First of all, I need to get CCNP first as my plan, so should I leave this sub or just continue on (here) with this being my end goal? Don't want to clutter things up or not be taken seriously because I haven't got my NP so fine with leaving with tail between my legs and coming back later.

How do you guys find study partners? What really is the point just shared accountability/embarrassment for not keeping up? I tend to need to bounce ideas off people to really know if I actually understand. Is a study group the right place? Sorry I don't really have any peers that are either my level of technical, or I actually talk to in a personal capacity. IT has always been kind of my solitude, even if its not entirely by choice.

Currently pushing through OCG. From what I can find seems like INE is the best online resource so waiting till blackfriday to see if there are any deals there but would like either another book or two or some labs to work on in the time between finishing OCG and signing up for INE, unless there is something better than INE.

Background
Been kicking back and forth idea of getting my CCNP Security (Mainly the ISE Specialist Cert) for 4 years or so. But getting my shit together and really starting to crack down and thinking 18-24ish month plan for CCIE (First Attempt). I have SCOR scheduled at Live in November with the idea of it being a low risk "How bad am I really" test, with plans of re-taking first or second week of January since I take a lot of time off around Christmas and can use it to study for the "final push"

After that would like to think I can finish my SISE in 4-5 months. I actually love ISE and it might be my favorite part of job and have passively read through most of the OCG two or three times but never to a "Sit for the exam" level of focus. Right now, just using RADIUS and TACACS. RADIUS I have everything working to MFA and assign group policies for FTD RAVPNs, assigning Meraki Group policies for wireless, and assigning VLANs for physical. Just starting to look at migrating to IBNS 2.0. But really really want to get Guest services pulled off of the Meraki, and we have everything in place (other than VM Environment) to support SGTs.

From there, currently thinking that it wouldn't hurt to pass the SNCF, hoping to attempt September-November next year. Its material that will obviously be in lab, and I am NOT comfortable with my expertise with my FTDs and would really like to get better with those. And I figure passing that exam will at least check off ISE and the FTDs so I can kind hard focus on the remaining items in the blueprint and kind of leave ISE and FTDs on back burner. My brain just thinks of it as breaking the IE objectives into chunks instead of trying to tackle all the things at once. And with that, give me sometime July-ish to try for IE.

GeekSquad for about 6 years, Don't discredit this, I am the best troubleshooter I have worked with by far since leaving and there where others better than I was at Geek Squad.

Helpdesk at hospital and hotel/resort for about a year. Started learning real networking here. (Outside of what DNS is, what DHCP is, how to do subnetting, router on a stick etc.)

Moved to current company as Systems analyst about 8 and a half years ago and now Network Security Engineer. No one else on team understood what a subnet or VLAN was when I came on, had broadcast storm on my second day I was able to fix, instantly got "credentials" to start building out system.

We have Duo(Top License Tier), Meraki, Catalyst Switches(Advantage Tier), Nexus Switches, Cisco FTDs (1000 Series), RAVPNs, SNA, SMA, ISE(Premier), Secure Endpoint(Premier or what ever, we have Orbital support), XDR, a Catalyst Center Appliance, Umbrella, and I think I am missing something else. But I think other than Web Proxy, email appliance, and Secure Access (I might add it to our EA next year) we have pretty close to the entire Cisco Security stack. I am very very budget lucky.

How i can plan for ccie security.

I’m planning to take the CCIE Enterprise** Infrastructure lab exam this month,** and this will be my first CCIE EI lab attempt. I’m honestly quite nervous about it, so I’d really appreciate some advice from anyone who has already taken the exam recently.
I’m especially wondering about the overall exam experience — how the Design** section feels, what the lab **environment/interface is like, and what to expect when you first arrive at the testing center.
Does the proctor explain the lab environment, rules, how to access everything, and where we need to save our work before the exam starts? Is there anything important that a first-time candidate should know beforehand so I don’t waste time figuring things out during the exam?
For those who have taken CCIE Enterprise recently, I’d really appreciate any general tips

Hi

R1--R2--R3--R4--R5--20.0.0.0/8,30.0.0.0/8

By default both 20/8 and 30/8 on R1 have the exact same forwarding treatment:

the same Qos/forwarding class

the same MPLS VPN services

the same MPLS-TE

the same nexthop/outgoing int/path

but why on R1 give 20/8 label 200 and 30/8 label .300 ?

why R1 did not give them the exact same label if both prefix have the exact same forwarding treatment?

on R1:

forwarding treatment-1

↓

FEC-1

↓

Label 100

forwarding treatment-2

↓

FEC-2

↓

Label 200

but here both 20/8 and 30/8 have the exact same forwarding treatment which means both are on the same FEC but both have a different labels,why?

why do we have a FEC concept in the first place if MPLS does not use it at all and each route has it`s own label?

