Rosh's CCIE Collaboration Journey

Well it seems as though everyone else is doing this, so I thought - hey, why not? So its my turn now!

This will be my "progress diary" I guess for my journey to get my number. I have been working with voice for about 5 or so years now and think that my career could benefit from attempting the challenge of getting my first CCIE. After leaving the military and now working for a large Telco in Managed Services it's time that I really boost my career into the direction I want it to take.

I know it will be long and very tough, but I know that I can come back here and view others' success stories and experiences to provide insight and motivation.

I have started the process by revisiting my absolute favorite topic - CME!! While CUCM is great, I just love hard coding in CME and making a phone ring, the CLI is just my thing.

From here I will be covering off in detail all the protocols and nitty gritty of CUCM, and then into UCCX, CUC and IM&P.

For resources, I will be using Cisco Press texts (about 15 in total), SRNDs and white papers and any other factoids and information I can get my hands on. For the lab, my ESXi host is running the entire Collab topology with v10, I have 2x 2901 ISR G2 (each with 2x PVDM3-64ea) and 3 2811 ISR G1 (again full of PVDM2-64). I just need to get some 9911 phones and 1 more 7965, and 2 3560/3750 PoE switch. I have all the cards etc.

I am aiming for my written to be done mid-year and then the lab either end of this year, or in the first 1/4 of 2016. I am pretty much the only person at work that is not a CCIE and there is at least a half dozen that are CCIE Voice/Collab as well

I look forward to posting updates and getting feedback etc from everyone here at TE and I know that there is some very smart guys and gals in here that I could turn to for help when the time comes!

Here we go!!!

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Alex90

Best of luck with the journey, I'll be keen to hear how you get on

cisco_nerd

Thanks Alex90

It will be fun. I love learning and playing with voice technologies - I find it more interesting than getting a few routers to ping/trace over a MPLS cloud (sorry R/S - SP guys). But having said that I have plans to carry on my R/S and SP studies after collaboration is finished

I havn't bother with Voice certs in the past and thought about going through the motions of CCNA-CCNP-CCIE but with the new changes with video at the CCNA/P level i'm not that interested anymore.

My colleagues believe I am better off just going for the CCIE and bypassing the others as I will be learning the same content but in greater detail. I am a PABX tech (worked with NORTEL stuff mainly) so pretty familiar with the voice world already.

I am 1 week into my review stage, going back to core topics to ensure that I havn't missed any basics (or forgotten them!). I have a 45min train ride to and from work each day so i get extra reading time on top of 4 hours at night. I aim to study about 30 hours per week.

I will be building a small portion of the lab to start with to rehash some of the CUCM/UCCX topics I don't use at work before building the full scale lab hosted on 2 esxi 6.0 servers.

So far everything is progressing well. Life is still getting in the way as we just moved into our new place about a month ago and still have boxes filling the garage! but things are starting to settle down. Thankfully I have a wonderfully supporting wife who has given me permission to take on this challenge

Alex90

Would you mind doing a list of your study materials when you have everything; which books you will be using, videos, home lab, any blogs or other websites? I can never study on the train, I always end up with somebody eating a bag or crisp or something in my ear...

cisco_nerd

we have designated "quiet carriages" here with wifi access so its pretty good for that

the materials I will be using are as follows:

Reading List (books):
this is for my refresher phase
CCNA Voice study guide
CCNP CVOICE study guide
CCNP CIPT1 study guide
CCNP CIPT2 study guide
CCNP TSHOOT reference guide
CCNP CAPPS reference guide

Configuring CUCM and Unity Connection: A Step-by-step guide
Cisco IP Communications Express: CME and CUE
Cisco Unified Presence Fundamentals
Cisco Unity Connection
Cisco Voice Gateways and Gatekeepers
SIP Trunking
CCIE Collaboration quick reference guide

as well as the following online resources:
Cisco Unified Systems Solutions SRND
Cisco Unity Exress Installation/Admin guide
Cisco CME Admin guide
Cisco UCCX Admin guide

maybes:
Securing Cisco IP Telephony Networks
Fax, Modem and Text for IP Telephony
End-toEnd QoS Network Design: QoS for Roch-Media and Cloud Networks

Videos:
INE CCIE Voice/Collaboration set from CCNA to CCIE and associated workbooks

Equipment:
I have pretty all the equipment at home, just need a few more items, but this is what i have

HQ Site
1x 2901 w/ VWIC2-2MFT-T1/E1, HWIC-2T, PVDM3-64 + PVDM3-128
1x 3560/3570 PoE (still to buy to replace my 3550)
1x ESXi 6.0 host w/ 2x CUCM, CUC, IM&P, and UCCX
1x 9971
1x 7965
1x Laptop w/ Jabber

BR1 Site
1x 2811 w/ VWIC2-2MFT-T1-E1, HWIC-2T, PVDM2-64 (x1)
1x 3560/3570 PoE (still to buy to replace my 3550)
1x ESXi 6.0 host w/ CUCM, CUC, IM&P
1x 9971
1x 7965/62/61

BR2 Site (CME)
1x 2901 w/ VWIC2-2MFT-T1/E1, HWIC-2T, PVDM3-16 (x2)
1x 3560/3570 PoE (still to buy to replace my 3550)
1x ISM-SRE-300-K9 CUE module
1x 7965/62/61
1x 9971

Core / PSTN Cloud
1x 2811 w/ HWIC-4T, 2x VWIC2-2MFT-T1/E1, HWIC-4ESW, PVDM2-64 (x2)
1x 7961/62

Thats it for now, there are few little things to get, like smart serial cables and the 3560/3570 switches.. and the 9971 phones.

