CCIE UK

RIP does have its limitations but it is still a venerable routing protocol. Its been around since the 1980s, so has stood the test of time and is supported across a wide variety of platforms, including Windows Servers and both Unix workstations and servers. Run out of routers and need to split a subnet in two? You could use an old server with two NICs and have this speak to your network kit using RIP.  Its clear that more serious admins wouldn’t touch it and it can have a bad reputation but it still does have a place in networking. It is very suitable for smaller networks and its ease of configuration make it a good choice for those network admins with little experience.  It is also an excellent choice for teaching network students about routing protocols as a lot of the structure , such as timers, are used in other protocols.

So here is a general summary of RIP.

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Popularity: 52% [?]

After a few weeks off from studying it’s time to start the long road to CCIE. After asking the advice of some current CCIEs, I have decided to use Internetwork Expert’s training materials for the labs. I managed to catch a 25% sale a few weeks ago and so ordered workbooks I, II and III as well as the Advanced Technologies Class on Demand course. The materials are for the CCIE 4.0 version of the exam and I’ll receive product updates for the lifetime of the 4.0 product, so I’m covered for the new materials when they arrives. Internetwork Expert have already started to develop workbook IV, which is going to cover the new troubleshooting section of the CCIE lab exam, and this should be availablein the next few days.

I thought it would be good to have the CoD available while studying for the written exam as an additional reference .  The other list of learning materials I plan to use are:

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Popularity: 59% [?]

I have recently passed the CCVP qualification and I think it would be useful to pass on some of the methods I used for setting up a home CCVP lab. The CCVP is one certification were just using books and study materials isn’t really an option. You really have to get some hands on experience. Not everyone will have the luxury of working in a Cisco VoIP/IPT environment or be able to go on the commercial CCVP courses. It is still possible to get some hands on experience by setting up a small home lab however. [Read the rest of this entry...]

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Well it happens about once a decade. We have some hot humid weather right now in Scotland with temperatures up at 30Cin some places. From the moment the heatwave was predicted, I prepared to be called out to some smaller sites I know that have comms rooms without air conditioning, where I expected to find some equipment that had overheated and shut down.

What I didn’t expect was to be called out to a site where the comms room did have air con but the air con had been put up to 29C. After picking myself up off the floor after opening the door to the room, I turned the air con down to an acceptable level and rebooted the two switches that had clearly overheated due to the environmental conditions.

The moral of the story is to please check your air con on a regular basis and wear a jumper in the comms room if you get cold. Now where did I put those Bermuda Shorts?

Popularity: 50% [?]

Cisco this week announced the introduction of four new certifications. Wow. That should keep all you certification junkies going for a while. Two of the exams are based around the new cisco buzzwords of Unifed Data Centre Computing and one is for advanced network infrastructure architects. There is also a new CCNP wireless certification. That is something I may well look at in the future, as I deal with Cisco wireless products fairly often.  Here are some links where you can find out some more:

• Cisco Certified Architect
• CCNP Wireless
• DC Unified Computing Design Specialist
• DC Unified Computing Support Specialist

Popularity: 51% [?]

A data centre network for a client I work with had an interesting issue this week. For no apparent reason some users within the data centre environment reported connection issues to hosts in the network. They were able to connect to some hosts but not others. Then all of a sudden connection would be restored but quickly lost again.

One of my colleagues was able to access two of the core data centre switches but I could only get to one. A very quick trip to the data centre floor and a console cable connection into the core data centre switches revealed the issue. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Popularity: 81% [?]

I passed the Cisco Troubleshooting Unified Communication (TUC) exam yesterday to complete my CCVP. The exam was quite tough and featured some E Sim questions were I had to search through some debug and CUCM SDI log outputs to solve problems. I’d recommened the Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony book to study for the exam along with other more up to date online resources for CUCM 5 and 6. I see that CBT Nuggets recently released a TUC course and I would have used that if it had been available for me. I’m delighted that is the CCVP over and I can get started on the the CCIE for real now. Oh and maybe I’ll have time to complete those posts I keep promising.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Well the CCIE UK site was down for around 7 days thanks to some server maintenance by my hosting company. Thanks to the people who emailed me to let me know. The new posts are in the process of being written and should be with you soon.

In the meantime I have my final CCVP exam on Tuesday the 16th of June. It’s the Troubleshooting Unified Communications exam. Fingers crossed. I’m desperate now to get the CCVP out the way so that I can concentrate on the big one (gulp).

Popularity: 52% [?]

Ok, so it’s been a couple of weeks since the last post. Mainly because I’ve had my head in the books studying for the CUCM IPT2 exam. I managed to pass the exam second time, after failing by a a few points on the first attempt. Those cheeky Cisco people threw in a few CVoice and IPT1 questions that threw me a little, as it had been a while since I’d looked over that material. A quick revision of the relevant areas cleared things up and I passed with 924 out of 1000 on my next attempt.

I then went on a weeks holiday to Rhodes in Greece to relax for a bit and I highly recommend the place to anyone in Europe looking for a nice break.

There will be a couple of new posts on the way soon. One about an incident I helped out with involving Etherchannels, the other the first instalment of setting up a CCVP Voice lab. In the meantime I’ve started studying for my last CCVP exam which is the Troubleshooting Unified Communcations (TUC) exam.

Popularity: 51% [?]

Cisco has announced some major changes to the CCIE Routing and Switching track. You can read the official statement here which contains links to the new written exam and lab exam blueprints.

As well as the introduction of some new topics such as MPLS VPNs, zone based firewalls and new IPv6 topics, the changes also include new lab equipment and a new lab format. The CCIE lab will now feature 1841 and 3825 ISRs running the newer 12.4T IOS and there will only be 3560-E switches in the rack.

The lab exam will still be done over a total of 8 hours. However the lab now has two completely seperate sections. There wil be a two hour troubleshooting section, followed by a six hour configuration lab.

The written exam will also change and it may well contain simulation questions.

The Internetwork Expert blog has a good overview of the changes and also has a breakdown of how their materials will change to match the new exams.

Popularity: 67% [?]