Aside from enjoying what I do, here’s one of the reasons I’m putting myself through all of this:
From: http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/ccie/certified_ccies/worldwide.html#usa
| Total of Worldwide CCIEs: |  |
20003 (last updated 06/26/2009) |
| Total of Routing and Switching CCIEs: | 17247 | |
| Total of Security CCIEs: | 2328 | |
| Total of Service Provider CCIEs: | 1414 | |
| Total of Storage Networking CCIEs: | 145 | |
| Total of Voice CCIEs: | 1039 | |
| Total of Wireless CCIEs: | 6 |
/end snobbery
Warning: there is nothing formal about this post, just a way to help me (and maybe you, who knows) remember DTP port states:
Dynamic Desirable: “Hey, I want to trunk and I’m letting everyone know” (3550’s are DD by default)
Dynamic Auto: “I want to trunk, but I’m not announcing it. BUT! I’ll answer DTP trunking requests” (3560’s are DA by default)
DD + DA = Trunk (And use ISL unless configured otherwise — assuming Cisco switches)
DD + DD = Trunk
DA + DA = No Trunk for You!
You can disabled DTP by either:
So, I’m a bit of a dork. I scored a Google voice number that ends with CCIE. I figured that while it doesn’t hold true right now, it will be a good “personal branding” tool in the (hopefully near) future.
This post has no significance to it other than to be able to look back in a few months/years and see where I began.
Starting Book Collection
I’ve begun the task of preparing for the written exam, and I have to say that the concept of actually passing this thing is a bit overwhelming. I’m sure that most people feel that way at first, but holy hell! there’s so much damn information to keep track of.
I’ve started using Google tasks to try and keep me on track. So far, I’ve broken down section 1.10 of the R&S v4.0 Written Exam Blueprint and I’ve got a full week scheduled (damn you spanning tree and all of your diabolical offspring). It’s painful to think that there’s 11 main topics to cover!
For those of you that are interested, I’ve started bookmarking sites that I will be using/reading in accordance with the lab topics and have tried to categorize them using the exam topic number (for example – 1.10 is spanning tree). You can view my list here: http://delicious.com/gerren.murphy
Does anyone have any good tips on keeping things straight during their exam prep?
After some good advice from a bunch of people over at ieoc.com, I’ve decided that the R&S path is the way to, rather than doing another P level certification. Maybe at some point while studying, I can tackle the BGP and QoS exams for the CCIP, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
For now though, I think the IE will have the best ROI in the long run as there is no immediate career need for another P cert. I’ll be documenting the journey here of course, but there’s a lot of planning to do up front.
So…on that note, I’m off to begin gathering resources for my journey! Looking forward to every minute of it. (Easy to say that now of course…)
As promised, here are my complete notes on the OECG for ONT. Good luck in your studies.
Last Friday, on a bit of a whim, I went ahead and scheduled for ONT for the following day. I’m not sure why I did that really, but it payed off. For all of the spam bots reading this so far, you’ll be happy to know what I have finally completed all 4 CCNP exams and am officially a CCNP!
Now, don’t get me wrong…it was a great feeling. After it was over though (and I’m sure many of you experience this), there’s this feeling of not necessarily emptiness, but of something…it’s hard to describe. You spend all that time studying, labbing, etc., and once you pass, there’s no fanfare (except from my wife which I appreciate), no fireworks go off, no…nothing. My mind automatically thinks “Ok, what’s next?” Is that sick? Some would say so, but I don’t think it’s such a bad thing.
I really can’t decide where I want to go with it next. I like the thought of the CCSP, but do I spend another 6-9 months for an CCNxP cert, or spend some extra time and go straight for the big letters? Anyone?
Either way, it’s a relief that it’s over with, but a bit of a stressor as well. As a side note, I’ll be putting the rest of my notes online sometime soon…from chapters 4-10 of the ONT OECG.
Also available as a PDF here
