I'm sitting today in the CCIE Routing and Switching Techtorial here at Cisco Live in San Diego. I'll be update this blog post and tweet about anything ground breaking but it looks to be the exact same presentation as last year.

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8:45AM - Update
The topic of troubleshooting tickets and configuration task dependencies came up. They stated that you could see one ticket that requires a previous ticket to be resolved but not more than one ticket. In the configuration section if you had a PPPoE task that you couldn't resolve and then later in the IGP section you just configured OSPF over the Ethernet interfaces because you couldn't get the PPPoE task working you'll lose points for both tasks. They will not tell you that one ticket or task depends on another.

8:55AM - Update
You will get a single 22" monitor and they are working on migrating to dual monitors but no time frame.

9:00AM - Update
They do not care what solution you used as long as you meet the requirements. They are concerned with the "state" of the rack and not the solution you implemented in the configuration. This means there can be multiple solutions to resolve a ticket/task and they do not care what solution you used as long as you meet the requirements of the ticket/task and didn't violate the guidelines.

9:05AM - Update
Do not remove any feature to resolve a task. You must resolve the issue without removing the feature UNLESS the only solution is to remove the feature. I'll talk to them later one-on-one to get clarification.

9:10AM - Update
5 routers (3825 and 1841s) and 4 switches (3560) in the real lab for the configuration section. The routers are running 12.4(15)T and 12.2(44)SE for the switches.

9:20AM - Update
No dedicated Frame Relay switch but you will still have Frame Relay. This means one of your routers will be a Frame Relay switch.

9:30AM - Update
The students are up in arms over the topic of pinging yourself in regards to Frame Relay. Cisco says they don't care but admit that the full reachability requirements could led someone into thinking it would be required.

9:45AM - Update
The topics are starting to slow down as they go over example questions.

10:30AM - Update
We went on break. Still not much happening as they are going over sample questions. Here is a sample question:

The ALPS topology and the MATIP architecture implemented in Phase III between R3 and R4. Provide end-to-end transportation of airline protocol traffic across the network between these two routers. Use either the P1024B ALC or P1024C UTS protocol to provide the TCP/IP-based MATIP protocol conversion to the connected to the mainframe on R3's S0/1/0 interface. Do not use the alps default-circuit command under the alps ascu configuration. Use a clock rate of 48000. 3 Points.

Here is the documentation example: Airline Product Set (ALPS) Configuration Examples

This of course is a joke question ;-)

11:00AM - Update
Now this part is interesting. There are going over a redistribution example. They state they want optimal routing after the redistribution occurs but their solution is wrong in the slide as it seems to have been updated after the printing of the material. Also the presenter was trying to draw on a whiteboard in a room that is 10 rows deep. They need to draw on the projector and not a whiteboard ;-)

11:10AM - Update
Bruno van de Werve (R&S Program Manager) came in and saved the redistribution question with a quick word about how the solution should really be implemented (different than the slide). Basically just a mix up between the updated slides and the hand-outs. I was really surprised they asked for optimal routing with the redistribution but I think it's good they do.

1:00PM - Update
Right before lunch they talked about ZFW and hinted you should expect questions regarding it. Someone asked about IPS in the IOS and I got the feeling from the answer that although you could get a question on it, it's very not likely.

1:30PM - Update
The presenter asked if anyone was using the Cisco 360 Program to prepare for the exam. You could hear crickets chirping while he waited for an answer. Actually one person said they are using it.

1:50PM - Update
Not much happening. Guest speaker from Cisco talking about his experiences with the CCIE lab. Not sure of his name but seems like a really nice guy.

2:10PM - Update
Someone asked about 5 point questions. They stated that they won't have any 5 point questions but there could be questions that interrelate so two questions together basically become a 5 point question.

3:40PM - Update
They are walking through a troubleshooting lab scenario. Not very exciting except having 50+ people trying to answer a question is kind of funny.

Session ended around 4:45. They just went over sample troubleshooting tickets. I'll do another vseminar covering what minor changes I noticed in the presentation between last year and this year.