CCNP - Another one bites the dust!! (BCRAN)

Author

Another one bites the dust!! (BCRAN)

depamo

2001-09-23, 8:16 pm

Kicked that sucker in the booty in under 2 weeks from my last test. Don't recommend it though unless you are like me, no life, no wife and no kids.

Still cleaning up after the testing. Don't recommend testing on Sunday, great idea since I got all of Saturday to study but blew the weekend. Only had half the day to sit in my glory until going to bed and then getting up for work. Feels like a missed the weekend all together. Anyhow, 3 down 1 to go for CCNP and one more after that for CCDP (my actual goal for now).

Reflecting on another thread about how we all keep our motivation through this, I have to admit, it is getting harder. I do wish that it was already over.

Well, time to slam out the last few and then a break with Sun Admin Certs and back to Cisco Security!!

On a side note, did you all see the new IOS release from Cisco?? 12.2(3) with IDS, Firewall, and IPSec all in one package. You can get it in regular, plus, or Enterprise versions. The Enterprise version also has QOS features, advanced briding, talk about commands to remeber. You can get it for 2500 and up but you need mucho memory to run it.

Later!!

sean34

2001-09-23, 8:42 pm

depamo,

excellent job and good luck with your continued studies!

also, big-ups for being one of the most active members in this forum. Your always leaving detailed descriptions and helping ppl out...

peace out and keep it up

Sean34

depamo

2001-09-23, 10:07 pm

BCRAN afterthoughts. I took the CCDA prior to the CCNP exams. This made studying for the BCRAN very easy. Knew all the technologies for WAN connections prior to the exam. All the good that did me. The test was almost 3/4 commands. Almost every other question was type in this command. And then on top of that, there were sometimes 3 questions in a row, what command does this??

Here is a hint. When you are studying your commands, just get the round-about figure of what the command is to do what. When you get a command question, it will ask you to look at a list, then 'type in the command' not a number like BSCN, but the beauty is that they are all in alphabetical order!!!

For those of you that don't see the beauty of this, all the show commands are in one spot, all the debug commands are in one spot, and all the modem and aaa commands are in one spot. So you can save copious amounts of time by just knowing what commands are used for what.

Also, always 'tile' the commands with the question, very easy to misspell words like 'tacacs' or 'authorization' and such, so enter it, check it and check it again, and just for laughs, check it one more time.

As for what was on it?? Everything is fair game on this one but understand the concepts of dialer-groups/lists, dialer pools/rotary groups, that darn 1600 router, and every command/config statement in the book!! For a book half the size of BSCN, there were almost 10 times the commands you have to remeber. A simple interface can take up to 15-20 commands with an additional 30-40 depending on compression, queuing, authorization, authentication, and accounting and even NAT, DDR, BOD, Backup Links, and Multilinks. Sprinkle that with a little PAP, CHAP some modem BS, advanced callback features and modem initalization- Massive overload.

The Cisco book sucks at bringing it all together and how things work across the ISDN, Async, Synch interfaces. I got it after the 4th time skipping around the book from place to place and setting up some equipment. Actually think that another book would be much better at least for getting the concepts.

ciscogirl

2001-09-23, 10:29 pm

What a job ... only two weeks between exams! Congrats on your pass - I know that about now you just want it to be over with, but only 2 more exams to go. Keep up the great work.

julien.holden

2001-09-24, 2:35 am

Well done for passing the exam. I am due to take the same exam on October 6th. One question you may be able to answer for me: are there any Cisco 700 Series related questions on the exam?

oimasuen

2001-09-24, 6:15 am

Great job man . Keep the hard work up and finish up CCNP completely

Soray

2001-09-24, 11:02 am

good job

Mat P

2001-09-25, 5:38 am

2 Weeks - incredible. The length and quality of your replies always astounds me, I'm surprised you have time to study!

How long for the next one??

Thanks for all your help in the past.

depamo

2001-09-25, 11:33 am

The 700 series router, it is on the test but the only questions that I saw about it were what are the built in profiles, how many of them are there (both user definable and total), basic features it has (low level fire-wall, PAT, DHCP and such), types of authentication it can handle (PAP, CHAP), and similar logical questions.

I personally didn't have any questions about commands, doesn't mean that they are not in there, just won't be a big part of the test. Do know the 1601 through the 1605.

Boson did do a pretty good job helping to study for this. Logically the questions were about the same ball-park in about the same percentages over the spectrum of the areas tested.

oimasuen

2001-09-27, 2:39 am

Hey depamo got any advice for me on BCMSN will be taking it in the next two weeks and I am starting to get cold feet like I did just before I took ccna two weeks ago

Silkysmoothe1

2001-09-27, 9:09 pm

Hey, this is goog motivation, I enjoy hearing these kinda stories,,,gives me more motivation.

I will begin my studies for CCNP, but not really sure which test to take first. I've read your post and understand that most all of the test are not easy.

I too, have all the time and nothing tying me down,,,,,makes me think, I should hurry up and take care of this CCNP cert before my schedule gets chalked up.

I would like to know,,,if you were made to do any of the test again,,which one would you do first-last,,,,,,,I also realize everyone takes to different material in different fashions,,,,which was easiest for you???

congrats on the pass,,,and congrats to you for being almost done with NP-studies.

any comments are graciously accepted.

,,,thanks,,,silky

strikeattack

2001-09-28, 7:25 am

SilkySmoothe,

Thats great that your planning on gettin' your NP'. You have already proven that you know the material well, and I am sure that you will do fine. If I had to start over, I would probably take the exams in this order:

1. BCMSN
2. BSCN
3. RAS
4. CIT

Just my thoughts... I am working on my 3rd test (CIT) now.

Silkysmoothe1

2001-09-28, 3:41 pm

Thnks for the info,,,,I suppose since support covers troublshooting for all the above,,,"like Depamo said" That will be my last test,,,,,

Strikeattack,,,how long for each test did you spend? just curious,,,it took me a good 3-4 months to understand CCNA material,,,,but now that the foundation has been laid,,,,I believe the time table will be shortened considerably for individual test, yes?

anyways,,,thks for the notes you sent me,,,I will use them wisely,,and they too are greatly appreciated.

thanks fellas,,,,,, any other comments/suggestions are welcome..

thanks,,,,,silky,,,

depamo

2001-09-29, 1:32 pm

Know the 5K series Switches inside and out (which slot holds what and what you need to have in order to do L3 switching). Get those commands down and if you can, get your hands on the Boson Exams, do them until you are sick, then do them some more.

Of course in the end, do your best to understand why Cisco recommends what they are recommending throught the book. A large number of questions are basic logic that pertains to 'why' instead of just regergataion of the information. The commands were not that heavy but you do need to understand VLAN's and Campus Architectures pretty well.

One of the scenarios that I used to get me up on 'why' and 'how' were that I planned out on a piece of paper a multi-block switched network. Figured out what equipment went where, what cards, and then picked through the book to determine the commands necessary to complete the task, piece by piece. Helped me tremendously to understand what was going on.

Overall, just remeber that these concepts in switching are very basic, they are just complicated by the equipment that they run on. It will take time to get the 'why' to sink in but it will be worth it later as these concepts will be revisited in other certifications.

Silkysmoothe1

2001-09-29, 2:45 pm

thanks,,every bit helps,,,,,I just was offered a another helpdesk position,,,learning their protocols/procedure and software are very time consuming,,,I'm already itching for the CCNP,,,I just need to scratch it and get it irritated,,,If ya kow what I mean,,

again,,,thanks a mill,,,

,,,Silky,,,,

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