CCIE

The new blueprint is out for all to see. Its version 4, and includes some interesting things. Alot of people have already analysed it in quite some detail.

The two things thats most obvious to me, is the emphasis on MPLS as more and more dominant technology. VRF’s are explored in more detail.

As the topic implies, I will be writing about a few things regarding shaping and policing. Now these are two really hard-to-understand topics for me, but they are also very usefull. To understand what they do, and the difference between them, lets define them as such:

Im at the policing and shaping section of the exam certification guide, and its very hardcore stuff in my opinion. Just finished the section on 3550 and 3560 ingress/egress queuing and scheduling methods. Wow, thats really something i gotta get my head around.

Im somewhat in the middle of the CCIE exam certification guide, and still learning alot. I am putting down the framework for more detailed examination of technologies. I have a couple of books on my reading list after this to solidify the knowledge with more in-depth details.

I am doing alot of technology focused labs, and I always learn something new, which is really good. For example, I was studying the effects of autosummarization with RIP and EIGRP. A few things cropped up.

RIP will autosummarize routes it receives from other neighbors, where as EIGRP will only summarize those, if it has a locally connected network of the same major net, and it is included in a network statement.

Im done with my first reading of Routing TCP/IP volume 1. All in all a great book, with lots of information about the various IGP’s. I skipped the IS-IS part simply because its not part of the R&S written blueprint. I made quite a few notes about each chapter along the way, which I am sure will come in handy when reviewing/troubleshooting material.

So I broke down and bought the IPexpert Blended Learning Solution the day before yesterday. I got great advice very fast from the people there, and they were very nice. Been looking over the workbooks, they seem really good and challenging 🙂 As I have written before, I will take my time and learn as much as I possibly can, so I wont even start those labs until I have a better understanding of the entire scope of this whole CCIE buisness, which in other words means alot more reading and understanding of things and passing the written exam.

Im watching some free vLectures from IPexpert here, the one im watching is the one about Spanning-Tree. Its pretty good so far. I do hope however, that their video-on-demand products are alot better quality. Im still waiting to take the plunge and buy their BLS (Blended Learning Solution) until I know where I stand both financially and knowledge wise (written).

So im finishing up some troubleshooting exercises in Routing TCP/IP. They are mainly about the metrics used by EIGPR. Here’s a review of the functionality of EIGRP and how it chooses the best path to a destination.

First of, EIGRP is an Enhancement of the proprietary IGRP protocol, which is almost but phased out by now. EIGRP is still a distance vector protocol, since it routes by rumor. Each router does not have a full view of the entire network topology and can therefor not base any decision on

At the bottom of this post is a link to a small article by Jared over at IPexpert about the books he recommends for the CCIE written exam. Anyone who looked at the recommended book list from Cisco is blown away. I believe theres 21 books on that list, most of which, I suspect is no less than 600 pages. Jareds list is only one third of that. This is a guy with 3x CCIE’s under his belt, so I take his words as the definite truth :

So im reading about EIGRP’s DUAL algorithm, and how it works, and MAN, its confusing. After the example in Routing TCP/IP, even they mention it might require several readings. Basically it boils down to the fact if a router being notified of a bad link has a feasible successor or not. If it doesnt, it goes into an active state and sends out queries to all of its neighbors. It will stay in active until it has received a reply from all of its neighbors it has queried. However, if it does have a feassible successor, it will switch to that one, and notify its neighbors of its change.

I wanted to post a link to a great site which I have started using called flashcarddb.com, what it does is pretty simple, but it does its job in a slick fashion.

There is a system called the leitner system, which in all its simplicity is making you remember things by repeating them in periods with different intervals. If you miss a question, it is scheduled to be repeated more often, until you get it right every time. This I think will come in handy with some things I simply cant remember. I will be using this along with normal note taking procedures. I want to enter in as many as required. Right now reading through Routing TCP/IP Vol. 1, I am entering in some must-remember facts, which I can then later on practice. So its not a replacement for notes, but a supplement to make sure you get facts straight.

Im having some “fun” with static routes. Its an okay topology, 4 routers connected. The task asked for having some floating static routes, along with some load-balancing routes. Since they are CEF based, it will be load-shared by default to destination load sharing. Note to self: if incomming interface is CEF, what is the output switching method going to be? — Thats right, CEF.

So like many others finishing their CCNP’s, ive been looking at the CCIE R&S track. There are two obstacles to become one of the prestigious ones with CCIE digits. One is the written exam, and the second is the lab exam. Of these two, the lab exam seems to be the big one of the two. I would like to add a third however. That one is the study path to passing the other two.

As reported on cciepursuit, cisco has announced changes to both the lab and written parts of the CCIE certification.

On the written, the normal “style” of cisco exams will take place, where you cant go back and forth between questions, and no review. On the lab, some questions will need answering, which will take a certain amount of time. This is done to verify the CCIE candidate to verify the correct skillset in order for CCIE certification.