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Passed ITILv3!!!
It’s finally over, haha. Now I can get back to Cisco stuff! That was a pretty tough test. The material itself wasn’t easy for me to get into, but eventually I was able to push through it and things started clicking. I feel like I learned some valuable stuff here and there, but all in all, I’m glad it’s over.
Hopefully I’ll come up with some good topics to post about soon.
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Studying ITILv3
about 1 year ago - 8 comments
Sorry for the horrible lack of updates lately. I had to shift focus a bit to meet a job requirement. It’s come down from the top that everyone in the North American Network group within my company needs to get the ITILv3: Foundations cert by September of this year (ugh!). I’ve been cramming it like crazy and hope to knock the exam out in the next couple weeks. If that all works out I can get back to Cisco stuff and hopefully some decent posts.
If anyone is curious about ITIL, it’s terrible, lol. Supposedly it’s a valuable cert, so I can’t complain too much, but it’s just so boring. I love networking, so Cisco certs are actually fun for me. ITIL is just painful.
Anyway, check out my blogroll to get your networking fix.
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Plan of Attack
about 1 year ago - 8 comments
So I need to get some kind of structure together for lab study. This isn’t really my thing, I typically just wing it, but I don’t think that’s going to work as well for the lab, lol. Here’s the blueprint in its entirety:
| 1.00 | Implement Layer 2 Technologies | |
| 1.10 | Implement Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) | |
| (a) 802.1d | ||
| (b) 802.1w | ||
| (c) 801.1s | ||
| (d) Loop guard | ||
| (e) Root guard | ||
| (f) Bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) guard | ||
| (g) Storm control | ||
| (h) Unicast flooding | ||
| (i) Port roles, failure propagation, and loop guard operation | ||
| 1.20 | Implement VLAN and VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) | |
| 1.30 | Implement trunk and trunk protocols, EtherChannel, and load-balance | |
| 1.40 | Implement Ethernet technologies | |
| (a) Speed and duplex | ||
| (b) Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet | ||
| (c) PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) | ||
| 1.50 | Implement Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN), Remote Switched Port Analyzer (RSPAN), and flow control | |
| 1.60 | Implement Frame Relay | |
| (a) Local Management Interface (LMI) | ||
| (b) Traffic shaping | ||
| (c) Full mesh | ||
| (d) Hub and spoke | ||
| (e) Discard eligible (DE) | ||
| 1.70 | Implement High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) and PPP | |
| 2.00 | Implement IPv4 | |
| 2.10 | Implement IP version 4 (IPv4) addressing, subnetting, and variable-length subnet masking (VLSM) | |
| 2.20 | Implement IPv4 tunneling and Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) | |
| 2.30 | Implement IPv4 RIP version 2 (RIPv2) | |
| 2.40 | Implement IPv4 Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) | |
| (a) Standard OSPF areas | ||
| (b) Stub area | ||
| (c) Totally stubby area | ||
| (d) Not-so-stubby-area (NSSA) | ||
| (e) Totally NSSA | ||
| (f) Link-state advertisement (LSA) types | ||
| (g) Adjacency on a point-to-point and on a multi-access network | ||
| (h) OSPF graceful restart | ||
| 2.50 | Implement IPv4 Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) | |
| (a) Best path | ||
| (b) Loop-free paths | ||
| (c) EIGRP operations when alternate loop-free paths are available, and when they are not available | ||
| (d) EIGRP queries | ||
| (e) Manual summarization and autosummarization | ||
| (f) EIGRP stubs | ||
| 2.60 | Implement IPv4 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) | |
| (a) Next hop | ||
| (b) Peering | ||
| (c) Internal Border Gateway Protocol (IBGP) and External Border Gateway Protocol (EBGP) | ||
| 2.70 | Implement policy routing | |
| 2.80 | Implement Performance Routing (PfR) and Cisco Optimized Edge Routing (OER) | |
| 2.90 | Implement filtering, route redistribution, summarization, synchronization, attributes, and other advanced features | |
| 3.00 | Implement IPv6 | |
| 3.10 | Implement IP version 6 (IPv6) addressing and different addressing types | |
| 3.20 | Implement IPv6 neighbor discovery | |
| 3.30 | Implement basic IPv6 functionality protocols | |
| 3.40 | Implement tunneling techniques | |
| 3.50 | Implement OSPF version 3 (OSPFv3) | |
