I’m finally back from RTP and have a stable enough Internet connection to finally write a post.  After my SP lab last week, I decided to visit some relatives in Charleston, SC to relax over the weekend before coming home.  I tried to post something on Friday, but my hotel wireless connection was terrible.  Anyways, read on for a recap.

Since the Thanksgiving weekend, I’ve been scrambling to get enough practice time in for the configuration portion of the lab.  Shortly a few days after committing payment to Cisco for the lab, the announcement for the OEQ or Core Knowledge came out which changed my studying strategy quite a bit.  At the time, I had just begun going through INE VOL2 labs before the Christmas holidays and so now I needed to come up with another game plan.  I gave myself a deadline to finish up the VOL2 labs 1 through 5 by New Years.  For the remaining 5 VOL2 labs, I was just going to read the solutions.  Once the new year began, I only labbed up mini scenarios and didn’t bother doing any full scale labs.  All I ended up doing was reading anything I could get my hands on regarding the SP lab blueprint (i.e. books, FAQs, blogs, Cisco white papers, articles, etc.).

Did all the reading help?  Yes, it did.  The set of OEQs that I received were pretty straightforward.  If you have some clue as to what you are doing in general with topics covered in the blueprint, you should be prepared.  Now I know that statement is vague and probably doesn’t really help you much, but the OEQs are really nothing to be concerned with at all.  I can’t speak for individuals who took the lab in the first 2 months, but I think the Cisco folks have finally figured it out where the OEQs are really ‘Core Knowledge’ type questions.  If I could make one suggestion to the Cisco developers, you should have the OEQs at the end of the lab.  The biggest complaint for many individuals that get a set of off-the-wall questions is they feel gypped having just forked over $1400 for only 30 minutes of completing the test.  What’s the point in continuing onward if you already knew you blew your chance at the start of your day?  Nothing you do in the configuration portion matters if you can’t get by 3 out of 4 questions.  IMHO, I think if the questions were at the end of the lab then test takers couldn’t complain since they would actually have to work through the entire day.

Unfortunately, because I spent so much time on reading, my speed was off with the configurations.  There was a lot of typing involved with my version of the lab. On top of that, I wasn’t fully rested going into the test as I would’ve liked.  I was a bit foggy having been up all night due to nerves.  Believe me, I exhausted myself before my flight out to Raleigh so I could just sleep when I arrived, but I was pretty wired and couldn’t stop thinking about 4 questions.  In the end, I fell short on the configuration end of the spectrum.

Here’s an outline on what I did for this attempt:

1) Read: Just try to understand the material you are reading.  I don’t think you need to memorize every little detail, but know the important subject matter.  Here’s a list of everything I read:
MPLS Fundamentals
MPLS VPN Architectures
MPLS VPN Architectures Volume II
Routing TCP/IP Volume I
Routing TCP/IP Volume II
Cisco FAQs
Cisco White Papers
RFCs

2) Choose a vendor workbook:  For my attempt, I used INE’s VOL1 and VOL2.  Keep in mind the material is very outdated but still relevant for this lab.  Everything you need to know is in VOL2, you just need to reference the Cisco documentation yourself to get a thorough understanding of the technology.  If I could make a suggestion to the INE folks, I think the only updates you should make for your products are:

-VOL1: Create some IS-IS labs with explanations.  I ended having to use my R&S OSPF, EIGRP, and RIP VOL1 lab scenarios to test out IS-IS.  IS-IS is extensive enough on the exam that it should be covered in your product.

-VOL2: I really liked what INE has done with the R&S and Security workbooks; they give you a brief explanation alongside the expected output.  We could really use the additional information to help reference materials for the OEQ.

3) Core Knowledge Simulator:  I ended up purchasing this product 1.5 weeks before the lab and only looked at it 2-3 days beforehand.  IMHO, the product just destroys your confidence all together because you feel like you’ve forgotten your CCNP studies.  You also get a false sense that you are required to know the granular details of the technologies.  Based on the OEQs I received, your questions are really off the mark and probably need to be scaled down just a bit.

4) Practice: I didn’t utilize the rack rentals as I had anticipated.  I ended up just using dynamips when I was labbing, which should be enough.  If you have the money to spend, go ahead and rent or buy equipment.  If you are on a shoe string budget and have a powerful enough workstation, then invest some time in dynamips or GNS3; the IOS code you should be running is 12.2S.  There’s definitely a difference in the feature sets when you are running 12.3T and 12.2S so you should be familiar with both versions.

