From: Tom Larus (tlarus@cox.net)
Date: Sat Oct 01 2005 - 11:18:26 GMT-3
I felt the same way as I was preparing for the lab. When I was
preparing for the Lab exam, Hutnik and Saterlee's Cisco CCIE Lab
Practice Kit from McGraw-Hill was the only workbook product that I was
aware of that provided task-by-task explanations of WHY something was
configured the way it was. I worked through these labs (as well as
other labs like the ones they provided me at a Cisco CCIE practice lab
at NC State) BEFORE I tackled the labs in a workbook from a leading
vendor.
After I passed the Lab exam and worked for a Cisco reseller for a while,
I decided to a write a book in the same vein as the Hutnik and Saterlee
CCIE Lab Practice Kit. I provide explanations of the vast majority of
tasks (a few tasks are so simple as to not need explanations). I then
wrote a Volume II with more of the same sort of scenarios, but this time
two brilliant and experienced network engineers who had bought my first
book agreed to be technical reviewers for my second book. They are both
now CCIEs and are more experienced than I am, so they helped me make a
better book than it would have otherwise been.
These books focus heavily on the age-old lessons that CCIE candidates
have struggled with for years. Many of these subjects would properly be
considered "Foundation" or intermediate-level, but I also cover a few
advanced or subtle matters. I have a complex redistribution scenario in
the first book that some people like a lot.
Unfortunately, I did not incorporate IPv6, and I don't think I will have
time to rewrite the books to incorporate IPv6, so they will, in a few
months, become "obsolete" to some extent.
I do not claim to be anywhere near as smart as the gurus who write the
advanced books and teach the CCIE training classes, but I am pretty good
at explaining things in a practical, plain English way that some people
like a lot.
I think there are lab guides available to provide explanations for the
advanced workbooks, but in my opinion it is good to learn many of the
hard lessons before you touch a major advanced workbook. I have not
seen the lab guides that exist these days, but I would not expect them
to spoonfeed you much when it comes to advanced scenarios. Better to
learn the basic and intermediate lessons early on so that when you come
to the advanced scenarios from the gurus you can fully absorb the
advanced or subtle lessons the gurus are teaching.
Best regards,
Tom Larus, CCIE #10,014
Author of the CCIE Warm-up e-books
540-368-2601
cciein2006@yahoo.com wrote:
>I was considering purchasing one of the CCIE training workbooks, but I'm not crazy about how solutions are presented.
>
>>From the workbooks my friends have shown me (I think one was IPEXPERT) they either provided no solution or the solutions were in the form of router configurations with no explanations of why certain commands were configured.
>
>I guess figuring out why the answers are configured that way is part of the fun/challenge, but I find it more educating for the solutions guide to explain exactly why certain commands are configured.
>
>Are all the training workbooks like this? If not which ones provide detailed explanations and also is the solution guide an extra charge?
>
>Thanks!
>
>_______________________________________________________________________
>Subscription information may be found at:
>http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
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