Lab Prep « Amp's CCIE Quest

19Aug/103

Study Strategy

Well seeing that two of my friends have gone on to CCIE glory (one of them for the 2nd time in less than a year) has motivated me like never before. So I did what any self-respecting CCIE candidate would do when he/she is constantly surrounded by those CCIE dudes and dudettes...study, lab, and study and lab some more.

One of the things that I believe is important for anyone to have when pursuing their CCIE is a plan. Daniel's plan was to lab until he couldn't lab anymore, where as Matthew's plan was to know voice so well you would think that he created Cisco Unified Communications. Both of their plans were not only viable and valid plans but they were effective plans. They both passed.

So what's my plan? Nothing different from what I've been doing. Well almost nothing. I am stealing this idea from Matthew, plan my study week ahead of time and review that topic or those topics before my rack session. Being that I am going to be doing this 99% via rented rack time I HAVE to make the most of my rental time.

So for example, if I know that I want to practice High Availability features this week, what I am going to do is watch the IPX VoD, listen to Amy Ryan's mesmerizing voice on the AoD, read the System, Admin, and the Feature and Services guides, and take notes PRIOR to my lab session. Once in my lab session focus soley on the topic that I was preparing for. Will this work, I certainly hope so. I have a lab date coming up

Filed under: Lab Prep 3 Comments

30Jul/100

Cisco Catalyst Swtiches…

A colleague and close friend of mine has asked me to assist him in setting up a basic yet functional CCIE Voice Lab to begin studying with. So as I started to think about it, I remember that Josh over at BlindHog.net had a really great post about running a virtual voice lab using minimal hardware and GNS3. This setup will allow you to do plenty but not all. I sent my buddy over to Josh's post and told him to read it thoroughly and to watch the video. Well he raised a pretty good question about what kind of POE switch he should get; should it be the 3550, 3560, or should he try and save up for the 3750.

Let the fun begin...

What are the differences between the 3550, 3560, and 3750? Well from a CCIE Voice Lab and QoS on the voice lab perspective, not much. Why do I say that? Well let's take a look at the End-to-End QoS Network Design: Quality of Service in LANs, WANs, and VPNs book from Cisco Press.

"The Catalyst 2970/3560/3750 share many common QoS features and syntax with the Catalyst 3550...Trust states and MQC/ACL classification and marking on the Catalyst 2970/3560/3750 are identical to those for the 3550, as are mapping functions and syntax (including DSCP mutation)." direct quote from pg. 243

Now don't get me wrong, does that mean you do not need to practice on a 3750 for the lab? NO!!! Yes you still need to practice on a 3750 for the lab. Why? Because there are some differences between the 3550 and 3750 such as "queuing". The 2970/3560/3750 family supports ingress queuing whereas the 3550 does not. Will this be on the lab? Who knows, there is always a possibility. The 2970/3560/3750 family supports 4 egress queues like the 3550 does, however queue 1 is used as an expedite/priority queue and not queue 4 like on the 3550.

So when it comes to the question of, can't I just buy a 3550 POE and be done with it? The answer is a resounding Yes...and No. There are a lot of features that can be tested and learned with the 3550 but you will definitely need to get some practice in on the 3750. After all that is the device that will be on the lab.

15Apr/101

Auto-Registration vs Manual

Here's one of the debates that never gets old; to use or not to use auto-registration on the lab is the question? Well in a"real world" enterprise situation with hundreds or even thousands of phones, Auto-Registration and the BAT tool may be the way to go. However, being that we will have anywhere from 6 - 9 phones (give or take a phone or two) on the lab, I can't just jump out the window and say "Auto Reg" is the way to go. Why not? I'm glad you asked.

One very simple reason: It depends on what the lab is asking me to do!

If I am tasked with using SCCP and SIP phones then I will MANUALLY add the phones to the database. I have had nothing but trouble letting auto-registration do it for me in a mixed environment. The process of changing a phone from SCCP to SIP and vice versa is not difficult at all; however waiting on the phones to actually do it is a whole nother beast and I do not care to waist any of my time in the lab waiting on a phone to get it's head together. I have been able to manually add the phones to the database with relative ease and quickness, plus copy and paste is a great tool to have.

Conversely, if I am tasked with using one protocol or the other and not a combination of the two then I will use auto-registration. All I will need to do is go to System ==> Enterprise Parameters ==> Auto Registration (cluster wide parameters) and make sure the protocol is whichever one the lab guide says to use, save, and restart the CUCM and everything will be honky-dory in happy land.

Well that's my take on it; I will holla at y'all later!!!

