R&S Written exam: June 15th (or sooner)

R&S Lab exam: June 15th, 2011 (12 months after the written)

Study materials (written): IEWB Vol I, the typical CCIE books…too many, dynamips, some rack rentals. I learn best by doing, so I’ll be reading and labbing in betwee, although I won’t be doing any full labs during this phase.

Study materials (lab): IEWB Vol I/II/III, Maybe IPexpert Vol II labs, some rack rentals, as wel as dynamips for focused study on individual technologies. I’ll also be putting together my own lab (see below):

My lab (proposed): It will essentially consist of several 1841 routers, 2 3550′s, 2 3560′s, a terminal server, along with a couple of 2620′s to fill in the gaps, and a couple of BB routers. Total cost will come in at somewhere around $5-6k when it’s all said and done. I’ll be piecing it together over the next 6-9 months (while I’m studying for the written). During the early stages of my lab prep, I’ll rely on dynamips and rack rentals, and once my home lab is complete, use that.

Because of the OEQs and troubleshooting sections, I plan on integrating some book study with my lab study time..possibly a couple of hours a week throughout the entire lab prep process. I’m hoping this will keep me sharp, and give me an edge on the troubleshooting section.

As I said, I take my CCDA in a week. I have studied that book inside and out, and am ready to take it. I’m bored with it infact..so I’m starting to read Routing TCP/IP Vol I from cover to cover. I’ll be doing plenty of dynamips labs while reading this book. For anyone who cares, I’m running Ubuntu 9.04 with GNS3, on an Intel 2.4ghz dual core w/ 4GB RAM. It’s a nice setup, but I want real hardware, so I can just fire it up and kind of eliminate the issue of troubleshooting dynamips/ubuntu.

Not sure how much I’ll be posting while prepping for the written (at least in the next month), since I need to review a lot of material. I’m rusty on my routing topics..but I feel good with switching, so that’s good. Anyway, as I learn more, I’ll post more

Well, I’m getting back into things. My life has been very busy in the last month or so. My older brother, Dan, is getting married in less then a month, I’m getting married myself in less than 2 months, going to Jamaica for a week, etc.  That being said, it’s time to hone in and get back to basics. I’m going to start at block A, and re-read the CCIE exam cert guide (v3.0, unfortunately..I will fill in the gaps with online docs, videos, and hands on experimentation), then take the CCIE written. My tentative goal is to take it just barely after the new year. If all goes well, I’ll pass it within a couple of weeks of us breaking into 2010. I hope then to take the ONT exam quickly, and schedule the CCIE lab exam for somewhere around late 2010.  I need to get back on the horse, because for a while, I lost my focus, and got a little overconfident I think. Now that I am back in the right mindset, I need to re-focus, and assess where I stand, and get to work. Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m still rolling, albeit very slowly.

Look for an article or two to show up in the next week or two if things go right. Not sure what subject it’ll be on yet. Take care…..stay classy, san diego.