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Blog:Considering CCIE Security Training Material

16th September 2008 By 11 Comments

Here is the list of possible study providers (in no particular order):

  • CCBootcamp / NLI / Fast Lane
  • NIL
  • Internetwork Expert
  • IP Expert
  • Micronics

Not considered : Netmasterclass – no CCIE Security offering.

Resource Breakdown

Each company seems to offer more or less similar materials, but some offer more than others. All the providers offer at least the following

  • Workbooks
  • Mock Labs / Practice Labs
  • Rack Services / Remote Racks

You can also expect to find (from some vendors)

  • On-Demand Video
  • Audio Classes
  • Bootcamps

Minor Players

I wanted to consider all the different companies, so I looked into other companies who offered some form of CCIE programs.

Micronics / Net Workbooks

No CCIE Security offerings. Although((at time of writing)) there is some sort of special offering for upcoming CCIE Security On-Demand material so maybe something is in development.

CCBootcamp / Fast Lane.

These two companies seemed to be a single corporate entity, although they trade as separate businesses. Note that CCBootcamp used to be called Network Learning Inc or NLI and still appears on some documentation.

CCBootcamp is only offering one package for CCIE Security, workbook and practice racks bundle. But that’s all they have, no audio, no video and no training outside of the US. I like the simplicity of this offering, but many people have mentioned the audio and video as valuable.

FastLane are a very large training company, but after spending some time on their website, I could not make sense of anything. They do consultancy as well as training on NetApp, Microsoft and Cisco and I eventually found a CCIE Security Bootcamp, but that was it. Looks like they focus on delivering training to Resellers and don’t have much for independent study, and especially not much for CCIE mendicants. They don’t talk about their workbooks, but it looks suspiciously like the CCBootcamp outline, so I assumed that is what they use. I gave up and moved on.

NIL

NIL is the home of Ivan Pepelnjak, so I looked closely at their offerings. They offer a bootcamp, but there doesn’t seem to be any workbooks or remote lab offering for CCIE.

Major Players

So it seems that really we come down to the two main players IPExpert and Internetwork Expert.

IPExpert

IPExpert offer a range of options. Since they don’t do bootcamps in the UK, that is not very interesting.

CCIE Security Lab Preparation Workbook with Proctor Guide $499.00
CCIE Security Audio Boot Camp (Delivered on CDs) Price: $599.00
CCIE Security Lab Video on Demand (Delivered on DVDs) including Self-Study Student Guide Price: $699.00

Rack Time – vLab Rack Rental $40 per 7:45 session – discounts apply for bulk purchases. Uses Cisco VPN Client to remote access, lets you reverse telnet via terminal server and so on. I wasn’t able to determine the scheduling times for racks to see if they fit in with UK timezone (see the Internetwork Expert section below).

Proctor Labs – Rack Time Slots: I assume the Eastern Time Zone is GMT+5, the website doesn’t state UTC time so I can’t be totally sure.

Correction: CCIElab in the comments tells me that the correct times are 0500, 1300, 2100 which means that the 0500 session is possible for a very early start, and 1300 works on a day off or weekend only.

{{1900-0245GMT 0300-10:45GMT 0900-1845GMT}}

These time slots are reasonably convenient, certainly better than the InternetworkExpert time slots.

InternetworkExpert

I like this package from Internetwork Export, since it has all sorts of goodies in there, especially the video.

Internetwork Expert End-to-End CCIE Security Program $3395

* Investment Protection Program free with all products
* CCIE Security Advanced Technologies Class-on-Demand (IEATC-SC-COD) – $995 Value
* CCIE Security Lab Workbook Volume I (IEWB-SC-VOL1) (Electronic) – $195 Value
* CCIE Security Lab Workbook Volume II (IEWB-SC-VOL2) (Electronic) – $395 Value
* CCIE Security Solutions Guide Volume II (IEWBS-SC-VOL2)(Electronic)
* CCIE Security Lab Breakdowns Class-on-Demand (IEBD-SC-COD) – $1,295 Value
* CCIE Security 5 Day Bootcamp Class-on-Demand (IEBC-SC-5D-COD) – $1,995 Value
* Unlimited 10% CCIE Security Rack Rental Session Discount!

