7

Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die.

No, this post is not about that seven. This is about seven days left for me before my CCIE Security lab attempt in Brussels.
I have only seven more days to practice.
I have only seven more days to clear all my doubts.
I have only seven more days to test all Cisco security technologies listed in the blueprint.

During this period, I'm trying to practice my speed.
Any technology section in the lab blueprint has to be done in 5 minutes. BGP through PIX in 5 minutes, IGP authentication and redistribution in 5 minutes, LAN to LAN IPSec in 5 minutes and so on.
The basic idea is simple: if I'm fast enough to complete the "obvious" tasks in the lab, I will have time to find the answer for the "hidden" tasks.

Other than speed, I have been trying to work on the accuracy to answer the requirements in each task.
There is no other way other than read the sample configuration in Cisco website, check the documentation CD, understand the technology and all posibilities can be asked from it, and test it in my home lab.
Fast typing is not enough, I need to know how to answer correctly.
Configuring the device is not enough, I need to know exactly why I configure the device that way.

God is on my side. I have 2 days off from work due to the national day in this country, and my boss has agreed to let me take vacation until I come back from Brussels.
Speaking about my boss, we have an agreement that I should spend one day from this seven days to hang out with my family. Completely one day. Only then he would let me get my vacation.

As part of the agreement, I will go out with my family this Thursday.
Which is today. Which is in the next few hours, since now it’s almost 2 am local time.
Hey, the agreement only mentions that I should go out with my family. Nobody said to enjoy and have fun, right?

I'll do my best, boss. Even it’s going to be difficult especially with routing protocol running inside DMVPN and atomic signature in IDS that always give me some problems.
Well, I may need to encrypt the path between my apartment to the shopping center, and allow only my wife and my kid to pass through using ESP-3DES and Diffie-Hellman group 2.

Seven days.
I will find out whether I'm just an ordinary guy with a big mouth,
or someone who can really accomplish something,
in seven days.