CCNA Voice - yeah, I passed

Fish! · April 2009

Decided late yesterday to schedule 640-460 for this morning. I didn't feel ready but I didn't feel ready for the other specialization exams I have taken either. The 'SPECIALIZE' promotion has me taking the exams much sooner and on a more aggressive schedule than I otherwise would have.

I am glad I have that one done!

What I used to study:
Cisco Press book (Cioara et al) - Didn't read it all the way through, referenced weak areas mostly
CCNA Voice Quick Reference Book (Valentine) - VERY handy while labbing, useful for turning small snippets of time into short study sessions too.
CBT Nuggets - Jeremy is awesome.
Lab:
2650xm max memory running CME
Cat 2950
1760 with FXS and FXO ports (for dial-peers with the CME router)
7961G phone + power brick
7941G phone + power brick
CIPC

I have been doing VoIP phone deployments based on Asterisk for about 2 years, so I brought with me a strong understanding of the foundations, dialplans, codecs, and whatnot. What I didn't have was CME experience, but the lab fixed that in short order.

I think there is a horrible hole in the Nuggets videos (for what you pay). The UC520 gets one measly 20 minute nugget, 10 minutes of which Jeremy is talking about In-N-Out Burger. He doesn't have a UC520 in his lab, so spent time showing screen shots of the various tabs, and couldn't even find a screen shot of the 'Users' tab. What?

I didn't feel like dropping $2000 for a UC520 for this exam, so if I was weak in any area, it was the UC520. The Cisco Press book and the Quick Reference guide covers the UC520 GUI pretty well, including the 'Users' tab and the 'More' button there, fortunately.

I watched the CUE videos like 3 times. That was helpful considering I didn't have a CUE in my lab.

Well, on to BCMSN. I have the new Sybex CWNA book in my hands now too, so I may take a detour on my way to the CCNP.