I was thinking about something this morning also, in Caslow's book he states that the CCIE lab is modeled after a graduate school exam, designed to test the students thought patterns and how well they think on their feet. Questions that appear to address one issue may be designed to look that way, when the testers are actually looking for something different. Of course there are little hints thrown in there I am sure, never taken the lab so I don't know, but if practice scenarios are any measure the hints are very subtle. Maybe in a lab scenario it would be interesting to include in the solution the way to decipher a question or questions, as well as give the candidate an idea of what other possibly confusing questions they might see in relation to that particular topic.
~-----Original Message----- ~From: Howard C. Berkowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] ~Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 8:24 PM ~To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~Subject: Re: Scenario Design: Comments Invited [7:41955] ~ ~ ~At 7:10 PM -0400 4/19/02, Kevin Cullimore wrote: ~>I'm pretty far away from the "purchasing lab scenarios or the time to ~>practice them" point(so many printed words, only one ~lifetime), but one ~>frustrating theme permeating all of the vendor-endorsed ~training I've been ~>forced to attend (note: it was always the case that I would ~ask for training ~>during my first 6-12 months of exposure to a technology, get ~denied, and ~>then be required to attend the lowest possible level training ~a year later), ~>is that they offer one or two solutions to a given ~troubleshooting/design ~>problem. While they might come up with some acceptable ~reasons for their ~>solution, wouldn't it be better to provide scenarios where multiple ~>solutions exist for a given set of base requirements and the solutions ~>manual outlines all acceptable options, comparing & ~contrasting them with ~>one another, highlighting the merits of solutions that go ~above & beyond the ~>original motives according to generally accepted principles of network ~>design? ~ ~Unfortunately, there's a problem in network design training. No one ~vendor, even Cisco, makes every kind of component that could be ~relevant to a solution. We've all seen posts here that really turned ~out to be a Windows problem with a Windows solution, or perhaps could ~be done most efficiently with a smart DSU rather than IP load ~sharing, etc. ~ ~To get this kind of broad view, you tend to be looking at books or ~vendor-independent training. There are several ways to approach this. ~I just pulled off my shelf "High Availability Networking with Cisco" ~by Vincent C. Jones. The title is slightly misleading, but it's a ~good book, because he does get into things such as power supply ~issues and how several server vendors handle multiple NICs for ~avoiding single points of failure. ~ ~In my book, "WAN Survival Guide," I chose to be generally vendor ~independent, and did things like showing how some reliability ~problems might better be solved by adding server clusters than ~continuing to increase network reliability. One of the case studies ~is derived from a consulting client of mine who demanded they NEVER ~lose Internet connectivity, so I designed redundant routers, hooked ~to an AT&T dual ring SONET, and to another carrier with an MCI ~upstream, reached over a different physical facility. ~ ~Unfortunately, when I visited their computer room, I found out they ~had one server. When I inquired what they would do if that went down ~while the network stayed up, they cheerfully responded, "oh, we have ~it backed up on tape." This really should have been one of those ~commercials that said "Backup server, $20,000. Look on the client's ~face when they realize their vulnerability, priceless. For everything ~else, there's Mastercard." ~ ~In my upcoming "Building Service Provider Networks," I go through a ~variety of customer case studies. I picked the customers so they ~would have different requirements and thus different solutions, but ~in the discussion, I would point out alternatives. ~ ~Unfortunately, publishers are finding people are only buying design ~books related to security, and essentially certification cram books. ~There's not nearly the market for design seminars as there was five ~years ago. I suppose the new generation of CEOs is concerned with ~getting the wrong answer quickly. ~-- ~"What Problem are you trying to solve?" ~***send Cisco questions to the list, so all can benefit -- not ~directly to me*** ~*************************************************************** ~***************** ~Howard C. Berkowitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~Chief Technology Officer, GettLab/Gett Communications http://www.gettlabs.com Technical Director, CertificationZone.com http://www.certificationzone.com "retired" Certified Cisco Systems Instructor (CID) #93005 Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=42078&t=41955 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
