Congratulation Dan, Very good information.
Manny Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 5, 2014, at 4:59 PM, Dan Gericke <d...@syssec.biz> wrote: > > Hey All, > I finally passed my CCIE Security exam on Dec 13 on my second try. I wanted > to share some of my experiences and answers to the major questions I had > about the lab exam. > > I passed the written in early July 2013, so it took me about 5 months of > studying to get ready for the CCIE Security lab exam. I started out using > the IPExpert workbooks and then moved over to the INE workbooks. More on > that later, but if you watch both of these companies forums, you might see > this post twice, since they both contributed to my success. > > When I started using the IPExpert workbooks there were some major hardware > issues with the proctorlabs equipment. On top of that, they didn’t have > after hours support for a while either, so when I did have issues(which I > did), I couldn’t get any help. Needless to say, I wasted a ton of time > waiting on things and having to cancel my lab time due to issues that > couldn’t be resolved. I had purchased the bundle that included the 2 week > online bootcamp, workbooks, and videos, so I didn’t want to give up the > bootcamp and videos due to my issues. I ended up purchasing the INE > workbooks so I could actually get some studying in and waited for the online > bootcamp and Proctorlabs to fix the issues. > > Here are my thoughts on the workbooks and lab environment between Proctorlabs > and INE. I used both extensively. > > INE’s workbooks weren’t fully developed when I started using them. Actually, > they barely got them fully updated a couple of weeks ago, the last update > came a day or two before my second attempt. What I do like about INE’s > workbooks is that they are online and broken up in a way that makes different > exercises easy to access. I also like that you can pretty much start > anywhere in a section, because their workbooks were written in a way to allow > that. The modularity, however, makes it difficult to build upon earlier > exercises like IPexpert’s workbooks do. INE also doesn’t have ANY mock labs > available for the CCIE Security lab yet. Mock labs are where I gained the > most knowledge. You need to do these to figure out how things interact and > how to allow different things through the various firewalls. So in the end, > INE’s workbooks are great for working on one specific piece of technology, > but they aren’t good for learning how to make them work in more complex > topologies. > > > I only used the IPExpert workbooks up to the ISE section, which I think is > Section 4(out of 10). When I got to the ISE section, I ran into the issues > with the proctorlabs equipment I mentioned previously. Which is why I had to > switch to INE. I find that the IPExperts workbooks I did go through were > very in depth. They definitely taught you everything about each technology, > and applied them in decently complex topology where you had to configure > multiple ‘middle’ items to make things work(just like the real exam). What > I found overwhelming about the workbooks is their length. Some of them would > take you 10-20hrs to go through the first time, and since there isn’t an easy > way to restart in the middle, you have to try to commit larger chunks of > time. I found it difficult to do 4 hours one day, then start back up the > next day for another 4 hour session. The only way I could figure out to do > this was to manually save all the configs myself, then re-apply them the next > time. This is also a bit of a pain since the configs require a bit of > massaging(like adding no shuts) to get back in properly. Also, if you are > doing something like ISE, that becomes impossible, and you have to go back in > through the GUI and redo everything again. > > As far as the Rack Rental dashboards and scheduling for INE and Proctorlabs, > I preferred INE’s set up much more. > INE now allows you to schedule lab time in pretty much any increment you > want, at any time. So, I can schedule 1 hour tonight, or 6 hours. Their > interface also adjusts to my timezone(which is in Asia), which makes > scheduling easy. Proctorlabs still has 4 hour timeslots, and shows me > everything in Eastern time, so I have to do all the calculators myself. Once > Daylight Savings Time his in the states, my study time had to be adjusted by > an hour, which was frustrating. > > Overall, the INE rack dashboard is also much better than proctorlabs’. I > don’t need to VPN in(like proctorlabs) to access the VMs, as they are > available through a web plugin version of VNC. Loading configs takes about > 12 minutes, while proctorlabs I have experiences of it taking more then 20. > Sometimes, on proctorlabs things don’t reload, or get configured, and I > typically waste 30 mins to an hour making sure a rack on proctorlabs is fully > set up. I never had that problem on INE racks. The dashboard on INE is just > way more intuitive. > > The most valuable part of my training was the IPExpert online boot camp with > Piotr Kaluzny. The first week is all theory via powerpoint with explanations > and demonstrations. The second week, the most valuable week in my opinion, > is the mock lab week. You literally spend all day working on labs much > harder than the real one. When you get stuck, Piotr can help you out and > troubleshoot your issues, which is exactly how you learn. Lab 3 from the > class, specifically, had pretty much every technology I encountered on the > real exam, plus many more. After the 2 week boot camp, I used my weekdays > to study smaller pieces