Gain hands-on experience for the CCIE Lab Exam with volume two of the best-selling CCIE Practical Studies title from Cisco Press

• Experience putting concepts into practice with lab scenarios that guide you in applying what you know

• Learn how to build a practice lab for your CCIE lab exam preparation

• Take five full-blown practice labs that mimic the actual lab exam environment

CCIE Practical Studies, Volume II leads CCIE candidates through the process of preparing for the CCIE lab exam by presenting them with a series of challenging laboratory exercises. A perfect companion to the best-selling first edition, this book provides coverage of CCIE lab exam topics not covered in Volume I, like the Cisco Catalyst 3550, route maps, BGP, Multicast, and QoS. Combined with Volume I, the CCIE candidate will get comprehensive coverage of the routing and switching portions of the Routing and Switching, Security, and Service Provider lab exams.

The book begins with brief coverage of the core technologies required on the CCIE lab exam and includes suggested references for further reading. Laboratory exercises covering each of the core technologies follow, providing detailed guides to applying the technologies in real network settings. The final chapter of the book concludes with five hands-on lab exercises. These comprehensive practice labs include all of the technologies and gradually increase in difficulty level. They present readers with scenarios similar to what they will face on the actual lab exam. Study tips and test-taking techniques are included throughout the book.

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Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 12 Ratings

Worth the price of admission! - 2004-05-27
Reviewer Rating:
I am a multiple CCIE looking for all around knowledge of subjects, including the multiple topics listed in this book. Having read the first volume in the series, I wanted to learn the tips and tricks of the authors. I can honestly say that
although this book is good and worth the read, it was not as good as the first book. There are also much better books
to read on some of the topics listed in this book (see Halabi & Parkhurst for BGP) but the authors do add good examples to their explanations.

The best part of the book is the route-filtering and the queuing chapters. The switching chapter wasn't all that bad either with a deep dive into Spanning Tree as well as the features of the 3550. I was impressed with the output of the show/debug commands which shows us that the authors actually tested their configurations and allows the reader to follow along even if they don't have real gear to test the scenarios out.

Some of the material in the book was extraneous and felt a little like filler when reading it (the chapters on ATM and the Switching modes) but those were easily outdone by the BGP topic scenarios.

The full scale labs at the end of the book were really good and tested potential candidates on core areas and would give candidates an accurate account of the type of scenarios they should know for the real world.

Valuable resource for the CCIE R&S lab - 2006-02-04
Reviewer Rating:
CiscoPress's "CCIE Practical Studies - Volume II" by Solie and Lynch does a good job at preparing CCIE Routing & Switching candidates for the CCIE Lab. While this book picks up where Volume 1 left off, this volume does a much better job at both documenting and displaying some of the more advanced requirements of the lab. It is also important to note that this book should not be used to first introduce yourself to a topic. The book requires you to be familiar with the topics discussed.

The first chapter is a much needed resource on the 3550 Catalyst switch. Part 2 covers route-maps and policy-based routing. I felt the multicast section was weak but felt it was made up for in the section covering QoS. The last part is on BGP and an excellent companion to Doyle's coverage in his 2nd TCP/IP book. I would not recommend the labs at the back of the book - they are error prone.

I did find some typos or editorial errors in the book (but not nearly as many as in the first volume):

Page 389 - in the first sentence - the bandwidth should be 772 kbps - not 772 bps. There are actually multiple errors over the next few pages.

Page 566 - the last line of the first paragraph - "... then the ORIGIN value is type 3, Incomplete." The origin code is type 2 for incomplete.

Page 737 - the aggregate-address should have included the `as-set' command.

Weighing in at 1,000 pages, it will take time to properly digest this book. I'm really at a loss as to whether this is a 4 or 5 star book. But considering the depth and breadth of coverage, it is nonetheless a book that must be read before the CCIE R&S lab. Overall, I expect to find this book on many a CCIE's bookshelf.

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

An Excellent Follow-up to Vol. I and Great Study Guide! - 2004-02-28
Reviewer Rating:
A CCIE candidate has to be very careful about the books he/she may select as a study guide. Most often, the two biggest problems about a CCIE study guide is either the material is extremely dated or the book itself is riddled with errors and is elementary on the topic it professes to educate the reader about. Thankfully, Karl Solie's CCIE Practical Studies Vol. II is neither of these.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Solie's first CCIE Practical Studies. I was disappointed in other CCIE study guides, notably the earlier Hutnik/Saterlee "CCIE Lab Practice Kit". Practical Studies Vol. I, while having some dated material such as coverage of the Cat5xxx Series, provides an excellent treatment and foundation for Layer 2 protocols and IGPs. The labs at the end of the book were also of excellent quality.

I picked up CCIE Practical Studies in late December as a last minute addition to my CCIE prep library. I was scheduled to take the lab in February, and I anxiously awaited arrival. Needless to say, I was not disappointed! CCIE Practical Studies Vol. II coverage begins where Vol. I left off. The topics of focus include the Cat3550s, route-maps, multicast, and BGP. I found the chapters on BGP especially helpful. Upon completion of these chapters and labs, I had a much better grasp on BGP and the protocol's bells, whistles, and knobs. The appendix includes a great piece on prefix lists, an absolute must for any CCIE candidate. Finally, the labs at the end of the book were terrific, on par to many of the various "boot camp labs" available for purchase.