Amp

Filed under: Endpoint Registration, Lab Prep, SCCP_SIP 1 Comment

15Apr/101

Resetting Cisco 7961 IP Phones…

I don't have a lab at home so I rely on rack rentals from the great gang over at IPExpert and Proctor Labs. I knew coming into this that financially I didn't have the capital that is needed to build a complete voice rack so I did what I thought was the smart thing to do and use remote racks with some hardware here at the cave. So I have a 2611XM router, 3550 POE Switch, 3 x 7960 IP phones, and 2 x 7961 IP phones. The 7961 phones are new to the equation (bought used off of eBay). Well during my lab session today I decided to break out the fancy smancy 7961 phones so I could practice some SIP crap when I found that the phones needed to be reset to factory default. ARGH!!! X-(

Being that I have never had to do this I did what any self respecting engineer would do; hit Cisco.com and searched for the procedure to do it. I would be lying if I said that finding the information on Cisco.com was painless, as with most things you search for on their awesome website, it was downright a pain in my john-brown hind parts. Well anyway, I found the procedure and tried it out. Seems like it worked so well I decided that I would let all of you know what to do if you ever need to reset one of these phones back to factory default. It's a pretty painless process with the exception of having to upgrade the firmware on the stupid phone. Anyway here you go.

Unplug the power cable from the phone, and then plug in the cable again.
The phone begins its power up cycle.
Immediately press and hold # and while the Headset, Mute, and Speaker buttons begin to flash in sequence, release #.
The line buttons flash in sequence in order to indicate that the phone waits for you to enter the key sequence for the reset.
Press 123456789*0# within 60 seconds after the Headset, Mute, and Speaker buttons begin to flash.
If you repeat a key within the sequence, for example, if you press 1223456789*0#, the sequence is still accepted and the phone resets.

If you do not complete this key sequence or do not press any keys, after 60 seconds the Headset, Mute, and Speaker buttons no longer flash, and the phone continues with its normal startup process. The phone does not reset.

If you enter an invalid key sequence, the buttons no longer flash, and the phone continues with its normal startup process. The phone does not reset.

If you enter this key sequence correctly, the phone displays this prompt:

upgrading

Hope that helps...

Filed under: Lab Prep, SCCP_SIP 1 Comment

15Apr/101

162 Days and counting…

Ok I know I know I know, I keep saying that I am going to do better about updating my blog and I promise you I mean well. I am certainly going to start doing better; I promise (again).

Anyway, what's new with you guys? Nothing much has changed with me, except I have rescheduled my lab (again). I am now locked in and scheduled for September 24, 2010 at Cisco's campus in San Jose, CA. That's why this post is titled 162 days and counting.

I have made a new friend on the CCIE Voice Prep scene, Matthew Berry over at CiscoVoiceGuru. Check his blog out when you get a chance. If there's anyone that has a legitimate shot at passing the v3 Voice lab on their 1st attempt it's Matthew.

Also while it's on my mind check out my buddy Dave's blog over at CCIE Voice Guide. He is another one that I believe who has a legitimate shot at passing on their 1st attempt.

Oh yeah, the big announcement that I had in store a while ago. Well it's no longer a big announcement. If any of you were wondering what it was, trust me it was huge, just follow me on Twitter and DM me and I will tell you.

That's about it for now. I am still labbing it up and studying all I can. I think I may take a minute or two and post what my study schedule is. Let me know what yours is and let's see if we may be able to help each other get over the hump.

Amp

Filed under: Lab Prep 1 Comment

13Feb/101

Latest Update

Ok so it's been a little over a month since my last update. I've been grinding as usual. Finally things at work have slowed down as far as doing Juniper stuff but the downside is I have been working an astronomical amount of trouble tickets at work. I had a conversation with the boss today and expressed my desire to only be engaged on an as-needed basis so I can concentrate over the next few months on being as prepared as I possibly can for my lab.

I moved my boot camp date from March to June and my lab date from April 16 to June 25. I will take it the last day of my IPX boot camp.

I purchased the IPX Volume 1 Video-Walkthroughs by Vik Mahli (Thanks Mike D.) and let me tell you, it is quite impressive. I have also been taking very copious notes during my study sessions from the VOD, the Video-Walkthroughs, and my actual lab prep. Someone on OSL said that they turned their notes into a book and that it helped them during their studies; I decided to try it and I have to admit that it in deed does help. That's the primary reason I haven't been blogging like I want to. At some point I will take what's in the book/notes and post them here on the blog.

Speaking of blog check out Matthew Berry's blog. He is also on the quest to becoming a voice CCIE.

I'm not sure if I sent a shout out to a buddy of mine that recently passed his R&S CCIE (1st attempt...friggin bastard) so I will do it now, Congrats to my pal Brian Luers. We both started at our current company about a month apart and have been pretty good friends since.

Filed under: General, Lab Prep 1 Comment

4Sep/091

Another CCIE on CCIE Alley….

Ok so now the pressure is mounting. I sit in a corner surrounded by 3 CCIE's (All R&S of course). Now the pressure is mounting to get this monkey oops I mean awesome cert off my back.

