Status Update : 081120

Been almost a month of non-blogging but I had pretty good reasons for that.

1. Work :-) + work-related training (I attended a cool shipping course in Singapore recently. Will update my personal blog with pictures later this week).

2. I am 1/4 way done with the CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide. I have finished:

-Spanning Tree Protocol
-IP Addressing
-IP Services
-IP Forwarding (Routing)
-RIP Version 2
-EIGRP
-OSPF

IGP Redistribution is next if I follow the book chapter but redistribution has been quite a weak area for me although I seem to have a strong interest in it (ironic isn't it?) so we'll see how it goes this week :-).

I am now featured as the 'man of the week' on Mike Down's blog (http://idontwannabeaccie.blogspot.com). Thanks for having me up there Mike. Mike is concentrating on CCIE/CCNP candidates as well as title holders so if you want to be featured there, please visit Mike's blog and send him a mail.

As on Mike Down's blog, I plan to visit 'hell' tentatively in August 2009 but again knowing myself, it will get either delayed or pushed earlier. I have changed my study techniques a little whereby I am starting a little hammering on my home lab and at the same time read up on the examination guide. Hopefully this is a good study strategy.

Ok back to the books (I am now on a strict regime whereby I get up at 0430hrs or 0500hrs to start hitting the books before going to work at around 0700hrs or 0830hrs (whatever time I like ;-)). My social life is beginning to take a beating. This will probably continue until a year. Whatever it is, I am betting that it will be all worth it once those numbers appear!

IPExpert's Answer to IE's Major Annoucement

IPExpert has answered back on IE's major announcement. Have a look at the following URL.

http://ipexpert.ccieblog.com/2008/10/31/ie_major_announcements/

Just in case anyone is wondering, I am a neutral customer (as stated in the previous post). Like most of the other candidates, as a customer, all I want is affordable (cheap and free would be nice) and high quality products. I don't really like politics but being the customers of both IPExpert and Internetwork, it is my interest to know the scene ...

Internetwork Expert's CCIE 2.0

I didn't sleep well last night. Throughout the night, I was thinking of the annoucement IE was going to make. Will they be purchased by Cisco as Brad Reese of NetworkWorld has said in his blog? Will they offer Cisco 360 programmes?

After sneakingly viewing Twitter updates from my Nokia N95 last night while 'sleeping' beside my wife, I was happy. Very happy that IE decided not to join Cisco's 360 programme. Happy that they placed us, the customers above everything else (yes the 50% non-US customer case helped a lot :-)) and finally happy that the changes that they bring to their current CCIE programme are improvements and not mere gimmicks (just like how our car maker Proton is doing nowadays). Special thanks to CCIE Pursuit and Brandon Carroll for updating us who were unfortunate to listen to it live.

In a nutshell, the improvements that IE's CCIE 2.0 will bring to the exisiting 1.0,
-FREE BEER!
-dynamic customized self-paced content
-adaptive written & hands-on assessments (Poly-Labs)
-continuing interaction with instructors, authors, customer success managers, and support staff-community involvement (users e.g. bloggers/IEOC forumers will get points for helping others and this could probably lead to incentives and such).

It is also good to note that starting Q1 2009 IE will also be offering programmes for the Cisco Associate & Professional level tracks.

For the full audio recording session on this, head off to the following URL:

http://ieclass.internetworkexpert.com/p95047727/

* Free beers only apply in 3030.


Update: I receive some mails saying that I am pro-IE now but I wish to state that I am a loyal and honest customers to both IPExpert and Internetwork Expert. All I really am interested is to get my first CCIE numbers.

CCIE Flyer October Edition

Just in case some of you didn't know, CCIE Flyer October edition is out! Get it at http://www.ccieflyer.com :-)

Study CCIE Lab First then CCIE Written

An interesting post caught my eye today. It's located at http://www.sadikhov.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=143419 . MarkinManchester's post on studying the lab first then the written has its merits. Now I wonder ... am I doing the right way by studying for the written and doing labs occasionally the right way to go? Nevertheless I am 25% done with the examination guide book and have been doing virtual labs with Internetwork Expert's audio series. Still I wonder should I continue with studying the written first then concentrate on the lab or the other way around.

Tidbits 081021

First things first, congratulations to Matt Hill for passing his CCIE R&S and being certified as #22386. Nice number! Reminds you of the Intel's 386-era ;-). Stop at his site to congratulate him. He's been working hard on this and getting lost in the city a few times before passing :-)

IPExpert has been quiet recently. However all that ended a few hours ago when they finally launched their blog site at http://www.ccieblog.com/ . You can add your existing blog there (apart from me, I saw Arden Packeer's site, Caue's site, Brandon Carroll's site and CCIE Pursuit's site listed as well and not forgetting a few others, some of them new bloggers).

Their October edition newsletter is out as well. You can have a read at http://imakenews.com/ipexpert/ . Some interesting news there ... especially the one about IPExpert vs. Internetwork Expert. Personally for me, it's good to have competition. Neither vendor can slack and us the users will benefit the most. I am pretty sure the other camps will not keep quiet after this ...

This week Narbik Kocharians is in town (Kuala Lumpur) to train CCIE candidates on the Routing and Switching track. A few days ago, on a local forum, I posted on the best benefit from attending a bootcamp would to be 3 months from your actual lab sitting. The reason is because by then we should have a strong grasp of the CCIE R&S technologies. We can't expect the bootcamp to teach us from ground up. He however had a different tought about it arguing that it is beneficial as we can benefit from the training by getting more knowledge. I no doubt agree but I will not want to spend USD $2,500.00 in class just listening to Narbik if I could not catch up to his lecturing (this is assuming that I have not gotten a strong grasp of understanding of the CCIE technologies or have not done any of the labs from any vendors). Well, in the end, I just requested him to let me know of his experience at Narbik's camp and my opinion might just be swayed ;-). We all know how good Narbik is :-D.

