Cisco Storage Design Specialist 642-357 (DCSNS) Passed
malcybood
Member Posts: 900 ■■■□□□□□□□
Passed the Cisco Storage Design Specialist (DCSNS) exam yesterday as part of my ongoing path towards DC Architecture specialist.
This exam was tough!..............
I have some SAN switch (MDS 9000) implementation experience previously, but have been picking it up more over the last 18 months or so with having lots of Nexus 5k deployments and solution designs etc.
The Cisco PEC course is excellent for this exam. PEC says it is a 13 hour course, but seemed way longer than that to me but it maybe just seemed like that as some of the concepts were new to me and I had to digest and get my head around them.
Anyway feel really good about it as it's definitely given me a better appreciation of the whole DC architecture and I feel comfortable speaking to customers about SAN switching requirements now.
One more exam to pass which is an online exam. Planned this for Monday as it is an account manager exam 650-987 which is only a 5 hour PEC course so I'll watch it over the weekend and bash it out on Monday (hopefully).
This exam was tough!..............
I have some SAN switch (MDS 9000) implementation experience previously, but have been picking it up more over the last 18 months or so with having lots of Nexus 5k deployments and solution designs etc.
The Cisco PEC course is excellent for this exam. PEC says it is a 13 hour course, but seemed way longer than that to me but it maybe just seemed like that as some of the concepts were new to me and I had to digest and get my head around them.
Anyway feel really good about it as it's definitely given me a better appreciation of the whole DC architecture and I feel comfortable speaking to customers about SAN switching requirements now.
One more exam to pass which is an online exam. Planned this for Monday as it is an account manager exam 650-987 which is only a 5 hour PEC course so I'll watch it over the weekend and bash it out on Monday (hopefully).
Comments
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it_consultant
Member Posts: 1,903
You should look into the Brocade SAN certifications. Brocade FC switches are very common and, frankly, not that much different than Cisco. However, in a lot of peoples minds, you don't have the chops until you know Brocade. Kind of the opposite of Ethernet.
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malcybood
Member Posts: 900 ■■■□□□□□□□
Yeah I've actually used Brocade ethernet switches and thought about doing their BCNE/NP certs but I never get hands on with it since I switched companies and never worked on their SAN switches.
There was a hell of a lot on the video course about interoperability and Brocade and Mcdata were the two vendors that were constantly referred to.
I think Brocade release free study guides for their exams if I remember correctly so I'll have a look.
Cheers
EDIT: Just checked and yep all Brocade study guides are freely available on their certification page. Whether they're enough to pass exams I'm not sure but good resource anyway!
http://www.brocade.com/education/certification-accreditation/index.page -
it_consultant
Member Posts: 1,903
I am doing the BCNE test shortly, the BCNP training is in the budget for me next year. Our SAN infrastructure was already Brocade, so when it was ethernet refresh time, Brocade was an easy sell. We have 4 VDX switches (Nexus equivalent) and a ton of ICX 6610s. I will still recert my CCNA when it is time though
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Oh my god McData! Brocade bought them in 2005. I actually took some training in the old McData building in Broomfield a while ago. There are still a bunch of grey-beards out there that remember, and love, McData SAN switches.