Moving on to security

After breezing through the multicast section its time for me to move over to the security topics of ccie. This is going to be an interesting week as this is one my favourite topics. I am going to start of with the following topics from the checklist;

6.2. Access Lists
6.2.1. Standard Access Lists
6.2.2. Extended Access Lists
6.2.3. Time-Based Access Lists
6.2.4. Reflexive Access Lists
6.5. Cisco IOS and Zone-Based Firewalls
6.5.1. Basic Cisco IOS Firewall
6.5.2. DoS Protection on a Cisco IOS Firewall
6.5.3. Basic Zone-Based Firewall
6.5.4. Zone-Based Firewall with Deep Packet Inspection
6 6 NAT
6.6. 6.6.1. Dynamic NAT
6.6.2. PAT
6.6.3. Static NAT
6.6.4. Static PAT
6.6.5. Policy-Based NAT
6.7. Other Security Features
6.7.1. Configuring the TCP Intercept Feature
6.7.2. Configuring Blocking of Fragment Attacks
6.7.3. Configuring Switch Security Features
6.7.4. Configuring Antispoofing Using an ACL
6.7.5. Configuring Antispoofing Using uRPF
6.7.6. SSH on Routers and Switches
6.7.7. Cisco IOS IPS
6.7.8. Controlling Telnet and SSH Access to the Router and Switch

I am taking tuesday & wednesday off so hopefully by end of wednesday I will be done with all the topics mentioned above.

Going through multicast mini labs

I am working out my multicast mini labs. I went through the theory this week in the week days. Labbing up the scenarios was fun. With refernce to the checklist that cisco has provided, I haqve covered thne following topics=

5 1 1 PIM Dense Mode
5.1.1. 5.1.2. PIM on an NMBA Network
5.1.3. PIM Sparse Mode – Static Rendezvous Point
5.1.4. PIM Sparse Mode – Multiple Static Rendezvous Points
5.1.5. PIM Sparse Mode – Auto Rendezvous Point
5.1.6. PIM Sparse Mode with Multiple Rendezvous Points Using the Auto Rendezvous Point
5.2.1. MSDP
5.2.2. MSDP to an Anycast Rendezvous Point
5.3.1. Multicast Rate Limiting
5.3.5. Multicast Helper Address
5 1 7 Bidirectional PIM
5.3. Multicast Tools
5.3.4. Multicasting Through a GRE Tunnel

I have left out the following topics in ipv6. Will lab them up later.

5.4. IPv6 Multicast
5.4.1. IPv6 Multicast Routing Using PIM
5.4.2. IPv6 Multicast Listener Discovery ( MLD) Protocol
5.3.2. IGMP Filtering on the Switch
5.3.3. Use of the Switch to Block Multicast Traffic


I read a lot of interesting blogs which helped understand & throw light on the various concepts. Will post those links also over here.

Have set my lab date !!

Alright !! I have my lab date set. Its all do or die here. Have booked it in the month of october . I have a small counter setup on the right sie of the blog to track the days left for my lab.

Day 1 of 100 ccie groundwork

Decided to start off with OSPF which is Section 2.2 on the detailed blueprint checklist. I started by reading the doc cd. Read through it twice & then labbed up some scenarios. I dint get a good idea of a few concepts, so had to dig deep. Finally I did understand them. For a particular gray area queried the experts on GS & got a detailed explanation.

Will lab the scenarios once more to get a solid understanding. Tomorrow I will start with eigrp theory but I will not be able to lab any scenarios. So will go strong with the theory.

I kind of like the Detailed checklist of the ccie topics put up in the cisco learning network. gives us a good idea of what topics to cover under each technology.

Plan for this month is to cover topics 2, 3, 5, 6 in the detailed checklist.
Hope I have enough time to cover all the topics.

Alright I am off to bed now.

OEQ waiver & the buzz around it !!

Well cisco announced an oeq waiver if people take up classes with the cisco360 partners. OK, that's cisco way of promoting the 360 classes, why fuss about it ?
Its cisco certification & 360 is their vendor & its their call. Why crib about it?

You either take it or leave it. If you are like me & cant afford it just prepare for the OEQ also. Helps you build more knowledge. You are not going to lose anything !!
The oeq are not a big deal to pass if you know your stuff.

Heard that Cisco employees get to take up the ccie exam for free ... so are you gonna crib that you need to shell out 1400$ to take up the exam while they take it up for free ??? NO .. so just move on.

There is more to worry & think about than this. Lets utilize the time to study.
Else pay up & take up the 360 classes, I am sure its worth the money + you get the oeq waiver !!