Am I going to take a 2nd attempt?  That depends, having just checked the availability the next possible opening at San Jose is in September.  I don’t think I’ll be flying out to other locations anymore to test.  In fact, most of the tests will be running of SJ anyways (similar to the R&S format) and conducted at nearby Pearson Vue locations in the future so it doesn’t make sense to fly out (unless of course work pays for it and everything isn’t out of my own pocket).  There are other rumors that this lab will be retired and replaced by SP Operations.  I was told that for the month of July all lab testing sites will be blocked off completely to allow major changes to the lab testing facilities as well as when the announcements will be revealed.  If I can get another test in before June, I think I’ll donate more money to Cisco.  Until I can get a close enough date, I’ll just be enjoying my time away from all the stress:

-Catching up on all my shows on the DVR

-Toying around with JNCIE-ER or JNCIE-M/T

-Creating some mini-scenarios to help cover the lacking areas of technologies

-Playing basketball on the weekends again

-Networking at Interop, CiscoLive, etc.

If you are planning on taking the lab any time soon, you’ve most likely come across many opinions surrounding the OEQ section of the lab during your research efforts.  The Open-Ended Questions were designed to test your knowledge further of the subject matter during your lab attempt.  While the questions have already done a good job with filtering out the lab cheaters, I believe they are also discouraging test takers, like myself, with pursuing the certification altogether.  Could you imagine forking over $1,400 + traveling/studying expenses only to find out you failed the exam within the first hour?  What if you’re a 1st time lab taker and you let your nerves get the best of you?  Or what if you struggled with your traveling arrangements all night and made your way to the testing site without any sleep only to blank out?  A lot of us had already done these things prior to the OEQs, but now it’s just another thing to worry about which doesn’t seem entirely fair.

Yeah, yeah…study more and just be prepared.  IMHO, that’s difficult to do when:

-Your financially burdened since the expenses are out-of-pocket
-You have a family and can only spare a few hours each day to study
-You work 2+ jobs because you really have no choice

I hear it’s much easier to stay on top of your studies if you happen to be one of the following:

-A Cisco employee who has ample amounts of resources at your disposal
-A trainer who can pretty much recite the technologies forward and backward
-An unemployed engineer who has the time to memorize all the Cisco press books

What if you just can’t retain explicit details for very long (i.e. like short term memory)?  Does it mean you don’t know what the heck you are doing?  I myself have difficulty remembering every bit of detail and tend to mix them up from time-to-time.  There’s just too much going on in my life already where I’d rather focus my time elsewhere.

If Cisco lab developers happen to read this, they should consider adopting the old 2-day format to wheen out the scammers.  I love the idea of the upcoming Troubleshooting section because it allows us non-Cisco folks to get a grasp of potential real world TAC cases.  Who knows, maybe they will remove the questions once the Troubleshooting section goes live.  At this point, I’m just going to take a wait-and-see approach to see how all of this pans out.

As you can already tell I’m discouraged from pursuing the Security track due to the OEQs, so I’ve decided to attempt the Service Provider track.  In my previous posting I said that I’m more motivated to learn the technology if I can obtain some hands-on experiences in the process.  I have a potential weekend contract coming up where I’ll get to work at the ISP level, which is helping drive my decision.  My biggest challenge at this point is booking a lab date before the end of the year.  I’d prefer to take the lab by January because I suspect that if Cisco is going to make an announcement to add the OEQs to the SP lab by then, the lab seats will fill up even faster.

So many things have changed and so much time has passed since my last SP declaration back on 02/14/2008.  Let’s see if I can stick with this track to the very end this time around.

Here are some additional notes I found while cleaning out my drafts.  I forgot to publish it when I was reading the book.

MPLS Fundamentals - Chapter 6: Cisco Express Forwarding

Overview of IOS Switching Methods
-Process Switching - An IOS process handles the switching of a packet
-Interrupt Switching - When packets arrive the interface processor interrupts the central CPU asks it to switch the packet according to a route cache or switching table
-ASIC - CEF table is programmed in ASICS so packets can be switched in hardware

Process Switching
-IOS process copies the packet to CPU memory and looks up destination IP in routing table
-Packets are switched out particular interfaces after TTL has been lowered and CRC has been recalculated
-Central CPU always looks at packet

Fast Switching
-An on-demand forwarding table
-1st packet is process switched; central CPU builds a cache
-Interrupt code will switch subsequent packets for the same destination
-Cache is not permanent
-Route cache has an outgoing interface, next hop, and Layer 2 Rewrite field
-Enabled with ‘ip route-cache’ interface command