If I must provide one negative, it is that the author was inconsistent on providing IOS requirements needed to complete the labs. Sometimes Solie was kind enough to let me know I needed 12.2(T) or 12.3, and other times it was overlooked. As a result, during one lab, I needed to upgrade my IOS code and swap a router in the middle of my practice. A pain but, certainly not the end of the world.

As for my lab, I passed on February 26, 2004, CCIE #12932. I firmly believe that I would not have passed if not for Solie's wonderful treatment of BGP in CCIE Practical Studies Vol. II!

Practical Studies Volume 2 (a path toward CCIE certification - 2004-02-10
Reviewer Rating:
CCIE Practical Studies, Volume II (Karl Solie & Leah Lynch) shows CCIE candidates a process for CCIE lab exam preparation. A good book to be read along with Volume I of the same tittle provides coverage of CCIE lab exam topics not covered in Volume I: route maps, BGP, QoS, and Multicast. Together with Volume I, the CCIE candidate experiences comprehensive coverage of the Routing & Switching, Security, and Service Provider labs. This book is recommended by CCIE training groups such as NLI & IPExpert.

Summary: What I liked about the book. It is very detailed and includes practice labs. Because of its in depth detailed coverage of topics such as Route Maps, it will likely remain a source of reference for the next 10 years.

Where the book could be improved. After passing the written test many candidates want to take the theory and apply it to some practical purpose: such as how to pass the lab and with the maximum confidence and skill possible. Sorting through all the theory for the commands that will be necessary can be tedious. Additionally, many CCIE books mention very little concerning how to go about acquiring your own lab equipment: ISDN simulator, using a 1750 for voice vs. purchasing voice modules; yet, the R&S CCIE page suggests that this is likely the most important process ie. `hands on preparation.`

If the reader is looking for loads of information concerning BGP, Route Maps, etc this book is the answer; however, if you have already passed the written test and are preparing for the lab it may be better to spend time on actually configuring your own network equipment that you have already purchased on ebay at a discounted price. Somewhere I noticed that a reader had cruised through this fine text in 2 evenings. At close to 900 pages it could take 2 days just to page through it... reading & comprehending the very detailed concepts should take most mortals much much longer.

Conclusion: Overall I recommend the book as a neccessary desktop reference in companion with Volume 1 and along with Doyle`s TCP/IP, and an R&S config book by IPEXPERT. Sometimes less is more & while I would like to know everything about the world and also networking, for the CCIE lab I am mostly concerned with which commands are neccessary to get the darn thing working & also, how to interpret tricky vague questions that may require disabling `inverse arp` for instance. Likely, becoming intimate with practice labs is the best solution in conjunction with owning as much lab equipment as you can afford.

CCIE Practical Studies, Volume II sets good example - 2004-03-10
Reviewer Rating:
CCIE Practical Studies Volume II is the latest in the CCIE Practical Studies series. This book is not just intended for individuals who have completed the CCIE written test, but for anyone who has advanced knowledge of networking theory. The book assumes you already have an understanding of routing protocols, WAN technologies, and LAN switching. Each chapter includes a section on theory but primarily focuses on the configuration aspect ending with several lab scenarios. CCIE Practical Studies Volume II includes five complete lab scenarios including the solutions on CD-ROM. These five lab scenarios are in addition to the regular labs at the end of each chapter. This book will especially appeal to those working towards their CCNP or CCIE, but also for anyone who is looking for extensive configuration examples of ethernet switching (3550), network access and propagation control, multicast routing, QOS and performance management, and advanced BGP configuration.

Karl Solie and Leah Lynch do an excellent job of providing the user with a complete set of configuration examples within each chapter. Many books on the market focus on networking theory with basic configurations added to supplement the theory. Typically, the examples in other books are not very complex or useful for real world situations. CCIE Practical Studies Volume II provides the reader with complex solutions that more closely resemble the CCIE lab exam. In addition, the examples used in the book are more practical than those used in most books on the market. The majority of the exercises are easy to follow, but as I stressed in the first paragraph you should have a more advanced knowledge to understand the complete solution.

In addition to the extensive Lab examples used throughout the book, each author has proven to write their specific chapters in a clear, consistent manner. Lynch wrote the QoS and BGP chapters consisting of the second half of the book. Although the majority of the BGP section is well written and thorough, I expected to see more details and examples in the BGP route policy chapter. As far as the other authors, the beginning of the book has a very good section on Route Maps and Policy-Based Routing. All chapters are easy to read and include additional references for further reading. I would recommend reading additional titles by either of the primary authors of this book.

In summary, Solie and Lynch wrote a solid continuation of the CCIE Practical Studies series keeping on track with the CCIE lab outline. The book did not reveal any significant amount of errors as seen in other titles preparing you for the CCIE exam. As a result, you spent less time trying to understand the examples and correcting author's mistakes and more time learning what is required to pass the exam. Although this is not the only book you should use to prepare for when practicing labs in BGP, QoS, Multicast Routing, Advanced Switching, Route Map and Policy-Based Routing, it is an excellent resource. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 and would recommend this book as a primary source when studying for the CCIE lab exam due to its extensive lab examples and explanations.

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