Finally a pass in v4 exam !!!!!!!!

Finally some good news that someone indeed has passed the V4 routing & switching ccie exam after 2 months of it being introduced to the world !! This news source is from the group study forum.

Update:
Flavio Provedel is the name of the person. He was using INE products. Scott morris broke the news of him passing. No official declaration or comment from Flavio yet.

More updates as I have more news & info !!

CCIE-Dash Reloaded

Well I dint make it in the V3 format of the exam. Now its time to conquer V4. My journey continues into 2010. Looking for a date approximately around March. Although I was studying a few concepts exploring new areas, Its now time to be the ultimate master.

I want to know it all & do it all !!!!!!!!!!!

I am starting out my full time study from today. I am going to explore all aspects of routing from scratch. My plan is to train myself to know everything in the book & everything that the cisco IOS has to offer. I have my weakness worked out. I know what mistake I did in my preparation last time around. I don't want my family to suffer this time because of me. 3 months to learn & be ready.

My plan;

Frame relay --- ETC --- 14DEC
I know the stuff but got to refresh & configure all of it.

RIP --- ETC --- 14DEC
Simple yet got know it all & practice it all.

EIGRP --- ETC --- 15DEC
Got to read some design concepts & practice all possible stuff.

OSPF --- ETC --- 17DEC
Got to read some design concepts & practice all possible stuff.

BGP --- ETC --- 19DEC
Got to read a lot & practice everything I can.

Redistribution - ETC --- 20DEC
This is what got me last time with some loops.

So what am I going to use to study & practise ...... Well its going be the jeff doyle book, INE volume-1, DOC-CD & of course the cisco design guides. Its important I practice everything because I Will have to prepare for troubleshooting . So this time I will use a lot of debug commands & all of the show commands.

I am hoping for the best to get my ccie-dash reloaded for the V4 exam.

Configuring IOS IPS

Well this week I decided to play around with IPS on the cisco routers. So I had a c3825 to try this on in my workplace. Tell you what, I had heard about this but it was the first time that I had configured it. Well the configuration is not that big a deal but it was fun & I loved it.

I went through the DOC-CD fully & practiced everything mentioned there. It will be interesting to see it in the exam.The reason I say is because;

First off when we load the signatures the routers processor is pegged. I wouldn't do it on a production router. I had like a gig of memory on my router so loading the signatures was not an issue but the router was totally non-responsive.

I am not too sure if packet forwarding & other actions would be affected while the signatures are loading(hopefully it isn't) but the router was not accepting my commands that I was typing in. After a minute or so it was available for me to use.

The router console is flooded with the IPS messages when ever we have packet flowing through.
Yes i had enable all signatures, which am sure is not going to be the case in the exam. In production am sure the syslog is gonna have load IPS data filled in day in & day out :)

IMO the ips config would be checked in the exam more than anything else. Just configuring signatures attributes & other related stuff. But on the whole it was really fun to work with & a cool feature to implement.

Some of the interesting links to read include

interesting-1

interesting-2

I have a friend of mine who has IOS-IPS configured in his production router. So I will be visiting him to see how its configured & what sort of stuff its reporting. Happy weekend :)

Change of guard in my prep

I have put the brakes on MPLS. Before I get into too much of vpn concepts, I wanted to ensure that I got all of the IGP-EGP sorted out so that I can play around with all the configs & see how mpls works.

So here is the plan. Get all the concepts of BGP revised & practice the volume 1 labs today. To get the theory done am sure it will take at least 3 days. So Wednesday I will review where I stand & hopefully I have all the concepts in BGP finished. Then follow it up with RIP, OSPF, EIGRP So this week we will have all of the routing done. In the weekend will work on the redistribution. We have to get that right & also practice some prefix list / ACL & filtering routes. Got to be smart & fast in working out the lists so that we don't waste time.

Once I am done with this I will work out @least 5 labs just on the core routing part from the labs I have bought so that I feel good about myself. IS-IS is one area I got to dig a lil more & I will do that also in the next week, after I practice a few scenarios. That's the plan as of now lets see how it works out.

Getting to love the ISR G2

Well if you are a router lover like me then you would definitely love the new product line from Cisco. When they came out with the original ISR model 4 years ago they revolutionized the world. Now its just the deja-vu from cisco but in a bigger level.

You will love the oomph factor that the G2 bring in them. Cisco is all about collaboration & taking the networks to the next level. Well they have done it again. Tell you what I really want to finish my CCIE quickly & get my hands dirty configuring & deploying networks with the G2 :)
Well, cisco has still not done away with their original isr yet, but you know. Be it data or voice the wow factor is always built into the routers.

