Chapter 5 Advanced OSPF Configuration

I began my studies on chapter 5 in the CCNP BSCI Study Guide book on OSPF this morning. I could tell immediatly that the level of depth ramped up and I'm positive it will remain this way from hear on out. The first 4 chapters seemed more like review to me and I was kind of worried I wasn't studying hard enough because I didn't seem to gain a deeper knowledge really of the material and understood most of the topics before I even read the chapters. This Chapter is really starting to show me why they can consider this a professional certification. I'm going to have to cut off all distractions during my study time (well besides my music) such as TV, Internet, etc. It actually worked out quite well this morning as I was able to read what I needed to and created a decent sized lab in about half the time it usually takes me. I learned about the many LSA types and when they are used today. I finished up today by creating a lab that shows the different LSA types sent based on the routers role. In this lab you'll see a couple of ABR's (Area Border Routers), an ASBR (Autonomous System Border Router), and internal routers in their respective areas.

CCNP Chapter 4 OSPF Lab

This morning I polished off the rest of chapter 4 by completing the end of chapter lab which wasn't to bad. I was able to barely finish as an issue arrived with a customers PIX being down. I will finish up the chapter review questions tonight and prepare to move on to the advance routing section this upcoming week. I also will start going over this network security design book an engineer was able to loan out. It's probably a good idea to double up on the security and CCNP studies, I think CCSP might be my next exam after CCNP of course. I also configured quite a bit of different labs concerning OSPF settings when running over a NBMA network last night and this morning. I'm sure I'll be coming back and brushing over a lot of this material again when it comes closer to test time.

Configuring Basic OSPF Routing

Today I spent the better part of my morning configuring two simple OSPF labs along with reviewing the different show and debug commands. It was mostly review but I did get a better understanding of how the OSPF process works by watching the debug commands take place on the routers them selves. I finished off today by studying about the different OSPF network types which are Broadcast, Point-to-Point, and NBMA (Non-Broadcast Multi Access) Networks. Tomorrow I learn about about the subtleties between the OSPF Adjancies along with learning and configuring a few different types of NBMA setups using Frame-Relay of course.

CCNP Basic OSPF Theory

Today I started my studying on OSPF in the CCNP BSCI Study Guide book. It was mainly just review of LSDB's, LSA's, and the packets that are used to get OSPF up and running. While most of it was CCNA review material the book did go in-depth regarding the packet types and their function. It also displayed interesting diagrams and analogies to help understand how OSPF builds its Link-State Database (LSDB). You can think of LSDB as a map you're looking at in the mall, and the mall it self being the OSPF network. There are multiple maps placed throughout the mall with the same information regarding where every store is located just the same as each router has the same LSDB in an OSPF network . The only difference between the maps in the mall is the "you are here" dot. The dot determines where you are in the mall and the best path to get to every store within that mall. OSPF functions very similar to this, each router uses the LSDB and it's location in the network to determine the best path to get to every other router within the OSPF network!

Tonight I will be finishing up a few more pages regarding OSPF theory and then tomorrow I hope to jump right into configurations, the fun stuff. The pic I added today shows the current topology of the entire global network, pretty wild stuff!

CCNP Chapter 3 EIGRP Lab

Today I finished up my EIGRP studies by compelting the end of chapter lab along with Q&A's. The lab wasn't to bad and I was able to get through it in a more timely matter than the last chapters lab due to not having to use 11 routers! By time I went through the lab I already knew how to set most things up due to going through all the examples so it really made the lab a breeze. Next week I begin my OSPF studies which I here is one of the most tested subjects on the exam.

EIGRP Stub Configuration

Today I finished up the rest of the CCNP theory for EIGRP. I learned more about manipulating DUAL by using specific commands of eigrp stub on remote routers to elimante the need for hub routers to query the remote routers for networks that they do not have to begin with. I also went through the various show and debug commands for EIGRP just to get a feel on what really happens when routers are talking to each other via EIGRP. Tomorrow I'll be finishing up Chapter 3 in the CCNP Study Guide book by completing the provided lab and answering a few questions. Next week I begin in depth OSPF theory, there's two whole chapters on this stuff so I'm thinking it's going to take about 3-4 weeks to get through all the OSPF topics in this book.

EIGRP Queries and SIA's

Today I learned a little more theory behind DUAL and it's process, along with a few ways to manipulate the way DUAL queries are sent. The EIGRP DUAL process is very efficiant and can be very scalable in larger networks but only with proper planning. When there are houndreds of routers in a given network, the convergence time for EIGRP can be much longer and more complex than needed. To eliminate convergence time as much as possible, it is smart to plan networks in such a way that there are no more than 7 hops between two routers on a network. One good way to cut down on convergence time is to summarize networks along with using default routes on remote routers that connect to the core. I also learned a lot how SIA (Stuck-in-Active) works and how it can increase convergence time quite a bit on redundant networks. The next few days I will be finishing up my EIGRP study and will be going through mainly labs since most of the theory is finished for this chapter.