Another one bites the dust - BGP+MPLS (642-691) PASSED!

It has been some time since I last updated the blog but that isn’t to say that I haven’t been working/studying away.

After finishing Internet Routing Architectures by Sam Halabi which alongside what I have learned both during my CCNP studies and whilst at my day-to-day job was going to serve as my reading to then go ahead and do the CCIP BGP exam.

Before taking the BGP exam I started reading MPLS Fundamentals by Luc D Ghein and then decided that I felt that I would be comfortable enough with both subjects to instead of taking the two separate exams (BGP & MPLS) that I would instead study and take the composite exam (BGP+MPLS, 642-691), by basis for this thought is that BGP and MPLS go hand in hand for a lot of things (MPLS VPN) and so why not just go for the comp!?

This brings us to today when I took, and passed the exam with a score of 905 (of the reqd. 835). All in all I would say that the exam was actually easier than I thought it would be, this could be because there are not cert guides for both topics and therefore you are reading books that you may read at CCIE level so there were undoubtedly some subjects which I felt VERY weak on, the biggest of these I would say was LC-ATM as I have NO prior knowledge of ATM and don’t intend to ever use it, I dare say this comes from the fact that I am coming into the networking profession as ATM is making it’s way out…

CCIP has 4 exams in total to complete and today’s exam coupled with the ROUTE exam that I completed for the CCNP means that I only have the QoS exam left. I do have some experience in QoS as I studied it for my job (and subsequent job interview) and also come in contact with it on a regular basis at work.

I am going to start off by reading the QoS Cert Guide by Wendell Odom et al and then will most likely also look over the QoS sections in the CCIE R&S cert guide so that I am fully prepared.

At the moment I am aiming for a mid-April completion date on this but as usual this may get moved forward/back.

Thanks for reading.

David