The 1841 become the 1941, the 2800 into 2900 & the 3800 into 3900. So what have they brought in new, well lots;

First is that there is only a single universal image you need to obtain, they have done away with the adventerprise, advsecurity, advipservises, entbase, entservices, ipbase images. The routers have a multicore processor which double the processing power of the routers, voice+video ready dsp & more.


Well I really cant put all the data in here I highly recommend you following these links to learn more;

You can go to the cisco ISR home page by clicking here.
To compare the different models of the ISR G2 click here

Lab Safe & We have you covered

Wow its all about $$$$. We need to spend 4000$ + in training to get the free lab, amazing.
Cisco brought the lab safe program telling if the students invest in their 360 training boot camp & score 80. On instructor recommendation we get the second shot free if we fail the first attempt.Now INE has come out telling that if you invest 4995$ with them they offer us the first attempt for free.

So here is the intent of the programs;

360 says if you come to them to train & learn you should be good enough for the exam. So they ask you to test on the mock lab. If you score 80% on any one of the 12 they have, they feel that you are good enough & you will pass the lab(because the mock lab standard is probably higher) If something goes wrong & the candidate fails the second shot will be covered.

Ine says if you invest with them you will not have to pay extra for the first attempt. Its within the 4995 we pay them.

This is how I read it. Both the programs have totally two different intentions. Both are not the same. So lets understand that first. The students have to pick what they think is their need.

Got my 360 stuff !!!

With the standard that the V4 exam has been posing I decided to take up a vendor workbook that is equally tough & bowls me out even at the practice level. After a lot of thought I decided to go with NMC. Well its well know that their materials are a class apart & they set high standards. Yes, they are a little on the expensive side but after I bought their material & saw what they gave me I think I got a really good deal

Well its got me excited. I am not gonna jump into the full scale labs yet. I will drill down on all individual topics learn them all inside out & then move to the labs.

A little review of the material. Its more like the real lab we would get, its got a 2 hour troubleshooting section + 6 hour configuration section. Nice !!! Whats better is that I get to access the most famous V3 labs !!! The mentor guide is a cool tool to use to help ourselves. I just went through a couple of labs & I was like wow !!!

Why its a good deal ?? Well to start off as I said the quality of the material is superb as ever. The lab format is similar to the actual lab. We get the V3 labs also along with this. We get the Troubleshooting labs also that's been provided as a separate package by different vendors . So you don't have to buy anything separately. The mentor guide is nice tool to check how the final configs will look like in the actual lab. So investing in other vendors would have cost me 400$ at a minimum(troubleshooting + full scale labs). So put a little more & you get a real high quality product. Its a good buy @ the end of the day. The sales team is great, they helped me in couple of thing & of course their response was good.

IMO, provided the standard of the V4 lab I would suggest going with NMC . If you have already bought some other vendor product & want a different perspective , again this should be your choice.

CCIE R&S V4 not for the "Faint Hearted" !!!

First of all, I feel -- "Damn I should have passed the V3 lab". But that's not the case. Appears like the V4 is a monster. Its definitely gonna produce the best & toughest CCIE. Its been 2 weeks since the V4 has been rolled out & not a single soul has passed (as far as I know).

I have been watching & posting all updates on the exam all through this time, so just to summarize;

Format == OEQ + Troubleshooting + Configuration == 0.30 + 2.0 + 5.30

* OEQ -- We all know the story.

* Troubleshooting -- You really need to know your stuff. If you have not played around configuring,breaking & fixing stuff, its going to be very tough. Around 40% of the tickets are doable, the rest you really need to know the details & working of every technology. Appears like we get anywhere between 10 to 12 tickets to be worked on.

* Configuration -- Appears like this section toughness is as good as the one in V3 except for the fact that the time has been cut down by 2 hours & the number of question to be attempted is just 10% less than the one in the previous format.

So we have more technology included in the exam, we need to learn more. People who have not worked on mpls vpn before will find it a bit tough because its there in the troubleshooting.

Almost all technology in the blueprint will be there in the exam, either in the troubleshooting and/or configuration section. There is nothing as core/non core in the exam. Everything in the blueprint has equal importance & its required that we know our stuff.

Next is that cisco is going green & gone paperless. So what does this have to do with the exam.... well, we have the question workbook in the online format including the diagram. So we will have a lot of windows open in the screen. We will have to toggle between windows & it appears that the screen does get cluttered pretty quickly & we can open only one diagram at a time. But i think that should be manageable.

