I think being able to pass the lab has to do with more than just knowing stuff and being good at configuring whichever feature. You must have a strategy and be able to manage your time. Of course people are different which is why you should find out what works for you. But what ever you choose to do, make sure you stick to the plan. Below is what I have decided to make my strategy.

PPP PPP Frame Format Negotiation of a Connection PPP Authentication PPP PAP Authentication Configuration PPP CHAP Authentication Configuration PPP Authentication Verification PPPoE PADI PADO PADR PADS PPPoE Configuration PPPoE Verification PPP PPP is a standards based protocol that offers authentication at L2.

Having failed the CCIE R&S Lab Troubleshoot section, I decided to make a write-up on how troubleshooting should be approached. Not just for the lab, but in general. We troubleshooting you are usually under a huge time pressure, because something is down. People can’t work and the business is loosing money. For me keeping calm and having a structured approach is key to becoming efficient in finding the root cause and fixing the issue causing the outage.

I’ve always found STP a bit confusing. Partly because STP was designed in a time where L2 was a good way to do things. Nowadays building a network with heavy focus on L2 domains is obsolete IMHO. We do whatever we can to avoid having STP block links by using port-channels and routed links. I will concentrate only on the flavors of STP that newer Catalyst switches support. Legacy STP Timers Root Bridge Election Bridge ID Port Roles Port States Topology Change Notify The Root Notify The Network Traffic Engineering STP On The Wire Optional Features PortFast BPDU Guard BPDU Filter Loopguard RSTP/MST Legacy STP Aka.