From: Brad Ellis (bellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Mon Nov 05 2001 - 15:10:53 GMT-3
Paul,
Hi! Thanks for the congrats! As a matter of fact, YES, we are going to offer
(2) racks for the CCIE Security track. We are in the process of announcing
our CCIE Security lab package as well. You can find out more info at:
http://www.ccbootcamp.com/securitylab.html
As far as the C/S track goes, it looks quite a bit more involved than the
Security or R&S certs, so Im going to stay away from it for now. My current
consulting clients fit very nicely with the Security cert, so it wasn't too
bad to prepare for. Although, I did attempt the ISP Dial lab over a year ago,
and I said that was going to be my last trip to visit Building C in San
Jose...so I guess you never know! Plus, I don't think my girlfriend can take
anymore of me being so stressed out! :)
I think the R&S and Security are more valuable in the general consulting
market. I could be distorted by my current projects, so if I'm off base,
please let me know. I dont know how applicable C/S is for the general public.
Is there that much interest in the C/S track??? (Even if I am the same moron
that thought ISP/Dial would be huge...)
thanks,
-Brad Ellis
CCIE#5796 (R&S / Security)
Network Learning Inc
bellis@ccbootcamp.com
used Cisco gear: www.optsys.net
CCIE Labs, racks, and classes: www.ccbootcamp.com
----- Original Message -----
From: paul jin
To: Brad Ellis ; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: CCIE Security
Brad,
Congratulations on your 2nd CCIE!!
btw, will ccbootcamp offer racks geared towards the security and possibly
the C/S track later on?
thanks,
Paul
Brad Ellis <bellis@ccbootcamp.com> wrote:
Hey gang! I never sent a post the first time I passed, so Im going to
write
a two-for-one with this post.
I'll start with my R&S attempts. It took two attempts. The first attempt,
I didn't study at all, and wanted to see what the lab was all about. I
thought I knew enough to at least make it to day two. I was very
mistaken.
I had my lunch handed to me in SJ that day! Even though my first attempt
was before voice or ATM, it was still a lot more than I bargained for. A
year passed between my first and second attempt. For my second attempt
(in
April of 2000), I studied hard. The three-six months prior to the exam, I
read and re-read through Halabi and Caslow. The two to three months prior
to the exam, I did the ccbootcamp labs (which is how I met Marc; prior to
that I did not know him). The last month prior to taking the test I was
studying 6-8hrs/day during the week and 8-12 hours/day on the weekend.
I'm
surprised my girlfriend and I are still together!!! I actually bought her
a
dog to keep her occupied while I was studying. The first day of my second
attempt (which was a Saturday) I thought went pretty well as I finished
two
hours early. I came back for day two in SJ, and I had a day two test
booklet sitting on my desk (small sigh of relief). I also thought the
first
half of day two wasn't too bad either as I finished a couple hours early
once again. There were two of us that made it to day two. We went to
lunch
together and both thought we had done well enough to make it to
troubleshooting. After lunch, the proctor came out, and called the other
guy into the back area. I was left sitting out in the lobby for 20
minutes
wondering if I had made it or not! I was going crazy sitting outside in
the
lobby wondering what was going on. The 20 minutes seemed like 3 hours! I
was so sure I had done well enough to make it to troubleshooting.
Finally,
the proctor came out and got me. He told me I did NOT make it to
troubleshooting. I can go into details without breaking the NDA, but
needless to say, there were some mistakes made while grading my test. The
mistakes were corrected and I had plenty of points to continue onto
troubleshooting. Troubleshooting went by pretty quick, and I was handed
my
number! I felt such a sign of relief to know all my hard work had
amounted
to something special.
For my CCIE Security, it was a much difference story. My consulting and
other work related issues were seriously consuming my time. Fortunately,
the majority of my consulting gigs have been security related with lots
of
VPNs and PIXs. The scariest part of the whole CCIE Security exam was
flying
down to San Jose on Halloween after Attny Gen. Ashcroft announced a
higher
alert of possible terrorist attack. I hadn't gotten much sleep during the
prior three nights knowing that I would have to fly from Detroit to SJ.
Thursday morning rolled around and I woke up bright and early to get to
building C around 7:30am PST. I can't go into details without breaking
the
NDA, but it was quite an interesting experience with the fire-alarm going
off during the afternoon portion of the exam. Talk about a real
concentration killer! The two proctors on duty were extremely
professional
handled the situation very appropriately. After I left the exam, I didn't
think I had enough points to pass. I was mistaken when I got an email
from
Kathe on Saturday congratulating me on obtaining CCIE Security status.
The one-day lab was a great experience and was definitely different than
the
old two-lab format. It was more challenging than I thought it would be.
You definitely have a better grasp of your layout with the two-day lab
format after spending the first half day constructing the lab. The
one-day
lab got ride of the "dumb" stuff just like Cisco said which really makes
a
lot of sense. However, there is nothing like the feeling of going home
after the first day of the old two-day lab wondering if you made it to
the
second day. I think the one-day format was really good by removing the IP
addressing and troubleshooting areas, but I feel there should still be a
second day to test more topics and other complex issues. Don't
misunderstand, generally speaking, I actually think the one-day approach
is
HARDER than the older two-day approach. Cisco did a great job in
combining
the two days into a one-day scenario. For the ultimate CCIE lab exam, I
think a combination of the current one-day lab and the old two-day lab
would
really do the trick!
And to answer quite a few emails I have received during the past few
months - Your study approach should be the same as for the two-day lab. I
would make sure you have a really good understanding of the technologies
and
be certain of your speed. For the one-day lab, you really need to be fast
on the keyboard! Good luck!
thanks,
Brad Ellis
CCIE#5796 (R&S / Security)
Network Learning Inc
bellis@ccbootcamp.com
used Cisco gear: www.optsys.net
CCIE Labs, racks, and classes: www.ccbootcamp.com
Paul Jin, CCNP, CCDA, MCSE+I
Network Engineer
PaulJin@Yahoo.com
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