Cisco ASA: All-in-One Firewall, IPS, and VPN Adaptive Security Appliance
I began to read this book. I skipped several chapters and skimmed through various topics in the earlier chapters. I spent a couple hours reading. I stopped at the section that discusses routing and will pick that up later this afternoon.
Took Time off
Well sad but true, I took a month off to really decided if I wanted to pursue my CCIE or go back to school to get my MBA. I took near a month off tossing different ideas around and speaking to my wife. In the end, my hear was set to achieve passing the CCIE and not pursue my MBA (yet!). I have a bachelors degree and I figure getting my CCIE will help me better in the long run for my consulting practices.
I don’t plan on working for a company the rest of my life rather I would work for myself and I want to build up my empire and do what makes me the most successful. Don’t get me wrong, I may still do my MBA, but that can wait! I am only 26 so I still have time 
Dynamips with Ubuntu Gusty 64bit
I would like to confirm that today I got Ubuntu 7.10 64bit up and running and dynamips/dynagen to load with no problems.
I know there are several Ubuntu users out there who have various problems with the 64bit edition of Ubuntu but my sole use is to get my 4 gig of ram!
I don’t plan on using my dell xps 410 dual core 4 gigs of ram system for much other than studying. I am dual booting with Vista 32bit so if there are some pressing things I need, I will boot Windows.
My expierience so far is great with the system setup. I am running the full Internetwork Expert dynamips configuration (6 routers, 4 switches, and 3 Backbone routers) with two instances.
My performance is about 41% utilization with everything started. With the 32bit Ubuntu edition, I was running about 60 to 70 percent. I tried playing with the idlepc values but had about the same results so now I am content with using my current setup with 64bit.
Ordered IPExpert Study Materials
Well I ordered some more stuff for the CCIE Journey. I purchased IPExpert’s Workbook/Proctor Guide, and the Vclass prep course. I will be posting my experiences throughout my studies. All of the mentioned items should be arriving today! I am pretty excited to crack it open and take it for a test drive.