| 3.60 | Implement EIGRP version 6 (EIGRPv6) | |
| 3.70 | Implement filtering and route redistribution | |
| 4.00 | Implement MPLS Layer 3 VPNs | |
| 4.10 | Implement Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) | |
| 4.20 | Implement Layer 3 virtual private networks (VPNs) on provider edge (PE), provider (P), and customer edge (CE) routers | |
| 4.30 | Implement virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) and Multi-VRF Customer Edge (VRF-Lite) | |
| 5.00 | Implement IP Multicast | |
| 5.10 | Implement Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) sparse mode | |
| 5.20 | Implement Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) | |
| 5.30 | Implement interdomain multicast routing | |
| 5.40 | Implement PIM Auto-Rendezvous Point (Auto-RP), unicast rendezvous point (RP), and bootstrap router (BSR) | |
| 5.50 | Implement multicast tools, features, and source-specific multicast | |
| 5.60 | Implement IPv6 multicast, PIM, and related multicast protocols, such as Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) | |
| 6.00 | Implement Network Security | |
| 6.01 | Implement access lists | |
| 6.02 | Implement Zone Based Firewall | |
| 6.03 | Implement Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF) | |
| 6.04 | Implement IP Source Guard | |
| 6.05 | Implement authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) (configuring the AAA server is not required, only the client-side (IOS) is configured) | |
| 6.06 | Implement Control Plane Policing (CoPP) | |
| 6.07 | Implement Cisco IOS Firewall | |
| 6.08 | Implement Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) | |
| 6.09 | Implement Secure Shell (SSH) | |
| 6.10 | Implement 802.1x | |
| 6.11 | Implement NAT | |
| 6.12 | Implement routing protocol authentication | |
| 6.13 | Implement device access control | |
| 6.14 | Implement security features | |
| 7.00 | Implement Network Services | |
| 7.10 | Implement Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) | |
| 7.20 | Implement Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP) | |
| 7.30 | Implement Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) | |
| 7.40 | Implement Network Time Protocol (NTP) | |
| 7.50 | Implement DHCP | |
| 7.60 | Implement Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) | |
| 8.00 | Implement Quality of Service (QoS) | |
| 8.10 | Implement Modular QoS CLI (MQC) | |
| (a) Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) | ||
| (b) Class-based weighted fair queuing (CBWFQ), modified deficit round robin (MDRR), and low latency queuing (LLQ) | ||
| (c) Classification | ||
| (d) Policing | ||
| (e) Shaping | ||
| (f) Marking | ||
| (g) Weighted random early detection (WRED) and random early detection (RED) | ||
| (h) Compression | ||
| 8.20 | Implement Layer 2 QoS: weighted round robin (WRR), shaped round robin (SRR), and policies | |
| 8.30 | Implement link fragmentation and interleaving (LFI) for Frame Relay | |
| 8.40 | Implement generic traffic shaping | |
| 8.50 | Implement Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) | |
| 8.60 | Implement Cisco AutoQoS | |
| 9.00 | Troubleshoot a Network | |
| 9.10 | Troubleshoot complex Layer 2 network issues | |
| 9.20 | Troubleshoot complex Layer 3 network issues | |
| 9.30 | Troubleshoot a network in response to application problems | |
| 9.40 | Troubleshoot network services | |
| 9.50 | Troubleshoot network security | |
| 10.00 | Optimize the Network | |
| 10.01 | Implement syslog and local logging | |
| 10.02 | Implement IP Service Level Agreement SLA | |
| 10.03 | Implement NetFlow | |
| 10.04 | Implement SPAN, RSPAN, and router IP traffic export (RITE) | |
| 10.05 | Implement Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) | |
| 10.06 | Implement Cisco IOS Embedded Event Manager (EEM) | |
| 10.07 | Implement Remote Monitoring (RMON) | |
| 10.08 | Implement FTP | |
| 10.09 | Implement TFTP | |
| 10.10 | Implement TFTP server on router | |
| 10.11 | Implement Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) | |
| 10.12 | Implement HTTP and HTTPS | |
| 10.13 | Implement Telnet |
Just looking at it makes me nervous, haha. My plan isn’t very original, I’m going to start from the top and work my way down, studying and labbing as I go. Knowing me though, chances are I will end up jumping around to the things I’m actually interested in and ignoring the stuff I don’t like. 
I don’t feel particularly strong in too many of these technologies, which is kind of scary. Anyone have advice or pointers on the best way to tackle this beast?
