I was able to get a free lab at the recent CPN Ops symposium in San Jose last week, and I passed! Thanks to all on the list - I'm sure I got many points from the tips I found here. I signed up for the CPN event, and part of the registration asked if I'd like to try for one of 20 free labs. Why not? Cisco replied that I couldn't take the lab without passing a qualification exam. My written from 2000 had expired without ever taking the lab. I was going to take the written at the CPN event, but decided that getting a lab would be much better! I quickly went out and retook the written. My seat in the free lab was confirmed on Feb. 18th with a lab date of Sunday, March 17th. Not much time! My goal had been to pass the CCIE by the end of 2002, so even though I had been studying for the lab, I really thought this would only be for familiarization. I had recently reread both Doyle TCP/IP books and Halabi, so I decided that I really needed to work on practice labs to get my time under control. Fortunately, I had the resources at work to put together everything I needed except a 3900 series, but I got a few hours hands-on a 3920 from another Sprint location. Rather than waste time with the corporate red-tape trying to get approval for expensive lab scenarios, I just bought the Karl Solie CCIE Prep vol. 1. I can honestly say that the labs at the end of the book were excellent - even though vol. 1 doesn't cover IPX or BGP, the included labs do. I personally thought the book went into too much detail on many topics and they could easily have condensed and added BGP and IPX - I think if you have passed the written and are studying for the practical, certain assumptions about base-level knowledge can be made. Even so, it was a very helpful tool. My only other study tool was a partner who wasn't even studying for the lab. I gave a friend at work a visio of my physical lab setup and asked him to make a few speed drills for me - simple scenarios of OSPF/IGRP/EIGRP/RIP/BGP layouts with some redistribution that I would configure as quickly as possible. Granted, there were no 'solutions', but I was just looking for speed, and having fresh layouts to work with kept me from gaining familiarity rather than real speed. He made 6 variations for me. This *really* helped my speed, and I would recommend it to anyone. The faster you can get IGP configured the more time you have for everything that rides on top. If you don't have the colleagues, I'm sure the list would be glad to help! Lastly, I restricted myself to working only with the Cisco CDs and Hyperterm during my scenarios. Don't get too used to special functions in TeraTerm or anything else, and learn how to navigate the CD! I had at least two items that I had absolutely no idea how to do until I found the info on the CD. It would be very easy to blow an hour or more just searching for info, so find stuff and remember what you did to get there. Especially if you know your weak points (and I hope you do!) Got my good news the next day - #8965!!! So here's my feedback: Don't get hung up on any task! If you think something will be troublesome at first glance, move on and come back to it. If future tasks rely on this earlier task, this may not be possible. Use the proctor! Cathy was sick, so my lab was proctored by Bill Parkhurst. He clarified some ambiguous questions. There was also a mismatch between some of my interface netmasks as configured and as printed on the layout and he got me straightened out. Take breaks! Hey, free sodas and coffee. Check status often! Many times what was working fine will break or be modified when you move to the next few tasks. Make sure that at the end of the day, everything that was asked for still works. Use the time! I 'finished' the lab with about 1.5 hours to go. I used that time to double-check everything - every route, every BGP entry, topology tables, cam tables, telnet-and-ping, IPX ping, DLSw peers, etc. There were at least two people who finished earlier and left - I personally think that you should use every minute they give you! If the lab was cheaper, I'd end by suggesting you take it sooner rather than later. However, I understand that no one wants to drop $1250 unless they truly feel prepared. If you're lucky enough to be designated as a Cisco Powered Network, there are supposed to be more opportunities for free labs in the future. Just make sure you've got a valid written!
Good luck to all, Andrew Cook Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=39498&t=39498 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
