CCDE Preparation Methodology

August 26th, 2014

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Providing Guidance

Building Strategy

Sharing Information

Overcoming Challenges

Acquiring Experience

Session

Objectives

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Agenda

CCDE Prospects and Benefits

CCDE Examination Overview

CCDE Practical Examination

Preparation Methodology, Tips & Resources

CCDE Leaders on Stage

Open Q&A Session

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Panelists

Ahmed Abro

• 3Cs (CCDE, CCIE Security, CISSP)

• Technologist, Author

• ~14 Years of industry experience

• Secure Cloud, DC & SDN

• Focus on architecture design and build for Enterprise and Service Providers

• Developed new frameworks and standards for Cloud, DC & SDN

• Upcoming co-authored book on SDMN

Bruce Pinsky

• CCIE, CCDE, CCAr

• Distinguished Engineer, Technologist

• ~25 Years of industry experience

• Member core team for CCDE and CCAr

• Focus on large scale network design and architecture for Enterprise and Service Providers

• Key architect for Cisco Learning Labs virtual lab delivery

Elaine Lopes

• PMP, CCIE R&S and SP

• CCDE, CCAr and CCIE SP Operations Exam Product Manager

• ~14 Years of industry experience

• Manage certifications design, development and life-cycle

Tom Young

• CCIEx3, CCDE

• 20 years industry experience

• Held positions as director, manager, architect, and engineer

• Enterprise and service provider architect/engineer experience

• Currently focused on enterprise design for a Cisco Gold partner

Greg Coté

• Learning @ Cisco Product Manager for; R&S, Design and Wireless Certifications

• Responsible for roadmap and coordinating revisions to certifications and training

• ~13 Years of industry experience

• Past Cisco roles include Marketing PM for Enterprise and SP routing platforms

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CCDE Prospects and Benefits

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“I received a lot of recognition at Verizon when I achieved the CCDE level; I am among a select group of people in the company with this certification.

It is a unique, vendor-neutral course, based on universal design principles and technologies that can be applied to solving comprehensive business needs.”

CCDE Value

Tony Brown, Enterprise Systems Architect - Verizon

• Leverages broad technical and business value skills and experience with complex networks

• Applies design principles to deliver robust network designs that are; Reliable, Resilient, Scalable and Manageable

• Applicable to Cisco and mixed vendor network designs

• Reinforces a methodical approach based on validated designs and best practices

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CCDE Benefits: What's in it for you?

• Certifies Expert level network design knowledge and experience

• Industry-wide recognition (holistic network view)

• Career growth from tactical to strategic roles

• Enhance relevance to ICT and Line of Business

• Professional development path to CCAr

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CCDE Examination Overview

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What CCDE is What CCDE is NOT

Focus on how and where to deploy which technologies, and why

Vendor-agnostic

Translates business and technical requirements into technical designs

Implementation/configuration, troubleshooting or operations

Data sheets

Product specifics

Software release specifics

Business test

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Certification Process

CCDE

Written

Exam

352-001

CCDE Practical Exam

352-011

Section One

pass passSection Two

Section Four

Section Three

Lunch

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Overview: CCIE and CCDE Tracks

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Security

• Expert level knowledge of security

and VPN solutions

• Demonstrate in-depth

understanding of Layer 2 and 3

network infrastructure; Solid

understanding of Windows, Unix,

Linux and HTTP, SMTP, FTP and

DNS

Service Provider

•Expert level knowledge of IP

fundamentals and technologies

Expertise in building an extensible

service provider network

•Expert level knowledge to

troubleshoot and maintain complex

service provider networks

Data Center

•Expert level knowledge of Data

Center Technologies, including DC

infrastructure, storage, compute and

virtualization

•Capable of building, configuring,

and troubleshooting an end-to-end

virtualized Data Center using Cisco

DC technologies

Wireless

•Expert level knowledge of WLAN

technologies

•Provides next step for individuals

interested in a career in managing or

working with Cisco wireless

technologies

Design

•Expert level knowledge of

network design principles for the

Layer 2 and 3 network

infrastructure

•Capable of assessing and

translating network business and

technical requirements into

technical designs

Routing & Switching• Expert level knowledge of

networking across LAN and WAN

interfaces and variety of routers and

switches

• Solve complex connectivity

problems to increase bandwidth,

improve response times, maximize

performance, and support global

operations

Collaboration

•Expert level knowledge of Cisco

Voice over IP (VoIP) products and

solutions

•Capable of building and configuring

complex end-to-end telephony

network, troubleshooting and

resolving VoIP-related problems

SP Operations

•Expert level knowledge of SP IP

NGN technologies

•Capable of troubleshooting SP

networks, managing SP processes

(incident, fault, change,

configuration, and performance),

and knowledge of NMS technology

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Expanded Footprint 2014

• Registration closes 1 day before the event date vs. 1 month before, although we

encourage candidates to register at least 45 days in advance

• Going Global: available at all 275 PPC locations WW

• Changes to lunch break

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CCDE Written Exam List of Topics

