So yesterday i had finally booked my CCIE exam , Money transfer is done and i booked my flight only will have to wait for my Visa application form.

I thought once i book the exam i'd be so excited and start studying like a donkey , but i absolutely feel nothing. There are two important facts here that this will be the last V4 exam available which means if i don't pass the exam the only way would be to prepare for V5 and am not planning to do that. The second fact is that there's no way to refund back the money i paid.

Am i ready to go to the exam or not , did i do the right thing. I hope i am right this time. 

Today while checking the internet , i read about the all new GNS3 and i felt fascinated about how huge their product will be. We're talking about switching at last on GNS3 and we're talking about lab materials and most importantly we're talking about multi-vendor support. GNS3 will no longer be only a Cisco thing but it'll be able to support multiple vendors.

GNS3 has always been 1 of my all time favorite softwares and i owe it alot. But CISCO is  now working on it's 1 big project which is Cisco VIRL ( Virtual Internet Routing Lab) This project will allow Cisco to use several hardware support specially with IOS versions like XR. The project is said that it'd be for free and i believe GNS3 people started their multi-vendor support features to avoid what Cisco is preparing.

But to conclude we have to realize the fact that we'll get a new generation of network engineers equipped with a 10,000 $ equipment virtual environment free on their laptops and with a push of a button they'd load all the configuration they need. The CCIE candidates won't have to worry about Hardware anymore as all equipment they need will be available and this will lead to a larger number of highly skilled engineers. I believe 2 years from now the whole map of how we simulate our networks will be changed and we'll be facing more tougher challenges with our networks expansion more than about how we'll use it.

Admit it or not , the biggest enemy to any CCIE candidate is life distractions and things that take place in our life while we should be focused only on studying. Distractions are your worst enemy , things that just pop out of no where to kill your focus zone and studying mode. My number 1 life problem is that i can never focus on 2 things at the same time , so  i divide my life into periods ... This period of my life is called CCIE and any other thing that takes place can be neglected but sometimes we have to stop and focus on those important distractions because at the end of the day we're humans ... Aren't we ?