The Basic Study Plan

I’ve laid out a basic study plan in my head, which roughly follows the CCVP track in terms of material. Namely, the gola is to become proficient in a particular Voice/UC technology one at a time. Once I’ve completed that goal, I then will addon the next technology as an overlay. This approach will be similar to the methodology that I used for my Route/Switch study. In that pursuit, I began with Layer 2, moving on to IGPs, followed by BGP, and finally IP Services. I also plan to have a little “fun” with my studies, such as creating a fictitious company that I will use to build out my UC lab.

Conceivably, and in my humble opinion, there are two basic approaches for preparing for the CCIE lab.

1. Learn the test. Meaning, learn how to take the test, prepare for the known “gotchas” and common question types, and become proficient in the core material. This will likely get you to about sixty to seventy percent in exam, and arguably, you would have a decent chance at passing.
2. Learn the material and technology. By this, I mean more than just learning the test. What I mean is learning and understanding the technology inside and out. You would have a decent chance at passing, but in the end, the candidate will be a much better engineer.

I know that I am vastly oversimplifying the above, but my goal and approach will be the later. Below is the rough approach, subject to change of course:

1. VoIP Fundamentals: FXS, FXO, PRI, dial peers, VoIP, basic GWY/GKPR
2. UC Express: UC Manager Express, Unity Express
3. QoS: LAN & WAN, CAC (non-GWY)
4. Unity 5.0 (assuming that this will be tested by Summer 2009)
5. UCM 6.x - may move this up prior to Unity.
6. Advanced Gateway & Gatekeeper
7. UCCX 5.x
8. MPE (assuming that this will be tested by Summer 2009)
9. Presence (assuming that this will be tested by Summer 2009)

For actual study material, the plan will roughly be:

• The appropriate Cisco Press books that map to the above. A good listing available both on CCIE Voice Recommend Reading List as well as the Cisco Press CCVP Book List.
• For the corresponding technologies above, pull sample configurations from Cisco Support UC/Voice web pages.
• The various UC related Solutions Reference Network Design (SRND) guides.
• The Cisco Validated Design Program reference architectures.
• SMB Smart Designs for Validated Commercial Solutions
• Cisco Unified Communications IP Telephony Technical Information Site, 6.1

The above should keep me fairly busy for a few weeks! LOL

Next posting… my home lab