I am hitting a bit of a brick wall with the WSA appliance. So I will need to reach out for help, but bearing in mind that it will be just a 45 day trial (in most likelihood), I should reserve this for nearer the end of the study period. The same may be true for other components, such as the ISE, ACS, vWLC, and IPS.
I know at least I should be able to get an IPS license myself, if I need one.
You would think that Cisco would make it a little easier for people wanting to study! We pay enough money to Cisco, we should at least be able to download the stuff we need to study. Anyway, enough of the ranting. The plan needs a little revision.
So, let's concentrate on the things that I can do. Here's the original list, I'll keep it a little more brief than in the original study plan. The numbers in brackets are the new position in the plan.
1: Set up TestPC-B, Switch 3 and Switch 6. This will give me access to WSA1 (1)
2: WSA (12)
3: Set up Switch 1 & Switch 3, giving access to ISE1 and ISE2 (2)
4: ISE (11)
5: Set up Switch 2 and Switch 4 - giving access to ACS1 and ACS2. (2)
6: ACS (10)
7: Set up ASAs (3)
8: VPNs (4)
9: IPS (9)
10: Hardening and availability (7)
11: Wireless stuff (6)
12: Miscellaneous other stuff (8)
13: IPv4 and IPv6 routing protocol security (5)
14: Do written exam (13)
15: Practice - do INE Security workbooks and full scale labs. (14)
16: Lab - take the lab exam. (15)
17: Profit? Re-take lab exam? Who knows! (16)
Here is the revised version:
2: Set up all the switches
3: Set up ASAs
4: Set up routers for VPNs
5: IPv4 and IPv6 routing protocol security
6: Wireless stuff
7: Hardening and availability
8: Miscellaneous other stuff (threat identification and mitigation)
9: IPS
10: ACS
11: ISE
12: WSA
13: Do written exam
14: Practice (INE labs)
15: Lab exam
16: Drink beer and celebrate
This makes a little more sense. Setting up all the switches will lay the foundation for the network, as well as determining the addressing needed.
From there I can move on to the ASAs, and the VPNs.
Once the VPNs are in place we can do all of the routing protocols (both IPv4 and IPv6), and then move on to the wireless aspects.
One we have the wireless configured we can look at hardening and availability. Then we can finish off the threat stuff.
Then we get to the appliances, the IPS, ACS, ISE and WSA.
After that I should be ready for the written exam.
That's the plan. At the moment.