So does the V4 CCIE Routing & Switching blueprint cover most of the topics in Service provider ccie -- yes, it does. Does it have concepts from security ccie -- yes, it does. So what has the track become ? Well in my opinion its become the one of the best ccie tracks to take up. Its definitely industry focused & I can tell with full confidence only the toughest can pass it. Its gonna produce one of the best R&S ccie.

IMO if you feel you are not ready don't take up the exam & blow your cash. Prepare, after all we are going to be the "expert". We need to be tough & know it all. Lets not complain & lets not blame, we all put in our time & money. Its definitely going to worth the investment.
Its a ccie track for the toughest & not for the faint hearted.

Interview - Bloopers

Well this Saturday I spent interviewing prospective candidates for my company. Well tell you what, I thoroughly enjoyed it, listening to some folks giving out hilarious answers & they are CCNA, CCNP. I thought to myself damn !!

Well the questions were basic & not even @ a medium level. Even i have done my CCNP. I do not deal with VPN @ work, I did study that for my ISCW paper. I am very rusty in that, but if I dont know something I say, sorry am not sure what the answer is or I would say I dont know because I don't work with that stuff. But never ever would I fart with my mouth with some funny answers with full confidence. oh man :)

Ok, CCNA-CCNP is all about getting the stuff configured on your cisco router. We may be really good with that stuff but if you can not explain basic ip packet movement from system-A to system-B & what fields are used you really need to rethink on taking pride as a CCNA or CCNP.

How can you work with ospf & not know how often it sends hello ??

More Insights to the V4 lab !!

I read the editorial on the learning network written by Scott Morris.

You Can read it Here

The highlight of that was the following;

* Appears like the config section will stil comprise of almost 70 points. {This goes to show how good we need to be to take on the config portion in 5.5hours}
* Troubleshooting will constitute 22 to 25 points.
* The rest will constitute the core knowledge section. And in all the sections we must score 80% individually.
* There will be 5 routers in the configuration section as compared to the 6 routers we have now. (Phew @least we have that cut down hehehe)
* The core part of the exam still remains routing & switching even though there are multiple new technology introduced.
* Troubleshooting may possibly have MPLS VPN in them.

There is more to it, you can read the entire writeup here

FAQ for Routing and Switching v4.0

Well there is a lot of parania about the V4 lab. well for starters here is something for you to know.
Here is the FAQ & answers for the same about Routing and Switching v4.0 being answered by the content manager for CCIE R&S certification.

First Impressions of V4 Lab R&S

Some of them took the new V4 lab & it appears many dint like the way the exam was presented to them. Here is what I learnt from the people who have shared their experience in GS.

* First there is no question booklet/file. Only Online exam document is available.
* we can view only one diagram at a time & we have to toggle between windows to view other screens. [This shows we really need to work on drawing our own]
* Appears like the screen gets cluttered too soon as we need to open multiple windows.
* The tool used to connect to the devices are Java based just the ones used in ASET labs.
* Troubleshooting is a little heavy but doable.
* We really have to be street smart to do finish the config portion in 5.5hrs time because its intense & power packed.

Here is wendell odom giving his impression about the lab :
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/46561

The exam still packs the knockout punch as it always does :)

Refreshing MPLS Concepts

I spent 3 days refreshing my mpls concepts. Its been quiet some time, I studied it for my ccie-written after which I have been out of touch, as I don't use it in my daily work.
The Plan is to master the mpls vpn concepts this week. Finish up with INE Voulme 1 for this concept. The rest of the days I enjoyed the festival of lights - Diwali :). It is nice to have a break after a long time. Really helped clear my mind & now am back nice & fresh.

I have been thinking o f buying NMC DOIT workbook. But its like 499$$. Am a little short of cash now, because I am panning to buy Narbiks workbook, which is another 350$$. I guess I have to plan out my spending for the next 3 months ;). After all CCIE is the most expensive certification.

Coming back to my posts. I will begin to post more concepts & configurations. Also I though I will post some pictures relevant to the post just to make the blog look a bit more interesting :)

Starting Round 2

Ding Ding !! Round-2 of fight between me & CCIE

After a good weekend of rest am preparing for my second shot starting today. When you fail the exam, it really brings down the morale, but also it motivates you to fight harder & learn more. After all we are going to the be the EXPERT :)

Its really frustrating when you hear people telling you "its ok not everyone passes the first time". But people do right ??? And I dint. well no point crying over split milk.

