I think I’m going to take my BSCI exam next thursday. I just finished my reading for BGP (Doyle Vol.2 + BSCI Cert. Guide) much faster than expected and it wasn’t as bad as I’ve been told.
Actually, I’m feeling pretty good right now. Once you understand BGP, you understand how the internet ties together, and that is pretty cool. BGP is one of those topics that you read about, that people make you feel is super-complex, but that just isn’t as bad as people say. The rules are fairly straight-forward, you just have to know them. In the real world a BGP configuration can presumably get pretty complex, but for the BSCI, I don’t think what you’re expected to know is difficult at all. The key is probably having a solid understanding of route-maps, since they are used to manipulate BGP attributes and will probably show their face in an exam Sim question, if you get one on BGP that is.
At this point I am no BGP expert, but for the BSCI, I think I have a good enough grasp of it, and probably a bit more than I need (route reflectors and confederations seem to be outside the scope of CCNP). I’ll just have to make sure to memorize a couple tables over the next couple of weeks. Beyond that, I look forward to Reading Sam Halabi’s BGP bible, but I will save that for when I am done with the CCNP and am preparing for the CCIE written.
Tomorrow I’ll spend the day labbing BGP. I’ll also integrate IGPs and redistribution into my lab scenarios. I’ll probably make one big lab with 9 or 10 routers running different protocols in multiple AS with redistribution, route filtering, etc. This will serve as a good review for everything i’ve learned to date.
Doyle doesn’t need recommendations, but I will give him one just the same. Volume 2 of Routing TCP/IP is just as good as Volume 1. It is well-written, concise, and to the point. It’s a pleasure to read. Then again, I’m a bit of a nerd.