Security Value Package 1- Price: $1149

CCIE Security Advanced Technologies Class-on-Demand +
CCIE Security Lab Workbook Volume I (Electronic) +
CCIE Security Lab Workbook Volume II (Electronic)

( List Price: $1585 – You Save: $436)

Rack time –
Rack rentals are sold in 5.5 hour blocks and are offered in four time slots, and when translated into UK time:
S1. 1000 – 15:30 GMT
S2. 1600 – 2130 GMT
S3. 2200 – 0330 GMT
S4. 0400 – 0930 GMT

These block times are not very convenient when you live in Great Britain and work during the day, S1 is the only workable slot, and that would have to be on a weekend otherwise much of your time is wasted.

Building my own lab

Its possible that I could build my own lab but I am not keen to do it again. Its noisy and messy and takes up a lot of space. But the remote labs are not always convenient. Has anyone put together their own lab in UK / Europe and want to tell me about that ?

Input Please

So far so good, I have narrowed it down to two providers, I prefer the InternetworkExpert ‘package’ but the labs times are unworkable. IPExpert have workable lab times, but the price is much higher. From where I am now, I can’t pick differences between the companies.

I would like to hear what other people have to say. Please leave a comment or head over to the forum topic and start a conversation. I will be joining in to find out more.

This post is copyright of Thropos Ltd ©2008-2011 at Etherealmind.com - contact | email: greg.ferro@packetpushers.net - twitter: @etherealmind | All rights reserved
Filed Under: Blog, CCIE, Cisco Tagged With: ,
About Greg Ferro

Greg Ferro is a Network Engineer/Architect, mostly focussed on Data Centre, Security Infrastructure, and recently Virtualization. He has over 20 years in IT, in wide range of employers working as a freelance consultant including Finance, Service Providers and Online Companies. He is CCIE#6920 and has a few ideas about the world, but not enough to really count.

He is a host on the Packet Pushers Podcast, blogger at EtherealMind.com and on Twitter @etherealmind and Google Plus

  • http://www.scuttle.org.uk Doug Crabbe

    IPExpert are doing some bootcamps in the UK – there’s certainly a Voice one booked in november for London… Additionally their Blended Learning solution is currently $999 or included when you pre-book a bootcamp.

    Note – I am not affiliated with them in any way, just like the look of their product and I’ve just been through a similar processs for CCIE Voice materials..

  • Tim

    You should look at other rack rental vendors and ask IE if they could setup alternate rental hours for the UK. I haven’t used any other vendors, but I have heard others favorable experiences.

    Here are some Rack rental vendors I discovered a while back when I was getting started on the Security track. Most of them support several different vendor workbooks. You want to make sure they have a rack that supports the physical topo of the Workbook vendor, as well as all of the CCIE Lab specs. I have noticed that some Rack Rental vendors have you doing labs on newer IOS versions. As you likely know, there are version specific configurations/bugs that are deliberately tested. That has given me fits in the past, so I recommend you avoid it. Ask if you can test drive their rack. One thing that is really important is that they give you a clean config when you start. Also, IE has a new feature that is desirable to me: Advanced Workbook Scaffolding – Save time! Load initial configs for any task. I don’t think the Security track rentals are ready yet though.

    http://ccie2be.com/BuyRackTime.html

    http://www.cconlinelabs.com/rates.shtml

    http://www.ccierack.com/pindex.html

    http://www.mindtechcom.com/prices.html

    There are likely more these days, or you can build a hybrid dynamips/physical environment for yourself. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss any other stuff.

  • ccielab

    The IP Expert rack sessions are two hours ahead of the times you have stated. Im currently working on my RS with their rack rentals, and have had a few 5am starts.

    The start times are 5am, 1pm and 9pm here in the UK.

    • http://etherealmind.com Greg Ferro

      Thanks, updated. Makes a difference to me.

