Friday, October 30, 2009

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.

Monday, October 26, 2009

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 ??

Thursday, October 22, 2009

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.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

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 :)

Monday, October 19, 2009

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 :)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

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.

Monday, October 5, 2009

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.

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