We have completed a full, second practice exam for the Version 4 written. This means the CCIE R&S Written Bootcamp class comes with well over 200 practice exam questions now to assist you with this first certification step, or your recertification. Enjoy the new exam, and as always, enjoy your studies!
RFC, or Request for Comments, are documents published that describe various items surrounding computer networking. Generally, these are memorandums published by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
RFCs can be a great resource. For some unknown reason, most candidates preparing for the CCIE don’t take the time to review these documents, which can be very helpful in assisting with understanding the how and why of various networking components. Perhaps the language is a bit dry, or they prefer books with shiny covers.
There are a variety of status classifications. These include, but are not limited to: standards, informational, best current practices. Some are very serious discussions of the deep inner workings, where others are just there for entertainment, such as RFC 1149 and 2549.
If you aren’t sure whether a RFC is intended to be serious or entertainment, check the date. If it was one from 1 April of any year, most likely it falls into the category of entertainment.
http://www.rfc-archive.org/1+april+rfc.php
Language is included to define how an item is intended to behave. RFC 2119 lists some of these requirements. Requirements are shown capitalized, and include the following: MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MAY, RECOMMENDED, NOT RECOMMENDED, OPTIONAL.
RFCs are not a “magic bullet” for lab preparation. Most students that are familiar with RFCs tend to be more comfortable with the technologies discussed.
RFCs can be viewed online at a number of sites, including the following:
http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html
http://www.rfc-editor.org/
Most search engines will also give you results for RFCs by number or topic.
Quick quiz.
Four questions on RFCs that most people are generally familiar with. Questions are True or False, and the answers can be found fairly quickly, if you know where to look.
T or F
RFC 3330, which describes Special Use IPv4 Addresses, is obsolete.
T or F
RFC 1812, which discusses requirements for IPv4 Routers, states that subnet bits MUST be contiguous.
T or F
RFC 2827 discusses ingress filtering mechanisms, including the effects of multihoming.
T or F
RFC 1918 does not address security issues.
How did you do? Two of these are true and two are false. If you got all four correct, congratulations. If you’ve never heard of these RFCs, perhaps it is time to do some additional reading.
Bonus Question:
True or False:
Neither Cisco nor Juniper devices are compliant with RFC 5841.
Cisco has been doing a much better job introducing new topics into the CCIE R&S Written exam.
Be sure to run through Practice Exam 2 again soon as we have updated this exam with some new questions centered around optimizing the network.
Here is a sample for all blog readers to enjoy:
The TechEditor for the Interactive Video Companion Series and valuable INE community member, Nadeem Rafi, provided this unsolicited review of the CCIE Written Bootcamp. Thanks Nadeem.
Just a few days ago, I came across a fantastic product for preparation of the CCIE R&S Written exam. This product is the CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Bootcamp by INE.COM. This product is authored by the famous CCIE instructor, Anthony Sequeira. Anthony has a long history of being a part of some very successful study guides and interactive training products. For example, his KnowledgeNet series is still high in demand from his old days. Anthony’s experience can be seen very clearly in this CCIE Routing and Switching Written Exam Bootcamp.
This product was offered to my by INE as a free add on to enhance my study resources. After this offer was made, the Written Bootcamp was instantly activated in my account by Kady Dennis. Kady is always such a great help; she and her sales team are always offer a pleasant experience at INE.
I made a study plan to finish this bootcamp within a month or so. Then I decided to study every topic as I progress through the INE Volume 1 workbook. But once I started this bootcamp, the whole scenario changed suddenly. I found this product to be so interesting and absorbing, my first session was more than 3 hours in one sitting! I decided to finish it as early as possible, and after a long time, I decided to cut off all my net connections to the outside world to deal with this masterful training resource.
This bootcamp is divided into 11 sections, each representing an individual technology. Furthermore, each technology is subdivided into more focused topics. With this division of topics, the overall experience is amazing. Topics are short and comprehensive. Topics do not bore the viewer at all, and every topic features “recess time”. These “recess times” are highly interactive challenges of the topic being studied in the format of multiple choice questions, drag and drop scenarios, or short answer questions just like the Core Knowledge (OEQ) section of the lab exam. This interactivity keeps you absorbed within the bootcamp, and a hunger for more is always an experience during this bootcamp. Some of the modules are provided with hands on lab experience, which makes it much easier to understand difficult topics like the MQC in very short period of time.
This bootcamp also provides two Practice Tests. The first is equipped with 100 practice questions. All of these are interactive in nature and mimic the actual written exam. The second Practice Test is still in progress and more questions are being added to this. This product is covered under the INE Investment Protection Program.
This COD (Class On Demand) bootcamp is provided in Adobe Captivate format which makes it easier for those who always complain about sound synchronization problems because of slow internet speed. Every topic will be downloaded to your browser and then will be played. These downloadable chunks are highly optimized in size and candidates will not have to wait more than 2-3 minutes for every topic to be played on very moderate bandwidth. A simple trick I used, while I was interacting with a topic, I would load subsequent topics in other tabs. Within 5 minutes or less, all topics for a technology would be ready in my browser to be watched at my own pace.
I strongly feel that this product combined with the CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide, 4th Edition will be a killer combination to pass not only the CCIE Written exam on the first try, but also would be very helpful for Core Knowledge (OEQ) preparations. This bootcamp can be very help full to review all of the fundamental topics during CCIE LAB preparations.
Readers, I took two and half days to finish this 20+ hour bootcamp, let me know how much time you will need to finish it. 
