed close to 80% there was 12-14% that
I had not completed to satisfaction and could not rely on. It was this 6-8%
I was thinking about. I though I had just missed it. Flew back and my wife
was also stressed out. Got home and checked my mail, I had one mail (usually
you get a mail telling you to check your score online. If you pass you get a
congratulations mail). I thought Ok, that's it I have failed.
Down loaded it and it was some spam.
Got to work and checked again, you have 2 emails, great I thought. It was
two joke mails from a friend.
By 5pm, I was going to email them to chase up when I checked again. I had
three mails. One from cisco telling me to check and 2 telling me
congratulations. The congrats were from other guys telling me they had
passed, we had exchanged emails. So I went on line to see how I had failed.
Logged on and did not notice that I had passed, had a look for the breakdown
and wondered where it was. Only then did I notice the word Passed and a 5
digit number! It was a surprise after preparing myself for a close failure.
Took the exam on Monday, third attempt. Passed the written in March, first
attempt in September second in October (wanted to try before the change). It
has been a difficult 9 months, looking forward to some relaxation now.
Thanks to my wife (and kids) for their patience, Peter, Tariq and John for
their help with studying and this group for their input.
Anyway, here is the useful bit. My feedback.
Soapbox mode = ON
For me the most useful thing was having your own routers at home. It frees
you up to revise when you want to and not be tied to other peoples
scenarios.
Having study buddies was another great bonus. It is much better to be able
to discuss topics with someone, it makes you think about it more and helps
you both (provided you remain focussed). You can also pool equipment when
you get closer to L day. Many thanks to Peter Whittle and John Gibbs.
Regarding approach, my method is to automate the way that I approach the
lab. Become methodical, decide how you want to approach and practice
practice practice. Here is my approach, if it helps anyone.
Studying for the Lab:
I took a course with Netlogic I found the course well structured and the
notes extremely useful afterwards. They were very supportive. Regards books,
all the usual. Read the sections I needed as core and used the CD for other
topics. Thanks to Tariq. I focussed on configuring my equipment at home.
Much of my study was hands on. Practice getting the basics up quickly. When
you are with your study buddy, have a lab day. No talking, no chit chat. 30
minutes hard configuring, with the other taking notes of ways you could
improve. 10 minute debrief, then swap seats. Complete the lab in this
manner. Days before the lab, get a lab set up for you by some one and tackle
it like the real thing. Get your study buddy to watch you. This is a great
help as you have not set it up. Practice searching the CD.
Regarding screen setup:
I tile my screens so that I can see parts of the other device windows. Some
people use one window and hop between devices. I find it useful to see
logging messages when things come up (or go down). It reduces the surprises
and alerts you to issues which you can tackle as you have caused them and
not when you have discovered them later. This helped me a lot when the
unexpected occurs, when under pressure, I did not have to worry about what
caused the problem as I have caught it quickly.
Regarding configuration:
Hit the lab in sections.
L2/3 (don't forget to check L1)
Get your Vlans working, check you can ping across as required. Tackle them
one at a time, from one side of your pod to the other.
Get your WAN links working, one at a time. Work your way from one side to
the other. Always the same. Knock off the links and as you are working
across, you know you have done them all.
Once your layer 2 and 3 are up, you are ready to start proper.
Again, start methodically, one end and move your way round the network.
Start with the bits you control, configure internal routing before
configuring routing to devices out of your control. Tackle OSPF in a logical
manner, start with area 0 and then move on to the other areas, one area at a
time.
I configure things in sections. I may implement OSPF basic on all the
routers that need them, check the neighbour relationships as they come up.
Then I will go round and add other things that you are supposed to do. This
may take longer but it is methodical and give me a working baseline at each
stage. This boosts your confidence and reduces the problem determination if
things go wrong. Configure filtering and redistribution last, you can see
the effects.
Nail the standards first. I nail the router IDs, R1 = 1.1.1.1 R4=4.4.4.4 I
turn logging on, then I move on to real configuration. I can see neighbour
coming up and down. This means you do not have to think about what your
loopback addresses are, router IDs are always the same. The less you have to
think about, the better your progress is.
I found that tackling the key IP routing sections in this manner helped me a
lot. It reduces surprises and the amount of debugging needed afterwards.
The Lab:
Remember the basics, hit them hard and fast.
Save small questions that are not too complicated for gap fillers when you
get bogged down (when your heart goes mad). Don't leave these until out as
they could be easy points.
I used one sheet to keep a tally of how I was doing. I was noting down the
questions completed, the score and a running total. This helps boost your
confidence about how you are progressing. A separate column for things that
need to be checked, or put back on, before those important points are
yours. Another for stuff that you have not completed. All with their points
so you can prioritise.
When I had done all I could, I went back through my list of questions
answered and ticked them off when I had checked them again. Under pressure
it can be easy to lose track of what your priorities are, keeping a tally
helps.
About 4pm, a review of how you are progressing, you have an hour and a half.
Put problems on hold and make sure that you have finished all the stuff you
can do. You must have all the points you can get. Get back to your problems
once these are all done.
Post lab:
For those who have failed, you must go through and figure out where you went
wrong. The disappointment of failing after all the hard work is intense but
you have to overcome it. You need to think of the 100% you were given and
where you lost points. There will be sections that you could not do,
sections that you thought you did right. The feedback helps enormously here.
If you are way off, leave it for a bit, if you are close, try to get
straight back in there within a couple of months at the most. It is easier
to keep the momentum going than leaving it for 6 months and then trying to
get back up there. It is very difficult to maintain your focus and eye on
the objective after a technical and financial setback that failing the lab
does to you.
Soapbox mode = OFF
I hope you found this useful. All the best for your studies. Off for some
R+R this weekend I think.
Zeb Khan CCIE #10824
**********************************************************************
This message is confidential as it contains information about the person we
are sending it to. If you have received this message by mistake, please
delete it and do not copy it to anyone else.
If this message contains information that you have requested from us please
see our standard notice for details of how you may use that information. If
the notice is not attached and you require a copy please telephone 0845
9333111 and ask for the customer contact.
For further information about the Environment Agency call the number above
or look at our web site at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
**********************************************************************
.
.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Jan 17 2003 - 17:21:43 GMT-3