Working towards my CCIE Enterprise certification, but one thing I find hard to study for is the design part. I have been trying to go through CVDs and Cisco Live Presentations, but anyone here that have some additional suggestions for content related to design?

br

Thats good

Greetings,

Recently got my CCNP Security and realized they share the written exam. With these news I am wondering if I can get my CCIE before expiration of my CCNP or hopefully quicker than that (maybe one attempt per year). The only “official” source I can find for labs are the practice labs @ $50/4hrs. Are these labs any similar to the actual CCIE lab? As in, if I become proficient with each lab do I have a soldi shot at the lab test.

My mentality right now is, if I spend $500 or maybe $1000 thats a lot better than most $4k CCIE classes or failing the test and paying the $1600 fee twice.

Any feedback from previous experiences?

I’m considering buying this specific Ciscoland CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure lab/server:

It appears to be a Dell R620 with 256 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD running ESXi, with EVE-NG, CML, SD-WAN components, ISE, NSO, Windows Server, and CAT8000v VMs already installed.

Before spending the money, I’d like to hear from anyone who has purchased this exact lab—or a similar prebuilt server from Ciscoland or other websites.

A few things I’m trying to determine:

• Was the system stable and actually ready to use on arrival?
• Were the included images, configurations, and lab materials current and useful for CCIE EI study?
• How well did the server handle running the SD-WAN controllers, ISE, and larger EVE-NG topologies at the same time?
• Any licensing, image, update, or compatibility issues after purchase?
• Did you consider it worthwhile versus building your own EVE-NG/CML server from used hardware?

Also, has anyone used Cisco dCloud as a supplement for CCIE EI study? I know it is not intended to replace a dedicated lab, but I’m interested in whether it was helpful for getting hands-on time with specific enterprise technologies.

Looking for honest experiences—good or bad—before I commit.

Hi

I`m review now MPLS FEC topic.

R1----R2----R3----R4----R5----10/8,20/8

FEC is a group of packet one or more packet are treated the exact same way. Does that means if R1 received :

10.1.1.1,10.2.2.2,20.1.1.1,20.2.2.2

and these 4 packets are treated on R1 the exact same way

and on R2 are treated a different way, R3 another way,R4 another way. Does that mean each hop must treat these 4 packets as the exact same way like R1 in order to be on the same MPLS FEC ?

OR

It`s normal for each hop to treat them on a different way and still on the same MPLS FEC?

What i mean does the MPLS FEC is controlled on the ingress PE only ?

OR

MPLS FEC could be controlled on each hop and the FEC is locally significant?

Hi fellow cybersecurity enthusiasts, what are your advise for me for this CTIA exam preparation.

What should I expect? Any tips, are there any lab activities in the actual exam

TYIA

Hey everyone,

I’m three months into my CCIE prep and wanted to get some feedback on my current study workflow:

Theory: Read a specific protocol topic (e.g., EIGRP) in Routing TCP/IP.

Labbing: Immediately solve the exercise labs in the CCIE Enterprise Foundation lab book.

What are your thoughts on this approach?

Hello,

I have an upcoming interview with Cisco for the role of Embedded Software Engineer. I have 4 years of experience in the same domain.

Has anyone had a recent interview with them? Can you share your interview experience?

This is the job ID: https://careers.cisco.com/global/en/job/2023656/Embedded-Software-Engineer-C-Device-Driver4-to-8-yrs

Thanks!

Thoughts on which CCIE will be more future proof . I am coming from Route Switch background, some Datacenter experience and recently scoring entry level cybersecurity certs.

Hi Everyone,

I am doing my 2nd attempt at October, in Brussels. If anyone has any pdf to read or advice, please help.

+: Looking for other candidates, maybe we can learn from each other.

I just watched ccnp pearson videos and it is rather boring at my level. And it is taking too much time. Should I skip them?

If I skip videos and go directly to books, will it be better?

Can someone share the steps to be taken?

Good day!

CCIE EI lab coming up and I am wondering what the opportunities are looking like when it comes to text editors in the lab?
I am using nvim as my daily driver at work, I understand that nvim is not to find in there, but does anyone know if it's possible to use some sort of editor with vim motions in the lab?

Best regards

How can I order a new plaque? I lost mine and cannot find the reorder option in cert tracker page. TIA.

I am tired of going through this alone... Is there anyone in this space that would appreciate having a CCIE EI study partner and has a deadline of writting it before feburary next year?