CCIE Wireless Version 2

Well its finally here after a few months of rumour and speculation the CCIE Wireless version 2 has been announced today. The changes will impact the written and lab exams and brings the CCIE Wireless bang upto date, well as of today anyway, we may have different code versions available when it lands.

The CCIE Wireless v2 will be available from 18th November 2011 which is Cisco standard 6 months advanced notice.

There will be a beta written in July at $50 which is great news however the results of betas usually come out a few weeks after you take it rather than getting the good news on the computer at the end of the exam.

So whats new?

The exam will be written around code version 7.0 MR1 which is bang upto date. SOme things from current code 4.2 will be easier but there are a lot of new features incorporated.

Here is a brief overview at first glance of new things.

VSS - Would be cool to have that in a home lab but I think I might cause a domestic?

Office Extend - not too much of a biggy

CleanAir - Awesome again relatively straight forward

VideoStream - Will be interesting

Context Aware Service

MSE - Hopefully you will be able to get access to this somehow!

Client link

Band select

NAC - Will have to get my head around this as its a big subject in itself depending on how far you need to go.

All in all a great refresh and will be a real challenge, anyone sitting the lab is going to be challenged and busy and it will hopefully stop people thinking wireless is easy. There looks like a lot more but I think the subject matter has been broken down more.

No comment on which version of ACS we will be using and no comment as to wether the OEQs have been dropped which I know for many is quite scary as to fail on just 4 questions is a killer, some people just freeze up a bit on the day or may not articulate exactly enough information on the day.

For more details here are the blueprints written and lab

Lab update

I have taken delivery of an AIR-WLC4402-12-K9 from my great freind George Stafanck. This will allow me to get a lot more practice with senarios using the later code versions, my existing controller is an AIR-WLC2006-K9 which will not run later codes.

The main advantage of the 4402 is being able to setup guest access in a DMZ which I could never test with the 2006. Obviously there is additional functionality from the later codes.

I still want to add another controller but that will probably be a 2106 or a newer variant thereof if one is released soon, however the code would not be downgradeable to 4.2 which is the CCIE Wireless code.

Its very much a can of worms as there is a strong rumour that the CCIE Wireless will change next year which will mean a code change so its difficult to know what to add.

Anyway thats a brief update, however I am extremely busy at work at the present time so do not have a great deal of time to lab but will hope to get some time this weekend to test a few things out.

I need to start running scenrios more with Windows 2008 and take a serious look at ACS 5.1 as apparently its very different. Always a challenge I guess.

I will post a few lab pics later in the week.

Good Luck

I am just taking this opportunity to wish two people I know, hopefully they won't mind me calling them freinds, the very best of luck for their CCIE Labs which they are taking.

Both have been working extremely hard in their respective studies and I admire them both greatly. They both deserve it and I am sure they will be successful.

Gabriel Bryson is taking the CCIE Security Lab on Wednesday 12th May 2010 and Jennifer Huber is taking the CCIE Wireless Lab on Tbhursday 13th May 2010.

Good luch to you both.

No more CCIE OEQs

Well it looks like the end of Cisco's controvertial OEQs which have been a part of the CCIE track for about a year.

Some of the CCIE tracks having them added recently and others still waiting. However the news is that they will be gone as of the 10th of May from the R&S and Voice tracks. Surely its only a matter of time before they go completely.

I haven't seen anything official yet but thats the rumour.

I think there is enough pressure without them for CCIE candidates. Imagine you pay $1400 for the chance to take the exam and can fail in the first 30 minutes on the OEQs.

The written should be weeding out those that aren't upto the exam.

The CCIE lab has always been about hands on, it's the 800lb gorilla of the tech exam world.

I know that those who have failed the OEQs but aced the configuration and troubleshooting may not get much flexibility from Cisco, I can't see them saying "Oh well OK so it was a bad idea here's your CCIE as you aced the config part" but thats life.

It was always wrong when Cisco introduced two classes of CCIE the haves and the have nots. That the 360 candidates got the waiver was the thin end of the wedge but hail hail it looks like common sense has prevailed and maybe just maybe for once Cisco has listened to the communnity and relented. There are a lot of good ideas in the Cisco community and most Cisco certification candidates do it the right way, study hard and put in the hours. To fail the CCIE on 4 or 5 questions would heart breaking.

Well done Cisco, good move.

No doubt there will be other tweaks to the exam with that half hour slot to fill but its definitely a good move.