ccna voice equipment requirements ?

macattacker

Hello, I know this topic will be answered elsewhere, but to save me a lot of time reading conflicting /out of date posts etc. can someone please give me a quick list of what hardware/software is required (if any) to study for and pass CCNA Voice ? I intend to carry on with CCNP after Voice. Thanks kindly.

Roguetadhg

My way: Look at The "CertificationKits" banner at the left-hand.

I tend to build my labs after them. Or I just take whatever I can get my grubby, stubby fingers on :P

Iristheangel

+1 to Rogue's idea

Diggs

They're still showing for the older exam (460) though - would the same still apply to the newer ICOMM 640-461?

Roguetadhg

That's a good question. I don't know.

This question also applies to CCNA:Security. A lot of what they have to offer is last-exam. Lab books, for example.

The major way of determining that would be to see what the differences between the test-material and how it would relate over to the lab.

Diggs

True - that would be the best way but I would think someone who knows what they're talking about would be able to take a look at the new exam objectives and be able to give us uninformed a decent suggestion as to what we need for a home voice lab.

I found this link (https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/36652) to a thread on the Cisco Learning Network where Martin suggests the following:

Here is what you need:


1 Router with IOS 15 from 2800 or 1861 or from 3800.
Those routers do come with IOS 12.x so you need upgrade, which might be tricky; keep reading...

1 AIM-CUE-1GB (Voice Mail Module) for router (goes inside so match the model of your router)

1 CME 8 - exam is based on v.8, which requires IOS 15. if you cannot get IOS 15 stay with IOS 12 and get CME 7 or 4.3. There might not be significant difference between 8 and previous versions (not for exam purpose anyway)

1 Cisco switch. Any switch will do, more recent model is better. You need switch with POE if you don't have power adapters for phones.

IP phones like 7940 (at least one with 4 buttons), and Soft-phones like Cisco IP Communicator and Blue phone.

Additional stuff:

FXO and FXS cards or modules. FXO is the one that will connect router to phone line (goes into the wall jack). With FXO u will be able to dial into your CME router from outside line or from cell-phone (u dial home).
FXS is less useful; FXS connects analog stations like regular phones or fax machines.

Optional configuration (and gear):

Some basics IP Telephony can be done on Packet tracer. PT comes with IP phones and IP telephony service.

GNS3 is still good. You won't be able to connect your home line to GNS router but it works with CME 4.3. Just get IOS that supports IP telephony (most of 2600XM and 3725 Advanced IOS 12.4 do). Since GNS3 does not support IOS 15, you do not need CME 8; People have passed previous exam using GNS3 and Vmware machines loaded with Cisco IP Communicators.

Potential issues/problems:
You might need licence for CME 8 (PAK or product key) just to activate CME 8 on your router (not sure as some say you don't).
so, it is likely you will need to pay extra for that!;
When Upgrading IOS to IOS 15, you may need more Flash and RAM. IOS 15 for 2801 is 56MB and full CME 8 is 80MB (you can remove some CME files)


His CCNA Voice Document: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-13398


I'm not sure if everything he has on the list is 100% necessary but it's the only starting point I've really found for the new exam.

Would like to know if the AIM-CUE module is necessary or can you get by without it and if there's a significant difference between the newer versions of CME or can we get by with 4.x / 12.4

macattacker

thanks Diggs, that is a good starting point.
The complication is getting a router set up with IOS 15 and CME 8. Pretty much all the second hard cheaper routers seem to have older IOS versions so it gets messy (for a newbie) when it comes to having to pay for upgrade licences for IOS 15 and CME 8 and then installing them etc.

It is a shame Certification Kits don't offer a 640-461 lab package all set up and ready to go.
Does anyone know if a specific package like this is available anywhere.

Roguetadhg

So.. What happened to IOS 13 and 14?

shodown

13 is bad luck in some countries 14 is bad luck in others.

macattacker

if you buy a second hand router off Ebay or somewhere like that and it has IOS 15 and CME 8, do you then need to purchase a license or will the software already be activated and ready to go from the previous owner ?
I am just not sure how Cisco does things.