1.0 Layer 2 Control Plane 26%

2.0 Layer 3 Control Plane 37%

3.0 Network Virtualization 17%

4.0 Design Considerations 20%

CCDE List of Topics

CCDE Practical Exam List of Topics

1.0 Analyze Design Requirements 36%

2.0 Develop Network Designs 39%

3.0 Implement Network Design 13%

4.0 Validate and Optimize Network Design 12%

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Multiple Choice

• Question or instructions that require one or multiple responses

• Can or not have an exhibit

• Options can be exhibits

Stem

A. option

B. option

C. option

D. option

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Branch

Stem - Parent

A. option

B. option

C. option

D. option

Stem – Child 1

A. option

B. option

C. option

D. option

Stem – Child 2

A. option

B. option

C. option

D. option

• Used on decision-making:

Make a decision on the parent – use your best judgment

Justify your decision on the child/children

There may be more than 1 solution, scoring will account for all optimal and suboptimal solutions

• May not be apparent

• May be worth multiple points

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ChartA task requiring the candidate to select either one option or multiple options per row. Typically is worth multiple points.

single option per row

multiple options per row

Column A Column B Column C

Row 1

Row 2

Row 3

Row 4

Column A Column B Column C

Row 1

Row 2

Row 3

Row 4

Stem

Stem

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Drag&Drop and Label Drag&Drop

A task requiring the candidate to drag and drop options from one side of the interface to another, by populating or ordering the options. Typically is worth multiple points.

option

option

option

option

option

option

option

option

option

option

target

target

target

target

target

target

target

Label

Label

Stem Stem

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Hotspot

A task requiring the candidate to click on some part of the presented graphic, select one on a set of figures, or drag icons into a canvas to assemble a meaningful image. May be worth multiple points.

X

19

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Hotspot

A task requiring the candidate to click on some part of the presented graphic, select one on a set of figures, or drag icons into a canvas to assemble a meaningful image. May be worth multiple points.

X

20

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Simulation

• A simulation approximate live systems (subset) and applications without

actually using real methods. Detailed instructions are provided on how to

interact with it. Typically is worth multiple points.

• Used to place, remove and connect devices on a topology, and to select design

features on devices and links on a topology

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Practical Exam

Scoring

• Exam is auto-scored

• Employs statistical analysis to assure all exams are in the same length and difficulty level

• Multiple valid solutions are taken into consideration for scoring

• Optimal and suboptimal

• Some items are worth multiple points, with partial scoring

• Must achieve minimum score to pass

• Candidates receive score report, which indicates broad areas where additional study may be useful; score report mapped to exam blueprint

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CCDE Practical Examination

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Practical Exam

The Scenario

• The CCDE Practical is scenario-driven: it uses a hypothetical story as a basis to thinking through a complex design test that is credible, real-life, and cover multiple steps

• The context is established through the use of exhibits

• You begin with a network and a challenge

• Dig for information on each exhibit

• Using this information, you…

• Decide what information you’ll need to finish the challenge

• Determine what the critical technical and business constraints are

• Determine which technology fits where

• Determine how to deploy specific technologies to meet the challenge

• Respond to customer ideas and queries

• Do NOT answer questions on the scenario outside of the scope of the scenario!!

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Framework of a Network Design

Business Requirements

Technology Requirements

Network Virtualization

Qo

S

Se

cu

rity

Mu

ltic

as

t

Ma

na

ge

me

nt

Layer 3 Control Plane

Layer 2 Control Plane

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SIMPLICITY FAULT ISOLATION RESILIENCY SIMPLICITYRESILIENCY

MODULARITYSCALABILITYAVAILABILITY AVAILABILITY

HIERARCHY FAST CONVERGENCE REDUNDANCY HIERARCHYREDUNDANCY

SIMPLICITY FAULT ISOLATION RESILIENCY SIMPLICITYRESILIENCY

MODULARITYSCALABILITYAVAILABILITY AVAILABILITY

HIERARCHY FAST CONVERGENCE REDUNDANCY HIERARCHYREDUNDANCY

Network Design Principles

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CCDE Technology Domains

Network

Virtualization(L2VPN, L3VPN, VRF,

IPSec)

L3 Control

Plane(EIGRP,

OSPF, IS-IS, BGP)

Security

(Enterprise,

SP)

QoS(Diff Serv, IntServ)

L2 Control

Plane(STP, Fabric)

Network

Management

(Netflow, SNMP)