I thought I will start with MPLS so that There will be something fresh to get me started. I am thinking of purchasing narbik ver 2 workbooks, just to get a different perspective of things & learn more. I always though I should have more than onme vendors workbook so that we can get the same topic in with multiple explanations. There is absolutrely no doubt about the quality of any wonder especially INE. Their workbooks are top class, its just your individual requirement.

I am game for it, let me give the exam a knockout punch.

Not my number yet ....

I was there for the exam by 7am. Was the first guy in. Then a couple of others folks came in. Then I had guy working in cisco come talk to me. He said it was his 4th attempt. He asked me how many times i have been there I told him it was my first. Another person was there for his first shot. Then as we waited for the proctor to come pick us up we were chatting about how we prepared & stuff about cisco.

By 8.40 the proctor came & picked us up. He took us to the briefing hall. It was pretty exciting. Before we started we got a label stuck to our shirt on which it had our name & below was the word "CCIE" [well thats the closest I have come being a ccie :)]. Anyways we were briefed about how to login & other general instructions were given. Then we got to the pod.

The OEQ was pretty easy, nothing like the scary ones we heard in the study list or forums. I was done with it in about 10 mins. 3 were simple direct ones & 1 was a lil tricky & a lil vague. Then I opened the main question book. Read through it. Drew my diagrams. spent close to 30mins for it.

The I checked the configs of all the routers for the troubleshooting part & fixed the ones required. Then I started with my config portion. Everything went smooth. I was 90% done with my IGP part when the proctor called us for lunch. We took the 30mins to chill off rethink on some scenarios then came back.

At the start of the lab I was confident I thought I was going to make it. Yes, I was not sure on a couple of concepts but had the idea of how to do it. Everything went fine & dandy until I came upon the qos & BGP section. Damm I got stuck & that was te end of the road for me. I tried everything I could & referred the doc cd too. But then I couldn't make it. At that point in time I knew I was going to fail.

1 day to go :)

OK here we are. Just one more day to go. I am set leave in one hour to catch a train. I will be in a hotel tomorrow. On 7th its do or die for me. We am taking my notes just to skim through for the OEQ. hope it works out well for me & most importantly for my family & friends they have had to put up with me studying all this time.

Wish me luck folks will blog on Thursday with the details & also my CCIE Number if all goes well.

8 days to lab

Nothing too fancy. Sticking to the basics. Eyeballing the version 1 stuff of IEWB. working out my weak areas. Going through some theory for the OEQ. Using IEWB OEQ materials, which am very happy using as it give me the much needed confidence & points me to theory on topics am weary of.

Whoever is reading this please send me your goodwill & positive thoughts for me.

Will blog the rest of the seven days too.

PS: am a bit tensed now & unable articulate anything else :)

27 days to lab

Wow Things are pretty exciting !! With less than a month to go this is where I stand. I started off revising the core stuff using the IE volume 1. What have revised & revisited in the last couple of days.

+ Security is done - have to revise it once.
+ Ip Services done - netflow part is still pending though.
+ System mngt done - Everything is okiedokie.
+ QOS is in progress - will be done by tomorrow. Will revisit it next week again.
+ Switching will be done next weekend including the security part.
+ IGP & BGP am confident
+ Multicasting will be done the following week.

& then the lab :) hehehe

I am pretty tensed with the OEQ, so I bought the IE OEQ stuff & its pretty good, I like it. Doin them in small number wherever I fell like getting my hands off the keyboard. So now back to QOS.

45 days to lab

Things are pretty interesting. Got the lab date in sight.
Alright so whats the plan of action for today;

Revise BGP – aggregation & attributes stuff.
Revise Multicasting – Revisit all topics especially the MSDP part.
Master the RSVP concepts in QOS.

The most important thing is that it should help me in the OEQ which is vital has to give me 21 points :)

Will post updates as I study.

IPv6 is fun

Am really enjoying studying & practicing IPv6 !! I don't know why but it sure is getting me excited & am all over it. I am looking forward to deploy IPv6 for an organization or ISP in the future.

The routing protocols configuration is veryy simple & I like the fact that it can be made on an Interface bu interface basis. Thats pretty neat !!

The transition methods are coll & really very well thought of. Wow, its very simple & the protocol is hardened.

Its really vital we go through the RFC. I will post the details of the topics I learnt in the weekend. NOw I really must get going to work !!

A month of hardcore stydying !!

With my lab date in sight, I spent the whole may studying with anxiety !! Thats something I must work on & free my mind of.

