Thanks to all who wrote in. My Kafkaseque post yesterday apparently touched a chord (or nerve) with several folks. I was hoping to start an OT discussion on those Dippin' Dots ice cream, and draw analogies to networking. Heck, I would even settle for Howard asking a variation of his favorite question: "what is the ice cream you are trying to eat?"
In all seriousness, I haven't abandoned all hope yet, it has just lessened in importance and intensity for me. In response to CN's question, I have attempted the lab at least once, Brussels, way back when the lab was a two day lab, and the numbers were still quad digits.Without violating the NDA, let's just say that I will never forgive ISDN for what it did to me. As far as my motives for CCIE chasing, the main reason I am persisting is that not only have I invested time, money, and freeze dried ice cream, but the CCIE quest motivates me to study topics that I don't necessarily deal with on a daily basis, and to practice exotic configurations with those that I do. OSPF through a GRE tunnel over an ISDN DBU to the Dippin' Dots website, anyone? Thanks, Charles ""Cisco Nuts"" wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > Hello Charles, > > With due respect I ask, why did you abandon your quest for the CCIE? I am > curious as to how many times you actually hit the Lab? > > Sincerely, > > CN > > >From: "Charles Riley" >Reply-To: "Charles Riley" >To: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: CCIE Lab - I have seen he future and > it is.... [7:62776] >Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 22:19:54 GMT > >Chuck, > > >Your post reminds me of those weird little ice cream stands that I > sometimes >see at the mall and various carnivals. It's called something > like "Dipping >Dots - The Ice Cream of the Future". The initial human > instinct is much >like the Cro-Magnon humanoids encountering the monolith > at the beginning of >2001: A Space Odyssey (sp): jump up and down with > excitement until you >realize it's just freeze dried ice cream. > > >Rounding out that analogy, the CCIE of the future will probably be > reduced >to being the CCNP of today. Regardless, I have spent too much > time and >money to abandon the quest for CCIE now, but frankly, if I > hadn't invested >as much as I have, I would most likely abandon the quest > in favor of >broadening into other areas. I really don't see much market > value for the >CCIE anymore, especially with Cisco hellbent on making it > a meatgrinding >cash cow. Your java console and "one way only to > configure" experience kind >of bears this out. > >Sorry for the > depressing post, just wanted to share. > >Charles > > > > > >""The Long > and Winding Road"" wrote in >message > [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > > Been spending this > weekend on what was once the Cisco Advanced SE Training > > ( ASET ) set > of labs. These are available for those whose Cisco account >team > > > approves - there are a few conditions which can be found in the wee > places > > of certification training. > > > > The program is run by Lab > Gear ( the only link I have is www.labgear.net, > > but > > this is a > login page ) There are a number of labs of CCIE level, look, and > > > feel. > > > > Supposed to be real equipment, but the access is via java > script windows, > > not terminal emulation. This makes for some > interesting situations. The > > windows show or provide output only when > they are active. So if you had >two > > router sessions open, and you > made changes on one router that would >generate > > systems messages of > one sort or another you would not see those messages >on > > the other. > also, I have yet to find a way to generate output from >debugging > > > commands. Things like term mon and logging of one kind or another have > not > > been successful. so no debug ip routing and debug ip ospf adj. > > > > > As with the real lab, there are a series of tasks to be completed. > Grading > > is done via a script. This is the point of most interest. > Actually, I > > suspect a lot of the current CCIE Lab grading is done > using scripting >tools. > > I believe the proctors still physically > examine equipment configurations >for > > some things, but I could be > wrong. > > > > It is of interest because to judge from the script outputs > I am seeing, > > there appears to be an assumption that there is one and > only one way to do > > things. I'm not sure this is always true. I am not > sure that this results >in > > an entirely accurate grade. > > > > But > more importantly, given my experience with the java consoles and the > > > manner in which these labs must be done, I am not sure I like where this > >is > > headed. Something Brian Dennis and Brad Ellis and some other > people >started > > talking about back when the CCIE Lab went from two > days to one - something > > about the longer term goal being to do the > test remotely, and having >people > > show up at Sylvan or some other > testing center and log in remotely. > > > > If the Lab Gear approach is > any indication, this is not ready for real >live > > testing. I > experienced far too many problems with terminal ( javascript ) > > > sessions disconnecting mysteriously. With 8 open windows, it sometimes > got > > to be very hard to find the session ( router ) I was looking for. > Cut and > > paste is a real pain. You have to open a "scratchpad" window, > which is > > associated with the javascript console window. cutting and > pasting is done > > to this wind. there are scratchpad windows associated > with each java wind, > > so if you had a scratchpad open for every router > session, that makes for a > > LOT of junk to fight your way through > looking for what you want. then >there > > is the problem of actually > moving what you want to copy and paste. >highlight > > and control c > control v or alt e paste don't work. you have to click on > > buttons on > the java consoles to copy to and from routers. > > > > beyond that, there > is the problems of whether or not the "script" answer >is > > the right > answer. For example, in one lab, a particular instruction >requires > > > that the rip routers on a particular segment have to use the neighbor > > > statement to see eachother ( and prevent other routers on that segment > >from > > joining into the RIP domain ) well, the problem is, one of > those routers >is > > connected to another RIP router via a different > interface. need a neighbor > > statement there too, but the script does > not cover this, nor does the >answer > > configuration show this. > > > > > anyway, I have seen the future, and the CCIE Lab future looks like it may > >be > > heading to these kinds of remote lab settings. > > > > -- > > > TANSTAAFL > > "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" > > > > > misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > MSN 8 helps ELIMINATE E-MAIL VIRUSES. Get 2 months FREE*. 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