Study Status
I wanted to give a status update on my study progress as it stands on February 28th 2010.
At the moment im still hitting Narbik labs. There are alot of good ones, and i havent even hit the troubleshooting labs yet. This weekend has completely wasted though. Mainly because of my birthday this friday, and moving my girlfriend back in with me (we had two appartments for her to goto school in a different city). Now back to a single rent!! Put on top of that the fact that im still not over the flu by a longshot. Im coughing, my throat hurts and im constantly nauseaus.
I have learned quite a few new technologies, which is certainly better to do now than on the lab day itself, but it can still be discouraging at times. Just when you think you have a grasp of things, you get blind-sided by something. I guess this is the same for everyone though.
I still need to finish off the remainder of Narbik’s bootcamp. Im not quite sure when i will have a chance to do this. Im hoping for early summer. Maybe in conjunction with a vacation with my girlfriend. Alot of the classes are in the US, and she hasnt been there before. So we might just end up going. Big topics i need is MPLS and BGP. Especially BGP will be a core technology, so i definately want Narbiks take on this.
I have also considered attending his 12-day bootcamp, but i honestly dont think i could stomach the 12 days 🙂
Reading wise, i need to go through the new CCIE written exam guide, at least the chapters regarding the new material. MPLS is a large part in this. Routing TCP/IP Vol. 2 is also on my list, and now for the finale: Troubleshooting IP routing protocols. I think this book will be worth its weight in gold (and its quite heavy) for the troubleshooting part of the lab. So all in all it comes out to:
– Troubleshooting IP Routing protocols.
– Routing TCP/IP Vol. 2.
– OSPF command reference.
– Select chapters of the written exam guide v4.
I also got a few things lined up that requires some time, but needs to be done:
Things i need to learn/know more about:
– MPLS.
– BGP (get more hands-on experience with).
– NAT (especially how to use NAT to solve different issues).
– IPv6 (ALOT more hands on is needed).
After talking to Chris Jones (IPv6Freely), whois a CCIE already, he suggested just booking the lab date now and get it over with. I dont have to pay for it until i reach 90 days before the lab. So my only concern regarding this point is where to take it. The closest lab (and only one in Europe) is in Brussels. I have some reservations going there, but i cant quite explain why. So right now im thinking San Jose. And im thinking August at some point. I will need to make up my mind about this within the next 14 days.
Anyways, thats the state of my study as it stands right now.