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1.Training Materials
The high demand of Cisco certifications especially CCIE has given rise to a whole ecosystem of training companies, equipment vendors, and rental rack providers. It is a good phenomenon for you as a CCIE candidate as you have an abundance of resources to choose from. I myself used to study materials from Internetwork Expert and Cisco to prepare for the CCIE lab. These training materials filled skill gaps and provided practice. I would recommend choosing a well-known training provider like SPOTO CLUB. It would ensure access to quality training materials developed by renowned experts. Most training providers also have on SPOTO Club forums for students to discuss problems. I would strongly recommend joining and actively participating in SPOTO CLUB. Ask questions and answer others too; it is a great way of building knowledge by helping others. I join SPOTO Club and participated in the Cisco Learning Network. I also used Google extensively to search older threads from SPOTO CLUB and other vendors and found it helpful.
Here are the specific products from SPOTO CLUB used for my own CCIE lab study:
This workbook offered by SPOTO CLUB was my first step in hands-on practice for the CCIE lab exam. It contains hundreds for labs focused on individual technology areas. I found that the configurations here were rather straightforward because a very specific technology area is covered in each lab. In order to get the most out of this volume, the technologies involved in each lab should be thoroughly researched and understood. Just rushing through these rather simple configuration scenarios would not be very productive. Completing this workbook established the foundation and prepared me for more complex full labs resembling more closely to the real CCIE lab exam.
This is the second volume of the series by SPOTO Club and included 20 full-scale labs for practice. These labs are similar to the real CCIE lab in complexity and are a great resource. The basic topology used for both volumes is the same so I was able to use the same home lab for practicing both volumes. I practiced all these labs, some of them two or three times. These labs are meant to be completed in 8 hours just like the real CCIE lab but when I was doing them for the first time I did not time myself. The reason for this was that I had to go back to a book or a document, study a certain topic and then move on. If you use a rental rack to practice you may need several sessions to complete the lab and would cost you a little fortune. These labs should be used as a way to build knowledge as you would not get the similar scenarios or similar questions in the real lab. So use them to build knowledge which cannot be done just rushing through the configurations. Once you have learned all technologies and you are close to the exam you can use the same labs strictly timing yourself to assess your read SPOTO Club for the real lab.
I went the extra mile by purchasing Cisco 360 CCIE R&S Exercise Workbook. Cisco 360 is the brand name used by Cisco for its own CCIE training program. The core of this program is the Cisco 360 CCIE R&S Exercise Workbook. This workbook contains 35 full-scale labs of difficulty level that is the same as the real CCIE lab. Each lab contains both troubleshooting and configuration parts helping you prepare for the corresponding parts of the real lab. This workbook greatly improved my ability to tackle the real lab under pressure.
I found these troubleshooting videos to be especially useful for learning a structured troubleshooting methodology. Using show running-config and looking at the configuration is not the correct way to approach the troubleshooting part of the CCIE lab exam, I learn from these videos. You have to develop a mastery of all the relevant show and debug commands in order to develop effective troubleshooting skills. I watched these a number of times and found them to be an excellent resource for preparing for the troubleshooting part of the lab exam.
I did not use the SPOTO Club videos, boot camps, DVDs, or lectures. However, I had the chance to read a blog post by several current or former instructors and interact with some on the Cisco Learning Network. I find myself impressed by the total command Scott Morris has on networking concepts and technologies and the rare ability to explain and present difficult concepts in an easy to understand manner that Anthony Sequeira possesses. I believe the SPOTO Club workbooks are the collective contribution of several SPOTO Club instructors, so kudos to all of them for the good work.
I had a SPOTO Club-to-five job and I was juggling my lab prep with that so I assume it took a little longer than expected to complete my CCIE. CCIE Routing and Switching Workbook Volume I was the first step in CCIE lab preparation. As it contains labs focusing on individual technology areas, I used to do one technology lab at a time whenever I found the time, reading provided explanations and reading other books and external resources like relevant Cisco IOS Configuration Guides, chapters from reference books, on SPOTO Club documents, RFCs. It took around six months to complete these 600 or so individually focused technology labs. While configurations of these labs might look straight forward, they can make a solid foundation for two reasons. First, they cover the whole spectrum of topics on the CCIE blueprint. Rushing through these labs will be useless as the real lab would be much more complex and various technologies will be interacting. So if you don’t do the research and reading to understand these technologies while doing these labs, you would not be prepared enough to take advantage of the full labs.