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Passed The Written!
about 1 year ago - 16 comments
So I took the CCIE Written today. Thought I had a good chance of passing if I didn’t get hammered too bad on Multicast and some other stuff. I passed!
It was a really hard exam. I scored a lot lower than usual, but still eked out a pass. Lots of questions, some super easy, and some very, very hard. As I already knew, I really need to work on Multicast. I had 77 questions total and I felt like I had more than enough time. There were some tricky questions on there, so make sure to read carefully for those of you who take it. Narbik’s class definitely got me through the exam. That and studying my weak points all weekend.
I don’t know when I’m doing the lab (stop asking! lol). Narbik comes to Orlando in August, so I’d like to retake his camp then and hopefully do my first attempt at the monster in September.
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Narbik Summary
about 1 year ago - 12 comments
The class was great, I feel like I learned so much. I will definitely be taking it again before doing the lab. Here’s the layout again:
- Day 1
- Switching
- Basics
- Security
- QoS
- Frame Relay
- Switching
- Day 2
- OSPF
- Eigrp
- Day 3
- QoS
- RIP
- Day 4
- BGP
- MPLS
- Day 5
- Multicast
The depth and coverage of all technologies were amazing. I hope I retained even 50% of everything he taught us, even with 50% of it I think I’d have a good shot at passing the lab on the first try. My favorite day was BGP and MPLS, because I can’t get enough of those. Each day was grueling and and amazing. The workbooks are the best I’ve seen so far. The explanations provided in the answers are infinitely helpful in understanding the technologies.
The only (small) complaints I have are the lack of STP and IPv6 as I’m weak in both. The WBs cover these technologies in detail, of course, but I would have liked some lecture as well. They are left out due to the lack of time, which is understandable. Maybe I’ll be able to do his 12 day camp at some point, which covers everything on the blueprint in great detail.
I would recommend Narbik’s classes to anyone looking to get serious about the CCIE. With the five day class and Narbik’s workbooks I think we’re given all the tools needed to pass the lab.
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Narbik Days 4 and 5
about 1 year ago - 4 comments
Yesterday was BGP and MPLS. Probably my favorite day. I really can’t get enough of those technologies. It was mostly lecture which was very deep. This was the first day that I felt like I wasn’t far behind the lecture. I knew 95% of what we were talking about and how to implement it. I was quite happy. Naturally Narbik showed me some stuff I’d never seen and gave me a new way to think about things. All in all, it was a great day.
After class (~9:30) a few of us, including Narbik, went to the hotel next door to grab some drinks. It was a good time.
Today is a short day and the technology is Multicast. This is one of my weaker subjects as I haven’t really touched it since BSCI. I’m hoping to learn and retain a lot today.
I’m considering starting up a new thing where I interview some network veterans. Nothing spectacular, maybe something like 10 relatively short questions. Narbik has agreed to be my first test subject if you guys are interested. If so, what questions would you like me to ask? Let me know!
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Narbik Day 2, Part 1
about 1 year ago - 10 comments
Day 2 is nearly over. It’s been full of OSPF. Lots of lecture and labbing. Narbik has so much in his brain, it’s really unbelievable. Everyone knows that OSPF is very deep, but after today I’m speechless. I’ve made some tables and a diagram (from Narbik’s drawing on the whiteboard) with some of the information I want to save. Here is table of OSPF LSA Types:
(click image for fullsize)
It tells you which type of router sends them, what they look like in the RIB, what commands we can use to see them and some other things.
Here is the table of OSPF Network Types:
(click image for fullsize)
Also filled with good info.
Here is the diagram I made from his drawing on the board:
(click image for fullsize)
This thing is fantastic. It lists the area types, what LSAs they have, and what the routing table would look like. This diagram has helped me immensely in gaining a deeper understanding of OSPF.
After this lab session we’ll be doing EIGRP. Today is going to be a long one, I don’t expect to get out of here before 9:30. I may post again after class, if not I’ll try to summarize tomorrow.
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My First CCIE Bootcamp
about 1 year ago - 12 comments
Thanks to my new pal Darby Weaver, I’m attending a Narbik bootcamp next week in Chicago! Darby was kind enough to let me use his spot as he will not be able to make it. My company is even willing to give me the time off (as training, so no loss of PTO, woot) and pay for travel, hotel, and rental car. Needless to say, I’m very excited. I’m hoping to do some type of daily digest post each night, but I don’t know if I’ll have the energy or motivation after 12 hour days of Cisco study.
