Chapter IS-IS End of Chapter Lab

Today I finished up the short Chapter 6 lab on IS-IS and actually managed to get everything up and working this time. I'm still not sure why my other IS-IS lab wouldn't inject the routes correctly as I should so I'll probably run over that labs configuration again at some point. I also ended the chapter by finishing the multiple choice questions presented. As current CCNP's and above mentioned, the questions presented in the back of the book are CCNA level type of questions which really doesn't help enforce your command of the topics given.

I'm actually only 4 chapters away before finishing the entire book so I'm making really good progress thanks to the holidays I was able to get some extra study time in at work. Once i finish the study guide and go through the portable command-guide book I'm going to purchase the exam and lab guide and double up my studies. Once that's complete I'm going to hopefully fill in any gaps by going through any labs and CBT's from Cisco.com I can get my hands on along with going through white papers and RFC's. Repetition Repetition Repetition is the key to mastering and becoming successful with anything I believe, hopefully it pays off for the exam!

IS-IS Configuration

Well i finally came across a lab for IS-IS, this is going to be a topic I'm going to have to come back and review a little harder for sure. The most confusing part about configuring IS-IS is remembering that a IS can only be in one area unlike OSPF but the interfaces on the IS can be set to send specific IIH PDU's (L1, L2, or both). There isn't an ABR like OSPF that sits in between two areas, also IS-IS doesn't use an area 0 bypassing hierarchy which allows for better scalability with IS-IS. I had some problems getting my loopback interfaces to connect via IS-IS even after redistributing my connected links into IS-IS I had problems. Tomorrow there's the end of chapter lab so hope fully i can better get my head wrapped around it! I also tested some SSH connections by setting up static host mappings using the ip host hostname ipaddress subnetmask command. I created loop back interfaces for my host ip address which as we know never shuts down compared to using a real serial or Ethernet interface. I want to start some security but I know my time will better spent focusing on the core CCNP topics. I'm going to have focus on all the topics presented thoroughly in order to pass the BSCI.

IS-IS PDU Types

Today I studied IS-IS Link-State Packet PDU's in more detail, specifically how it relates to both L1 and L2 links. I'm still a little confused on how pseudo-node works in broadcast networks but I have a feeling IS-IS is rarely if ever used as a routing protocol on a LAN network. It also got me to think about ES's (End-Systems) in a IS-IS Network. Since IS-IS uses an entirely different protocol than IP what host or computer even use IS-IS and CLNS instead of the IP stack? I'm going to have to do a little more digging around here but I suspect that it has something to do with the long history of IS-IS. I also went through my portable command book this evening and went through EIGRP commands and a simple lab using SSH instead of the usual console sessions. I think I'm going to go the security route so I might as well get used to encrypting passwords and locking down routers now! I hope everyone has Happy New Years, I won't be celebrating tonight due to my early shift tomorrow but I hope all my friends and family have fun and be safe tonight! 2010 is going to be a BIG year for me, I'm finally starting to see a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for a lot of goals I have set for myself.

Chapter 6 IS-IS Routed Protocol

Well today I spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the IS-IS pages on CLNS NSAP (Network Service Access Points) which is basically the OSI version of an IP address. Since I've been dealing mainly with IPv4 and some IPv6 it's been really hard to grasp the NSAP theory. Nothing like reading the same three pages over and over again until you sorta grasp what they're talking about. I believe that repetition is key to becoming good at anything and this seemed to work pretty well because after that I was able to read the rest of the pages pretty easily. NSAP works very similar to an IP protocol but it reminds me kinda of like NetBIOS for some reason. Tomorrow will be more IS-IS theory, this chapter doesn't have much configuration so may try and lab some other topics in the mean time to keep my CLI skills sharp.

Chapter 6 IS-IS

Today was a short study session this morning, only about an hour since it was mainly just reading about IS-IS (Intermediate System-Intermediate System). During my reading I'm learning that IS-IS are very similar to OSPF mainly because they were developed around the same time and the developers seemed to be in competition with each other the entire time! OSPF is the more popular protocol today based on being focused on IPv4 entirely to begin with. IS-IS uses a short of open ended protocol standard which leaves it very scalable for future purposes. IS-IS is also not nearly as complex to OSPF thanks to simpler mechanisms for creating routing domains and less LSP's (Link-State Packets) needed to accomplish the same goal. I'll probably do a little more research on the history of this protocol tonight along with lab out a couple of Frame-Relay topics just to keep my mind sharp with configuring routers.

Chapter 5 Configuration Lab

I'm finally doing with Chapter 5 learning about OSPF and how to tune it specifically to your needs. Next up is a totally new technology for me IS-IS (Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System) Protocol. All I know about it so far is that it's a link-state protocol and word on the street is that it's way simplier than OSPF! I'm betting so since this chapter is only about 60 pages compared to the two 70 page chapters on OSPF. I plan on doing the end of chapter multiple choic answers here shortly or tonight and messing around with som OSPF labs I'm finding on the website http://www.sadikhov.com/forum/

OSPF Authentication and Virtual Links

I polished off the rest of the CCNP theory in the Study Guide book by going through the last few pages regarding Virtual Link connections and OSPF Authentication. You would think Cisco would of made EIGRP authentication configuration similar and as easy as OSPF is. Anyways you set these two protocols up completely different which just adds to the growing list of things I'm going to need to remember for the exam. I'm about at the half way mark in a 700 page book which only took me about a month. I estimated that it would take me around 4-5 months so I'm making real good progress. I ordered the CCNP BSCI Portable Command Guide which should come in handy when I want to get quick study sessions in during the days I work. I plan on ordering the BSCI lab guide and the exam guide once I'm near complete with this book. I can't believe how much in-depth this material is, 4 books for 1 exam for a 4 exam certification. in layman's terms it's going to take me 16 books to get this certification at this rate! In actuality though, this is the hardest out of the 4 so once I knock this one out it should be all down hill from that point. I bet I'll need at least 8-10 books though all together which is a big difference than the 2 I needed for the CCNA Certification. Even the 2 books for the CCNA was a bit overkill for that exam honestly!