CCIE v5 Study Guides and Groups

1/22/15

Yesterday I received the print version of CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1, which has a companion CD.  The CD contained the Appendix G spreadsheet in XLSX format, so if you want it, I can send it to you. (I asked the publisher for the Excel version of  Table I-1 from the Introduction, the Cisco CCIE R&S Blueprint to the Official Cert Guide Chapters cross-reference)

I also found a nice pdf study guide from INE at their blog, updated for CCIE R&S v5, which you can create a pdf from (or copy into an Excel file)

Another good resource is a 112 slide presentation from Cisco Live in Milan 2014, an overview document for the newest CCIE v5 exam.  Something I found from the presentation was a study group on the Cisco Learning Network, and I joined the group for questions, answers, and morale-boosting when I need it.

I'm entering dates to schedule the study topics and review using the spreadsheet on the companion CD.  It's a good starting point for a course of action.  The general idea is 2-3 days per topic, then 1 day to do the Exam Prep.  I'll discover soon if that is adequate study time.  I sense that some topics may take a few more days.

Initial review - CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1

1/16/15
I ordered both the electronic and print versions from Cisco Press, fulfilled by InformIT, 2 days ago.

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/cisco-ccie-routing-and-switching-v5.0-official-cert-9781587143960

 The electronic version is available in 3 formats.  I chose the PDF file.  957 fun-filled pages.  I can already tell that it's going to be good just an all-in-one-place desktop quick reference, once I get familiar with what is in the book and where it is.

I'm just getting acquainted with the format and content, but the content in Chapter 1 has already taught me a few things that I didn't know (but had theorized) in the operation of the Layer 2 Cisco switches, rules about auto-negotiation and how to defeat it (as in, which commands exactly defeat it), and that the duplex settings don't apply until the speed settings are set (something I realized but had never read in print before).  The required review of the 802.3 frame format (again, things I had forgotten over the years)  When I took the pre-test, I did poorly, because I thought that an RJ-45 connector only had 6 leads (it has 8, if you've also forgotten).  It was a good, inexpensive wake-up call that I have to write everything out before answering a question, because my memory has been used up with all sorts of other things.

BGP, IPv6, MPLS, QoS/COS, Multicast, Security, and AAA are all covered in Volume 2 which I have not ordered yet.

The e-book also comes with a Pearson VUE practice exam which I'm considering taking to find out where I need to focus my studying.  If you haven't taken the CCIE written exam before, they grade you based on the topics (see previous post for the topics)

Study Guide/Plan
There's a handy table in the Introduction of the book that cross-references the CCIE Written blueprint versus the contents of the book.  It could conceivably be used as a study guide.

I tried to take the study guide at the end of the book and convert it PDF to Excel but was unsuccessful.  So it may end up being a manual spreadsheet, or I may get an existing study guide from another source.

I'll report on the study guide on a future blog post.  (There are quite a few out there for the taking/sharing, some very detailed)

Meanwhile, I'll keep reading this book, and come up with a reading plan.  2 chapters a week may be the current plan, Here's the table of contents (the detailed ToC is on the webpage above under the "Sample Content" tab)

Part I LAN Switching
Chapter 1 Ethernet Basics 3
Chapter 2 Virtual LANs and VLAN Trunking 47
Chapter 3 Spanning Tree Protocol 103
Part II IP Networking
Chapter 4 IP Addressing 183
Chapter 5 IP Services 227
Part III IP IGP Routing
Chapter 6 IP Forwarding (Routing) 267
Chapter 7 RIPv2 and RIPng 313
Chapter 8 EIGRP 347
Chapter 9 OSPF 453
Chapter 10 IS-IS 563
Chapter 11 IGP Route Redistribution, Route Summarization, Default Routing, and
Troubleshooting 633
Part IV Final Preparation
Chapter 12 Final Preparation 701
Part V Appendixes
Appendix A Answers to the “Do I Know This Already?” Quizzes 707
Appendix B CCIE Exam Updates 713
Index 714
CD-Only
Appendix C Decimal to Binary Conversion Table
Appendix D IP Addressing Practice
Appendix E Key Tables for CCIE Study
Appendix F Solutions for Key Tables for CCIE Study
Appendix G Study Planner

CCIE Routing and Switching v5 start

1/14/2015
I've decided to take the written exam for the Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert certification again, for the 3rd time.

The first time was in 1994.  I passed it without much study or effort.  I believe it cost $150 back then.

The second time was in 1999.  I passed it at that time without much effort either. The cost might have been $200, maybe $250.  I spent numerous hours and dollars studying for the Lab Exam, making some extreme sacrifices.

This time is different, the test looks like it's gotten more complex, may be asking more in-depth questions, and has gotten more expensive ($400)

So, I will use this blog as my study board, research the questions that are asked, and present the answers (or maybe ask questions to the audience)

First - the guidelines/blueprint is here
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/certifications/expert/ccie_rs/index.html

The Topic Guide is here, it may require a CCO (Cisco Content Online)
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/exams/docs/400-101_ccieRS.pdf

There are 6 major topics:
1.0 Network Principles 10%
2.0 Layer 2 Technologies 15%
3.0 Layer 3 Technologies 40%
4.0 VPN Technologies 15%
5.0 Infrastructure Security 5%
6.0 Infrastructure Services 15%

The detail of these can be overwhelming - I'm lucky to have daily exposure and practice on many of them here at work.

I'm looking at some books as study material and will provide the reviews here for what I decide to purchase.