Well I sat and passed the IAUWS exam today, thats the security part. I am pushing hard to complete version 1 of the CCNP Wireless as I have some study materials available and I have been studying on and off for about a year. The only reason I haven't actually taken any of the exams is time.
This exam was a bit of a suprise. The exam blueprint is a great starting point which is available here but I was suprised how much focus there was on wireless NAC. Not an easy exam and you really need to read the documents. Some of the questions, as in any exam I guess were really straight forward but there were that were difficult to understand.
A great deal of material to cover and some tricky areas. A great test though.
Showing posts with label Certification. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Certification. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Friday, 3 February 2012
CCNP Wireless - CUWSS
Finally sat down and took the first of my CCNP Wireless exams, and passed.
OK its generally agreed that this probably is not the hardest of the CCNP exams but there are a few questions that could trip you up. Even if you do a lot of surveying there are areas that you will need to know with respect to the WCS planning tool and Cisco Spectrum Expert.
Now I admit that I do not use these tools every day so I spent a little time on WCS and read through the Spectrum Expert stuff.
The Quick learning guide from Cisco Press was great as any areas I was not 100% on I done a little studying.
It probably helped iron out any wrinkles I had as well in best practices etc.
Overall pretty straightforward if you know your stuff.
Already booked IAUWS for later this month and started reading the Quick Learning Guide, I must say there are a few more grey areas than there were for the CUWSS as there are a few things you dont work on often, and some not at all so onwards and hopefully upwards.
OK its generally agreed that this probably is not the hardest of the CCNP exams but there are a few questions that could trip you up. Even if you do a lot of surveying there are areas that you will need to know with respect to the WCS planning tool and Cisco Spectrum Expert.
Now I admit that I do not use these tools every day so I spent a little time on WCS and read through the Spectrum Expert stuff.
The Quick learning guide from Cisco Press was great as any areas I was not 100% on I done a little studying.
It probably helped iron out any wrinkles I had as well in best practices etc.
Overall pretty straightforward if you know your stuff.
Already booked IAUWS for later this month and started reading the Quick Learning Guide, I must say there are a few more grey areas than there were for the CUWSS as there are a few things you dont work on often, and some not at all so onwards and hopefully upwards.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
CCNP Wireless v2 & CCNA Wireless v2
Well at first glance looking at the exam topics for each of the exams there does not seem to be a massive amount of change. Each of the exam numbers is incremented by a single digit however the core topics remain largely unchanged.
From converstaions with various people and reading the forums such as CLN the biggest changes are updates due to code. Also how Cisco are approaching the exams is alleged to have changed in some cases quite a lot which could add to the fun.
One of the difficulties I had sitting the CCNA Wireless was remembering how things used to be done and as an entry level exam many candidates will not have seen the older code versions. I think the refresh will make a much fairer environment for the candidates however there is one major issue, no study materials.
Its been a major gripe of most candidates taking the Cisco wireless exams that there is scarecly any training or self study material. Pretty much the same for any wireless vendor exams actually! Without simulators and the need for hands on you need to be working with the equipment or very wealthy to buy a lab and or take the official traing which will have course materials, or like me determined and prepared to make the sacrifices and buy a lab and spend hours looking through the design guides. OK for me its almost a hobby.
The few books that were about for the CCNA Wireless will now be well out of date for the new exam. The CCNP Wireless Quick Reference guides will be equally out of date, that said only three of the four promised were ever released, Cisco Press still says the forth, IUWVN,will be released soon and states January 2011, hmmmm OK.
Well I think the core technologies are still relevant OK we have to forget about LWAPP now, that seems so long ago and think CAPWAP. New features like CleanAir, MSE replacing the Location Appliance etc. Largely I think alot of great information is still contained in these publications and they will help analyse your weaknesses. Once you know your weaknesses its into the design and deployment guides.
Good luck anyone taking these I have my first CCNP Wireless booked for 3/2/2012 which is CUWSS, this I should pass! Then I will take my IAUWS before the end of the month, I really want to get this before I have to start thinking about v2. I migh even dabble in v2 to see how different they are.
From converstaions with various people and reading the forums such as CLN the biggest changes are updates due to code. Also how Cisco are approaching the exams is alleged to have changed in some cases quite a lot which could add to the fun.
One of the difficulties I had sitting the CCNA Wireless was remembering how things used to be done and as an entry level exam many candidates will not have seen the older code versions. I think the refresh will make a much fairer environment for the candidates however there is one major issue, no study materials.
Its been a major gripe of most candidates taking the Cisco wireless exams that there is scarecly any training or self study material. Pretty much the same for any wireless vendor exams actually! Without simulators and the need for hands on you need to be working with the equipment or very wealthy to buy a lab and or take the official traing which will have course materials, or like me determined and prepared to make the sacrifices and buy a lab and spend hours looking through the design guides. OK for me its almost a hobby.