Status Update : 081009

Been pretty quiet and has not posted a blog in weeks but if you notice, a lot of additions to the CCIE blog list and also I've added Emmanuel's cool CCIE Agent picture there :-). Visit his blog and give him some support!

Also I now have started as what some other bloggers have started, a status update. My format will be year/month/day hence 081009 means 9 October 2008. This is somewhat like Ubuntu Linux's style of formatting which I shamelessly copied :-D.

Ok for the last few weeks, this is the current stage I am in ...

From the CCIE R&S ECG 3rd Edition, I have completed the first two chapters (it's taking longer than I expected since I had to juggle between studying, working on several non-work-related projects and work) which are

1. Ethernet Basics
2. Virtual LANs and VLAN Trunking

I plan to finish Spanning-Tree, the third chapter sometime this week. Of course, I been using the CCIE Command Memorizer tool along this as well. Apart from that, I also finished viewing 1/2 of the Day 1 VoDs from IPExpert and at the same time the first two videos from Internetwork's CoD. I am just going through this videos just to refresh some knowledge and not really dwelling into it at this point. Also I been listening to Internetwork Expert's audio series daily. I commute about 30 mins to 45 mins from home to work and vice versa excluding the time to wait patiently for my time to board the train hence I used the time for what else, my CCIE preparation. I found out that I could listen to the entire EIGRP section and at least up to chapter 5 of the OSPF series on a one-way journey.

Back to the books :-)

CCIE Command Memorizer

First things first, for those of you who remembered Mike Down, he is now back at http://idontwannabeaccie.blogspot.com/ . The man's back. Period. Welcome back Mikey! :-)

I recently purchased the CCIE Command Memorizer from ConfigureTerminal.com and also subscribed to their top notch newsletter. Now what made me purchase this e-book? It was down to a few reasons. For the screenshots and description of the product, I suggest you visit ConfigureTerminal.com and check them out. Caue's blog has also screenshots (not to forget Richard Bannister's blog as well).

1. It is rather a unique tool that actually helps you (or rather forces you ;-)) to remember commands which you will likely use in your CCIE lab (that's the point of the product name). For example, it will give you are scenario e.g. configure eigrp using AS 1 so you will need to then type "router eigrp 1". WRONG! In fact, the CCIE Command Memorizer takes the full approach by putting you in the enable prompt and waits patiently for you to put in "configure terminal" before adding "router eigrp 1". Now this is good as it mirrors the exact config style of the IOS. So in case you didn't notice, it is a simulator.

2. The price and the freebies. Ok you get the e-book with free updates for a year. Granted they do tell you you get another free e-book (Cool IOS Commands) and a free newsletter (really top notch) but these are available even if you don't get the CCIE Command Memorizer e-book. The point is at USD $99.99, you get a good CCIE product. As all of us CCIE candidates know, USD $99.99 is kinda cheap for a CCIE product.

3. Last but not least, it has been tested and used extensively by a few excellent CCIE candidates. The product has also contributions from Richard Bannister, a cool guy so that speaks for itself. Caue has been using it and I believe a few others are using it as well.

As of now, I am happily memorizing a few commands from the first few chapters of the CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide 3rd Edition and testing them on this new tool.

Books before Bedtime

After my wedding dinner went successfully last week, it's back to full time studying and slowly picking up the pace where I last left. However, there is this one distraction from reading only CCIE materials, it's my other interest, security so for the last couple of nights, these books are my bedtime story books.

Non CCIE-related = Wedding Photos

Another non-CCIE related post. My personal wedding photos are posted on my personal blog at http://nthane.blogspot.com for those who want to know how I look like. Just in case anyone is wondering, I am 1/4 Japanese and 3/4 Chinese. Please leave a comment if you like/hate the pics :P.

IPExpert's BLS on Linux

If you're like me who runs Linux primarily but having trouble running IPExpert's BLS on it, there is a nice HOWTO at http://joshatterbury.com/blog/ipexpert-bls-on-linuxquick-guide/ . I have personally tested it on my OpenSuSE Linux box running Wine 1.1.3 and it works.

Please disable Compiz prior running to this as it may give mix results (for me I got a badly rendered screen). Mad ass props to Josh for taking time to give us Linux users a BLS solution :P

Non CCIE-related = Disc Prolapse

Not much to write about but I am still reading Cisco Press's CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide 3rd edition. There are already a few stuff that I have forgotten even though passing my CCNP was not so long ago. It tells you how forgetful the human mind is sometimes or maybe it's just me ;-).

I have added a few more blogs to my blog roll so I am sure not to forget to visit them ;-).

I do have some bad news. My disc prolapse problem has returned after the pain was gone for the last 3 years making me think that perhaps I got 'cured' (note the quotes). But it seem that it has caught up with me. I used to have this problem way back in 2005 but during that time I had a gigantic dose of nerve reliever (as the doctors called it) to relax my nerve and hence I was not in pain until two days ago. The pain was unbearable! For two days until today, I was unable to pass motion comfortably and to make matters worse, I could not sit in front of the computer for more than 10 minutes so I had to take 5-minutes intervals in-between. I will be visiting a specialist this Friday and perhaps I might have to go for surgery so if you don't see me updating my blog for quite some time (a month or more) you can be certain that I am in a hospital bed playing tic-tac-toe with the cute nurses.