Tag: CCIE Flyer

Runt Post: Narbik & the Bad Ass Network Topologies, Day Two of CCIE Training

Today we started off class with Narbik excitingly diving into what he humorously referred to as “bad ass networking topologies” and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We looked at OSPF from conceivable angle and then tackled the inconceivable ones.  While I may have felt at one point or another in my life that I understood OSPF, I am now convinced that someone should have handed me some crayons and safety scissors to match my elementary knowledge level.  Good news, however, there is some serious leveling up going on.

I could feel the brain cells clicking when we looked at topologies that weren’t just examples of “stupid router tricks” but instead were excellent demonstrations of how the protocol responded under given conditions and caveats.  Being able to see the problems while configuring the CLI definitely drove concepts home for me.

One of the best quotes today was Narbik saying “if Cisco says something is not supported, it becomes a puzzle for me.”  This kind of attitude makes good engineers and great teachers. I’m certainly feeling the challenge this week of the vast amount of knowledge I have yet to master, but am encouraged to see that I seem to have a knack for the troubleshooting questions.  Which is definitely good because Narbik also said “I looked at this switch and I asked myself what is everything that could possibly go wrong in this switch, and then I created your troubleshooting homework from that.” Yep, we are *way* passed kindergarten.

Time for sleep now, grateful there is at least a little rest for the weary.

Published 5/5/2014

And a bonus command for readers today – and I cannot believe I have never seen this before today – you can speed up your traceroutes by using the numeric keyword.  This keeps it from having to waiting on DNS resolution. It’s the best thing since sliced bread, and who doesn’t like sliced bread?

R1#traceroute 1.1.1.1 ?
numeric display numeric address
port specify port number
probe specify number of probes per hop
source specify source address or name
timeout specify time out
ttl specify minimum and maximum ttl

Disclaimer: While Eman and CCIE Flyer were very generous to grant me a seat in this class and I am very grateful for it, my opinions are totally my own, as all redheads are far too stubborn to have it any other way.

Runt Post: Narbik’s CCIE Boot Camp, Day 1

A few months ago, Eman Conde (of CCIE Flyer) granted me a seat to attend an upcoming CCIE training class taught by none other than Narbik Kocharians. Well, today that officially kicked off.  And wow, what a week it is going to be.  Narbik’s classes are legendary and after today I can see why.  He began the day insisting the staff bring him the largest whiteboard they could find.  I *always* take this as a good sign. He then delved into his philosophy of teaching and I was thrilled to find that it very much aligns with how I like classes to be presented and how I learn best. He really drove home ideas based around explaining for understanding and hands on doing while learning.  I laughed when he said “if I say something but I don’t give you a lab on it, than it’s probably a lie.”

Today was mostly spent getting my keister kicked by a practice evaluation lab that was supposed to be easy. Yes, did I mention drinking from the fire hose this week? But tomorrow should be more teaching and doing as alluded to earlier in the day.  I am really interested to see what Narbik calls “teaching the theory from the command line perspective” looks like.

Still more troubleshooting homework to finish up, so that’s all the updates for now.

Published 5/5/2014

While Eman and CCIE Flyer were very generous to grant me a seat in this class and I am very grateful for it, my opinions are totally my own, as all redheads are far too stubborn to have it any other way.