CCDA/CCDP Journal

OfWolfAndMan

It's been a couple months since I've pursued another Cisco cert (Busy with school), but my goal this year is to get these two done before year's end (Along with finishing my BS in IT Security and JNCIA). I have the material for both, but I plan on pounding through the CCDA as it's the less fun stuff I hear. In addition, my CCIE studies will overlap with these two when I have time. Once I get to the CCDP ARCH, I will be making a Design section in my journal for best practice purposes (Referencing from the books and design guides on Cisco's Doc-CD). I will provide a link to the journal when it has some more in it (On OneNote). For now, it's more focus on finishing up my term with as many credits as possible and finishing my job search. Oh, one more thing:

Reading resources: CCDA OCG
CCDP ARCH FLG
CCDP ARCH Simplified

Vids: Probably CBT nuggets, but I may just read through the book for CCDA and call it good since it's all conceptual and no lab.

instant000

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

I may just read through the book for CCDA and call it good since it's all conceptual and no lab.

Make sure to review this thread for a few tips:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccda-ccdp/106749-what-takes-pass-ccda-flying-colors-my-experience.html

Hope this helps!

OfWolfAndMan

Instant, let me just say that Design Zone is super awesome! Not just for the certification side, but also for notes outside of that i.e. my future CCIE studies or maybe Data Center side. Props to you, sir.

So I am almost done with the CCDA DESGN FLG. Finished enterprise design, data center, routing protocols (I actually ordered Optimal Routing design last week. Excited for that one to come), remote connectivity, and the business (Which I had to read over a couple times. Probably going to overview that one a little more later).

Also watched some of the INE CCDP vids (Anthony is a decent teacher) and skimmed through parts of the CCDP FLG. It's really just to get more details on some of the concepts I covered in the DA FLG.

Also, I am about halfway through the Art of Network Architecture as well. Not only do I enjoy Russ White's writing, but I also have really enjoyed this book so far. I think his hybrid network model was really cool. Not much in there for the CCDA, but it's very big on the business perspective of things. As in the majority of the book.

I'll be checking in next week. I hope to finish up my studies within the next week and a half to take the CCDA finally; if everything goes smoothly, that is. I have been learning Python as well and doing school, so my plate has been fairly fulfilling

OfWolfAndMan

Test is scheduled for this Thursday. I am finishing up some of the reading in the ARCH FLG now just to ensure of any gaps in the CCDA material. The Data Center design stuff is MUCH more in depth. WAN stuff has a different way of organization, but it covers a lot of the same things. Also, I am doing some reading through Optimal Routing Design as well (Excluding IS-IS. Mainly for EIGRP and OSPF). One thing I may find useful in my technical notes is the SPF/LSA throttling.

OfWolfAndMan

Well I went in today and passed the test with an 895. My biggest suggestion is DO NOT RELY JUST ON THE OCG OR FLG OR YOU WILL FAIL. Design zone was a huge help and my job experience was another factor that played into this as well. Also, I would highly suggest reading through the ARCH FLG.This is by far my favorite design book so far, after optimal routing design of course. I think you'd be fine if you skimmed the SAN design chapter. For those who are already CCNP R&S, I would highly suggest you get it know your remote and WAN, collaboration, and data center design (I'm starting to consider pursuing DC for how cool I find it). I'll check back later for my CCDP battle plan. The next couple of months will be knocking out more school and getting up to speed on my new job.

bharvey92

Congrats bro, good work. How long did it take you to nail the CCDA roughly?

OfWolfAndMan

Thanks man!

My studies officially began back at the end of December, however I had read through the ARCH FLG prior to that, along with some of the CCDA OCG. So unofficially I was studying for a month and a half and once I allocated my studies to primarily complete the certification, it was about two months. So I would say if you brought in more than the OCG or FLG (Design Zone, CCDP ARCH FLG, and some CCDP INE vids), you could finish it in a couple months solid, that is if you have already actually been moderately exposed to the R&S and/or Data Center world. If you are new to networking (Which I know you aren't, bharvey), this certification is not for you.

