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CCIE Written Exam 4.0 – Studying Starts Here

Jim — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:12:53 +0000

After a few weeks off from studying it’s time to start the long road to CCIE. After asking the advice of some current CCIEs, I have decided to use Internetwork Expert’s training materials for the labs. I managed to catch a 25% sale a few weeks ago and so ordered workbooks I, II and III as well as the Advanced Technologies Class on Demand course. The materials are for the CCIE 4.0 version of the exam and I’ll receive product updates for the lifetime of the 4.0 product, so I’m covered for the new materials when they arrives. Internetwork Expert have already started to develop workbook IV, which is going to cover the new troubleshooting section of the CCIE lab exam, and this should be availablein the next few days.

I thought it would be good to have the CoD available while studying for the written exam as an additional reference . The other list of learning materials I plan to use are:

Routing TCP/IP Volume I and II by Jeff Doyle and Jennifer Carroll (absolutley essential reading for CCIE candidates)
Relevant parts of LAN Switching by Kennedy Clark and Kevin Hamilton
CCNP Multilayer Switching Companion Guide by Wayne Lewis
MPLS Fundamentals by Luc De Ghein
Cisco QoS Exam Guide by Wendell Odom and Michael J. Cavanaugh
CCIE Routing and Switching Official Exam Certification Guide by Wendell Odom, Jim Geir and Naren Mehta (this is currently for the 3.0 track as there is currently no 4.0 book available)
CBT Nugget courses that I purchased for the CCNP
Cisco Networking Academy Alumini course for CCNP
Cisco online resources
Cisco Documentation CD

For the written exam I’ve started off by downloading the R&S 4.0 Written Exam Topics. I plan to study every part of the exam topics, only ticking a part off when I am happy that I fully understand that section. I have decided to renew my CCNP BCSI module on the way, and so I plan to study the routing sections from the topics first. For the first week or so I’m going to go back to basics and study the following topics:

Format of an IPv4 packet header
Format of TCP and UDP packet headers
ICMP format
IPv4 addressing
Subnetting and VLSMs

I have not set myself a concrete deadline for completing my study for the written exam. although I would like to have have passed by the end of this year. If anyone would like to add any more useful resources to my list then please let me know and I’ll publish them.

New Cisco Career Certifications

Jim — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:26:29 +0000

Cisco this week announced the introduction of four new certifications. Wow. That should keep all you certification junkies going for a while. Two of the exams are based around the new cisco buzzwords of Unifed Data Centre Computing and one is for advanced network infrastructure architects. There is also a new CCNP wireless certification. That is something I may well look at in the future, as I deal with Cisco wireless products fairly often. Here are some links where you can find out some more:

CCVP Done

Jim — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:24:48 +0000

I passed the Cisco Troubleshooting Unified Communication (TUC) exam yesterday to complete my CCVP. The exam was quite tough and featured some E Sim questions were I had to search through some debug and CUCM SDI log outputs to solve problems. I’d recommened the Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony book to study for the exam along with other more up to date online resources for CUCM 5 and 6. I see that CBT Nuggets recently released a TUC course and I would have used that if it had been available for me. I’m delighted that is the CCVP over and I can get started on the the CCIE for real now. Oh and maybe I’ll have time to complete those posts I keep promising.

New Posts Coming Soon

Jim — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:50:12 +0000

Ok, so it’s been a couple of weeks since the last post. Mainly because I’ve had my head in the books studying for the CUCM IPT2 exam. I managed to pass the exam second time, after failing by a a few points on the first attempt. Those cheeky Cisco people threw in a few CVoice and IPT1 questions that threw me a little, as it had been a while since I’d looked over that material. A quick revision of the relevant areas cleared things up and I passed with 924 out of 1000 on my next attempt.

I then went on a weeks holiday to Rhodes in Greece to relax for a bit and I highly recommend the place to anyone in Europe looking for a nice break.

There will be a couple of new posts on the way soon. One about an incident I helped out with involving Etherchannels, the other the first instalment of setting up a CCVP Voice lab. In the meantime I’ve started studying for my last CCVP exam which is the Troubleshooting Unified Communcations (TUC) exam.

Changes to CCIE R&S Track

Jim — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:16:58 +0000

Cisco has announced some major changes to the CCIE Routing and Switching track. You can read the official statement here which contains links to the new written exam and lab exam blueprints.

As well as the introduction of some new topics such as MPLS VPNs, zone based firewalls and new IPv6 topics, the changes also include new lab equipment and a new lab format. The CCIE lab will now feature 1841 and 3825 ISRs running the newer 12.4T IOS and there will only be 3560-E switches in the rack.

The lab exam will still be done over a total of 8 hours. However the lab now has two completely seperate sections. There wil be a two hour troubleshooting section, followed by a six hour configuration lab.

The written exam will also change and it may well contain simulation questions.

The Internetwork Expert blog has a good overview of the changes and also has a breakdown of how their materials will change to match the new exams.

IPExpert CCIE Voice 3.0 Materials

Jim — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:58:52 +0000

ipexpert today put out a press release announcing it will be the first training company to offer materials for version 3.0 of the Voice track of the CCIE.

Many of my CCIE chums have used their training materials when studying towards their CCIE certification and they come highly recommended. I will certainly be looking at their Routing and Switching resources when I embark on the lab part of the CCIE.

Cisco Learning Network Store Opens

Jim — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:39:17 +0000

Having run a Cisco Academy and been a Cisco Instructor in previous roles, I’ve an interest in all things to do with Cisco learning. The Cisco Networking Academy Program is a brilliant way for students to learn networking skills. Cisco Academies are not accessible by everyone however, and with commercial Cisco courses being so expensive, Cisco Press books are sometime the only viable option for learning materials developed by Cisco.

Cisco have just announced the opening of new a online store focussed on providing learning materials for it’s certifications. The Cisco Learning Network Store is still in it’s early days and courses are still thin on the ground at present, but it already contains a few e-learning packages and some software tools for learning.

Let’s hope that as time goes on the cataolgue increases. More official Cisco e-learning courses would be a welcome addition to the currently available learning resources.

For interest to CCIE candidates is the Cisco 360 Learning Program for CCIE R&S students. Cisco describe the course as follows.

“The Cisco 360 Learning Program: Essentials for CCIE R&S with Mentoring is a suite of e-learning products, authorized by Cisco, that includes an one-year subscription of the Cisco 360 CCIE R&S Lessons on Demand, four independent graded assessment labs, a learner technical reference library, a practice lab exercise workbook, and curriculum-planning services delivered by an authorized Cisco 360 Learning Program Partner.”

At a wopping $5999.00 I doubt there will be a rush to take up this program, especially when there are many proven CCIE learning materials that are already on the block from the likes of IP Expert, Internetwork Expert and NetMaster Class.

If you purchase any of the materials please feel free to give us your feedback on them.