So I decided a little while a go to take the CCIE R&S exam. Taking the CCIE exam I knew will be a very long, very hard challenge but knew it will be worth it in the end. Obviously had to clear it with my wife first to make sure she was going to be OK with it as this will take up a lot of my life.
For the last few months I have been building up my CCIE lab ready to get practicing and learning with and start the CCIE track. Well I was almost there and then found an announcement that Cisco had changed the CCIE R&S lab equipment to a new version 5.0, and the last time to take version 4.0 is going to be 6th June 2014. – Obviously not going to complete it by then!
You can imagine how annoyed I was at this point, however I decided to press on anyway working with what I have and building on it.
My lab at the moment consists of:
- 7 x ISR 1841 Routers with 8 x WIC-1T’s between them
- 1 x ISR 3825 Router with a WIC-1T
- 1 x ISR 2811 Router – this router seems to make a buzzing noise and i think the fan is on its way out. I might get rid of this router
- 1 x 2522 Router being used as a Frame Relay switch
- 1 x AS2511-RJ router being used as an Access Server
- 1 x 3750G Switch
- 1 x 2960G Switch
- 1 x 3550 Switch
- 4 x 3750X-24 Switches
I also have a few other things that aren’t really relevant to the R&S track such as an ASA 5510 and ASA 5505. These devices are mainly used as a lab for work to write and test out configurations. I also have the 5505 set up as a VPN server so I can connect into my home network and remotely connect to the lab via computer or iPad.
(Just managed to persuade my wife to let me buy the new iPad Air Cellular with a Zagg keyboard 😀 so this will be good when travelling on the train, or out and about )
I also have 2 x APC PDUs and a 24U rack. The 2 x APC PDUs are AP7921 and AP7951 with individual outlet control. This is perfect for me as I can power up and power down the hardware as needed when labbing.
If I can will try to get a picture uploaded of my lab rack. (Refer to the My Lab page for a view of what my lab currently looks like.)
As you can imagine its taken me a while to build this lab up. Most of the equipment I got from Ebay at a good rate, some kit I got for a real bargain – guess I was in the right place at the right time.
The 3750X switches will come in perfect for the new CCIEv5.0 exam and they run the correct image needed. The only issue I am going to have is running IOS 15.3 on the routers. As of now the 1841’s only support up to 15.1 but only with 64MB flashcard and 256MB RAM. Well as you would expect all my 1841’s have 32MB flash and 128MB RAM so last week I bought 3 sets of RAM and new CF cards. The CF cards have arrived and I am just waiting on the RAM to arrive to test out the new advanced enterprise services IOS. Once tested I will order another 3 sets to complete.
So anyway I decided to take the CCIE as I want to learn more about networking (that and the number ;^)).
So the start of the climb.
Well the other day I finally started after weeks of research and trying to find good study material, reading various blogs, and the Cisco Learning Network. I got a copy of Cisco Press – Routing TCP/IP Vol I and II by Jeff Doyle. These are really good books and shouldn’t be underestimated because they were released a while a go.
Most of the topics are relevant and provide a good insight to the technologies from a basic understanding to an in-depth analysis. I started reading Volume I and got all the way to Chapter 8 – ignoring Chapter 7 IGRP as felt it was no longer relevant.
I have been disheartened a few times because of the amount of topics I need to study and the length of which I need to study them for. It seems never ending! I decided I need a study plan to help get through this and stick to it thoroughly so at the moment I am going through whatever Google throws at me for CCIE Study plans trying to build a tailored plan that will work for me. Still watching a few other training videos though to help refresh my memory from my CCNP studies.