FYI I don't have my notes compiled all digitally yet, but I have been making a CCIE journal online (OneNote). It's a work in progress, but I have a lot of topics filled in. All CCIE R&S topics along with fundamental Data Center, Wireless, SDN and Openflow, design and best practices (Mainly my CCDA notes right now), and Security modules will be noted in this journal. In addition, I want to share some of my python scripts I am working on to help out those (Who can use them) to try them out in their own environment. These may be scripts that were already written, but it's for my learning purposes and getting to learn a little automation for helping me out in the field.

If you're interested in these notes, PM me and I'll shoot you a link (Feel free to correct any errors as well. There's a lot of info in there so far).

mistabrumley89

Congrats! I really need to get off of my arse and schedule my DA exam. I'm just slowly trudging through my ARCH FLG now. There is definitely some decent information in the ARCH FLG. Good luck with your CCDP

OfWolfAndMan

Resurrecting this thread as I am going to be working on the remainder of my CCDP studies for the next several weeks. Here are the notes I have compiled so far:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=67E99F4720ABFE96!114&authkey=!AImCp0gstw3M-UI

This is my CCIE notes, but a lot of the design-specific information is located under the tab "Network Architecture". If anyone has some input on edits that I didn't catch, please let me know so I can change it accordingly.

I have some additional ones I have hard written down, so I will add those as I go. I am currently on the Data Center Design chapter working on Blade Server, Fex and ToR design, HA, and network virtualization. Campus Design and most of the WAN material has already been covered, but I just have to add it into my notes.

late_collision

Thought I'd chime in and join you on this journey.

I'm currently about half way through the WAN chapter and all this EPL, ERS, EWS, EMS, ERMS, E-LINE, ELAN, MPLS, and AToM stuff are really baking my noodle. Nothing difficult, it's just a LOT of letters to cover and remember.

So far, I am really enjoying this book. I hope to have the WAN chapter done by the end of the weekend and start on the Data Center design chapter on Monday. With another week of covering graveyard shifts at work (aka down time), I'm hoping to to make some good progress. I know Dec. 14th is going to come way too soon.

OfWolfAndMan

late_collision wrote: »

Thought I'd chime in and join you on this journey.

Sure, why not!

Finished about 150 pages of the CCDP book this week, as well as viewing several CVDs on Design Zone. My reading this week entailed:
-Data Center Design
*vPC design
*ToR and EoR Design as well as hybrid model with OOB switches acting as ToR and actual production traffic switches in a EoR setup
*FEX design, N1Kv design
*Access Layer Design methods, to include looped square, looped triangle, loop free u, loop free inverted u, and L3
-SAN Design
*Business Drivers and Components
*VSANs, FSPF, IVR, and various other SAN technologies
*SAN Extension Protocols to include FCIP, iSCSI and FCOE
*Unified Fabric Design and Best Practices
-E-Commerce Design
*High availability components:
1. Redundancy
2. Technology
3. People
4. Processes
5. Tools
*Common E-Commerce module designs
*Common E-Commerce SLB designs
*Common E-Commerce Multi-ISP designs
*Common E-Commerce Integrated Designs

The next week will entail inputting and reviewing all of my notes from the Enterprise Campus Design Chapter, the L3 Routing Chapter, and the WAN chapter.

late_collision

I'm a little behind schedule. I took yesterday (Sunday) off from studying, went and played some hockey and had a couple of beers with the guys. It was much needed.

I just wrapped up the WAN chapter, which I really struggled to get through. It seemed like there was just so much information packed into that chapter for being such a small percentage of the blueprint. Ah well, onward to Enterprise Data Center Design.

OfWolfAndMan

Got a little behind myself as well due to the baby, but not doing too bad...