I am done with Rip, Eigrp, OSPF, BGP (in short IGP & BGP) with multicasting. I am not very confident with mbgp & dvmrp stuff which i work on again.

I must tell that I am a very happy customer of Internetwork expert especially with their ver5 volume 1 stuff, Its simply good !! Some topics are dealt with very nicely & its overwhelming.

Yet, I am looking @ another vendor whom I can get a different perspective. Both IPexpert & Narbik materials are recognized but am really not in a position to afford either of them.


So whats up for june ...

IPV6, FR which am very well versed with.
QOS, Security & IPservices
Switching will be the last topic I will be dealing with.

I hope I keep up with my schedule !!

choosing ccie rack rental

choosing rack rental for practice is vital. I have used cconlinelabs & was happy with their equipment. They had the 2800 for the routers with 3550 switches. Its decently priced @ 15$ & 25$ sessions which is think is fair game. I do beleive there are other vendors out there but I have not tried any of them, so I dont know how they work out.

The best part is that they support multiple training material vendors such as IE, IP, NMC, Micronics.

The training matrerial provides themselves have the racks for rental so thats the second option.

I have the racks booked for the weekends as its the only time I have to practice. I hope to make the most out of it.

Target Lab Date Set !!

Wow !! I am nervous, excited, tensed ... all because I have my lab date blocked in October. I don't know if I will be ready by then. I dont know if I am ready for it now. But, I really don't have a choice.. I cant keep studying all through the year. I am gonna take the plunge.

I have only one choice now, study & take up the lab. No matter what happens I will go for it @ full pace. Got to book some rack session & mock labs. Will post my progress as I come up with some :)

wish me luck !!

Cisco Revises CCIE R&S with 4.0

Cisco has done some major change to the R&S track this time with the rollout of 4.0 exam. Both written & Lab have got a serious makeover. Apart from the technologies included in the exam, the whole exam format has changed.

The exam for has sections;

* Open ended question
* Troubleshooting
* Core lab configurations


The topics included in the exam are IPV6 eigrp & MPLS in th lab.

Wowo quite a revelation !!!

for detailed information checkout

For Written exam and Lab Exam

CCIE IGP - RIP

Wowo .. am learning more configuration for rip ... howzzat .. that's the beauty when we prepare for our CCIE. We think we know it all of it, yet there is lot more of it .

My journey is getting interesting day by day. I have certain targets set. I hope to attain it ASAP. I was looking for a number before 25000 but that seems to have taken a kick. No matter what the number, I will mold myself to be a expert.

ok, as far as RIP is considered I have got the configuration , authentication, updates & timers , version control, redistribution, metric adjustment, filtering, usage of route maps & prefix lists.

Well there is more to it than I have mentioned & knowing that is the true beauty of being the expert. Reading through the topics you think ah I know it all .. well thats what I thought until I realized there are more small things that matter :)


Anybody looking for a ccie study buddy let me know :) will be glad to join & PS am working on igp part of things ...

1 Minute Management Lesson with Shit !!!!

*Story*

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull."
They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.


*Management Lesson*

Bull shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there

Into ccie IGP

I am getting into core IGP of my ccie studies. I am into Rip now though its pretty easy the amount of learning i get & the speed of configuration which is key in the lab is going up significantly. I hope to get started with Vol2 labs by May end.

As of now my status with rip is as follows;

RIP:

Routing TCP/IP vol 1 Second edition --- Completed
IE volume 1 ver 4.1 --- Completed

Yet to be done is the IE volume 1 ver 5.0

Lets see how it goes.

Lets Kick some a$$ !!!

Alright , am really in an armorous mood as I blogs this. ?Being a big bag of lazy bones is enough. I really need to put in all my effort to go in for the kill.

Due to some changes in my work place am stooping my exploration in the security section as of now. As far as I have read I have read it well. So I will get into practicing the core IGP before moving in to volume 2 labs.

I am racing against time. Got to put in more effort & kill ccie in my first attempt. Now I am starting off with the all easy RIP :)

Well if Rip can fetch me 5 to 8 points in the ccie lab. I will study it with all respect.

Ok am off now will catch you in 4 hours time.

Bogon Address - What is ...

I was just going through the "Traffic Filtering" section. I came across this interesting attack of using a "Bogon" IP address.

"Bogon" is name for an IP packet on the public Internet that claims to be from an area of the IP address space reserved, but not yet allocated or delegated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) . The areas of unallocated address space are called "bogon space".

Pretty neat huh ...

The following link from IANA shows the unassigned and unassigned IP4 address space.