  • Tim

    I went through this a bit myself. There are likely more now, but here are some Rack Rental vendors that support Multiple workbook vendors. These guys seemed cheaper than the workbook vendors as well.

    http://ccie2be.com/BuyRackTime.html

    http://www.cconlinelabs.com/rates.shtml

    http://www.gigavelocity.com/

    http://www.ccierack.com/pindex.html

    http://www.mindtechcom.com/prices.html

    Check some of these guys out and search for any new ones.

    Also, launch the IE Rental scheduler, set your timezone, and verify the rental times to see if there is anything that might work well for you. Call IE and see if they have any plans to have a Rack with shifted hours for UK/European countries etc. Also, for me, it was best to rent the racks with 2 blocks per day. Reason being is that I get phone calls/lunch/kids etc interruptions throughout anyhow. Plus it takes quite a while to setup and work your way deep into each lab.

    http://www.internetworkexpert.com/rackcal/available_racks.php?RackType=SCRR

    The main issues for doing labs from a workbook seem to be precise matching physical topology, and precise IOS/FWOS/ACS versions matching the blueprint. The workbook vendors help you practice required workarounds for IOS bugs and features. Meaning, for example: DMVPN issues with EIGRP. If the rack you are using has a newer version than 12.2T the problem doesn’t show up and you will not be required to learn the workaround.

    I personally use the IE materials and have the Internetwork Expert End-to-End CCIE Security Program. Depending upon where you are in your preparation, this is a good option. IPexpert seems to have a decent program, but I reviewed a friends set of their labs and was not fond of the style in which the material walked you through the process.

    The COD materials from IE are sometimes hard to watch/listen to due to lack of timed index, but overall they definately help you learn the how and why of specific features / process etc.

    Good luck,
    Tim

  • Brad

    I’m studying for my Security lab at the moment. I recently did my R&S IE and for that I used a mixture of training materials from different vendors. I found the variety helped as you don’t get used to doing things in a vendor-specific way (question structure & interpretation, diagram layouts etc). I’ve started studying for my Security lab and am carrying across the same study methodology.

    From Internetwork Expert i’ve gotten the Class on Demand DVD and the Volume 1 & 2 labs. From IP Expert i’ve gotten the lab workbook and proctor guide. I’m about to hit the full blown 8 hour labs and am planning on alternating between the two vendors. IE lab one day, IP Expert the next etc. Both have quality material and if either vendor updates their content (which is likely in the near future as Cisco are set to update the Security Lab blueprint) you’re guaranteed access to the updated content (minus any printing & shipping fees obviously).

    Just my 2c :)

    Brad

  • Tim

    Oh yeah, Here is a bunch of info on emulating almost all of the Security lab. Great stuff. I my benefactor hadn’t given me the full set of hardware I would likely attempt to build it like this:

    http://www.andersonalves.net/tutorials/

  • http://www.syn-ack.co.uk Ian

    I’m working my way through the CCIE Security written exam right now and I’m wondering the same thing. I pretty much have it nailed down to either IP Expert or InternetworkExpert. If I decide to do a boot camp I’ll go with the latter as I’m UK based but I think the IP Expert workbooks look like they tie in better with the Proctor Labs setup so I’ll probably go for that – either way I’ll get the mock labs for both as I get closer to my lab date.

    Let us know what you decide and how it turns out please.

    Ian

  • Pingback: More racks from InternetExpert - better time slots | My Etherealmind

  • Tim

    There are likely more now. These are the ones I found a couple of years ago. Call Internetwork Expert and see if they can do anything to work with yor timezone.

    Try playing with the timezone on here as well:

    http://www.internetworkexpert.com/rackcal/available_racks.php?RackType=SCRR

  • Tim

    Some Rack Rental Vendors that support multiple workbook providers.

    http://www.mindtechcom.com/prices.html

    http://www.ccierack.com/pindex.html

    http://www.gigavelocity.com/

    http://www.cconlinelabs.com/rates.shtml

    http://ccie2be.com/BuyRackTime.html

    There are likely more now. These are the ones I found a couple of years ago. Call Internetwork Expert and see if they can do anything to work with yor timezone.

    Try playing with the timezone on here as well:

    http://www.internetworkexpert.com/rackcal/available_racks.php?RackType=SCRR