As of today, from the beginning of last week, I have finished both campus design and everything in L3 design with the exception of BGP design. Some topics included:
-Three-layer hierarchy recommendations for:
*Access Layer
*Distribution Layer
*Core Layer
-STP toolkit
*Portfast
*Backbonefast
*Uplinkfast
*Loopguard
*Rootguard
*BPDUguard
*UDLD
-VSS Design
-L2 vs L3 Access Layer Design
-IP Telephony Considerations
*PoE
*QoS Considerations
*Multi-VLAN access port (With Auxiliary VLAN)
-Optimal EIGRP Design
-Optimal OSPF Design
*Areas and Summarization
*LSA and SPF throttling
*LSA pacing
-Routing Protocol Migration
*Dual IGPs with differing AD
*Redistribution with moving boundary
-Default Routing

Tomorrow I will complete the remainder of the routing chapter. The remainder of the week will be allocated for the WAN (Review) and Security Services Design sections. In addition, I will be reviewing some of the documentation provided by previous successful CCDPs on this forum.

bharvey92

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

Got a little behind myself as well due to the baby, but not doing too bad...

As of today, from the beginning of last week, I have finished both campus design and everything in L3 design with the exception of BGP design. Some topics included:
-Three-layer hierarchy recommendations for:
*Access Layer
*Distribution Layer
*Core Layer
-STP toolkit
*Portfast
*Backbonefast
*Uplinkfast
*Loopguard
*Rootguard
*BPDUguard
*UDLD
-VSS Design
-L2 vs L3 Access Layer Design
-IP Telephony Considerations
*PoE
*QoS Considerations
*Multi-VLAN access port (With Auxiliary VLAN)
-Optimal EIGRP Design
-Optimal OSPF Design
*Areas and Summarization
*LSA and SPF throttling
*LSA pacing
-Routing Protocol Migration
*Dual IGPs with differing AD
*Redistribution with moving boundary
-Default Routing

Tomorrow I will complete the remainder of the routing chapter. The remainder of the week will be allocated for the WAN (Review) and Security Services Design sections. In addition, I will be reviewing some of the documentation provided by previous successful CCDPs on this forum.

Wow, keep up the great work man! Impressive how you are managing all this study especially as I think you mention a baby in your previous post! That must surely take up most of your time!

OfWolfAndMan

Yes the baby is a handful, especially last night...

Finished the WAN chapter on Wednesday, and finished up security services as well. Last night entailed about half of the IPSec VPN chapter, so all that remains is the other half, and then IP Multicast design (Which I have already read through before. Just didn't take notes the first time).

Notable WAN chapter Sections:
-SONET
-DWDM/CWDM
-Resilient Packet Ring (RPR)
-Metro Ethernet Technologies
*EPL
*ERS
*EWS
*EMS
*ERMS
*AToM
*EoMPLS
-WAN QoS Design Considerations
-VPLS
*H-VPLS
*VPLS forwarding and issues
-SLA Overview

Notable Security Services Design Sections:
-Firewall modes
*Routed
*Transparent
-Firewall Types
*ASA
*FWSM
*Zone-Based Policy Firewall
*Virtual Firewall
-Firewall Design considerations

late_collision

You are absolutely crushing it, nice progress! Keep us updated, it's clear you will be prepared for the exam before I am, and I'm looking forward to any feedback.


I am trying a new study method on this end. I've been pretty bad about taking notes in the past, so I am forcing myself through the process. I have found that it is adding a significant amount of time to complete a chapter, but after I read the text and write the notes, I am retaining a bit more of the info. I guess I'm struggling to find the balance of the "right amount" of notes to take. I ended up with almost 20 pages in the Data Center chapter alone!

I've cleared the Data Center Design chapter and am swimming in the SAN chapter. It's completely foriegn to me, so I've actually doubled back and am watching some CBT nuggets on SANs from the CCNA-DC track. I feel like it's helping. I would like to clear the SAN and E-Commerce chapters in the FLG by the end of the week.

bharvey92

late_collision wrote: »

You are absolutely crushing it, nice progress! Keep us updated, it's clear you will be prepared for the exam before I am, and I'm looking forward to any feedback.