So how do we filter it ? stayed tuned ...

A New Look !!

aah... change is inevitable.. with some renewed energy i have chaged the layout of my blog & I love it :). Hope you find it interesting as I do.

Fun with Access Lists !!

I really never expected learning access list would be so much fun. I am actually enjoying the study path :) which is very important !! It was interesting to see the DOC-Cd format change for the security section of the 12.4 version.

Hopefully the entire security section except the catalyst part should be over :) by 26th of this month.

Then we jump into the core part of the game !! Doing volume 2 labs :)

I am very eager to be done with the R&S track, it seems to be taking forever , but it will eventually pay off :)

I will start labbing up more with complex scenarios & will definitely post it in this blog.

Biggest mistake for IPv6

Found this interesting article from network world which says;

The Internet engineering community says its biggest mistake in developing IPv6 - a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol - is that it lacks backwards compatibility with the existing Internet Protocol, known as IPv4.



Read the entire article here.

The Security Deal

aaa & security server protocols should be done by tomorrow !! I will be starting with Traffic filtering and firewalls from Tuesday evening.

Security is an interesting topic & probably I should think of taking up my 2nd ccie :) ... lets finish the R&S first.

Realising the Doc-CD magik !

Starting with the security section .. I dint have an materials to read through. While starting my ccie journey I ensure I have reading material for all sections of the blue print except for security. While doing my ccie written & ccnp I had borrowed cisco press books from my colleagues. No I felt a little short handed while preparing for the lab. SO what do I rely on for reading until I get my books ???

aaah the Doc-Cd .. but .. I always either feel drowsy skimming through it.. I thought, ok lets start with it & to my surprise I really enjoyed reading it. Though I realized the value of it for sections I was not familiar, this was the first time, the entire content went into my head to refresh the concepts & damm I never felt a wee bit sleepy. Sure I dint have enough time this week because of my work .. but, Damm I loved it.

A change in strategy - Services to Securtity

Alright Nat section has been successfully completed. After doing a self assessment I have decided to change my strategy. I will be going ahead with the "Security services" part of the lab blueprint. This is because I feel comfortable with the "IP Services" section as compared to the latter.

So this months crack down will on the security from followed by IPv6 & RIP sections. I do have good hands on all aspects of Ipv6 & RIP so I am looking to breez through those labs. So a@ the moment the focus is on security & to quote from the lab blur print the following is what I am looking @

Security

1. AAA
2. Security server protocols
3. Traffic filtering and firewalls
4. Access lists
5. Routing protocols security, catalyst security
6. CBAC
7. Other security features



i just had a look @ the Internetwork expert Ver5 Vol1 labs & was impressed. I am looking forward to get started with the stuff which will be from 6th of April.


So what happened what forced me to change my guard, well I have been reading this wonderful book written by "Robin Sharma" called "The Greatness Guide" here he speaks about facing the fears & coming out strong. I wanted too keep security for the last part of the prep as i was not very confident & honestly a bit scared in the prep.

So taking Robins advice I am moving in a way to change my weakness to strength & overcome my fear. For more insight on how the book is shaping me & my thoughts fell free to read my blog;
http://vibeesh.blogspot.com/2009/04/reading-greatness-guide.html
& for other personal side of my life the entire blog vibeesh.blogspot.com

Simplifying the Hits & Misses in NAT

We all know that NAT is a essential yet basic tool. But when I spoke with some network engineers they were not able to clearly explain the concept of Hits & Misses in the show ip nat statistics output. So if you are new to nat let me help you out.

If the active translation is for the active mapping or translation present in the nat cause hit , in other words -- hits to an existing mapping.

Misses indicate a new mapping or something that was there in the nat table but has expired & hence causing a new mapping in the NAT table, in other words -- misses causing an attempt to create a mapping, and expired translations.

I am not putting up any configs as a wonderful example & explanation is put up in the following blog http://cciepursuit.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/hits-and-misses-in-ip-nat-statistics/

Protecting Against the Rampant Conficker Worm

Protecting Against the Rampant Conficker Worm

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Breezing through Cisoc IP NAT Labs

Seems like the 20 day break from studies has done some good. I am able to concentrate well & am able to breeze through the NAT Labs . I did face some intresting situations which i will consults with the experts from group study. I will make ure I post them here. Well had a good dinner. Now back to more of NAT Labs :)

Lights off for Eath Hour 2009

Getting along cisco ip nat

Finally Done With NAT Theory !!

