Hi everyone,
after another frustrating ProctorLabs timeslot, I
decided to write this.
After I've done some 5-6 labs, I have a deep feeling
that WB8.0 has a lot more errors that it is allowed to the CCIE-level
material. Also, many tasks are very unclear, i.e.. clear almost only to the
person who wrote them.
Let me try to picture these points through some
examples (many of them will be from lab 38 - T which I practiced
yesterday).
1. Diagrams
It is almost unbelievable that a student has to spend
certain amount of time just finding what is the actual picture of the network!
For example, can anybody tell from the lab 38 diagrams what L3 interfaces should
the Catalyst switches have? It is not written anywhere explicitly, and you have
to assume that is has to have SVI for vlans A and B since they should be
EIGRP-enabled, and it is acceptable. But what to say about the OSPF - text says
that it should be configured on Switch1, however it is not depicted on the
diagram (diagram says RIP!). It makes sense to make SVI for vlan A on Switch2
and make a link to the EIGRP part with R7 and R8. Also, Switch1 should have RIP
according to the diagram - however, it is actually the LAN depicted as the
shared LAN between R1 and R2. Moreover, BB1 should also be part of that
LAN (which is the vlan E), and not have the separate connection to the R1.
Or should it - now we have a new doubt - because when you look at the "LAN
Configuration" part, you see that the BB1 is listed both in vlan A *and* vlan E
!!
I think you got the idea - I do not want to spend the
precious lab time to find out what is connected to what.
2. BBx configurations
It is annoying to find out that BB2 lab 38 initial
configuration have the "enable sectet ipexpert" command. From this, it is
almost clear that these configurations are notepad-born and that they have never
seen the router (it is not the only line that generates the error, test yourself
to find the another one or paste it to a router). If this was the only error, it
would be OK. But, section "EIGRP configuration" states "BB2 is preconfigured with a static route to reach the lab network.", and
if you see the BB2 config you would see a static route for 80.0.0.0/24 which
does not exist anywhere in the network (it should be 138.10.0.0/16) !
So, if you make initial configurations, please make
them properly.
3. Data for the initial router
configuration
I'm not sure why we have to configure all the
interfaces and loopback addresses (as I'm told these are preconfigured with few
errors that we have to find) - but OK, I can accept it. But I can not accept
that I don't have some list of interfaces and IP addresses, but I have to look
at the subnets on the A diagram and think of some IP addresses. OK, it is common
to put the router number in the fourth octet, but what if you do not have that
possibility (e.g. /30 mask) ? And from the BBx configs you see that you are
expected to put some well-known IP addresses, because static routes may be bound
to a specific next hop. Another very annoying thing for me is that you have the
mapping of switch ports to connected devices only on the picture in the
beginning of the WB. Was it so hard to print it in each lab?
So, please help us do the boring stuff we already know
and which will not be tested as quickly as possible. Also, it would be much
appreciated if you could post the initial configs for the R1-R9 and Sw1-Sw2 with
the IP addresses and interfaces (however don't do as you did with BBx
configs).
4. Errors
For example, if you configure "Use Frame Relay lmi-type ANSI." in lab 38 you will loose all the
connectivity, since the FR switch is programmed for Cisco
LMI.
5. Understanding the tasks
These thing are best explained through the
examples:
- "Use PPP encapsulation
and best subnet mask possible while maintaining link
efficiency"
Please tell me what the IP addressing has to do
with the link efficiency, and what is the "best" subnet
mask?
- "Traffic from
FastEthernet0/21 and FastEthernet0/22 on both switches will drop all IP packets
if the destination address is not in their forwarding
table."
Because it says IP packets, it sounds like you
should check the destination IP address. However forwarding table means L2 and
destination MAC address.
I presumed that it is L2 and did it through
"switchport block unicast/multicast", although that does it for all L3
protocols. Am I right - don't know.
- "Switch1 should replace the
destination MAC address with 01-00-0c-cd-cd-d0."
One of the champions! What should be replaced and
where? Destination address on the frames sent to the port, or received on the
port? Is it some kind of L2 NAT? Or simple static MAC address table
entry? Don't ask me!
And many more....
So please - spend some time to *precisely* and
*clearly* phrase all the tasks. I is surely not impossible - just look at the
Cisco Press Practice Labs book and some competitor CCIE WBs.
And after all of this, we haven't mentioned the "core"
- real tasks and their solutions. Most important topic, yet the directory name
"Final Configs - Coming Soon" says everything. It may prove me very stupid, but
I don't have the problem with that. IPExpert team consists from real experts,
and I'm just another average CCIE student. But it can be done only when we have
your solutions. And please understand that looking from thing mentioned above, I
do have doubt that some tasks will have erroneous solutions. And there is only
one way to convince me now it is not the case.
Sorry for the long mail, ad sorry for the bad
English.
Best regards to the IPExpert team and all the fellow
students.
.............................................................
Đorđe Vulović,
dipl. ing.
Communication Group / Mobile Networks Department
Siemens
d.o.o. Beograd, Radoja Dakića 7
phone: + 381 (11)
3070240
mobile: + 381 (64) 8170240
www.siemens.co.yu
mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
