Shiran is the author of the My CCIE Training blog. He recently passed his Routing and Switching lab in San Jose.
Congratulations Shiran!
April 24, 2008
Internetwork Expert Graded Mock Lab 2: First Impressions
I took Internetwork Expert’s Graded Mock Lab #2 yesterday. I knew going into this lab that I was not going to be on top of my game. That said, I think I did okay. I doubt that I made 80 points as I left 17 points on the board.
The exam was a degree more difficult than Mock Lab #1 (difficulty level 7 versus 6) and I felt it. I only skipped one task in the “core” section [a backup scenario that I couldn't get my head around and decided that fucking it up would cost me way more than the 3 points I would gain for getting it right]. I did about half of the first Multicast task and then just skipped that entire section (7 points). I need to dedicate more time to Multicast as I cannot continue to sacrifice these points.
The QoS section was fairly long (5 tasks – 11 points). This is usually one of my strengths, but I did not complete 2 task (4 points) in that section. I did complete one of the two Security tasks (a minor miracle for me). The System Management and IP Services section (8 points together) were dead easy, so I did catch a break there.
There doesn’t seem to be a grading script for this lab so I will need to wait until the proctor grades my exam for my grade. I would guess that I scored in the low 70’s.
I didn’t rush through this lab. My pacing was comfortable and I finished with about an hour left. BUT I have to take into account that there were 17 points that I did not complete/attempt so my pacing was probably pretty slow. If I had completed those sections, I would have been right up on the 8 hour limit when I finished. I’m not sure how to increase my speed at this point. I’ve never finished a lab in 6 hours (that seems to be the goal in the actual lab). I type fairly fast and I’m usually not mining the COD for points. My initial read through of the lab only took me 15 minutes.
I track start and end times for each task. The two largest chunks of time were spent on task 1.1 (setting up your basic layer 2 network) and on IGP redistribution. The first task took me 48 minutes. That includes creating a layer 2 map, but this is way too slow. I did run into some confusion in that task which would have been cleared up by the proctor pretty quickly. On IGP redistribution I honestly don’t know where the time went. I burned 1.5 hours on that task. During that time I did go back and fix an OSPF issue, plus I created my scripts and ran ping tests as well as mentally chewed on the next (uncompleted task) but that’s still way to much time. Especially for a very easy redistribution scenario.
I felt the absence of a proctor on this lab more than the last one. There were also a couple of really cool “gotchas” that IE threw my way. I nailed one of them, but completely flubbed another.
Anyhoo…although I won’t know my final score for a couple of days, I think that I took a small step backwards on this lab. It’s pretty obvious that I need to start working harder on the second half topics. I can’t continue to leave points on the board.
Question Of The Day: 24 April, 2008
Topic: Route-Maps
The engineer in charge of r1 is tasked with routing packets to r2 (10.1.1.2) if they meet any of the following conditions:
1) Any packets coming in r1’s fa0/0 interface
2) Any packets with the tag 1234
3) Any D EX routes (r1 is only running EIGRP)
The engineer asks you to peer review his solution:
route-map LOOPBACK_AND_VLAN6 permit 10
match interface FastEthernet0/0
match tag 1234
match route-type external
set ip next-hop 10.1.1.2
Will this route map meet the requirements?
Yesterday’s Question
Question Of The Day: 23 April, 2008
Match the following with their associated OSPF LSA Type:
Inter Area Router Link States
Link (Type-8 ) Link States
Net Link States
Inter Area Prefix Link States
Summary ASB Link States
Type-5 AS External Link States
Router Link States
Type-7 AS External Link States
Intra Area Prefix Link States
Summary Net Link States
Answer:
Router Link States…………………………………LSA Type 1
Net Link States…………………………………….LSA Type 2
Summary Net Link States………………………..LSA Type 3
Inter Area Prefix Link States…………………….LSA Type 3(OSPFv3)
Summary ASB Link States………………………..LSA Type 4
Inter Area Router Link States……………………LSA Type 4(OSPFv3)
Type-5 AS External Link States…………………LSA Type 5
Type-7 AS External Link States…………………LSA Type 7
Link (Type-8 ) Link States……………………….LSA Type 8(OSPFv3)
Intra Area Prefix Link States…………………….LSA Type 9(OSPFv3)
Reference: Table 9-2. OSPFv3 LSA types and their OSPFv2 counterparts – Routing TCP/IP, Volume I, 2nd Edition