Phew !! Studying has been hard to come by this month !! Well Finally am done with nat theory. I will lab it up today night & on saturday. Still I have the Doc-cd brushing up to do. So what did we learn here;

* I revisited the NAT terminology, Inside local/global , outside local, otside global.
* Understood how nat funtions, the timeout for the translation.
* How to deal with multihoming.
* Load distribution & Issues with NAT.
* How to do nat configurations.
* ip masquerading & service distribution.
* Troubleshooting steps.

I will lab it up & post any intreting configuration i come up with or any gotcha that got me :)

QOS - February !!

Well February is here & already we a degree high on the temperature !!
Summer is my favorite season i.e Feb through July. Great, Now I have started with classification & marking as my first concept. Doc CD Mastering is going to b my top priority. Overall by the end of this study race I will be the king of QOS on cisco routers & switches. Am gonna challenge my self to the limit !! If only I can hold my concentration & focus I will be able to achieve it.

Onto QOS !!

Well honestly speaking QOS is one of my favorite !! Am Moving on to QOS section now. Hoe to see it through in 3 weeks. Hmmm ... Nothing like being the master of QOS !!
My Action Plan .... get everything fine & dandy on the finger tips .

My only weakness is the QOS on the switching side, because I have never configured them there before. But its all about turning the weakness into our strength that makes us the expert ... Its all about believing that's gonna make me the "Dragon Warrior" of CCIE !!

Got to rip the QOS section in the CCIE lab !!

Trying out Multicasting !!

Alright its finally time for me to play around with multicasting :)
First off I tried configuring PIM-Dense mode, pretty simple & straight forward with a four router topology !! Then moved on to PIM-sparse mode. Configured the RP for particular groups. Tested the multicast routing .
The show commands are pretty cool I would say.
The mtrace & mstat are kind of cool commands to find out the RPF path.
Good stuff but not enough. So let get rocking from tomorrow.

Well I have delved into the world of multicasting & not very comfortable @ the moment but will be very soon :)

c ya !!

Finally ... Through With Multicast Theory !!

Alright, Finally I am done with the multicast theory. Only the "Anycast" theory is still pending. I thought I will breeze through it when am doing the practical part.
Man it was some heavy stuff !! Got to admit though interesting the vastness of the theory got me sleeping many a times. :)

Well all said & done now I have to to get to the practical part. Well I am close to 30 hours behind schedule & have to get back on track. QOS is on my mind after EIGRP.

Lets hope we get back on schedule else I will dum EIGRP & get to QOS because of my weakness. I am sure I will get my core IGP & BGP working in the lab no matter what they throw @ me . Well I might get started on the basic configurations today itself(just my excitement getting to me :)).

Alright well done one week spent to get the Muticast concepts right.
Got to go through the DOC CD as well which I think I can do while at work to give my self something to work on.

Alright then lets get started with the basics of Multicasting :)

Multicast Routing & Me

Well I should say that Multicast routing is not bad after all. Well it does have a looooot of theory even when I am revising . In a way am happy with my approach , now that cisco has announced the open ended questions before the ccie lab exam, its good that I take my time to read through the concepts as a revision. I would say time well spent :)

So am on to the large scale implementation & am having this nasty cold. Nothing is gonna stop me now & off I go !!

Adventures of Multicast Theory !!

Well Sunday sure went fast !! I was on to the Multicast theory part.
I should say its is quite interesting, although it does involves lots of theory.
I will finish PIM-SP tonight & hit the sack, so that I can start off with the configurations section from tomorrow. I would really love to revise the whole section, if time permits in office I will just brush through all the concepts before we head off to the configuration section.

Tomorrow's plan stands as follows:



I will have to go through the Doc-CD also & pick up stuff I might have missed.

I am on leave on 13Th & 14Th. I hope to cove maximum topics by this time period.
I am really happy am able to bring in my focus & concentration. I just hope I am able to put in 6 hours daily ;)

PIM-SM here I come !!

Over to Multicast Routing

Well to get way from the heaviness of BGP am switching over to Multicast Routing !!
I have altered my calendar also. Well every day is now becoming critical.

The CCIE Blue print reads;

IP Multicast

1. PIM-SM, bi-directional PIM
2. MSDP
3. Multicast tools, source specific multicast
4. DVMRP
5. Anycast

So am just starting off with the cisco press Routing TCP/IP Volume 2 book.

This is one of the concepts which am not good at. Hoping to make a good deal of progress today. Hope to cover the following topics today;




IE mentions the following topics to look out for.