of technologies, and used my weekends to do 1 to 2 > mock labs(usually Lab 3), until I knew it like the back of my hand. These > mock labs were hands down the most important part of my training as they > teach time management, complex topology, and technology interaction. > > Now, about the lab exam itself. > The lab is much less in depth than the mock labs I did, which was definitely > a relief. On my first try in Hong Kong, I ran into several problems that I > couldn’t figure out and caused me to waste a lot of time, and inevitably > fail. My major issue, was actually a lab issue with a windows firewall. > When I was asking the proctor about my problems, he kept telling me it was a > switch issue, in the last hour of the exam after coming back to those issues > I finally discovered the windows firewall was on on the test pc, luckily they > had wireshark on there or else I would never have noticed I was receiving the > packets by not replying. The proctor told me the windows firewall was not > supposed to be on, but mine was, and it caused a bunch of issues. He did give > me a few extra minutes, but I had wasted too much time by then for that to > matter. Something for everyone to check before you start I suppose. > > When I pictured the lab environment in my head, I was picturing a cold server > room with some desks where you could actually see the equipment. It turns > out that in both San Jose and Hong Kong you take the test in a room full of > cubicles or desks, and all the equipment is somewhere else. That part is > actually better, since there is less noise, and I didn’t need the sweater > Cisco told me to bring. It’s good to bring snacks and some water or drink of > choice though. I found a couple of bananas and a granola bar really helped > me recharge a bit during small breaks I took. The computer only had > putty(tab-less), which meant that you had to open 1 window per device, which > is a serious pain in the butt. You should practice managing putty windows in > the mock lab, as you need to make sure the firewalls are visible to see any > blocks. The topology, questions, VM RDP and doc-cd are all on the same > computer. There is no printed topology, and there aren’t any dual monitors. > You have you really flip through a lot of windows during the lab, and this > can become a bit confusing. It’s something to be mentally prepared for. If > you study with printed materials, then you might want to try your last few > sessions only using 1 monitor with all the info and questions. I also found > that the menu environment(where the questions are and access to passwords, > etc) was different between Hong Kong and San Jose. I couldn’t for the life > of me find the password for the RDP session in San Jose, the Proctor would > not help me, and kept telling me to read the lab guidelines, she was kind of > short with people. Needless to say, the lab guidelines didn’t say anything > about passwords. I finally found them in one of the submenus, as things are > broken up in San Jose between menus, and they were all on 1 long page in Hong > Kong. The Doc-CD was accessible via a link on the desktop. It is fully > searchable with Ctrl+F, which makes it easier to find key words inside the > various documents. You can also load the PDFs for each major topic if you > choose,and search through that way. I had access to all the documents I > needed, and access was pretty fast. The VMs for the lab were also fast for > me in both locations, and I had no issues with ISE speed or anything else. I > found the lab environment to be very stable. > > I really struggled in Hong Kong, but I did get the same or very similar lab > when I tried again in San Jose, which I guess was lucky. During my second > attempt I felt much more at ease, and found myself going through and masking > off tasks quickly. I did still use the entire time, but I was on my third > run-through of the questions when time expired. These extra run throughs are > important, as I found a few minor, but important, mistakes that probably > could have cost me points on those run-throughs. Before the test finished I > ensured that all my logging that I turned on was turned off and that my > debugs were disabled. In San Jose the day was broken up into 3 hour and 5 > hour pieces, separated by lunch. At first I thought that I wasn’t making > good time, since I didn’t have that many tasks done by lunch, but then I > realized I still had 5 hours to go. This is why it’s important to have a > snack, because you tend to get hungry again later. I rebooted my equipment > twice to ensure things still worked afterward. They generally give you show > command outputs to test your solutions against, so it’s important you pay > very close attention and match those outputs. > > To those of you still studying, I wish you good luck. There’s plenty of > material out there, but I think if you are currently only using INE, you > might have a hard time on the exam until they come out with a complex mock > lab. If anyone has any questions, you can send them my way if you’d like. > Remember, if you fail the first time, use it as an opportunity to regroup, > drill down a bit more on key technologies, and try again. > > Good luck everyone. > -Dan > CCIE #41750 - Security > > > _______________________________________________ > Free CCIE R&S, Collaboration, Data Center, Wireless & Security Videos :: > > iPexpert on YouTube: www.youtube.com/ipexpertinc _______________________________________________ Free CCIE R&S, Collaboration, Data Center, Wireless & Security Videos :: iPexpert on YouTube: www.youtube.com/ipexpertinc
