As you have seen I have passed my final two exams for the CCNP. Having the CCNP under my belt helps to establish a base or core of knowledge from which I will add more knowledge and experience. It is only the beginning of this journey.

IP Expert came out with a special weekend discount last weekend, so I purchased their $2200 bundle for $700. It includes the three volume set, Video on Demand courses, and rack time. I have almost finished watching day one’s videos for the first time. Oh, believe me I will definitely have to watch them more than once.

My next investment will be to order a CCIE router and switch kit. I’ve been using GNS3, but there are times it is limiting and I really need to work some of this more in-depth layer two stuff than can only be done on Cisco switches.

My current plan is to take the written exam the first week in April, 2012. And do one of Heinz Ulm’s labs the following week so I can better judge where I stand at that time.

Okay, that’s it for now, need to do an hour of study tonight before I hit the rack!

Main preparation for the TSHOOT exam was building the lab from the Cisco provided topology on GNS3 multiple times. You learn a lot about the technology by configuring the devices and protocols because you will make mistakes that you will have to find and fix and they could be similar to what you’ll see on the exam. Even if you don’t make the same mistakes you will know what the correct configurations will look like because you’ve made it work from the ground up.

I hope to put a lot more here on my journey to CCIE than I have for my CCNP because it will help me to learn what I am studying, as well.

I thought it was ridiculous that I had to type commands repetitively in notepad to practice for the exam; however, that was the only thing I could do at that time. I spent almost the entire three weeks of my off time reading the CCNP SWITCH Foundation Guide; however, it wasn’t in-depth enough for the exam. I did my best to set up labs on GNS3, but like I said in the beginning of this paragraph it was not very good. At work I have two 6504s on my desk; however, I could not study on work time and couldn’t get the serial port to work to use the rollover cable. I think it is locked down like everything else on the office PCs.

The long and short of it, I passed the switch exam on the first attempt. Just like the ROUTE exam, though, it had me sweating at the end because I didn’t know if any more simulations were going to pop up in the last 10 questions or not.

One of the catch-22s is that I cannot afford to buy the CCIE rack I want until after I pass the SWITCH and TSHOOT exam and get reimbursed for the boot camp and the exams. So, after I’ve earned the CCNP I will have the hardware I need to practice anything I want.

My TSHOOT is scheduled for November 2nd, 2011. I am studying for it every day. I am almost finished reading Bryant’s ebook on the CCNP TSHOOT. I really like his writing style and would recommend his books to anyone going for any of the CCNP exams. The next book I have to read is the Foundation Series TSHOOT book. It appears to be in a better format than the Certification Guide in this case, a lot more in-depth with practical problems and solutions.

I’m getting antsy about studying for the CCIE and looking for ways to improve my GNS3 platform until I actually have my own rack! I’m thinking of loading an extra drive with Ubuntu and upgrading my PC to 8GB of RAM since it can run in 64-bit mode. Woohoo!!!

1) My contract is good until January 2013.

2) The company will pay me a nice amount of money for educational expenses each year.

3) Even though the CCNP is better than the CCNA, almost everyone in my office has their CCNP. How can I compete against them or anyone else who already has several years experience working at the enterprise level??? I knew I could get my CCNP finished by the end of 2011 by self-study since I passed the hardest test first.

4) Even though it is easier to pursue my area of interest in photography in Germany, the better half does not appreciate it and it remains an area of contention for us. Since I wanted her to really get to like Germany after her arrival, I decided I would have to put a hold on my pursuit of publishing a fine art nude coffee table book. Even though I already have several hundred dollars invested in model shoots up to now.

I started looking for local bootcamps in Germany and Europe to see if anything was available when I stumbled upon Heinz Ulm’s CCIE boot camps that are held in Germany, Spain and the United States. That also got me to thinking about the four things that I came to realize above. I had been thinking about going for the CCIE for several months, after I was hired to work at the enterprise level I knew it would give me the exposure and experience I needed to round off the certifications that I had/would obtain. I decided that if the company would reimburse the boot camp I could go to Hein Ulm’s CCNP boot camp and get a glimpse of how his students are doing in their CCIE boot camp at the same time. That would also give me 12 months to prepare for the CCIE boot camp because I could only use the educational money on a yearly basis.

The boot camp that I attended was held in his house in Competa, Spain! Talk about being in the middle of nowhere! But, if you want to really study and have no distractions in the area then that is the place to go!!! I have posted some photos on my FB album if you want to see.

The bottom line is, I am now committed to going for my CCIE!

Here’s the plan: 1) Finish my CCNP SWITCH and TSHOOT exams by early November 2011. 2) Take and pass the CCIE written exam in early April. 3) Buy one of Heinz Ulm’s labs with 10-hour rack time to judge my progress in May. 4) Attend his boot camp in October/November 2012. 5) Take the CCIE lab exam in December 2012.

A collection of books that covers all three exams on the new CCNP certification series: CCNP Routing and Switching Foundation Learning Library. Amazon shows mediocre reviews for this set.

A single book that covers only the 642-902 exam: CCNP ROUTE Official Certification Guide; a book that covers the 642-813 exam: CCNP SWITCH Official Certification Guide; and finally a single book that covers the 642-832 exam: CCNP TSHOOT Official Certification Guide. Probably better off buying these books as you need them rather than the above bundle as each author here has gone in depth into their own area of expertise.

I have figured out how to configure Cisco routers to behave as Frame-Relay switches and I will share that information, as well.

Let’s do this!

Les