Also, out of interest what are the costs involved to purchase licenses (IOS 15 and CME for students to set up home labs to learn CCNA voice ?

ehnde

You can do a little bit in packet tracer 5.3, it simulates 7960 phones, analog phones, and other stuff. No where near enough, but you can definitely do some stuff. auto QoS is not supported

I'd also like to know what costs are involved with IOS 15 and CME, or if there is some way to get away with a lab license for free.

shodown

If people are interested I can build some CCNA-V labs and sale them much cheaper than the guys online with up to date lab equipment firmware and IOS. PM me if intrested. The guys on ebay are ripping us off.

Roguetadhg

I spoke to CertificationKits over email...

Shodown: That would be a lot of help, not to mention a little bit of side profit, I'm sure!

It's been a helluva thing to try to build a lab around Voice without any updated labs yet!

[COLOR=#444444][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]The Security kit is updated.  The Voice is not as we are still working on that material.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#444444][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]Does that help?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#444444][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]Best regards,[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]CertificationKits Sales Team[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
---------------------

[COLOR=#2672EC][FONT=Calibri]Would you happen to have an idea of when the Voice will be updated?

-----------------------------
[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444444][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]I do not as it is one of our lower priorities as the kit is not sold as often as Security and we are working right now on the Security stuff.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#444444][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]Best regards,[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]CertificationKits Sales Team
-----------------------------
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][COLOR=#2672EC][FONT=Calibri]Not a worry![/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#2672EC]
[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#2672EC]I can understand that.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#2672EC]
[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#2672EC]Would you be able to recommend if the voice lab, in it's current version 640-460, would be good for the current test 640-461?
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[/COLOR][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]The 460 and 461 versions test on different versions of Call Manager and thus the same equipment does not work.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]If you are ok with that(as there are a lot of similarities) then you can pick one of these kits…[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]http://www.certificationkits.com/ccna-voice-kits/[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]Best regards,[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=#1F497D]CertificationKits Sales Team

[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]

chiefwarrant250n

For the CCNA-S, I only read through the book and practiced with SDM. That was the majority of the sim type questions. I'm not sure if the newer CCNA-S exam has any firewall labs. I took the CCNA-V exam when it was the older 460 test and it was mostly Call Manager Express based. The new exam covers more of the full Call Manager version software. If you can get your hands on CUCM 7.1 or newer you should be fine. I teach CCNA-Voice in the Army at the Cisco Academy. In my class, each student has a 2811 router running 12.4T ADVIPServices IOS with FXS and FXO cards and a 3750 switch with a POTs phone and two 7961 phones as well. They also have a MCS 7825 Server for CUCM and a 2811 router for CME.

Roguetadhg

Chiefwarrent250n: Thank you for your input, and hardware list. Are you instructing students on the current 640-461 exam?

chiefwarrant250n

Yes we are mainly going off of the 640-461 exam but it depends on what course the students are from. I'm at a Cisco Academy on an Army installation and there are several classes that go through here and depending on which one they are determines how long they are here and what we cover with them. This course isn't long enough to teach enough materials to be able to pass the exam. The longest class is two weeks for some warrant officers that are Network Engineer type positions. The rest of them only get 5-7 days.

macattacker

Hello, thanks ChiefWarrant for that valuable info.
I have some questions reagarding CUCM.

1. I know CME 8 (Express) can just be run from within IOS 15, but ChiefWarrant mentioned that most of the 640-461 questions are based around the full version of CUCM 7.1+.
Therefore I would assume it is more important to be practicing on the full version of CUCM 7.1+ in a home lab rather than the express CME. Would you agree ?

2. What hardware platform do I need in order to run the full version of CUCM 7.1+, as I understand it does not operate from within IOS 15 on a 2800 series router ?? i.e. does it need to be located on a separate server. Is that just a regular PC or specialized Cisco device?

3. How do you acquire CUCM 7.1+ full version software. With CME express it just comes as part of the IOS 15 package, but with CUCM 7.1+ full version, do you have to buy that separately ?

Thanks for any clarification.

shodown

1. CUCM versions is based on the 8x software. You can prob swing by with 7x software for the exam if thats all you have. CWO said that you can get by on 7x or higher, he didn't say it was tested.

2. To run CUCM 7 you can use 28xx routers, but you can prob go all the way down to 2611xm routers, but the DSP feature set will be different, so its best to avoid those.



3. You can get CUCM 7/8 from a cisco partner by asking can you by a NFR kit, or looking on ebay for the media. If you have a cisco account you can download CUCM and make a bootable disk from the upgrade media.



Question for CWO.