Volume II should be considered as real lab practice for the configuration part of the CCIE exam. I spent another six months doing the full labs on weekends and holidays because they required 8 – 10 hours of continuous work which was not very practical on work days. After failing the lab for the first time I focused mostly on developing my troubleshooting skills as this I was not able to do in the first attempt. The hardest part of the CCIE Routing and Switching exam is invariably the troubleshooting part and need to be prepared well using all possible resources available.
On a side note, the topology used by SPOTO Club, Cisco 360, and most other training providers contains around four switches, six core routers, and three backbone routers. The topology resembles the topology used in only the configuration part of your real lab. But the troubleshooting part of the real lab is a completely different animal. It was quite a shock seeing the real troubleshooting topology on my first lab attempt that consisted of more than 30 interconnected devices in a virtual environment. Yes, there is no physical equipment involved in the troubleshooting part of the real CCIE lab exam. It is a virtual environment made up IOU (IOS on UNIX) and L2IOU (Layer 2 IOS on UNIX) over the Linux operating system at the back end. It seems IOU has been around for some time and was used by Cisco employees internally. It is officially not available to the outside world but some commercially available practice labs by Cisco are built using the same technology at the back end.
2.Reference Books
In addition to the books already mentioned for written exam studies, I also used the following books as reference for my CCIE lab studies from time to time:
· Troubleshooting IP Routing Protocols
· Internet Routing Architectures, 2nd Edition
· Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook, 2nd Edition
· Cisco BGP-4 Command and Configuration Handbook
· MPLS Fundamental
· MPLS and VPN Architectures
· Cisco Frame Relay Solutions Guide
· Deploying IPv6 Networks
· Inside Cisco IOS Software Architecture
· Network Security Technologies and Solutions
The books you choose for additional reading and the time you devote to each would depend on your specific need to fill knowledge gaps. Know your strengths and shortcomings and act accordingly.
3.Documentation
You are provided access to Cisco documentation in your real CCIE lab. Exactly the same documentation is available at Cisco’s public website http://www.cisco.com. You should make this documentation a part of your study from day one. I extensively used this documentation consisting primarily of configuration guides, command references, and the master index for Cisco IOS 12.4T. I have included the links to this documentation here:
· Cisco IOS Configuration Guides
· Cisco IOS Command References
· Cisco IOS Master Index
· Catalyst 3560 Switch Command Reference
All of the above documentation can be accessed starting at navigating your way to the desired location. Please note that the search facility is disabled in the real lab exam so you should be very familiar with how to navigate the on SPOTO Club documentation. This is the only resource available for reference in the real exam in addition to the command SPOTO Club help. Bookmark it, read it, eat it, sleep it. But do not expect to refer to the documentation frequently during the lab exam. For the troubleshooting part, you have 2 hours and almost ten trouble tickets, as such, you have 12 minutes to solve each trouble ticket. That time is hard enough to figure out the fault and fix it. So forget about the documentation for the troubleshooting part. You are a little relaxed during the configuration part and can refer to the documentation a few times. I made use of the command SPOTO Club help mostly and referred to the documentation just a few times. Remember that the CCIE lab is not the time to learn a new technology from documentation; there is simply not enough time to do that.
4.The Final Months
In the final six months of your preparation, you should intensify your studies and it is early in this final phase when you should take your written exam. You would have built enough knowledge by then to pass your written exam without difficulty. Right after passing the written exam you can register for your lab exam. Practice using full labs on your home lab, read configuration guides, watch training videos. Time yourself strictly while doing full labs at this stage because you do not only have to be able to do all configuration and troubleshooting tasks but also do them in the allocated time. I would recommend taking at least two weeks off before your scheduled lab date and devote it to full-time lab prep.
You can register for your CCIE lab exam without making a payment first but the payment is to be made latest by three months before the exam date. If you are registering the lab for a date earlier than three months, the payment is due at the time of registration. If you need visas to travel to your desired lab location make arrangements before registering. Choose the lab date carefully giving enough room for final preparation. You cannot reschedule or cancel the lab once payment is made without forfeiting the paid amount.