I am trying a new study method on this end. I've been pretty bad about taking notes in the past, so I am forcing myself through the process. I have found that it is adding a significant amount of time to complete a chapter, but after I read the text and write the notes, I am retaining a bit more of the info. I guess I'm struggling to find the balance of the "right amount" of notes to take. I ended up with almost 20 pages in the Data Center chapter alone!

I've cleared the Data Center Design chapter and am swimming in the SAN chapter. It's completely foriegn to me, so I've actually doubled back and am watching some CBT nuggets on SANs from the CCNA-DC track. I feel like it's helping. I would like to clear the SAN and E-Commerce chapters in the FLG by the end of the week.

Collision, not sure if you've tried/use this technique, but for my Data Centre studies I have basically stuck to the Blueprint and spent my time on studies matching that criteria and spending more/less time on the heavier weighted sections..might be worth a shot as I'm pretty bad with taking notes also..

OfWolfAndMan

Well, it's been about a week I've posted here, and I should've posted earlier, but whatever.

At the end of last week, I completed the book and was able to review some of the design guys I had initially downloaded from design zone. In addition to that, I had scheduled the test for Wednesday. I know I had just finished the book, but based on the structure of the exam objectives and the percentages allocated for each section, 30% being Campus, 24% being IP Addressing and Routing, and 32% being Data Center, I felt fairly strong about most of that. I think my only weak section in the Data Center section was SAN as I've worked with the MDS 9Ks, but not extremely in depth...

Most of the WAN studies I had previously done within my IE studies, and CCNP/CCNA security obviously overviewed the IPSec VPN, and I'd say knowing it from both a configuration definitely helped seeing it from a design perspective. I'd say the thing I was newest to, and may never use is the E-Commerce design.

Anyway, because I felt I had a grasp on the majority of the material, and have been reviewing this material for some time, even though my school studies had kept me somewhat from taking this into full depth, I took the test on Wednesday and scored a 961. Overall, I thought it was actually not that bad. Part of the reason I felt I did well was because of my experience, but also the breadth of experience in the Campus/DC/Security/Collaboration/WAN I have had the luxury of being a part of.

I would say you could probably get away with just using the FLG, but to be safe I'd recommend reviewing some of the materials on Design Zone just for some additional clarification and/or a different perspective.

Edit: Another thing I forgot to mention was the INE CCDP vids with Anthony Sequiera. Pretty good stuff! If you can find them

late_collision

Way to go!

I'm getting to the point of wanting to be done with this exam. Currently chewing through the E-commerce chapter and struggling to pull much of anything worthwhile from it. There's a couple of interesting bits, but mostly it feels convoluted.

I appreciate the feedback from your experience. Would you say the exam aligned pretty well with the blueprint?

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

Edit: Another thing I forgot to mention was the INE CCDP vids with Anthony Sequiera. Pretty good stuff! If you can find them

I found the videos for the CCDP 640-871? I think it's like 3 generations old. Is there a newer version, or is that the same one you have? The SAN sections really helped me out.

late_collision

bharvey92 wrote: »

Collision, not sure if you've tried/use this technique, but for my Data Centre studies I have basically stuck to the Blueprint and spent my time on studies matching that criteria and spending more/less time on the heavier weighted sections..might be worth a shot as I'm pretty bad with taking notes also..

Yeah, this is what I am currently doing as well. I feel like once you deviate from the RS track, the blueprint becomes a lot more important.

I think what I need to cut back on, is taking notes just to take notes. I find myself taking notes on material where I feel solid on the subject, such as stuff that was learned as a foundation. I need to focus more on fresh material that hasnt had an opportunity to stick yet, and other obscure bits such as service/port numbers, convergence times, and stuff like that, which can only be committed to memory by constant drilling.