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STEP 1
Write down the sections in the paper without reading the exam.
Expected time; 2-5 mintues.
I have
First of all, I grabbed 2 color pencils [green and red], didn t read the lab and n
oted all sections of the labs in 2 column; e.g with the green pencil, written dow
n all the sections from the lab papers into a blank sheet provided in the lab.
1.1
1.2
1.3
<<<<<then space of few lines between sections
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
.
9.1
9.2
<<<<<then space of few lines between sections
10.1
10.2
blah blah
.
When to use this sheet?
The TRICK is take the RED pencil and cross the sections you ve fully tested from e
ach and every angle. I have learn this from a TRIPPLE CCIE guy [thanks Mike]. Ca
ll me a nut, because I didn t even read whats in the exam and started listing them
in a empty paper! but yeah, this was what I have been lacking with in my previo
us attempts.
Why is it necessary ???
Well we all know how to do SRST, Call routing . everone does the same task but in
different ways.
Lets take an example of AAR,
Task- configure AAR between HQ and SITEB.
You ve probably done everything e.g. putting EPNM on the phones at each location,
assigning them AARCSS and AAR groups. makeing sure that GW at both site has AAR
CSS and aar-group defined. Making sure that your route patterns at both sites ar
e well defined. Even you ve tested that AAR functionality by reducing the bw in cc
m.
When u do the above practice, I bet u will start to believe that you ve nailed th
is topics and tested it many time and every time it worked with 100% success. B
ut hey , you are wrong here, you haven t really nailed this section yet.
So.. what?, well in this in the sheet above, do not CROSS this section yet. Han
g in a sec, this is because this bullet point has not yet been fully tested. So
now you d be thinking that what the fuck actually I am missing here in AAR [tested
and works but I still got 0 in HA section]. Ask yourself honestly and think about
this;
1. Have you also tested during AAR if Active CCM fails, SITE B phones still be a
ble to register on secondary CCM?
may be in a havoc you think that u created the
CCM group but u actually missed click on that and configured the next item in t
he ccm-menu-list. So when sub [primary] is failed, your AAR won t work.
That is one of the classic example of what Cisco expect for this Expert level ex
am.
2. Lets say, in the above example, you ve taken care of point#1. U also have ensu
red that a correct CCM-group is defined and pub/sub are listed in the group. But
if you test the HA function during AAR and shut the primary CCM to test if phon
es registers to the secondary CCM you found out that still phones are not regist
ering what s wrong here now!?
Think about that situation .
doesn t it get complex? why the phones are not registering to the secondary call p
rocessing engine?
Above is another classic example of we need to think outside the box as well. Th
is is an expert level exam. When we people complain that my AAR was working, I h
ave tested it 3 times but I still got ZER0? in AAR section and start winzing and
blaming Cisco/Proctor that they are not playing fair game. Well I had the same
concept diffted in my head and even I opened a case on cert support, yes call me
a nerd
. :-)
Here is another example, you think u have configured and tested the SRST as per
questions requirement but other sections in the exam had a requrement saying al
low maximum 3 conferences during SRST. Here is what your config looks like;
call-manager-fallback
secondary dialtone 9
max-conferences 2 gain -6
transfer-system full-consult
timeouts interdigit 6
timeouts busy 6
ip source-address 2.2.2.2 port 2000 strict-match
max ephones 10
max dn 10
STEP 2
read the exam and make a mind map of the whole exam.
expected time; 10-15 minutes max
Once I listed all the questions in the paper, then I started reading the questio
ns. I read all sections but skipped call routing requirement and QoS. I think th
ose are the sections which takes heaps lot of time to read so I skipped them but
just had a quick look not reading every words but the lines to know if they ve an
y other requirement which may be needed in other tasks. The tip here is
round at the same time, I started activating CCM services.
!
in backg
STEP 3
STEP 4
trick#1, when I defined DP for hq and siteb, i also assigned the EPNM and CSS. I
knew by now what CSS and and AAR/DP group needs to be assigned to each phones.
Automated pushing most of the parameter to the phones when they registers to the
ccm. in that way i have to configure less parameter when i configure the phone.
trick#2, on siteb, before you run CME setup e..g
telephony-service setup, make sure your phone#2 port on switch is shut. In that
way, phone1 will get the first number and u don t hve to do much work. Once phone1
at cme is registered then enable switch port of phone2. then in that way phone2
will get next number. otherwise sometime it takes heaps time to move them back
and fourth.
!
STEP 5
STEP 6
15 minutes
template2
template3
template4
template5
.
template14
Yup I was a nut when I configured the template but that is a real time saver. U d
know why soon..
note; you will never need more than 18 route-list so standardize your most task
STEP 7
STEP 8
STEP 9
STEP 10
QoS; everyone s Enemy! ha .. I will try to make it simpler for everyone those just w
ant an easy way!
Time; 5 minutes reading and max 10 minutes configuration
total 15 minutes
I diveded QoS in 2 rounds. Well its critical thing in the lab exam. I think to p
ass the lab we must have our QoS and Call routing upto 100%. You may have differ
ent view but that what I think. So I took extra precaustion in qos.
First round marking only do it on all routers, if its asked in the switches do i
t on switches in one round.
Then in that way I was sure that i will not make mistake by doing one task at a
t time in QoS
Second round, after marking then I did left over of QoS by reading each sections
twice. I used auto-qos for this, it only takes 5 minutes to activate them and c
ustomization takes only 5 minutes. verify qos once i configured all 3 sections.
I finished all lab tasks by 2:30pm. The only thing now was remaining to verify t
roubleshoot and recheck again and again.
!
STEP 11
I started testing first AAR, then SRST then CFB, FXS stuffs. Then tested all cal
l routing one by one , section by sectoin. Took a second color pencil (yellow) t
his time and started crossing them.
first verification crossed by red pencil
second verification- crossed by yellow pencil
third verification -rounded them with black
When I left the lab I was sure that I have nailed it.
!
If you fail the lab make sure that you rebook your exam ASAP. The reason, you d kn
ow what you ve done where you ve done something wrong. Try to figure out what you di
d wrong. Get back to horse again. My re-take strategy after fail attempt was qui
te aggressive.
Now you see in the above table, I was ridding on a aggressive CCIE horse that ke
pt me riding. I hope it may help someone who is trying to speedup the speed. Pl
ease feel free to leave your comments/questions on this blog. I would be happy t
o answer them. Obviously, respect Cisco NDA when asking a question.
Cheers,