Im lucky that I build a decent PC when i did (6 core intel i7 with 64Gb ram) and i'm getting another intel 4 core from a family member to build more VMs.. as it will help out with CCIE R/S after voice

Not sure if i need more/less - open to suggestions but this is what i going off for now

cisco_nerd

i'm a bit torn with the workbooks... unsure if i get INE, IPExpert or CollabCert workbooks.... any insights from those have used or are using any of these for Collaboration???

ccnpninja

This is going to be another interesting thread. Good luck Cisco_nerd and keep posting

cisco_nerd

thanks ccnpninja

cisco_nerd

well it's been a very slow week... not much progress has been made as a number of other things have come up that needed my immediate attention.

i'm also at the point of realisation regarding the shear size of this undertaking and have questioned myself if i have the time / resources to devote myself to this.

needless to say, i must push on and make it to test day!

Alex90

"I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult.... I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking."

You can do it mate, don't give up!

sandman748

Good luck on your CCIE collaboration studies. I also just made the decision to go for it as well. Have been working through CCNA , CCNP level certs in data center and design but figured I'd put that on hold and really give this a go.

I signed up for the all access pass with INE that gave me 2 years and 1000 rack tokens (100ish hours) in addition to their workbooks. The videos are not bad, but don't go into the level of detail required for the written exam. Seems to be much more geared towards preparing for the lab exam. As far as I can tell, there are no collaboration specific workbooks. The Voice ones that are there seem to cover the majority of the collaboration stuff but are missing the video related topics. I read somewhere that Mark Snow is no longer with INE and they kinda ended up with half of what they really needed in order to offer a full self study course.

I booked my written exam for June 10th. Doesnt give me much time. It was a free exam through my Cisco live registration so I'm really looking at it as an opportunity to guage my progress up to that point and I figure there's a small chance I might surprise myself and come out of there with a pass.

Let us know if you sign up with IPexpert. I'm thinking of doing their bootcamp if \ when I pass the written exam.

cisco_nerd

Alex90 wrote: »

"I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult.... I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking."

You can do it mate, don't give up!

Thanks mate!

cisco_nerd

sandman748 wrote: »

Good luck on your CCIE collaboration studies. I also just made the decision to go for it as well. Have been working through CCNA , CCNP level certs in data center and design but figured I'd put that on hold and really give this a go.

I signed up for the all access pass with INE that gave me 2 years and 1000 rack tokens (100ish hours) in addition to their workbooks. The videos are not bad, but don't go into the level of detail required for the written exam. Seems to be much more geared towards preparing for the lab exam. As far as I can tell, there are no collaboration specific workbooks. The Voice ones that are there seem to cover the majority of the collaboration stuff but are missing the video related topics. I read somewhere that Mark Snow is no longer with INE and they kinda ended up with half of what they really needed in order to offer a full self study course.

I booked my written exam for June 10th. Doesnt give me much time. It was a free exam through my Cisco live registration so I'm really looking at it as an opportunity to guage my progress up to that point and I figure there's a small chance I might surprise myself and come out of there with a pass.

Let us know if you sign up with IPexpert. I'm thinking of doing their bootcamp if \ when I pass the written exam.

I have the INE videos also - what else are you using if you believe that the INE videos are not up to scratch for the written?

I am using the INE videos and a list of books to supplement these. I have considered the IPExert series as they advertise that they have a Collaboration package of resources.

cisco_nerd

Well... due to work and other commitments, I have had to put a hold on my CCIE goal.. I don't want to kid myself in taking this on, so I need to step back and re-evaluate things.

Part of this is to focus my energy into the CCNP V/Collab for the time being and focus on work and family.

I am not disappointed with this, but I understand that this isn't a sunday special and that it is a very long path to get there.

Anyway...

rikaragoza

Hi!

Is it possible to ask for your materials regarding CCNA Collaboration? I'm starting my journey and every help is very much appreciated!

Alex90

rikaragoza wrote: »

Hi!

Is it possible to ask for your materials regarding CCNA Collaboration? I'm starting my journey and every help is very much appreciated!

Seems like the book is due for release in November and CBT Nuggets have some CBTs available already (although the course isn't complete). In the meantime I would read the CCNA Voice book, watch the CBT's and then try and get your hands on the training material from CCNA Video.

Both of those should give you an excellent head start.

Shoe Box

I've never really understood the "Collaboration" certifications. What are they intended for, and what jobs would you apply for with ccna/ccnp/ccie collaboration?