Lunar New Year and some tidbits ...

Happy Lunar New Year to those who are celebrating it. I still have one more day here in the land of "hard to get Internet for me since I don't have a ADSL signal at my hometown" but after getting access from a 'friend' here, checked a few of the hundreds of my personal and work mails, one mail caught my attention. I have received news that Joshua Atterbury, a fellow CCIE candidate (now a holder no longer a candidate ;-)) has passed his CCIE in R&S!

Please head over to http://joshatterbury.com and congratulate him and you can send me free beer if you like to celebrate with him :-).

Also CCIE Flyer January 2009 edition is now out. Get it at http://www.ccieflyer.com and read up on the many interesting articles there. Feel free to comment on my article if you liked/disliked it and how I can improve on my probably lame writing skills :-)

Open-Ended Questions for the CCIE

As some of you might have known, there will be an open-ended question exam for CCIE candidates before they step into the room for the lab exam. This is nothing new to be honest as the lab location in Beijing had this as a pilot project a few months ago. This is an attempt to filter out the well-prepared candidates and probably an attempt to filter out the dumpsters (as I have written in the CCIE Flyer in December 2008).

From the Learning@Cisco newsletter,

Changes to CCIE Lab and Written Exam Question Format and Scoring

Effective February 1, 2009, Cisco will introduce a new type of question format to CCIE Routing and Switching lab exams. In addition to the live configuration scenarios, candidates will be asked a series of four or five open-ended questions, drawn from a pool of questions based on the material covered on the lab blueprint. No new topics are being added. The exams are not been increased in difficulty and the well-prepared candidate should have no trouble answering the questions. The length of the exam will remain eight hours. Candidates will need to achieve a passing score on both the open-ended questions and the lab portion in order to pass the lab and become certified. Other CCIE tracks will change over the next year, with exact dates announced in advance.

Effective February 17th, 2009, candidates will also see two other changes in CCIE written exams. First, candidates will now be required to answer each question before moving on to the next question; candidates will no longer be allowed to skip a question and come back to it at a later time. Second, there will be an update to the score report. The overall exam score and the exam passing score will now be reported as a scaled score, on a scale from 300-1000. This change will not affect the difficulty of the current set of exams and will assure CCIE written exams will be consistent with Cisco’s other career certification exams.

If you guys like more information, visit http://ciscocert.custhelp.com/rd?1=AvcG~wodDv8SHUDpGhse~yL~Jvkq~w3~&2=1837. This is currently for the Routing and Switching track but Cisco assured us that this will apply to other tracks as well. Now dumpsters, what is your next move? :-)

UPDATE : The open-ended questions are worth 21 points and the CCIE lab 79 points. However in order to pass the CCIE certification, you need to PASS BOTH the open-ended questions (scoring 4 out of 5 at least) and the lab. Also as some of you may already know, the open-ended questions are not interviews by humans but rather they are computerized questions like those in the CCIE written examination. An example which I think might appear on the open ended question will be something like "What is a OSPF type 3" ?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year all :-)

I have decided to postpone my written to the first half of 2009 as my confidence level is not really there yet. Hence I will need to read more beers ... er ... I mean materials for the time being to further boost my confidence level :-). Better to be well prepared than half prepared don't you think?

Traditionally I will come up with a list of TODOs or resolutions each year. This year is no different. I have added two significant entries which relates to me preparing for the CCIE. I am really hoping that I'll be able to hit the nail in the coffin this year for the CCIE ;-).

1. I plan to have the written cleared before March 2009 (supposed to be in December 2008 but oh well)

2. I plan to have a first attempt at the lab in June 2009 (supposed to be in August 2009 but the mobile lab in Singapore have been rescheduled earlier) but again it will most likely be deferred to a later date.

Ohter than that, I am also preparing to write a non-technical article on how VOIP has helped me in my communication with family and friends for the CCIE Flyer. I hope to have positive or negative feedback from you guys on this.

Merry CCIE Christmas :-)

CCIE studies have taken a short break due to the coming holidays. I am unfortunately still not sure whether I will be sitting for the CCIE written which I scheduled end of this month. I am still feeling very nervous and not confident enough. I may defer to a later date should I feel that I am ill-prepared to perhaps end of January/February 2009? I believe that it's better to defer until I truly am confident and understand it in and out. I have cover most of the topics in the written save perhaps redistribution and multicasting which I am having trouble understanding it the way I wish I would. However, I believe I will hit the nail on the coffin sooner or later :-).

In case, some of you didn't know, the CCIE Flyer December edition is out at http://www.ccieflyer.com so download a copy and start reading the wonderful articles there. I have written an article on dumping so hopefully I meet the expectations of you readers. Please feel free to comment should you feel what I have written is wrong and misleading.

Until, happy holidays everyone and to those who celebrate like me, a very Merry and Happy Christmas and a Joyous New Year. Let's hope those are sitting for their CCIE lab exams will pass and for those who are re-attempting, pass this time. My best wishes to you all! (it seems that my target of #23456 is coming nearer ... looks like I have to aim for a new number #23999 or #24232? Any number will do in the end ;-))

CCIE Flyer November Edition

I know it's December now but just in case some of you didn't know, CCIE Flyer November edition is out! Get it at http://www.ccieflyer.com :-).

Also probably an interesting read for some who has not seen this, some of the top 20 networking sites at http://www.networkworld.com/community/print/25115

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 :-)