Re: Core Knowledge - Don't mis-interpret this

Hi Salah,

Asking a small number of simple questions about common RFCs does not
strike me as unfair.

Will most customers be interested in them, no. Will they be interested
in interoperability, yes. RFCs are developed to provide a common
understanding of how protocols should operate. They are the
authoritative source for what behaviour should be, and vendor specs
refer to them to explain what their products can do. If you are
familiar with common RFC numbers, and what they represent, then you will
understand product specs more quickly and can understand their
differences and limitations. If you want to check to see if a feature
is supported by multiple vendors, you can either check through all the
vendors product docs for every tiny detail, or you can check to see if
they support the RFC.

There are obviously a huge number of RFC, and I would have thought most
people are (and should be) familiar with a small number; particularly
those related to ingress filtering, private addresses and some of the
more common routing protocols RFCs. Many text books were written based
on old RFCs which have since been updated. If your studies are based on
only reading old books you may achieve a good understanding of old
protocol behaviour and terminology, but little understanding of how it
has changed and how it currently operates. Familiarity with a few
common RFCs, and their key differences, may also suggest that someone
has really studied the topic in detail rather than focusing their
studies on simply producing configs for the lab, perhaps not gaining a
good general understanding in the process.

Quite apart from their use as a reference of what behaviour is like now,
RFCs also define new proposed protocols. They are a good indication of
which areas are the focus of current research, and the direction in
which the industry is moving. You wouldn't expect someone to know about
cutting edge technologies for the lab, but they can be interesting and
good for your general knowledge.

Paul.

Salah ElShekeil wrote:
> RFCs?!?i
>
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Paul Cosgrove <paul.cosgrove_at_gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>> Hold times are very important. Customers often ask about failover. How
>> long will it take? Well it largely depends on your hold time, since that
>> often determines how long it takes to detect the failure.
>>
>> Paul.
>>
>>
>> Salah ElShekeil wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Agree with u Mohammed, or rfc#, what it will add to my knowledge!!!!!
>>> nothing,
>>>
>>> It s a networking lab exam not a history exam.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Mohamed El Henawy <m.henawy_at_link.net
>>>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> i don't think customers ask about hold time :)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pavel Bykov" <slidersv_at_gmail.com>
>>>> To: "Joseph L. Brunner" <joe_at_affirmedsystems.com>
>>>> Cc: "Larry" <cc13lab_at_gmail.com>; <ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 7:20 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: Core Knowledge - Don't mis-interpret this
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I think Cisco may have wanted to simulate customer environment.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> When I visit a customer, they ask some questions and they do expect
>>>>> answers.
>>>>> If I give them the correct answer, they ask a few more and if it's all
>>>>> correct answers they want me to look at this and that is basically
>>>>> living
>>>>> up
>>>>> to the reputation of CCIE. The customer wants to do business because of
>>>>> supplier knowledge. They see what they pay for.
>>>>>
>>>>> On the other hand, if you answer your customer, don't know and that you
>>>>> have
>>>>> to look it up, well... If the customer thinks it's just a simple
>>>>> question
>>>>> that you should have known, maybe that will be the missed opportunity
>>>>> for
>>>>> huge projects.
>>>>>
>>>>> That's why I think Cisco puts only a few questions in.
>>>>>
>>>>> Pavel
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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Received on Wed Apr 22 2009 - 10:02:53 ART