Building My Own CCIE-V Lab
From the beginning I am been pretty sure that I was going to build my own lab so I can work at my leisure and not have to worry about getting everything done in an 8 hour period. In doing some research, I found that this was not going to be an inexpensive venture. Luckily, I am going to be able to leverage some equipment in our lab at work. This is going to save me around $1500 – $2000.
Half Way There
Well, it’s done. I have successfully passed the written portion of the CCIE Voice. Now for the long and expensive, did I mention long and expensive journey toward preparing for the lab portion. My plan is to schedule my first attempt in late November/early December of this year. I think this will give me more than enough time to adequately prepare. I don’t want to rush into anything, especially since $1400 is a lot to drop per attempt.
Another Crack Needed
Well, my first attempt at the Voice written exam was unsuccessful. I was very close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand gernades.
The overall experience was positive. I now know that it will take me every second of the 120 minutes that you are alloted. With previous Cisco exams, I was normally out of the test center within 45 minutes of starting, not this time. It was definately a chanllenge to keep to a 1 question a minute average when you have to sift through QoS configs and manually calculate bandwidth requirements.
Progress Update – 12/18/09
So, I have not been keeping up my end of the bargain when it comes to posting interesting and relative articles in a timely fashion. 1 update a month? That is absolutely terrible and unacceptable. I don’t really have any excuses other than my laziness. Maybe its because I don’t think you want to hear me blather on, but maybe you do. From this moment on, I will assume that you do.
Now on to the reason for this post. I have been preparing to take my CCIE Voice written exam over the past few months. A week or so ago, I decided that I needed to have an end date, or I would never get serious about getting through the material. So, I have finally spent the $350 and scheduled the exam. I am locked in for 12/23/09 @ 12:45p.
Over the past month I have accumulated a few items that I think have been helpful in preparing me for the written exam, some more than others:
CUCM 7.0 & AMD Incompatibility
I was recently able to get my hands on a nice suite of Cisco NFR software to aid in my studies. Items included: CUCM 7.1.3 / Unity Connections 7.1 / CUPS 7.0(5) / UCCX 7.0(1). It also included CUCM 7.0(2a) which is what is outlined on the CCIE-Voice exam blueprint. I was pretty happy about this, since I currently only have CUCM 6.x and wanted to be able to have some hands-on with the actual version that I will be seeing in the lab.
Being like a kid on Christmas, I broke out the CUCM 7.0(2a) DVD and started the install on my VMWare server. This is where it all went wrong. Like getting an awesome new toy, but your parents forgot to buy the batteries.