without expriance pass CCVP??

Tish2008

Hi...

just joined the forum, and i went through the faq section which answered many of the questiosn i had....

it was very good.... and thank you...

my background is i am working for a company who does networking set ups, i work as an assistant to my network administrator.

I am a ccna, and heading for ccvp, i just joined my current job, and i don,t see anyway i can get practicle exposure on the job to match ccvp.

is this exam posible to attain without experiance but going through study materials and books??

mikej412

You can gain the knowledge by reading the books and Cisco Documentation -- but you develop the skills by practicing them. You'd want to spend as much time as possible working hands-on in a lab environment -- at home, work, or school -- so that you understand the CCVP material and can apply it in a real job environment.

If you look at the topics for the 5 CCVP Exams on the Cisco CCVP Page, you find several of them have a large number of Configure, Implement, Troubleshoot, etc topics.

Learning CallManager (or Cisco Unified Communications Manager) without having a CallManager Server would be difficult -- but some people have done it. Some people have used CallManager Express loaded on a router -- which is better than nothing.

Building a complete voice lab at home could be expensive -- but rack rental is an option. Build what you can afford, then rent the rest. As you probably saw in the CCVP FAQ, the old MC3810s still have a lot of phone calls left in them, and a couple would be a good start for a home Voice Lab.

Tish2008

HI mikej412,

Thank you, it was a good insight for the question I had.

I have seen on the web there are simulations, some even do step by step guiding on configuring, demos and so on.. are these really worth going through?? I really can't aford a home lab, is simulation any help?

I don,t want to just cram and pass, beacuse i am intending to go for CCIE as well, just i am bit stepping backwards because of lack of experiance...

Do you think attending any form of training, will it be any help at my situation.

hedhrts

mikej412 wrote:

You'd want to spend as much time as possible working hands-on in a "lab" environment

Why use lab equipment when you have live functional hardware at work? We did an install for a customer who's IT person was using the live equipment to practice for his CCNP and had a loopback interface configured as one of the servers we were installing. We couldn't figure out why we couldn't ping the server from the other side of the network. He had the gall to acuse us of configuring the new network hardware we installed inproperly. Some people have all the luck (not bringing the whole network down doing his homework).

mikej412

If you can get work to pay for the official classes and some equipment for a lab -- that would be best. And spread the courses out over some time so that you can study and practice for the individual exams between the classes.

Bootcamps are usually a waste -- especially if you pay for it yourself. But if you study first, then use the bootcamp to get any questions you still have answered, and use their lab -- then it could be useful as your final preparation before taking the exams.

Bootcamps without any preparation are too much information too fast, and you probably won't learn enough to do the job.

If the bootcamp teaches you the answers to the exams -- you may pass the exams and get the CCVP, but you still probably wouldn't be able to do the job in real life.

hedhrts wrote:

Why use lab equipment when you have live functional hardware at work?

I think you answered that yourself -- good catch!

Tish2008

Hi Thanks again...

I don't think i can get my company to pay for any training, and boot camp is not what is in my mind at all..as far as i've heard they are to fast and not for me....

But I was womdering if any class which comprehensively teaches a long term course.

I guess my option was to practice on work itself, but as i am new, i don,t get to medel with any, i am watched and step by step instrcutions given by my senior..

thank you for the help.

mikej412

Tish2008 wrote:

But I was womdering if any class which comprehensively teaches a long term course.

Some of the Community Colleges here in the US have added a VoIP course built around Asterisk -- the open source software PC PBX brain for VoIP systems. Something like that would be good for learning the concepts behind VoIP and would be useful for understanding this stuff before starting self-study on the specific vendors certifications, like the Cisco CCVP. Plus a course like that has the advantage of being offered over a college semester or quarter -- so you should have plenty of time to learn.

Flyingput

Personally I like Asterisk a lot. With a Dell entry level server (SC440 or PE840), an open-source Asterisk (I root for Trixbox), an analog card with both FXO & FXS, some crappy IP phones even X-lite/Idefisk softphone (both free, SIP/IAX2), you are ready to go, a full functional IP PBX system, less than $1,000.

Hey, but the experience is not that valuable on the market.

Tish2008

Hmmm tx for the suggestion, but I am all the way here in SL,

So hard luck in training courses as such. But tx..

i guess will have to look up to my senior, he is not a qualified but very experianced.