From: Michael Dorion (dorionm@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Oct 20 2008 - 22:52:42 ARST
I've been twice now, and I am also taking the exam again next month.
Everyone says to 'draw your own diagram and read the entire exam,' but i
think you should just kind of have an idea what order you should do things
in, and know what can cause you to have to backtrack. Skim the entire lab
for these kinds of things. I was actually just starting to write about this
in my blog.
When I do practice labs I follow these steps:
1.
Draw a 'spreadsheat' with all task numbers and points. leave a comment
section next to each task.
2.
Make a copy of the initial config. 'copy run flash:/initial.config' and look
it over for any obvious troubleshooting problems like wrong IPs, frame relay
mappings, etc. If you do run into problems you can use the "more" command on
the file to see if there is anything that jumps out at you. When I am doing
this, I add all of my 'default' config on each device, here is what I
typically paste in to each device.
conf t
do clock set 20:28:30 20 Oct 2008
logging con debu
do debu ip routing
ip routing
no ip domain-look
ip rcmd rsh-en
ip rcmd remote-host RackxxR1 <#.#.#.#> RackxxR1 enable
! this is for TCL scripting later and doesnt need to be on R1
logging buff debu
alias exec ir sho ip route
alias exec ib sho ip int bri | ex unas
alias exec r sho run | be router
do wr
3.
Start skimming the lab. Pay VERY close attention to the 'rules of
engagement.' This will tell you what solutions you have open to you and even
give you hints as to what problems you might run into. I make comments on
the spreadsheet for problems I see, or rules I should be careful of breaking
as I skim. Also, I dont draw a layer 3 topology diagram unless I need to,
but I ALWAYS draw a layer 2 diagram that shows all trunks, VLANs, etc.
Drawing a layer 3 diagram usually ends up being a huge time waster. Just get
used to using other peoples' diagrams.
Once i've done that I start approaching the switching section as a whole and
read the entire section for switching. There isn't much in switching that
can mess up your routing and other stuff as long as it works (MTU sizes,
port security, etc), but there are a ton of ways to order the tasks WITHIN
switching to mess you up. Just look at the internetwork expert workbooks,
lab 8 for example. As a rule, you do you trunking and vlan assignments
before you bother with VTP.
Here are some things I look for in a skim:
-If you see a dot1q-tunnel task when you are skimming, change the MTU to
1504 right there and reload. That way its done by the time you are ready to
work on configs. (same for frame relay mappings to 0.0.0.0).
-Look for your partial-mesh frame-relay. I dont think i've seen many
practice labs without them, you should know by now all the problems you'll
face
-Split horizon?
-Discontiguous area 0's for OSPF. (can i add IPs to do a dot1q tunnel? do I
have authenticat my Virtual Link? is unnumbered a possible solution?)
-BGP problem? next hop issues, loopback peerings, TTL issues for exernal
peerings.
-RPF failures if multiple paths?
-Problems with ACLs or other security features breaking other configs? bgp,
gre, ip services etc. I usually read the security section again at the end,
I've been burned too many times by this.
-Anything you don't know, and isn't core, mark it to be skipped. You want to
have a good 60 points by lunch time. (It will taste much better). :)
Hope this helps. I look forward to reading other peoples suggestions.
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
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