RE: Anyone Going for v4 lab in october?

Thanks Anantha

From: Anantha Subramanian Natarajan [mailto:anantha.natarajan_at_gravitant.com]
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 11:14 AM
To: Nathan Richie
Cc: Divin Mathew John; Iwan Hoogendoorn; Cisco certification
Subject: Re: Anyone Going for v4 lab in october?

Hi Nathan,

  Just pasting the content for your kind reference

For those who don't know me, I've been a CCIE since mid-2002 and am the
co-author of several CiscoPress books, including "CCIE Route/Switch Exam
Certification Guide 4th edition", "Cisco Voice Gateways and Gatekeepers", and
"CCNP Quick Reference Sheets". I recently took the beta of the new version
4.0 CCIE R/S lab exam to offer feedback to Cisco. With their approval, I'd
like to offer my impressions to those preparing for, or considering, the CCIE
R/S lab exam. A big caveat - my job does not routinely involve configuration
anymore, and I didn't get a chance to study until on the flight there, so a
prepared candidate's experience will definitely vary from mine!
Overall, I was favorably impressed. It has some cool and interesting new
features. The most visible difference is the computer interface. All
documentation is web-based now, including the lab instructions. No more
binder on the desk. The main web page has the overall diagram and links to
instructions and documentation. You click on a router to open a SecureCRT
console session with it. There is also a link to manage the devices (reboot
one, for example.) You can access CCO documentation from a link on the main
page also. You can't search CCO, though, unfortunately.
I didn't know what to expect from the core questions since they weren't on the
lab when I took it seven years ago, but I thought they would be trivial. They
weren't. But they also were well within what one would expect someone sitting
the exam to know easily.
The two-hour troubleshooting section is new for the one-day exam and follows
the core questions. There are multiple trouble tickets, all relating to the
same network so you don't have to learn a new network for each one. You can
do them in any order. I felt that the questions were fairly representative of
things you might run across in a production environment. If you've set up
your own lab and done all the experimenting you should while studying, you've
probably already made most possible mistakes anyway! Probably the best way to
ace the troubleshooting section is to have a very in-depth knowledge of all
the technologies covered in the lab. One thing you should know is that the
computer closes the exam exactly at the end of two hours. You don't have any
wiggle room to finish things up, so keep an eye on the time. If you finish
early, you can end that portion and start the configuration portion of the
lab.
The configuration portion is the last 5 = hours. I found it easy to get used
to the web interface and having the instructions on the screen rather than on
paper. The monitor screens are big enough that you can have multiple windows
open at once. However, it was annoying to move the windows to see the lab
diagram. If the actual lab doesn't offer a paper version of the diagram, I
recommend that you draw your own. The equipment was sometimes a little slow in
responding to commands, because the actual routers and switches are in San
Jose and I took the exam in RTP. It was nothing to worry about, just
something to be aware of. I think the equipment has been remote for a while
now, so if you've taken the lab recently then it's familiar to you. The
equipment sat beside us when I took my lab. There are some new technologies
in the blueprint, and the configuration part is two hours shorter, so one
would expect that portion to be scaled back somewhat.
Studying for version 4.0 should be no different than studying for the CCIE lab
has always been - know the core routing, switching, and WAN technologies cold.
Practice them until you can do them in your sleep. Then tackle all the other
things on the blueprint, paying attention to the odd and unusual things you
can do with them. As always, having a strong understanding of as many
technologies, techniques, and IOS features as possible gives you time to
research the tasks you've never heard of.
Good luck with your exam! I'm interested to hear about your experiences with
it!

Regards
Anantha Subramanian Natarajan

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 10:06 AM, Nathan Richie
<nathanr_at_boice.net<mailto:nathanr_at_boice.net>> wrote:
When I click on the link, I get the following message:

"The Cisco Learning Network site is currently unavailable due to scheduled
Maintenance."

I can see where having the CLN down on the day that the R&S Lab version
changes would be a great idea :)

Can anybody give some indication as to what the article said?

Regards,

Nathan Richie

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com<mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com>
[mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com<mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com>] On Behalf Of
Divin Mathew John
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 6:17 AM
To: Iwan Hoogendoorn
Cc: Cisco certification
Subject: Re: Anyone Going for v4 lab in october?
anyone read this ? Review of the V4 beta Examiew of CCIE v4 Beta Lab Exam
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/8262

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Divin Mathew John
<divinjohn_at_gmail.com<mailto:divinjohn_at_gmail.com>>wrote:

> i am planning to give in dec 2009
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 1:52 PM, Iwan Hoogendoorn
<iwan_at_ipexpert.com<mailto:iwan_at_ipexpert.com>>wrote:
>
>> Did you make it Mathew?'
>> I believe you did your exam on the 4th correct?
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>>
>> Iwan Hoogendoorn
>> CCIE #13084 (R&S / Security / SP)
>> Sr. Support Engineer IPexpert, Inc.
>> URL: http://www.IPexpert.com
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 6:34 PM, Divin Mathew John
<divinjohn_at_gmail.com<mailto:divinjohn_at_gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>> > Anyone Going for CCIE RS v4 lab in october?
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> >
>> > W. Somerset Maugham <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/40259.html> -
>> "I
>> > always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I
>> > don't."
>> >
>> >
>> > Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________________________________
>> > Subscription information may be found at:
>> > http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from Karnataka, India
> Oscar Wilde <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1171.html> - "I love
> acting. It is so much more real than life."
>

--
Sent from Karnataka, India
W. Somerset Maugham <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/40259.html>  - "I
always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I
don't."
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net