The few books that were about for the CCNA Wireless will now be well out of date for the new exam. The CCNP Wireless Quick Reference guides will be equally out of date, that said only three of the four promised were ever released, Cisco Press still says the forth, IUWVN,will be released soon and states January 2011, hmmmm OK.
Well I think the core technologies are still relevant OK we have to forget about LWAPP now, that seems so long ago and think CAPWAP. New features like CleanAir, MSE replacing the Location Appliance etc. Largely I think alot of great information is still contained in these publications and they will help analyse your weaknesses. Once you know your weaknesses its into the design and deployment guides.
Good luck anyone taking these I have my first CCNP Wireless booked for 3/2/2012 which is CUWSS, this I should pass! Then I will take my IAUWS before the end of the month, I really want to get this before I have to start thinking about v2. I migh even dabble in v2 to see how different they are.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
CCNP Wireless v2
Cisco announced the CCNP Wireless v2 earlier this week. Details can be seen here.
I have not had a detailed look at the changes yet but the exams will definitely be more relevant to todays implementations and include the newer feature sets and software versions.
I will look at the key differences over the next few days and post some details
I have not had a detailed look at the changes yet but the exams will definitely be more relevant to todays implementations and include the newer feature sets and software versions.
I will look at the key differences over the next few days and post some details
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
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
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
Sunday, 12 December 2010
CCNP Route
Well blogging has taken a bit of a back sat over recent months as I have been really busy with work. However now there is a little hiatus its back to studying.
I was really lucky to be invited onto a Cisco CCNP Route Beta course delivered over the web which was interesting. first the course content was excellent as was the presenter. However it was difficult to stay focused on a webinar for 8 hours a day over 5 days.
That said it certainly filled some knowledge gaps and gave me an understanding of all the content.
Some of the ROUTE content terified me, notably BGP and OSPF which is not good as thats half the course. However I feel alot more confident now that I have some knowledge to build on and neither looks too scary. That said I have a lot to learn.
As well as hopefully posting a bit more on wireless which is my first love I will also post on my CCNP endeavours which will help me memorise the various parts.
For studying I have my lab and GNS3 and will be using some Trainsignal vidos along with Odoms CCNP ROUTE book and the CCNP ROUTE Lab book. I hope thats enough to see me through!
Time scales, well thats a hard question to answer but I am giving myself 6 weeks of hard study to get to grips with it and then review where I am upto. Starting off listening to all the videos and reading the book while doing some labs to aid understanding. Then just lots of labs and back to the videos before the exam.
I was really lucky to be invited onto a Cisco CCNP Route Beta course delivered over the web which was interesting. first the course content was excellent as was the presenter. However it was difficult to stay focused on a webinar for 8 hours a day over 5 days.
That said it certainly filled some knowledge gaps and gave me an understanding of all the content.
Some of the ROUTE content terified me, notably BGP and OSPF which is not good as thats half the course. However I feel alot more confident now that I have some knowledge to build on and neither looks too scary. That said I have a lot to learn.
As well as hopefully posting a bit more on wireless which is my first love I will also post on my CCNP endeavours which will help me memorise the various parts.
For studying I have my lab and GNS3 and will be using some Trainsignal vidos along with Odoms CCNP ROUTE book and the CCNP ROUTE Lab book. I hope thats enough to see me through!
Time scales, well thats a hard question to answer but I am giving myself 6 weeks of hard study to get to grips with it and then review where I am upto. Starting off listening to all the videos and reading the book while doing some labs to aid understanding. Then just lots of labs and back to the videos before the exam.
Friday, 11 June 2010
CCNP Wireless eBooks available
Great news Cisco Press has released the first two of a series of four CIINP Wireless Quick Reference Guides.
The 642-736 CCNP Wireless IAUWS Quick Reference eBook (Implementing Advanced Cisco Unified Wireless Security) written by William G. Daniel priced at $24.99.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=158714218x
The 642-746 CCNP Wireless IUWMS Quick Reference eBook (Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Mobility Services) written by Jerome Henry priced at $24.99.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587141922
The other two publications in this series are scheduled for release on 20th August these are as follows
The 642-741 CCNP Wireless IUWVN Quick Reference eBook (Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Voice Networks ) written by Jeffrey DiMaio.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587141906
The 642-731 CCNP Wireless CUWSS Quick Reference eBook (Conducting Cisco Unified Wireless Site Survey ) written by Jerome Henry.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587141914
The 642-736 CCNP Wireless IAUWS Quick Reference eBook (Implementing Advanced Cisco Unified Wireless Security) written by William G. Daniel priced at $24.99.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=158714218x
The 642-746 CCNP Wireless IUWMS Quick Reference eBook (Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Mobility Services) written by Jerome Henry priced at $24.99.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587141922
The other two publications in this series are scheduled for release on 20th August these are as follows
The 642-741 CCNP Wireless IUWVN Quick Reference eBook (Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Voice Networks ) written by Jeffrey DiMaio.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587141906
The 642-731 CCNP Wireless CUWSS Quick Reference eBook (Conducting Cisco Unified Wireless Site Survey ) written by Jerome Henry.
http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587141914
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