Customer Reviews

CCIE Routing and Switching Practice Labs

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Since the CCIE R & S lab changed in January, lots of things in this book are no longer on the current exam. That includes Voice over IP, ATM, DLSW and ISDN. Given that most people don't have ATM switches or ISDN simulators in their home labs anyway, that makes a good bit of this book no longer relevent to exam prep. Pretty expensive renting an on-line rack to practice technologies not on the exam any more. It would be alot of work to re-write the labs yourself to take out the stuff no longer tested. For example, you could replace ATM pvcs with frame relay pvcs, but then you would need to redefine the solutions yourself,also.

The first three out of the total six sample labs in the book are
excellent in that they include the right type of traps that can
be in the real CCIE exam. I suggest that you first buy R&S
workbook from www.internetworkexpert.com. Their R&S workbook
includes 20 sample labs covering broader range of topics than
this book. The solutions are first discussed in great detail,
with more left to the reader in the following labs. After you are
familiar with all topics in the R&S workbook, go to the first
three labs in this book. They will show you how carefully you
must read each question and how much laterally you must think
when finding the correct solution. When you move to the lab 4,
you will notice that something has changed. The remaining three
labs are much reasier than the first three labs and contain
errors in their solutions. As the book has two authors, it is
possible that each author wrote one half of the book. However,
the first three labs are so useful that I found the book a good
investment. Sven Ubik, CCIE#14053.

CCIE Routing and Switching Practice Labs


My review of this book is in accordance to the Cisco NDA, I will not provide information that might be construed as even being close to the NDA.

With that said as someone that has attempted the CCIE lab in San Jose I feel that I can provide a good review of this book to those of you that haven't attempted the lab. The lab requires you to have a solid understanding of numerous technologies in order to pass. Add to that the fact that you have a time limit and other little favors from Cisco and your having a blast. You need to know what to expect and if you are up to speed on technologies that can appear in the lab.

This book is written by CCIE's from Cisco Systems™ that are an integral part of the CCIE program. This book provides the reader with 6 lab scenarios that help test the knowledge. The book tells you to read the entire lab before beginning, this is pretty much one of the golden rules of the CCIE lab. The labs contain points for each section of the lab to allow the reader the option of picking what needs to be accomplished in order to pass the lab. The point system alone makes this book worthwhile.

The Ask the Proctor section in each lab is ok. It tries to direct your thought process in the correct direction. I'm not a big fan of this section it reminds me of the real Proctors in the lab. They can help in some instances and keep you confused in others. The addition of this section while probably not the most popular is what sets this book apart from other lab preparation material.

The Lab debrief sections at end of each lab is an incredible tool that helps the reader fully understand what was being asked for each requirement during the lab. This has to be the most indispensable part of this book. It helps separate this book from the rest of the preparation tools on the market. You should buy this book just for this section.

In closing my review this book is a valuable tool that can help the reader see if they are up to CCIE Caliber. I am glad that I added this resource to my personal library.


Brion
Senior VoIP Engineer

CCIE Routing and Switching Practice Labs by Martin J Duggan and Maurilio P Gorito (Cisco Press, 2004) leads through a half dozen labs that are representative of Cisco's day-long routing and switching exam. Each lab has a slightly different slant but they all relate to the objectives covered on the exam.

I set up the first lab with a friend according to the topology of Lab 1 and found a number of typos (interface identifiers mostly) but also found it to be a great learning experience.

Each chapter begins with an equipment list and instructions for setting up the lab. All labs require about 8 routers and a switch; in general, the popular 3550 Catalyst switch is used and Cisco 2600 routers are considered adequate. Often these routers are made to emulate a frame-relay switch to help with the remote access portions of the exam. Both logical topologies and cabling diagram are shown to assist you in this process. The descriptions include explicit instructions as to how to set up the basic connectivity that will allow you to configure solutions to the problems. After you've set up Layer 2, you then are given the Layer 3 IP addresses and you're ready to jump into the lab.

All the labs cover the main requirements-Frame Relay and ATM, switching and IP routing, router redistribution and autonomous system routing, along with services and solution such as multicast, QoS, security and VoIP. You should note that DLSw+ for routing SNA over IP is still tested.

The configuration instructions for each section are the same level of detail as in the actual lab: that is to say they are very sparse. For example, an EIGRP instruction might tell you that a particular router is running low on memory and high on CPU utilization, and ask you simply to accommodate this knowledge within your configuration. This is typical of how the labs help you develop the critical thinking skills to solve similar problems in the field and it is also why the CCIE is such a sought-after certification by employers.

