The Ants Go Marching Into BGP!
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.
BSCI covers a pretty good deal on BGP. I find there are a lot of “gotchas” in BGP, and what I mean is there are a lot of things you just have to watch out for. Things like when to use route reflection, considerations with confederation, and all the little ‘add on’ commands like next-hop-self, ebgp-multihop, and when to use them all. The books will tell you WHY you use them, and labs will help you know when/where to use them. You just have to remind your self that BGP is very un-dynamic. Almost everything is specifically configured.
Out of all the protocols, I say I end up troubleshooting my mistakes in BGP more than anything else (other than weird redistribution scenarios). Its so easy to forget a command.