Almost done with CCDA book..

NetworkGod

To all you guys out there who're going for CCDA, Diane Teare Cisco Press book..
WOW, what a nice book, really enjoyable read, she really gets into details of every little thing (i haven't taken the exam yet but i think after studying that book i'll do OK *fingers crossed*)
It's a little hard to get right on it in the beginning, but don't be alarmed as you read further, just get back to previous chapters you couldn't understand (i had to reread first couple twice) and you'll be absolutely fine. The "Designing Networks for Voice Transport" is a little hard, so you might take a look at it a couple times also (all the signaling and telephony sheesh.. confusing!!)
Speaking of voice, are there CCVPs out there? How is the CCVP path comparing to other Proffessional paths?
Anyway, i just wanted to share a little bit of my thoughts about the book with you guys.

mikej412

n3tw0rkg0d wrote:

The "Designing Networks for Voice Transport" is a little hard, so you might take a look at it a couple times also (all the signaling and telephony sheesh.. confusing!!)

Good advise! I made the mistake of thinking the Voice stuff would be harder for the CCDP and that they would just ask the "powder puff" voice questions in the CCDA -- and it turned out to be the opposite! Even after I got the CCVP I still wondered about those first several questions I got on the CCDA -- I remember having to stop and check to make sure I wasn't taking the CVOICE exam by mistake.

n3tw0rkg0d wrote:

How is the CCVP path comparing to other Proffessional paths?

Voice and Security are the 2 most "expensive" professional level Cisco Certs because of the hardware and software required. Both are good candidates for rack rental for the hands on work during your study.

Voice finally has the new books out, so you can finally figure out which books work for which exams.

Voice brings in some of those alien telecom concepts -- so be prepared to have to learn a bunch of new stuff. So far the best CCVPs I've worked with have been old telecom guys who came over to IT and Cisco.

Humper

mikej412 wrote:

n3tw0rkg0d wrote:

The "Designing Networks for Voice Transport" is a little hard, so you might take a look at it a couple times also (all the signaling and telephony sheesh.. confusing!!)

Good advise! I made the mistake of thinking the Voice stuff would be harder for the CCDP and that they would just ask the "powder puff" voice questions in the CCDA -- and it turned out to be the opposite! Even after I got the CCVP I still wondered about those first several questions I got on the CCDA -- I remember having to stop and check to make sure I wasn't taking the CVOICE exam by mistake.

n3tw0rkg0d wrote:

How is the CCVP path comparing to other Proffessional paths?

Voice and Security are the 2 most "expensive" professional level Cisco Certs because of the hardware and software required. Both are good candidates for rack rental for the hands on work during your study.

Voice finally has the new books out, so you can finally figure out which books work for which exams.

Voice brings in some of those alien telecom concepts -- so be prepared to have to learn a bunch of new stuff. So far the best CCVPs I've worked with have been old telecom guys who came over to IT and Cisco.

I have a Carrier Services course and I have learned alot of Telco lingo

If I could only finish this damn BGP exam up and get on with my CCDA.....

NetworkGod

speaking of Telcos and lingo, is there a good book about Telephone systems or a web site maybe, just to see what kind of hardware and software those guys run out there?

Humper

n3tw0rkg0d wrote:

speaking of Telcos and lingo, is there a good book about Telephone systems or a web site maybe, just to see what kind of hardware and software those guys run out there?

Well my understanding back in the day is that from the local loop it goes to your CO, there it sits on a distribution rack to a line card, the line card converts Analog->Digital and vice versa. The line card takes your analog signal, digitizes it at DS-0 (64Kbps) then it hits a "Class 5" switch which is generally a Nortel DMS100. From there the DS0's would be aggregated to a "Class 4" tandem to interconnect "Class 5's".

I believe the telco's use alot of ATM switching these days since it handles telephony, frame, leased lines..etc.

NetworkGod

i am so stuck rereading Designing Networks for Voice Transport and Applying Design Principles in Network Deployment it's not even funny..


I think i'll schedule for Feb 10th, sounds like a good day to me.. A little nerveous already

Johnny 5

Just have to agree with all that was said.

Took the CCDA 3 years ago, and man that was an experience I have no desire to re-live. There were no books for it at the time, but I figured no biggie - I had 4 years experience and just done CCNP so it should be pretty easy. Instead I failed it first two times (which as I found out later was very common). Looking back, it's nice to have on my resume and I plan to upgrade to CCDP when I get around to it, but other than that wasn't very useful. I can't think of anything from CCDA that I use on the job.

CCVP....Hmmm. Tough cert and very costly ($3,000 between exams, study materials, and home lab). However, it's been worth it. And I say this even despite the job market not being all that aware of the cert (I've only seen 2 job listsings in the Seattle area looking for it, despite several in IP Telephony). It's helped me a lot on the job fill in the gaps for things I didn't know in class, and at this point I feel like I can troubleshoot any problem successfully. Working with voice over the last two years, the trickiest parts for me to learn were the traditional telco stuff like signalling and PSTN connectivity. The telco guys understand that well, I've seen their installs and you can tell they don't understand things like codecs, QoS, and bandwidth all that well - things I had no problem learning. Also, they don't know jack about maintaining a server, scripting, or security. If you have a sysadmin or security background, those will help you a lot on the job.

NetworkGod

ok guys, this friday..
i really REALLY think i rushed into this but.. i hope i will be allright *fingers crossed*