To help you prepare for these puzzles, each lab also includes an "Ask the Proctor" where you can ask for more detail (probably much more than you can get in the exam, but then this is preparation) on a problem. The "proctor" will tell you that a cleaner solution is intended, but it is only in the "Debrief" section where you find out that the intention was (for instance) to make it a "stub connected" interface since it doesn't need to summarize routes, but does need to continue reporting changes in directly connected interfaces (which wouldn't occur with a passive interface).

The CD contains not only complete configurations that should be on each switch and router at the end of the lab, but also the expected output of verification (show) commands. This is especially useful because these are the same show commands that the proctors use to grade the actual lab. Being aware of this can help you pick up extra points during the test; for instance, if you are instructed that certain dynamic map entries not show up in a configuration, you can check your work and take whatever action is necessary to remove them.

Where this book really fills in some useful gaps is in the landmines and the sparse instructions that come in the CCIE lab. For instance, it will ask you to unicast some routing updates (from, say, RIP) but not to use the neighbor command to do this. This is an application for static NAT using the UDP port for RIP and the RIP multicast address-a seemingly obscure way to do this but knowledge of obscure features and the ability to do the same task in different ways is a large part of what the CCIE lab is intended to test. The difference between a network engineer who knows one way to do things and one who can choose the best between several options can be difference between a gasping network and a solid one.


A lot questions will ask for the "most efficient" way of doing something. In a requested voice configuration, for instance, you may be tempted to jump right into a VoIP configuration, but if the routers that will be transporting the voice traffic are already frame-relay connected, then VoFR is in the intended method. You also have to be careful not to break the data connectivity when you configure the interfaces for VoFR. Then, you might have to ensure that voice is still available if a connection between the routers along the main path fails; this is where you need to configure dial peers for VoIP over ISDN.

There are "easy" requirements in the CCIE lab that break previous configurations, and while you should always be mindful of rechecking your earlier work to make sure it's standing up under the later configurations, you should especially be careful about this when a questions seems like a giveaway.

Throughout, the book tells you how many points you might get if you caught this subtlety or that one, and tells you where you might lose a few if you leave off something.
Although these labs are geared specifically to the CCIE exam, they speak to issues and best practices that can be applied in the day to day working of a network engineer. (For instance, there are appendixes on Frame Relay and ATM switch configuration, and troubleshooting.) That's why working through these problems has value even if you're not ready to climb to the top of the CCIE pyramid: you can still be that much more confident that you're keeping your network healthy.

The CCIE is a moving target.

I may be stating the obvious, but before you plunk down this kind of money and spend that kind of time, you might want to check the Cisco web site and see how many chapters are still relevant. At this point the chapters on ATM and DLSw are not.

This book is the first actually written by a CCIE proctor so I was really interested more in the comments and de-briefs rather than the actual questions, as there is real ambiguity with some of the wording in the lab.
The layout is great, firstly the equipment list, diagrams & instructions then the scenario. Each of the scenario sections are allocated points but I would have liked the author to have been more granular with the points so instead of simply stating BGP 12 points, he could have had:
Section (a) Configure EBGP............ 3 Points
Section (b) Configure full mesh IBGP...4 Points, etc
As anyone who has done the lab knows, there is no partial credit.

Otherwise the scenarios are right on. I like his Note style whereby he interjects with informatory comments as you progress through the labs. He does explain little tricks & gotcha's along the way.
The next section is the Proctor Q&A Section where he answers various relevant questions that may be posed by the candidate.
I do feel that he is sometimes a little generous with his replies
e.g. Lab 4 Section 2.2 Do I need Mutual Redistribution between EIGRP & OSPF?
Ans. A mutual redistribution is not required.
Would a proctor really confirm/deny redistribution required in a section? Perhaps I am knit picking.

Finally the Lab de-brief section.
This is the real gem of the book and absolutely superb. The style is similar to the Internetworkexpert and DoIT Scenarios so really detailed - I was really fascinated with some of the ISDN explanations, which traditionally have always been a killer in the Lab.

Conclusion: The book is excellent and a must for any CCIE candidate - Maurilio has done a great job!

Final Note:
The book consists of 6 Labs not 10 as per the description. The opening 3 labs only have 1 3550 whilst the remaining 3 have dual 3550 [as per CCIE Lab] however this was the authors intent. Finally the book came with no CD! Hence no solutions! I'm sure this will be resolved by Cisco Press at some stage!

Stephen Bowes CCIE Candidate [Lab scheduled for 10/2004]

This book was very useful in preparing for the exam and very unique compared to other workbooks that you find on the market to prepare you for the CCIE Routing and Switching Lab. It consists of 6 labs, with the first 3 being the toughest but also the ones that you will learn a lot from.

The reasons the book is different are a) The questions are worded in such a way that the solution to the problems is not obvious unless one knows the underlying concepts very thoroughly. That also sharpens the problem solving skills tremendously
b) The ask the Proctor section is very unique and helpful in more than one way... Firstly, if you do not know the solution to the problem right away, you could turn to that section to see what other hints you have to solve the problem. Secondly and more importantly, it makes you think of various ways you could ask the Proctor questions, when you think that the question is not fully unambiguous to you.

