CCNA Data Center

Having recently completed my CCDA track (yay!), and after going through an intense 5 day firefly nexus boot camp at work, i've been contemplating tackling the data center track. There's absolutely nothing out there right now, aside from some Cisco Press books for the CCIE DC/Storage exams. I was wondering of the TE mods might consider a sub forum for the track? I'd like to pool some fellow TEers together who might be considering the DC track, or have some production experience with NX-OS devices. It's pretty hard to find a viable, affordable, lab rental for those suckers!

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Comments

astorrs

I'm in favor of this as well, I'm planning to head down these 3 tracks this year (I work with this stuff every day).

INE is working on getting a DC lab up and running soon - but yeah unless you have access to spares at work, lab rental is going to be expensive.

umarbhatti

I am planning on doing to do the DC after my CCNA as well
In regards to books Lammle is planning to release a book in March

JeanM

umarbhatti wrote: »

I am planning on doing to do the DC after my CCNA as well
In regards to books Lammle is planning to release a book in March

Good to hear!

Somnipotent

umarbhatti wrote: »

I am planning on doing to do the DC after my CCNA as well
In regards to books Lammle is planning to release a book in March

Really? Was this announced on his blog or something? So far I've been going over the CCIE stuff and I must say it's INTENSE!!! Anyone who is new to VSANs, VSS, Fibre Channel, etc. will be lost!! I see where Cisco is going with this, kinda like the CCNA Voice, since there was nothing between the CCNA and CCVP prior to its inception but the lack of learning resources is quite disturbing.

umarbhatti

I have started reading "Storage Networking Fundamentals" just to get my understanding on how some storage stuff works, then i am planning on reading about the NX-OS after that just to get a head start or some basic understanding.

I can't remember where Lammle advised he plans to have his book published by March.

Heres a topic on the Cisco Website about CCNA DC
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/48959?start=0&tstart=0

Somnipotent

Wow. Lammle's comments are spot on. I feel 90% of this stuff is brand new to me. I too have started reading, albeit in small doses, the CP Data Center Fundamentals book. I'm excited for a fleshed out, CCNA level book though. Plus I love Lammle's straightforward writing style so this is definitely good news.

ikea_the_sofa

I'm working on this cert as well.

At work I'm neck deep in FCoE, Nexus Switches (5000 and 7000), FEXs and Fibre Channel equipment.

I just passed my Storage+ which has some relevance to this course of study.

The other day I attended a webinar from cisco: Preparing for your CCNA Data Center Certifications Studies
It discussed what to study for the CCNA DC: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-16438
There is a power-point like presentation that explains what to study and good resources to use for the study.

I'm also a student at WGU (BS IT Software). Started on Dec. 1 2012. So far so good.