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Merge/

Divest

Add Technology /

Service

Replace

Technology /

ServiceScaling

CCDE Design Use cases

Design Failure

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Network Design Lifecycle

Analyze

Design

Implement & Deploy

Validate & Optimize

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Preparation Methodology

• Foundational Knowledge

• Training & Webinars

• Reading Materials

• Guides

Educate

• Practice scenarios

• Labtorial

• CVD (Cisco Validated Design)

Explore• On job network

design

• Case studies

• Day-to-day challenges

Experience

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Characteristics of Successful CCDE Candidates

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• Recall the previously provided

information

• Connect the question with

previous questions &

information from the scenario

• Look at the bigger picture

Abstraction Skills

Understand

Action

Connect

• Take time to comprehend and

absorb the question

• Refer to background documents &

emails

• Do not make false assumptions

• Apply the best design strategy

to answer

• Consolidate the information

supporting your answer

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Create a CCDE Game PlanAhmed Abro (Sample CCDE Plan)

Milestone # Activity Estimated Date Status % NotesM1 CCDE Arrangements

Buy CCDE Books 1/1/2013 50% Estimated Cost, Amazon, SafariJoin a study group 0%Register to CCDE communities 100% Cisco Learning Network

M2 CCDE Exam LogisticsRegister the CCDE Written Exam 100% Registration Cost, www.vue.comRegister the CCDE Practical Exam 100% Registration Cost, www.vue.comRegister for CCDE training 100%Plan & Book CCDE Practical Trip 19/2/2013 100% Chicago Location, Feb 2013

M3 CCDE Written PrepCover Technology Theory 100%Read Books 40% Optimal done, IS-IS chapter-2

M4 Attempt the CCDE WrittenM5 CCDE Practical Prep

Review Case studies 40%Read CCDE books 35%Hands-on new technologies 35%Practice CCDE Demo 100%

M6 Attended CCDE Training/Bootcamp

M7 Attempt the CCDE Practice 100%

M8 Achieved CCDE # 100%

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Create a CCDE Study Dashboard

To build a centralize repository of all the CCDE related information in one place

Track your progress for CCDE preparation topics

Organize the necessary information such as web links, to-read list, reference articles, important touch points

Assign flags for topics, content based on priorities

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Sample CCDE Dashboard

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• Don’t just memorize, understand the technology

concepts, capabilities and functionality

• Diagrams may hold the key to your answer, not only the

text

• Target approx 1 Min to answer each question, keep

additional time to handle complex questions

• Don’t waste time studying CLI commands, device

configurations, show command outputs

CCDE Written Tips

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• Bring your own coffee

• Take notes but don’t take a lot of notes

• Highlight with one color as you are not attending an art exam

• Use the rough pad & ask for more pads if needed

• Take full 1 hour break

• Do not compromise on time allocation, allocate 2 hours per scenario

• Don’t assume something if not mentioned, read to find important

information

• Don’t be so fast in your decision

• If a sub-optimal design/decision is picked by a customer, just answer

questions within

• Always consider the customer's business requirements while answering

• Verify other points to support your answers

• There is no answer other than what's listed so LOOK again and you will

find it

CCDE Practical Tips

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Frequent Use Websites

• Cisco Learning Network

• Network Blogs

• Cisco Support communities

• Cisco Live 365 / On-demand Library

• Cisco.com

• Cisco SRND

• Cisco CVDs

CCDE Library

Frequent Use Content

• CCDE Quick Reference Guide

• CCDE Practical Exam Demo

• CCDE Techtorial

• CCDE Notes

• My CCDE study guide

Other stuff

• Network RFCs

• Cisco Configuration Examples & Guides

• Cisco Mergers & Acquisitions Whitepaper

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Preparation Resources

• Cisco Learning Network (CLN)

• CCDE homepage: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccde

• CCDE Practical: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccde/practical_exam

• CCDE Reading List: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-2462

• Crossing the CCDE Border Webinar: https://cisco.webex.com/cisco/lsr.php?RCID=4fb97aaa5bb1aad09bcabbbf259f1a6f

• CCDE Study Group: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/groups/ccde-study-group

• Cisco Validated Design Program:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns741/networking_solutions_program_home.html?CAMPAIG

N=CVD+New+Frontier&COUNTRY_SITE=us&POSITION=sl&REFERRING_SITE=cisco%2Ecom

+homepage&CREATIVE=CVD+Re%2DLaunch

• Cisco Product Pages (former Cisco Documentation CD) http://www.cisco.com/web/psa/products/index.html

• CCDE Customer support and FAQ: http://www.cisco.com/go/certsupport

• Cisco Press: http://www.ciscopress.com

• Cisco Live Presentations @ CiscoLive365: https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/search.ww

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