When did the army start implementing these courses?


I can't tell u how many times I've been called in to work on some voice stuff in the past. Its good to see that the army is taking this seriously and not relying on overpriced contractors when the internal folks can do it just as good if not better. Unless there are Navy tech's around .

Kelkin

CUCM 7.1+ can run in a VM with 50Gigs HD and at least 2 Gigs of ram to install.

If you have a valid support contract with Cisco you can d/l the ISO from cisco.com.

macattacker

thanks guys, so am I basically wasting my money if I buy a 2801 router simply to run CME express in order to prepare for 640-461 CCNA Voice ?

Should I instead be focussing all my attentions on getting a lab setup with the full version of CUCM ?

ehnde

When I was in the Army, as an education benefit they paid for me to do the Cisco Network Academy CCNA course. It had nothing to do with my job, and the training was not related to the work I did...I just wanted to be a network engineer when I got out of the army, so took advantage of the education benefit. 100% tuition coverage is hard to beat.

sacredboy

Hi guys. Please give me some advice concerning the topic. I am about to obtain 3560 x 2 and 2950 x 2 just for CCNP SWITCH.
Which of the mentioned above series should be changed for CCNA|CCNP VOCIE?

ehnde

sacredboy wrote: »

Hi guys. Please give me some advice concerning the topic. I am about to obtain 3560 x 2 and 2950 x 2 just for CCNP SWITCH.
Which of the mentioned above series should be changed for CCNA|CCNP VOCIE?

Do any of those switches have PoE? If not you would need power bricks for phones. The CCNA:Voice exam covers Call Manager and Call Manager Express. You'd need an ISR to get CME. Call Manager can be installed in a VM.

That stuff you posted is fine I guess, but I'd try to get one of them with PoE ports at least to save you the trouble of having to deal with power bricks. Good luck!

sacredboy

ehnde wrote: »

Do any of those switches have PoE? If not you would need power bricks for phones. The CCNA:Voice exam covers Call Manager and Call Manager Express. You'd need an ISR to get CME. Call Manager can be installed in a VM. That stuff you posted is fine I guess, but I'd try to get one of them with PoE ports at least to save you the trouble of having to deal with power bricks. Good luck!

2950 series does not have PoE feature but 3560 does.

ehnde

sacredboy wrote: »

2950 series does not have PoE feature but 3560 does.

Great, you just need an ISR and a couple of phones (7940 or 7960). If you want to go past CCNA:V, get 7960s.

JustFred

You can also go for the cheaper 3550 though you have to make sure it has Inline Power

ToddB

1st Buy CCNA VOICE LAB MANUAL,
This is very detailed.

For your CME
I would get 1(2800) line router with voice ios.
another network router(I used 2600)
1 3550 poe switch
min. 2 phones
fxo/fxs ports

Now for your CUCM (different story)
VMware server can use pc. I would go with a quad core of total across all CPU's of 10GHZ(or at least 2.5 per core) and at least 8gb ram.

This is where I'm at. Should I buy a Dell poweredge 1950 server and install Vmware on this or buy a better desktop computer.

Basic ebay prices.

2801 router under $300
2621 router $100
3550 switch $100
2 7940G phones $60

Vmware with all cucm files $299
computer to run as server if needed ($500)

Abort total of 1100 bucks.

I was giving an 2691 router but can't run CCP so I'm buying an 2811 to finish up my CME.

Then for CCNP(voice) use what you can and add the rest for that lab!

sacredboy

JustFred & ToddB thank you very much for your replies. As far as I know 3550 has no Private VLAN feature and limited QoS compared to 3560 which is vital for VOICE. Right?

ToddB

I have Train Signal CCNA Voice course taught by Joe Rinehart and he uses a 3550 in his lab. Now if you get a deal I think you can also use a 3524.

Diggs

ToddB - how do you find the Trainsignal Voice videos?

How do they compare to the INE or the CBT Nuggets if you've had a chance to watch either?

ToddB

Their not as good for voice, I used Train Signal for my CCNA with Chris Bryant and it was great. Their Voice is only 10 Hours its ok but not really detailed, But I using the DVD's along with the Ciscopress books. My only problem with the course is I thought the instructor was going to build the lab from scrach during the videos but they had everything pee-setup. But like I said its ok if you use other resources along with it, Never used CBT and I have the free INE course also.