stp is an important part of switching and a topic that seems simple at first. Unfortunately the more you look into it the more complex it gets.
Cisco have an excellent presentation (needs registration) that covers the topic in depth.
Very handy given the number of confusing explanations out there!
https://cisco.hosted.jivesoftware.com/docs/DOC-1755
wikipedia is also a good reference point - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanning_tree_protocol
and this diagram is very helpful - such a headache from such a simple idea...
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/473/spanning_tree1.swf
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
certifications
its that time of year and i'm renewing my cisco certifications again. I recently passed the cisco foundation express exam and am now looking at the unified communications express exam. In addition its finally time to start working on CCIE via CCNP.
Despite a strong interest in the CCVP i am going to take the routing and switching (R&S) route. I'm planning on taking the new v.4 exam which will be harder, but never mind. I should crack 642-812 pretty quickly as its what i do on a daily basis, and the other CCNP exams don't look too dificult given that i'm using the technology on a daily basis.
The hard part will be the cost of the lab equipment and materials. Basically i can boot-camp, home study the written exam, but will need actual access to equipment for the lab simulations. Here is where it gets really expensive - ipexpert and internet expert seem to be the best options for rack rental - in particular the vrack option.
otherwise i have to buy several expensive bits of kit (3560 switches in particular)... either way i've seen other candidates log hundreds and thousands of hours of rack time - remember the lab exam is 8hrs long including a 2 hr troubleshooting session - there are only ten locations the lab can be undertaken in. I think it will take around 18 months in all, so time to start saving...
if only there was a reliable way of simulating all the kit!
Despite a strong interest in the CCVP i am going to take the routing and switching (R&S) route. I'm planning on taking the new v.4 exam which will be harder, but never mind. I should crack 642-812 pretty quickly as its what i do on a daily basis, and the other CCNP exams don't look too dificult given that i'm using the technology on a daily basis.
The hard part will be the cost of the lab equipment and materials. Basically i can boot-camp, home study the written exam, but will need actual access to equipment for the lab simulations. Here is where it gets really expensive - ipexpert and internet expert seem to be the best options for rack rental - in particular the vrack option.
otherwise i have to buy several expensive bits of kit (3560 switches in particular)... either way i've seen other candidates log hundreds and thousands of hours of rack time - remember the lab exam is 8hrs long including a 2 hr troubleshooting session - there are only ten locations the lab can be undertaken in. I think it will take around 18 months in all, so time to start saving...
if only there was a reliable way of simulating all the kit!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