This time it was my colleague Dan White (Wooo Hooo) that passed his CCIE R&S Lab in guess what.......RECORD TIME... as well. He didn't beat Dozier's time of 1:15 but he came damn close for someone of his ability. Dan finished his lab at 1:47 and that was after ALL OF HIS CONFIGS WERE LOST, due to a power failure and a possible IOS bug AND a dead router due to the power failure!!!!

That dude is awesome!!!!! The pressure is on now!!!!!

Filed under: General, Lab Prep 1 Comment

4Jul/090

CONGRATS!!!

Congrats to all of our men and women that have served and are currently serving in our U.S. Military. After serving in the Marine Corps for 5 years I have a special place in my heart for all of our armed forces members, especially our MARINES!!! OOH RAH, Semper Fi!!!

I also want to send a congrats shout out to a friend and co-worker of mine, Scott Dozier, who passed his R&S lab on June 30, 2009 on his first attempt. I already knew that this dude was scary smart but this kat finished his lab by 1:15 and was punked by one of the proctors TWICE (LMAO) before leaving the facility. If anyone deserves his number it is Scott. Congrats Scott!!!

Well time to get ready for 4th of July festivities.

P.S. Wayne Lawson if you get a chance to read this, I just wanted to say Thank You for all the great work you guys are doing over at IPexpert and Semper Fi Devil Dog. I stepped on those yellow footprints on July 31, 1994 and ended my service on Feb. 28, 1999 (after a 7 month extension.) Anyway, thanks and congrats!!!

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9Jun/090

Lab Date and IPexpert Boot Camp Confirmed

Ok I had been going back and forth with choosing which date to actually book for my lab. According to my employer I have to at least sit for the lab no later than 4th Quarter 2009. With that in mind I was planning on taking the lab in November, November 23 to be exact. After thinking about where I am at with my subject knowledge, I quickly changed my mind and settled on December 21, 2009. Now here's the deal. I will be attending IPexpert's CCIE Voice boot camp out in San Jose, CA. They have two dates that I have been considering, October 19 - 30, 2009 and November 30 - December 11, 2009.

I know that these boot camps fill up rather quick so I said to myself, "Self, let's be smart about how we schedule these events!" So I came up with this solution. Schedule the boot camp for October 19 - 30, 2009, work my arse off to make sure I am ready for it by at least September or early October. If not, then reschedule the boot camp for November 30 - December 11, 2009 and keep my lab date of December 21. However, if I am ready for the boot camp and I do well during the boot camp in October, then reschedule my lab date for November.

All I have to do now is keep an eye out for good plane tickets, right now they're $243 round-trip from Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) to San Jose (SJC). If you guys here of some good deals or websites that typically have good deals on plane tickets, let me know. Until next update, keep studying people...

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4Jun/090

Training Day 1…

It's been a couple of days since I last wrote about getting back on the horse. I have had to recommit my mind, heart, and efforts to this journey. I've also had to refocus on a structured approach to my studies. I have somewhere around 136 days before I go to IPexperts boot camp in San Jose, CA, and about 169 days before I sit for the lab. I figure if I can get a MINIMUM of 5 hours of focused studying in per day everyday, that will put around 685 hours of studying by the time I go to boot camp.

IPexpert has a recommended approach to using their BLS program; it's broken down into 3 steps.

Video on Demand: Watch the video on demand series beginning with Chapter 1 and follow through with the Video on Demand Exercises for Chapter 1. Then work through the corresponding chapters in the Volume 1 Workbook.
Move on to Volume 1 Technology-Focused labs. Work through all 16 chapters. DO NOT leave one chapter for the next until you have successfully completed the exercises and you FULLY understand them.
Move on to Volume 3 (Mock Labs). Work through each of the labs individually; and DO NOT move on to the next lab until you can complete the lab you are on in 6 hours.

So I have started all over with the BLS Video on Demand videos.

Infrastructure:

2.3 VLANs and Trunking

2.4 DHCP

2.5 VTP

UCM Basics:

3.1 UCM Basics

5.0 Calling Search Spaces and Partitions

3.2 Calling Search Spaces and Partitions ( Exercise Walkthrough)

I am in the process of building a functional lab, as best I can anyway. The lab sessions with Proctor Labs are 8 hour sessions and so far for the month of June, all filled up until next Saturday (June 13, 2009). I need all of the hands on practice that I can possibly get. My plan in the mean time is to watch the videos, watch the corresponding exercise walkthrough, and read or reread about the sections in either the SRND or one of the many books that I have.

Tonight it's all about Calling Search Spaces and Partitions. I will watch the videos a few times, take notes each time, and read the chapter about the Calling Search Spaces and Partitions in Cisco CallManager Fundamentals and the CUCM 7.x SRND.

Well that's all for now people, time to press play.

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