* IGMP
o Join
o Static
o Access- Group
o 3560 Profile
o Helper
o Timers
o Max Groups
* PIM
o Sparse
o Dense
o Sparse-Dense
* Reverse Path Forwarding
o Static Mroute
* RP Assignments
o Static
+ Specific Groups
+ Override
o Auto-RP
+ Sparse-Dense
+ Auto-RP Listener
+ Default Static RP
+ Specific Groups
+ RP Announce Filter
o BSR
+ Specific Groups
+ Priority
+ BSR Border
* NBMA Mode
* Stub Routing
* Shared/Source Trees
o IP PIM SPT-Threshold
* Multicast over GRE
* TTL Scoping
* Multicast Rate Limiting


I think I might have to pick up couple of other books also to understand the concepts. Well right now am tensed, why because have gots to work @ !!

Got to go study !!

Managing BGP Connections

I went through setting up BGP neighbor description & BGP neighbor passwords.

BGP Neighbor Description

The BGP Neighbor Description is just for your use to understand in a later point of time what you are dealing with & is very simple to configure;

R0(config)#ip routing
R0(config)#router bgp 100
R0(config-router)#neigh 10.1.10.1 remote-as 101
R0(config-router)#neigh 10.1.10.1 description connected to right side router
R0(config-router)#end

R0(config)#ip routing
R0(config)#router bgp 100
R0(config-router)#neigh 10.1.10.1 remote-as 101
R0(config-router)#neigh 10.1.10.1 desc
R0(config-router)#neigh 10.1.10.1 description connected to right side router
R0(config-router)#end

BGP Neighbor Password

Setting a password is also very simple & neat. Al you do is set the password & poof you have secure BGP connections. MD5 hashing is used.


R0(config-if)#router bgp 100
R0(config-router)#neighbor 10.1.10.1 password cisco
R0(config-router)#end
R0#
*Mar 1 00:31:12.555: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
R0#
R0#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
R0(config)#int s0/0
R0(config-if)#no shut
R0(config-if)#end
R0#
*Mar 1 00:31:54.275: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
R0#
*Mar 1 00:31:55.835: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface Serial0/0, changed state to up
R0#
*Mar 1 00:31:56.839: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Serial0/0, changed state to up
*Mar 1 00:32:07.711: %BGP-5-ADJCHANGE: neighbor 10.1.10.1 Up
R0#
*Mar 1 00:33:08.375: %TCP-6-BADAUTH: Invalid MD5 digest from 10.1.10.1(179) to 10.1.10.100(12605)
*Mar 1 00:33:10.055: %TCP-6-BADAUTH: Invalid MD5 digest from 10.1.10.1(179) to 10.1.10.100(12605)
*Mar 1 00:33:13.135: %TCP-6-BADAUTH: Invalid MD5 digest from 10.1.10.1(179) to 10.1.10.100(12605)
*Mar 1 00:33:19.275: %TCP-6-BADAUTH: Invalid MD5 digest from 10.1.10.1(179) to 10.1.10.100(12605)
R0#

The message keeps popping until the other side is configured with the same password.
An interesting thing to note was that space is accepted in the password. so be careful when you issue a ? to see further options. i hit the point where a BGP notification was sent even though the password matched or @least appeared to have matched that's when I realized is had checked for context sensitive help & left a space in the end :)

CCIE RoadMap BGP -1

Well I have Planned out my schedule for this month & trust me its quite a hectic one.
Anyways I will post my Google calendar here & share what I am up against [:)]
Here's me wish myself all the best before I embark on this months journey.
For now got to hit the sack

My Technicality !!

I have 2.5 years of experience with cisco gear & networking, I am a CCNP & have finished my CCIE written. I have been preparing for my CCIE lab since November. Currently, I am working on BGP. I am just reading through the cisco press Routing TCP/IP Volume 2 book to refresh my concepts. The best ccie books for preparation would say.

Apart from that I am using Internetwork expert volume technology focused labs to become strong. I preferred them due to the sheer number people referring them as great content deliverers & its very affordable. I am looking forward to attend their infamous ccie boot camp. There are multiple vendors who are believed to be the best for ccie bootcamps such as narbik, IE.

So lets get on with our ccie prep !!

The Grand Introduction !!

Hi,

I finally set myself a blog to key in my CCIE journey in the year 2009 !!
Will make this blog as interesting as possible both for myself & for the readers of this blog.

Feel free to mail me & join in as a study bud if you are seriously studying for your CCIE R&S !!

Wishing everyone around the world & myself a very happy & prosperous new year ahead !!

Let the Show Begin :)


++ Vibs ++