RedWarriorNet

Yep, I’ve hit that wall this weekend.  There’s that point in studying where your brain almost stages a revolt, spewing back anything more you try to force into it.  It just stubbornly refuses to take any more in!  Luckily, I’m still doing well with my study timeline for this month, so for me this just means that it’s time to pack my family into the car and go do something fun somewhere for the rest of the day and let my brain rest a bit.  I’m thinking either beach time or else a hike in the woods.

I’m so close to having my reading completed for BSCI I can taste it.  I did a couple of practice tests off Cisco’s website for fun this week and was amused to see how much better I did on IS-IS than EIGRP.  I’m chalking that up to IS-IS being fresher in my mind.  I asked the original Amazon seller I bought my BSCI lab portfolio book to send me a refund since although they say they shipped it right after I ordered, it isn’t here yet and they won’t give me a tracking number.  In the meantime, I’ve already ordered another copy from another seller.  Note to self - ALWAYS check seller feedback before ordering!  I hope to be labbing like crazy by the end of the week, hopefully getting some good time in on July 3rd since it is a day off from work.  I run my first 5k on July 4th, so that day will pretty much be relaxation, recovery, and fireworks and burgers!   :D  I can’t wait to get BSCI done and be properly studying for the CCIE R&S written!

I think I might be the type that is easily amused, but I love a good networking term.  My latest one is Atomic Aggregate, which refers to a “well-known discretionary” attribute that can be attached to a BGP route.  That all is just a fancier way of saying that this is a route attribute that all routers running BGP should understand and that it is not necessary to set that attribute on a route if it doesn’t need it.  An Atomic Aggregate attribute set on a route means that the routers sending that route have lost some of the path information for that route, so it might not be as reliable as another route learned elsewhere.  Often this happens when more specific path information is lost in the process of aggregating routes.  Aggregation is just the fancy BGP term for summarization.  It seems BGP has a lot of very fancy terms.

So, this week I’ve been working some with multicast at work and reading about BGP.  I hope to watch my videos on BGP this weekend and then all I’ll have left are some of the bits and pieces left to read and watch and, hopefully, my lab portfolio will arrive in time to do some hard-core lab work.  I’m already thinking a certain Amazon seller is going to get some poor feedback on this one, though…I’ve ordered 3 other things off Amazon since I ordered that lab portfolio and all have arrived before it.  I’m thinking it’s about time to contact the seller and request a refund since they haven’t contacted me at all to explain why the order is taking this long.  Ugh…the things we do to save some money on books!

I saw a car this morning with the license plate BGP4 and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was another network geek on his way to work.  If he was, perhaps he is in more need of a hobby than I am!

After an early start on some wireless survey work and a long day of walking to do it, I started my reading for BGP.  I can easily tell why this topic has its own exam in the CCIP track and it’s going to be tough to know what depth to cover it in.  It would be easy to dive in and not come up for air for a few months!  As always, the devil is in the details.

I have opted not to purchase the study guide or the exam guide for this exam, instead using my slowly growing CCIE library to study for it, using the exam blueprint as a guide.  I’m hoping to get some further guidance as far as what depth some of these topics are covered in from the lab protofolio.  I ordered the BSCI lab portfolio over 2 weeks ago from Amazon.com, but it has yet to show up on my doorstep.  Such is life when you’re trying to save a few pennies on books!  The “estimated” delivery date hasn’t yet passed, so I guess I’ll just have to be patient a few more days before giving up and canceling it and getting it from another seller.

Work has picked up a bit, so I may have to confine my studies to nights and weekends.  Still, I don’t think that will be a bad thing since 2 of my current projects relate directly to BSCI exam topics!  There’s nothing like having to make something work in production to make you learn in a hurry.  I’m very lucky that I have an employer that is so supportive of my studies.

I’ve spent most of this weekend, save for a trip downstate to visit the farmer’s stands, studying Integrated IS-IS and Multicast, two very different topics.  At first, I was whining beyond belief at having to study IS-IS.  I’d heard it was a difficult topic and I also knew that it is rarely seen outside ISP’s.  Since I’ve never worked for an ISP and don’t work for one now, it seemed irrelevant.  However, I actually really enjoyed studying it and I’m looking forward to playing with it in the lab.  IS-IS offers one of those rare glimpses back into the foundation of the internet and also gives you a chance to consider what networking today might have been like had different decisions been made and the founders gone with OSI and it’s many protocols rather than IPv4.

Multicast has also been interesting and definitely seems relevant as we at work for our server team to virtualize and move a server that hosts an important multicast application.  I’m looking forward to sharing what I’ve learned with my teammates as we prepare for that change.  I’d also like to push for us to move from PIM sparse-dense mode on our routers to just PIM sparse-mode, unless anyone has any reasons why not.

Lastly, I’m thinking of a fun competition here.  Like many of those out there studying for certifications, I often have to leave home and all its chaos to be able to concentrate on my studies.  This means I’m always looking for the best public place to study.  I’m thinking that each week I should have a competition between two study venues to see which one ends up on top.  I’m willing to add suggestions from comments on this one, too.  This week I did Panera vs. Starbucks and here are the results!

Panera - WINNER - free wifi (time limits during peak hours), relatively quiet, lots of natural light, even power strips provided.  Good food and free refills on sodas.  So far this is my go-to study place.

Starbucks - LOSER - While the coffee is great, there are few healthy snack options.  Wifi is available for a nominal fee, but I was able to steal Panera’s from there.  Biggest drawback - High noise level both from music and blenders.

Next week, I’m planning on doing Public Library vs. Bookstore.  Here are a few match-ups I have planned:

Crystal (think White Castle in the south) vs. Local Hookah Bar - Both have free wifi and both have food…will greasy sliders win out over a hookah pipe and a drink for study nirvana?  We’ll find out!

My criteria for a study site to try…

1.  Must have a place to sit and not be bothered for at least 2 hours straight (no mosh pits or dance clubs)
2.  Must have access to a place to plug in a laptop.
3.  Must have enough lighting to read and enough quiet to possibly do so.
4.  Wifi is a definite plus.  Must be either free or available for a nominal fee to count.

Feel free to make suggestions for study venues in the comments section.  I am even considering a Beach vs. City Park match-up if I can figure out how to make sure I don’t get sand in my laptop and that my battery will last long enough.