All of this advice is exactly what I am looking for. Many thanks goes out
to everyone for the helpful thoughts. Well I have decided to start on the
reading list to make sure I have the fundamentals down. I plan to
definitely build a lab for home, and I will have access to some bigger Cisco
equipment at work for lab purposes. Again, Thank you.
Marcus Faust
>From: Dennis Laganiere
>To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'"
>Subject: FW: CCIE preparation [7:31305]
>Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 09:15:49 -0800
>
>Let me know what you think of the write up below. Is that what you were
>looking for?
>
>--- Dennis
>
>
> my first draft follows --
>
>Read um and Weep
>
>Here's the short list of books I would recommend to read (at a minimum)
>during your lab preparation. Find yourself a shady spot outside, and crack
>the spine of each of these page-turners, it's the only chance you'll have
>to
>see the sun for a few months:
>7 Cisco Certification: Bridges, Routers and Switches for CCIEs, Second
>Edition by Andrew Bruce Caslow
>7 Internet Routing Architectures, Second Edition by Bassam Halabi
>7 CCIE Prof. Development Routing TCP/IP Volumes I & II, Jeff Doyle
>7 Cisco LAN Switching (CCIE professional development)
>7 Cisco Catalyst LAN Switching by Louis R Rossi, Louis D. Rossi,
>Thomas Rossi
>7 Configuring Cisco Routers for bridging, DLSW+, & Desktop Protocols
>by Tan Nam-Kee
>7 My own lab prep book, once I finish writing it (look for it sometime
>in 2003)... J
>
>
>Building your own Pod:
>
>One of the most important elements of your CCIE lab preparation is having
>equipment to practice on. My advice would be put together a home pod
>watching every dollar very carefully, and then sell it on ebay when you're
>done. If you do everything right, your practice time should only cost you
>the interest on your credit card, and the depreciation in the value of the
>equipment. What follows is a list of what I think has the makings of a
>great CCIE Lab practice pod:
>7 One Cisco 2511 router to use as a terminal server. A 2509 would work
>fine if you have one, but trust me, before long you'll need the extra
>ports.
>7 A router with multiple Serial ports to use as a Frame Relay switch.
>Cisco 2522's are popular for this, although in my own lab I use a 2610 with
>an 8-port serial module.
>7 Two Cisco 2503's.
>7 One Cisco 2504 (for the FatKid labs).
>7 Four or five more Cisco 2500 series routers with a selection of
>Serial, Ethernet and Token Ring ports, (I love 2513's, because they have
>all
>three).
>7 One ISDN emulator.
>7 One Cat2924XL or Cat5k Switch.
>7 One Cisco 3620 or 2620 with at least one Fast Ethernet port and a
>pair of FXS ports for VoIP.
>7 Two CAB-OCTAL-ASYNC. These 8-lead octal cables (68 pin to 8 male
>RJ-45s) are used with the terminal server
>7 One MAU.
>7 Lots of DTE/DCE serial cables, AUI adapters, patch cables, and
>crossover cables.
>
>* Please note that all 2500 series routers should have 16 Megs of memory,
>16
>Megs of Flash and be loaded with an Enterprise Version of 12.1 IOS
>appropriate to its physical configuration.
>
>The only things missing from the list above is ATM and a Token Ring switch.
>I consider ATM just too darn expensive for a home pod, and a 3920 is hard
>to
>get, expensive, and easy to configure. For both these technologies, I
>would
>recommend renting some on-line lab time.
>
>
>OK, The Equipment Looks Good on the Rack, Now What?
>
>You'll also need practice labs to run on your routers. Here's a list of
>lab
>materials I think are useful, in order of complexity (easiest to hardest):
>7 Cisco CCIE Lab Study Guide, Second Edition by Stephen Hutnik and
>Michael Satterlee
>7 www.FatKid.com (these have the added advantage of being free)
>7 www.solutionlabs.com
>7 www.IPExpert.net
>7 ccbootcmp
>
>
>Advice on Preparation:
>
>Know the CD. When you're in the lab, this will be one of your few friends.
>Know where the command reference are, and most importantly, know where the
>sample configurations are. Think how much time you can save if you
>cut-and-paste samples from the CD into your configurations.
>
>Print out and keep posted on the wall a copy of the exam blueprint. This
>should be a constant reminder of what you know, and what's left to figure
>out.
>
>Avoid first time pressure. Only a small percentage of people pass on the
>first attempt, and your four digit number is not de-valued if you make
>several attempts. Prepare for what you expect the exam to