Here are the details on the class: This program offers Narbik’s Routing and Switching as well as Cisco 360 CCIE R&S Advanced Workshop 1 (CIERS-1) v1.0. This program offers Instructor Led lessons, a lab guide and hands-on labs on specific topics, as well as Assessment labs, including instructor time and feedback to provide student mentoring and support. This Boot Camp teaches learners how to use an expert-level problem-solving process that includes options analysis to support complex network technologies and topologies. This course is part of a blended learning curriculum that supports expert-level preparation in routing and switching. Objectives Upon completing this course, learners will be able to meet these objectives: The knowledge and skills that a learner must have before attending this course are these advanced-level competencies (knowledge and skills): These training courses are recommended to meet the prerequisites: The primary audience for this course is network engineers that need be able to use an expert-level problem-solving process that includes options analysis to support complex network technologies and topologies. The secondary audience is networking designers that design and support complex network technologies and topologies. The duration of this boot camp is 5 days. Narbik Kocharians CCSI, CCIE #12410 (R&S, Security, SP) Narbik a Triple CCIE has over 32 years of experience in the industry. He has designed, implemented and supported numerous enterprise networks. Some of the companies that Narbik has worked for are IBM, Carlton United Breweries, Australian Cable and Wireless, BP, AMOCO and in US, 20th Century Ins., Home Saving of America, Verizon, TTI, Trinet Inc, NLI, IPexpert, Anderson Networking and Consulting and many more. Narbik has been a dedicated CCIE instructor for over 12 years.
Description:
Who Should Attend
Boot Camp Hours:
(All Locations)
M – Th 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Friday 9:00 AM – 2:00 PMInstructor:
What the Students Get:
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CCIE Rack Complete!
about 1 year ago - 13 comments
Obviously I’m a huge proponent of Dynamips, and I will still be using it, probably more so than the physical hardware. But… I had most of this stuff lying around, so I thought I should put it to use. I’m mirroring the INE topology as best I can with what I have. Here’s my terrible picture (I’m not much of a photog):
(click image for fullsize)
R1 – 2610XM
R2 – 3640
R3 – 3640
R4 – 3725
R5 – 1760 (might replace this one)
R6 – 2801
FR Switch/BB1 – 2621 + NM-8A/S
SW1 – 3560-48
SW2 – 3560-48
SW3 – 3550-48
SW4 – 3550-48
Term Server – 2512 + 2514
BB2 – 2501
BB3 – 2514
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Passed BGP+MPLS!
about 1 year ago - 9 comments
The original plan was to take BGP and MPLS separately, but I was told by a few people to give the composite a try. Since my employer is picking up the tab for two attempts, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. I was hoping to pass, but I wasn’t too confident. I passed though!
It was pretty tough, but not too bad. There was more ATM than I would have liked, but most of it was basic. Also a lot of drag and drops. The sims were ridiculously easy, which was surprising. It didn’t feel like the exam went as deep into the technologies as I expected.
So I’m a CCIP now, which is awesome. I need to celebrate a little.
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Which Exams for CCIP?
about 2 years ago - 7 comments
I’ve been talking to people about the BGP and MPLS exams. From what I’m hearing, it sounds like the composite (BGP+MPLS) is actually easier than doing each exam individually. I’m finding this a bit hard to believe, but people seem pretty adamant about it. I’m hearing that there are less sims on the composite.
I’ve been focusing on BGP mostly, but MPLS has been part of the labs I’ve been using. I might just try out the composite and see how it goes since my employer is paying for two attempts per exam…
Anyone have thoughts or suggestions on the matter?
about 1 year ago
Congrats! Any plans to do an article recapping your experience with the material?
about 1 year ago
Thanks! I really hadn’t planned on it. It’s a thought, and people may like to read it. I’m just not that into this stuff though. The Foundation cert/exam doesn’t go very deep either, it’s like the CCENT. I don’t feel like I could post anything of value.
about 1 year ago
Congrats on the pass. I wouldn’t mind reading a review of your experience with the material.
about 1 year ago
Grats on pushing through it. All in all it’s a good thing to have if you ever push to another company that uses it. Just makes you even more marketable.
about 1 year ago
Well thank fuck for that. Welcome back.