CEF Switching
-Table is built in advance
-Only switching method that can label an incoming IP packet and forward it

CEF Components
-FIB - Also known as CEF table
-Adjacency Table - Responsible for MAC or Layer 2 Rewrite; ARP used to map Layer 2 addresses to IP

CEF Table
-Responsible for the Layer 3 forwarding decision
-Recursive prefixes are immediately resolved

CEF Operation
-When packet enters router, Layer 2 info is stripped off
-A lookup is performed on the destination IP in the CEF table
-A forwarding decision is made
-Layer 2 Rewrite allows router to put a new Layer 2 header onto the frame before switching the packet out the outgoing interface toward the next hop

Distributed CEF (DCEF)
-Can be used in a distributed manner with higher-end models (i.e. 7500, GSR 12000)
-Distributed CPUs handle forwarding of traffic without burdening the central CPU
-For 7500, the CEF and adjacency table resides on VIP
-For GSR 12000, the CEF and adjacency table resides on the line cards

CEF Switching in Hardware
-ASICs can forward packets at very high rates

CEF Load Balancing
-Per-packet - Round-robin packet per packet on outgoing links
-Per-destination - Destination and source IP addresses are hashed; hash is pointed to load sharing table

Labeling IP Packets by CEF
-CEF labels only the packets that are initially on the ingress PE router

Load Balancing Labeled Packets
-If MPLS payload is IPv4 packet, load balancing is done by hashing the source and destination IP address of the IPv4 header
-If MPLS payload is IPv6 packet, load balancing is done by hashing the source and destination IP address of the IPv6 header
-If MPLS payload is not an IPv4 or IPv6 packet, load balancing is done by looking at the value of the bottom label

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending Legally Blonde The Musical with my wife.  It had been a long summer for us and so we decided that we were going to treat ourselves to a night out.  One of the songs in the play was ‘Chip On My Shoulder’ sung by the character Emmett.  The song was entertaining to say the least, but a few of the lyrics within the song really stuck in my head:

No! That’s the chip on my shoulder
I hugged my mom and told her
With the chance I’ve been given
I’m gonna be driven as hell

Though I can’t take the day off
I just think of the payoff
You need a chip on your shoulder
Little Miss Woods comma Elle

For the life of me, I couldn’t shake the words, Though I can’t take the day off…I just think of the payoff, out of my head and felt very driven for a new achievement in my career.  Watching shows off the DVR and playing video games all summer just wasn’t going to cut it.  My workload lessened so work itself had become stagnant and I figured I needed a new challenge to keep me going.

As you may know, I’ve been eligible to take the Security lab for quite some time, but the test had been eluding my interest level.  I’m usually more interested in a technology when I know it will be utilized in some form within my work environment.  Presently, my company views security technologies as a luxury and hasn’t approved any of the recommendations for new security initiatives which has really dampened my spirits with the track altogether.  IMHO, the market seems to have dried up for Cisco security technologies in SoCal.  I still have until mid-February to make up my mind about the track, but I have yet to find that spark that’s going to drive me to finish the track.

With the R&S track updating later this year to include MPLS (among other things), it only made sense that I should brush up on the technology to assess my personal knowledge of the subject matter.  After reading a few chapters this summer from MPLS Fundamentals, I found the technology to be very interesting.  I also ended up reading MPLS and VPN Architectures, Volume II and was completely hooked.  To measure my level of knowledge with the content from these 2 books, I decided to sign up for my CCIE Service Provider written exam (350-029).  I had booked the test for today and managed to pass it earlier this morning.  Aside from receiving validation of the material, I’m now eligible to take the Service Provider lab.  I feel more driven towards this track than security but some questions linger about in my head:

-Can I even afford the additional expenses? –> I just checked with my wife and she says, yes, but I have to pass the lab on the 1st try.

-Is studying even possible with my current workload? –> Not really, but I thrive on pressure.

-Could I truly commit myself to long lab hours, cramping fingers, an aching lower back, and isolation from my favorite activities (i.e. poker, basketball, mini expeditions, etc.)? –> If I wanted it badly enough, I would find a way.

-If I pursue a track, which one? –> I really have to weigh the pros/cons for each track.

My plan for now is to really think it over during the Labor Day weekend and just make a decision.  All I know is that a driving factor for me is I need a bigger payoff in life (not necessarily a monetary one).