The other thing I liked about this workbook is that it is all in one book and you dont have questions on one book, solutions on another and diagrams on another. The only drawback is that the topology diagrams are very small and hard to read, but of course you could always make a blown up photocopy of the diagrams...

I highly recommend the book, and at the price, I think it is a MUST buy for anyone attempting the R & S exam.

Please note that the book should come with the CD, as it would really be a waste of precious time if you do not have the initial configs.

Cisco's CCIE Routing & Switching Lab has always been one of the most coveted certifications in the Networking industry. While CiscoPress publishes a wealth of material concerning the CCIE and the different areas of testing IGPs, BGP, QoS, security, etc..., the same cannot be written of labs to test one's knowledge of the various subjects. I feel "CCIE Routing and Switching Practice Labs" by Duggan and Gorito is an excellent reference and valiant effort by CiscoPress to resolve this gap.

I have studied most of the major 3rd party vendors study aids for the CCIE lab (InternetworkExpert, NMC, IPExpert and ccBootcamp). Even considering the 100s of labs I have studied, I believe this book does something none of the other study materials do - and that is mimic the questions that are asked on the CCIE lab. Each chapter is broken down in two areas - the test and the answers. The difficulty of the exams is not as complex as you will see on the exam - but it is close. If the CCIE had a difficulty rating of 10, I would place the difficulty of this book at about a 6 - 7 (I would place most 3rd party vendors advanced study material at an 11 - yes, harder than the real lab).

The book does have some noticeable typos, and you may have to verify your configs on GroupStudy if you are confident that your configurations are correct. For example:
-on page 50, the 2nd route-map in example of 1-40 should be set to 20, not 10.
-on page 59, example 1-60's last ACL should use 0.0.0.7, not 0.0.0.255
-on page 197, example 3-93 should include to deny tcp and udp 445 as mentioned in the first paragraph.

There are many books a CCIE candidate will need on his shelf to help attain their digits. This is the rare CiscoPress book that the candidate should use only when they are near the culmination of their studies.

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

This is a good book for general practice studying and feel the format of the real test. However, difficulty and complexity level of this book are way way far under in comparision to the real test. Hope my suggestion is good for whom wants to consider this book as part of studying for CCIE lab.

After years of contemplating pursuing the coveted CCIE Routing and Switching certification and thinking, how hard could it really be, I certainly have a new found respect for the certification. The title "CCIE Routing and Switching Practice Labs" (ISBN: 1587051478) by Martin J. Duggan and Maurilio de Paula Gorito has opened my eyes to the challenges of obtaining the certification.

I have found this title to be the most useful resource I have found to date. The title goes beyond technical details and into the actual nuts and bolts of what makes obtaining the CCIE certification such a worthy feat. I liken the CCIE Lab as well as the CCIE written similar to a series of brainteaser.

The title is comprised of six different labs which each lab has a particular focus to fine tune your understanding of the `focus' technology. It's one thing to know how to implement a technology, but the labs take you beyond normal implementations. After working through a lab, you'll gain knowledge of the technologies that you may never have considered otherwise. These labs help you intimately understand the technologies.

Some people focus on learning intricate details pertaining to a technology. For example, what a protocol structure looks like for a particular feature and how it functions, which is truly needed knowledge. As this title proves, you can know all about the technical details of a technology, but being able to apply the technology using all the applicable possibilities to accomplish a certain task is where the rubber meets the road.

One of the best sections that I've found useful is the "Ask the Proctor" section. The reason this section is so useful is that the labs are presented as if you where given the assignment in the actual certification exam. In other word, the labs are initially present to challenge you to accomplish the lab with no other assistance or information. This is where "Ask the Proctor" comes in. It gives you a taste of what to expect when seeking out clarity for a particular task. In a nut shell, your question need to be very well thought out and don't expect answers from the Proctor to be revealing. This is what makes this title so great because it gives you a true taste of what to expect.

Each lab has a supporting diagram accompanied by several configuration and command screen outputs, at the appropriate times. The book comes with a CDROM that has each lab configuration for each device. The labs are well organized through a GUI application that makes the labs easy to find and implement.

I would highly recommend this title for anyone that is either considering pursuing the CCIE certification or gung ho to get certified. If you're considering pursuing the CCIE certification, this title may save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars and possibly humble you at the same time. If you're gung ho, this is great economical resource. If it helps you make an extra 20 points, it may be the only thing standing in your way of passing the test and achieving your goal.

After reading this title, I feel better prepared for the CCIE Lab. The biggest thing I've gained from reading this book is an understanding of the rules of the game.