Study Update: 11.02.2010

Study Update 11.02.2010 1. Passed CCNP-Wireless Site Survey

2. Passed CCNP-Wireless Mobility

3. Bought my vouchers for the CCNA wireless, CCNP-Wireless Security, and CCNP-Wireless Voice Umm... if it seems I'm saving the best for last you are probably right.  It seems I've been avoiding taking the CWNA and CWSP until after I get the CCNP-Wireless under control. Why? Mostly because I've been working on the Cisco Wireless Project at work and it encompassed pretty much every product line that Cisco offers short of the 3200, MSE, and Cisco WCS Navigator (I've only got got 5 WLCs and not hundreds oreven thousands to manage).  Otherwise, I've got pretty much everything else. So where am I now? Well starting tomorrow and ending Sunday morning I'll be completing all testing of the Wireless Infrastructure I've designed and now implemented.  This means I'm testing redundancy mostly. Multicast is on the agenda too. Whew! The outdoor LAPs are due to arrive on the 3rd week of November and this will give me the opportunity to deploy Cisco's Mesh solution in a limited fashion.  I only have 2 to start with. More later to support other areas and provide additional coverage. I'm still studying my practice questions as time permits, reading up on various topics and I have been reading a lot of Cisco Docs...  a lot of them.  This week I've been nailed to the Enterprise Mobility Guide 4.1 and I've just about got it finished. I started a local Cisco group with the assistance and hosting from the area's largest and most prestigious Cisco Gold Partner: Presidio/Coleman Technologies. 

 They've done a wonderful thing with the 3200 and Mobile IP.  I'd tell you more about it but I'd probably have to kill you if they didn't kill me first, that is. Seriously they've got some bright folks over there and they've come up with a simple by eloqent solution to a couple of Wireless issues and it seems like they are making a profit at it too.  Nice! So I'm going to class next week for DCNI-2 (That's the Nexus N7K, N5K, and N2K for those who might not know) and while I'm there and sitting really close to a testing center I'm going to try to score a few classes either at 8am before the 9am typical start time of class or during the lunch breaks typically around noon.  Either way, I'm one busy guy next week.If I pass them all, I'm then eligible for reimbursement and maybe even a small bump in pay.. and I've even heard there might be a small bonus in there too. All very kewl.   I'm hoping to study my tail off the weekend I return and look forward to taking the CWNA exam the following week.

 Umm... kinda right on time.  I'm working with 2 Wireless vendors at the Preview Center next week too and I'll be assiting them to make sure their networks work as designed for their respective products. Looks like I made the right choice choosing to dive into Wireless when I did.  I don't know how I'd have gotten this far without the knowledge acquired from studying for the CWNA.  Cisco covers a lot of ground in their reference guides, but the CWNP certifications give you the ability to take a step back from the kool-aid once in a while.I did join a study group for the CCIE Wireless but so far I've seen very little activity.  Guess with few to no classes and very few candidates I'll probably be floating that boat all by my lonesome. 

 One of our members here, Pete Nugent, has helped me out a lot and he's very good at this Wireless thing too.  I still consider myself a novice to most.  I can get clients and the infrastructure working, perform modest site surveys, and of course harden the infrastructure, apply qos, and allow for multicast...  maybe I've moved up a notch or so but still not uber-guru and I'm pretty sure I can't quite teach wireless by any means. Ok - I got more chapters to read and more practice to do + a little pre-game planning for tomorrow's start of a marathon weekend of wireless.