CCIE R&S Lab Prep 3

[abidg]

Hello,

I have finally passed my CCIE R&S written exam and am now looking forward to the lab. I am hoping to attempt and pass the lab by the end of this year (after 18th Oct). I have a few questions which I would request your help with.

1) How difficult would it be to pass the lab after the 18th Oct with the 2 hour troubleshooting section included?

2) Apart from Dynagen what else would I need to prepare? I mean what other Cisco hardware? I dont have a big budget hence am trying to make use of Dynagen as much as possible.

3) How essential is bootcamp? I know it helps but as it is too expensive am not if I would be able to take it. Is there any cheaper alternative or boot camp any where?

4) I have Jeff Doyle, Switching guide, exam certification certification guide, MPLS/VPN volumes and am planning to purchase Practical Studies (am waiting for the print version). What else would I need apart from these?

5) What else is required to pass the lab apart from hard work at studies?

I would be most grateful for all the help I could get at this initial stage.

Thanks and regards,

Abid Ghufran.

 

[lerdalt]

Having not gone through it myself, I can only speak from what others have told me.

1. No clue at this point. From what I've read, I'm more concerned about the open ended questions than the troubleshooting.

2. I'd still push to get a few routers and definitely some switches to work with. Dynagen is ok, but still no comparison to the real thing. Especially when it comes to building a switching environment. There used to be a list on Cisco's site for the equipment used in the CCIE lab, I'd suggest following it.

3. I wouldn't say the boot camps are essential, but I've heard of several people going to either InternetExpert boot camp, or Narbik's boot camp and they have nothing but rave reviews about them.

4. An IPv6 book was recommended to me for the written at least. From the looks of things now, might want a copy of "Internet Routing Architectures" by Sam Halabi to cover more BGP.

5. No social life until after passing the lab.

 

[Belushi]

I've taken the lab once. I liked it so much that I decided to take it agin on June 9th. Anyway, having taken the lab and done very well on the actual configuration portion of it, I must say I got bit by the open ended questions. I thought they were very easy and took me only 10 minutes however you can not pass the exam if you msis 2 of them. Anyway on to the studying portion...


The average person studies 600 hours to pass the exam and if I am not mistaken, the average number of attempts to pass is 3.8. It isn't always, if you're smart enough and done enough preperation you will pass on attempt 1. Without going into too much detail, you kind of gotta get a little lucky to get an exam that hits on your stronger subjects.

I would not, repeat not, count on Dynagen alone to get the studying you need. I would go out and either buy or rent rack space from someone whith actual equipment. I have my own via my company. You will need routers that are capable of running the version of code tested at the time you are taking it. I use ISR routers but they aren't completely necessary although you will get them in the lab. Use all 3560s for your switches as this is what you will also see (good luck with Dynagen on that front). And yes, 3560s are a must because of IPv6 routing which you will not get anywhere else.

As for bootcamps or classes, they are highly reccomended and as you have seen they are not cheap. I would highly suggest using NetmasterClass although I hear decent things about IP Expert as well. If you don' take the classes, at least use their lab workbooks as they will help you understand the tons and tons of various processes. They are an absolute must and I would give up this venture if you are not planning on at least doing that.

Finally as stated already, plan on studying a ton. The rule of thumb is about 20-25 hours a week, but more will obviosuly accelerate that timeframe. I've been going strong since roughly late Oct. of last year. Tired of it actually but I like studying for the lab. there is something much more satisfying doing the work than there is with the professional level cert book studying.

As for the troubleshooting section, no one can accurately give you a detailed viewpoint of what it will be like seeing as how it isn't even tested yet. Although I can say that my training company (NetmasterClass via Cisco 360) has begun altering their labs for this. I have seen a few, and they look like regular labs with preloaded configurations. Your job is to figure out what is wrong and fix it. The topologies are the same as the configuration portion.

 

[burtsbees]

5) What else is required to pass the lab apart from hard work at studies?"

Get used to the fact that you may take it multiple times, so the answer---a large bank account...

/

 

[abidg]

Thanks a lot to all of you for your suggestions.

I understand that it would ultimate if I could purchase some equipments but would it not be sufficient to rent some online rack and test the switching and rest of the stuff.

I think i will be going for the boot camp not sure with whom. I have come to know about internetworkexperts, Cisco 360 and a few other places, so might have to do a bit more research to find out the one to go for.

I do understand that passing the lab on first attempt might be a bit too ambitious but I think i would still want to sincerely aim and hope for get through the first time. I might delay taking it until I am very very sure and confident. I think at that time taking the boot camp could really tell me if I prepared or not.

Regards,

Abid Ghufran

 

[Jsteve]

2) Apart from Dynagen what else would I need to prepare? I mean what other Cisco hardware? I dont have a big budget hence am trying to make use of Dynagen as much as possible.

this depends on how good you are with the 3560/3550/3750 switches. You will not get the switching section down with Dynamips. I put my lab together over time and made ebay rich in the process, but it was well worth it, because I was able to do labs with every free hour I could find>

3. I wouldn't say the boot camps are essential, but I've heard of several people going to either InternetExpert boot camp, or Narbik's boot camp and they have nothing but rave reviews about them.

I used InternetworkExpert when it was recommended on the Cisco Forum and it was the best advice I got. I had partial CDs of others but I liked the IE method. They actually provided live configuation and verification for each topic, instead of just lecture and powerpoint format. I could not have passed the lab without their product>

5. No social life until after passing the lab.

This is for sure. Took me a little under a year of lab studies.

One bit of advice that I can give is to forget the books at this point. Eat, sleep and drink the cisco.com/univercd web site.