Internetwork Expert Volume 3: Lab 4 & 5

My plan was to finish Labs 4, 5 and 6 but was only able to finish the first two. As I said before, these volume 3 labs are made for you to speedup your core skills. Both of these labs had some great scenarios that I got to work on.

Lab 4 used PPPoverFR and I was able to configure that without much trouble. For a second I thought I might not be able to but then I just had to take my time but in the end it was not that bad.  The best part was in task 4.1 where they wanted me to disable routing on R6 and configure bridging. This is something I have not done before so I had to look it up in the documentation. Once I looked it up, then I was able to configure it without much trouble. For BGP, I am glad I had to configure confederation and now I am pretty fluent with those. I was able to finish this lab within the specified time frame so that's a step forward in the right direction.

Like Lab 4, Lab 5 had a 2 point troubleshooting section that was not easy to find. Problem with IP addressing issues is that you have to really look line by line and that takes time. For both of these labs it took me about 10 min to find the errors. Then again that's better than not finding any errors There was a Q-n-Q tunnel configuration that I was able to configure without much trouble.  It also had another PPPoverFR configuration using virtual-templates that was a good reminder. It even asked to configure authentication on that virtual-template. I am glad I got my concept down so now it is not a guessing game.

When they ask you that EIGRP should not send multicast updates, that's a clue that you should use neighbor statement. Also when areas are not directly connected to Area 0,  you have to either use Virtual-Links or GRE tunnels. I remember Brian Dennis's comment that once you are at a CCIE level, you should be able to look at a diagram and spot where you need what. I am glad I am getting close to that stage now Not bragging just stating the feeling here.

When you are running RIPv2, you can advertise default route to one neighbor and not the other by using route-map. Just specify the outgoing interface by using SET condition under route-map and that will advertise the default route to that neighbor only.

Redistribution has been my focus and I am using tags everytime I redistribute. It makes it easier so I can see where I redistributed certain routes. I am no where close to other CCIEs in redistribution but I am not at the same level when I was doing Lab 7 I need practice practice and more practice before I can even THINK about the real lab.

BGP was not that bad just a basic Local-Pref configuration. Overall these 2 labs once again helped me to speed things up. My plan was to finish all 10 labs in one shot but I think I will switch things around a little. I am starting Narbik's Advanced technologies workbook vol 1 tomorrow and plan on finishing both vol 1 and 2 tomorrow. I will have to re-cable my rack so that will be fun. I don't think I will blog any details about those workbooks since I have already covered them once. I will make sure I keep track of my progress though and plan on finish all 6 volumes by next saturday. Let's see if I can stick to this plan or not.