Lab attempt 02/02/2010 - first go round with the lab

Well, I suppose I should put a few words together about my first experience at sitting for a Cisco CCIE Lab.  I didn't expect to pass, considering that there isn't any formalized training available for the wireless lab like there is for all the other CCIE tracks.  I scored a 60, and needed an 80 to pass.  I signed up for the next exam right after checking my score, and the earliest available date is was in August, so I booked the date.

I was glad that someone recommended that I bring ear plugs - they were a godsend since the CCIE Pod 01 I had was right next to the racks of equipment.  I had originally thought the ear plugs were so you didn't hear any one elses' freak out..  I couldn't hear anything over the noise of the rack w/o them & was glad for the quiet they provided.

I lost some time trying to figure out which shortcut on the desktop led to the PC that would let me web into the controllers once I'd gotten them initially configured.. I guess I should have asked about that sooner instead of waiting till after lunch.  I really didn't like the way the tasks were laid out in the book.  I felt that the information I needed was scattered around within the text, and the key pieces of information could have been laid out more clearly.  I guess that is part of the point of the lab though - and I need to come up with a way to lay out the information I'll need for all the configuration before I start.  I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth through the diagrams and scenarios looking for naming conventions and vlan numbers when if I had made my own "spreadsheet" it would have been one stop shopping.

Now that I know what I'm up against, I have drawn up a better plan of attack.  I have to be *much* quicker at the CLI of IOS APs and for WLCs.  I couldn't have anticipated how little time I'd have to complete each task correctly within the 8 hours allotted for the lab.