One of the exciting new components of the version 4 CCIE Sec lab is the Identity Services Engine (ISE). It is interesting how many students and even some instructors I speak to that have never even heard of it. In this first post of many that I will feature on this new product for the lab, we will gain a high level understanding of what this product does for us.

First of all, there are lots of variations on how you can implement this service in your network. Let us be clear on our hardware and software focus for the lab. It is the Cisco ISE 3300 Series Identity Services Engine running 1.1x software.
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It is always so fun and interesting to think you know something, and then be blown away by discovering a feature about what you thought you knew!

So before my study of the CCIE Security, I thought I knew CBAC (Context-Based Access Control), also known as IOS Firewall, pretty darn well. As I was going through the superb CCIE Security 3.0 VoD, Tyson Scott educated me that there is actually a Transparent Mode version of this tool. Wow – I certainly had not encountered this in my CCNA or CCNP Security studies.

So in this blog post, I wanted to show everyone a look at this technology so that hopefully it does not take them by surprise.
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During Session 2 of our CCIE Data Center Written bootcamp, we talked about Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs) on the Nexus 7000 series in great detail. We examined the configuration, maintenance, and deletion of these powerful constructs.

One of the topics that I indicated I would save for the blog was the controlling of resource limits on the VDCs. We saw how easy it was to verify the default resource limits, but I indicated that I would elaborate here. Let us do it now!

Controlling the resources these VDCs can consume is done with Resource Templates. These templates set the minimum and maximum for shared physical device resources during the creation of the VDC. Here are the resources that are controlled with these templates and the default maximums for the default VDC resource template:

• IPv4 Multicast Route Memory – 8 MB
• IPv6 Multicast Route Memory – 2 MB
• IPv4 Unicast Route Memory – 8 MB
• IPv6 Unicast Route Memory – 4 MB
• Port Channels – 768
• SPAN Sessions – 2
• VLANs – 4096
• VRFs – 8192

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We all tend to get a bit stressed out during times of CCIE exam study. Especially if we are also juggling the demands of two or three jobs, family, and many other potential distractors. Here are some tips – read them over and start trying some that you think would work best for you personally.

- Avoid stressful people! There is an element to stress that is actually contagious it seems. Be sure to surround yourself with positive people and influences as you get closer to your exam. This is why some forums should be avoided as you get closer.

- Eat healthy. There really is a correlation between stress and what is consumed for food. As an extreme examine, I know in my case, while I really love to drink alcohol, drinking too much of it produces a hangover, which produces a super huge increase in my stress levels. Darn!

- Exercise. This has become my new number one method of having the stress of exam preparation melt right away. It is really amazing. I literally cannot wait to study again after a CrossFit break!

Shortly After This Photo - A Hospital Visit

- Take breaks! I read a study about how the brain works – and it is actually great for your brain to get a nice 5 to 10 minute break during every hour of study. So go for it – check up on your Facebook friends after a good solid 50 minutes of CCIE challenges.

- Visualize a happy exam day. Be sure to imagine your exam day and how much pure joy it will be. See yourself flying through the easy tasks to start the day. So many people do the opposite – they envision a brutal day in which they will not pass their lab-  potentially AGAIN.

- Embrace the helpful part of stress. Remember that stress is not all bad. Often times embrace a bit of it for the kick in the pants to get you started in a study session, or the motivation to put some other things off so that you can study.

- Avoid fear! Go to a quiet place and think about what you fear when it comes to the CCIE exam. When you really start to examine those fears, I believe you will discover that they just do not hold up!

- Create that schedule for success. Use tools to make your journey a smooth and successful one. Consider a study planner, a skills assessment tracker, a mind map system – there are plenty of tools that can help you be successful.

- Sleep well. It is fine to be dreaming about the exam all the time. I do that. Just make sure those dreams are not nightmares by following the tips above.

Anthony Sequeira CCIE, CCSI
Twitter: @compsolv
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/compsolv

In this three part series here at blog.ipexpert.com, we are going to examine one of the key buzz terms in the modern Data Center – I/O Consolidation. Here is a breakdown of the articles and the order in which they will appear:

• Part 1 – An Overview of I/O Consolidation
• Part 2 – The Technologies
• Part 3 – Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)

In this first part, let us examine the overall I/O consolidation concept and ensure we have a strong foundation for the more complex articles that follow.

In an earlier series here, we examined Fibre Channel in great detail. You recall that this is a dominant internetwork technology for connecting the physical SAN. We also know that Ethernet is a dominant connection technology in the LAN portions of the Data Center. 
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