CCIE R&S::Things to remember after 12 days of bootcamp - Part 2

I went to a bootcamp on September and wrote "Things to remember after 12 days of bootcamp", I just got back from another one, so here is Part 2:

• Do the initial verification / diagramming / check for 0.0.0.0 mappings in the first 10 minutes. The idea here is to check that the initial configs on the devices match the diagram and if there are any 0.0.0.0 mappings on Frame-Relay, reloading the routers ASAP. Useful commands sh run | i no, sh ip alias, sh frame-relay map
• Even reading word by word, I was missing critical bits in the questions so I decided to read the questions twice and after I had done the configuration, reading the question again to see If I missed anything. Focus on key words such as "industry-standard" and "proprietary protocol".
• Identify Core vs Non-Core tasks, this is useful when deciding if its really worth it to spend 30 minutes on a 2 points VRF-lite question.
• Debugs are good, I did use them a lot more this time, specially debug ip routing during the mock labs and debug ip icmp.
• Test reachability with tcl, the script I used was basic but to the point:
• foreach ip {
• 10.10.10.1
• 192.168.1.2
• 172.16.1.3} {ping $ip rep 2}
• Tackle troubleshooting in layers, is this adjacency not coming up because an issue with Layer 2 or Layer 3?
• The DocCD is our friend, use it.
• Time management and tracking skipped tasks is critical.
• Verify, verify, verify and after that verify again. This is so important, you might fix an adjacency on a trouble ticket and think thats it, but then it turns out you had distance 255 configured in the routing process, so no routes and no points there.
  

Uber CCIE R&S bootcamp Tour de force: Narbik, Scott and Eman

From Routing-Bits:

"Today was a real busy day for me (Eman).  I drove to visit with Narbik at one of his CCIE Boot Camps he was teaching in Herndon, VA.  Since I was driving so far to see him I asked our mutual friend Scott Morris to join us for lunch.  I am amazed at how the fifteen students in Narbik’s class responded to Scott dropping by to say hello.  He is still held in awe by many neophyte CCIEs and some well established CCIEs around the world.  Both Scott and Narbik have paid their dues as CCIE trainers and mentors.  Both have made their mark on the CCIE community by giving freely of their time to motivate, mentor and improve the arena as a whole.  For me sitting with the two of them was a treat because I have known them both for so long and only at the CCIE party this past Cisco Live have I had the pleasure of their company together.

Where?

Bangalore is our first stop for the dynamic duo.  January 2011 Narbik and Scott will hold the first of these historic twelve day sessions.  This will be followed by Sydney, Australia in April, Milton Keynes, UK in July and finally Wilmington, Delaware in October.  These twelve day comprehensive classes will equip aspiring CCIEs for success.

How Much?

You pay only, $4,500 for both Narbik and Scott, for twelve days of learning unavailable from any other source, anywhere in the world.  There may be other twelve day or longer classes offered but none have these two dynamos taking the lead.  You might pay more and you might now find lower priced venues, but the CCIE Flyer has both Narbik and Scott.

More!

You want more?  Well how about the chance to pay nothing for the second attempt at the lab if you fail the first attempt after taking this class?  Yup, both are Cisco 360 Learning trainers.   So you get the added insurance of knowing you are joined on your journey by Cisco Systems approved trainers.  The two weeks of training will also have a few surprises after class activities and career networking opportunities.

COME JOIN EMAN, NARBIK AND SCOTT FOR TWELVE DAYS OF LIFE ALTERING CAREER ENHANCING TRAINING!"

       For details email to eman@ccieflyer.com

More info

Things to remember after a 12 Day CCIE R&S bootcamp

Things to remember after 12 days of bootcamp:

• Don't assume anything.
• Read exactly what the question asks of you, even if it means doing it word by word.
• Read the entire lab, twice if possible, and try to setup dependencies (eg: trunks->vtp->vlans).
  
• The diagrams are always correct (eg: if it says Vlan20, it means that the IP address should be on a SVI and not the Physical interface)
• Cut & Paste when possible.
• Do wr often.
• Time management is critical, set a time-frame for troubleshooting and enforce it. Getting stuck 20/30 minutes on a single 2 points task is not the way to go.
• Make sure you are doing the configuration on the correct device, no points for applying perfect QoS on the wrong router.
• Interface level dot1x commands don't appear if the interfaces are in dynamic mode.
• If you are told "there is a syslog server at 10.10.10.10", be sure to check you have a route to get to 10.10.10.10
• Clock rate is your friend.
  
• Check for 0.0.0.0 mappings in frame-relay. I lost points on PIM related tasks for leaving them on the router (great explanations here).
• Check default commands disabled such as: no ip classless, no ip subnet-zero, no ip cef, no service prompt config (more). Easy way of checking most of them: sh run | i no
  
• Look out for kron tasks and EEM doing nasty things like changing the enable password or killing a routing process.
• "When doing redistribution from BGP prefixes into OSPF, you should make sure that OSPF ASBR Router-id matches originating BGP router ID."
• Use TCL/Macros on SWs for reachability tests (more info). Example: 
• macro name PING
  do ping 1.1.1.1
  do ping 2.2.2.2
  @
  
  You can then use it on the switch:
  
  Switch(config}#macro global apply PING
• Verify, verify, verify and after that verify again.