CCIE R&S revamp?

I am trying to finish up my CCNP this summer, and I'm hoping to start my CCIE early next year. I have been thinking about slowly putting together a lab for this, but lately I have been reading that there could be a revamp of the CCIE R&S curriculum very soon so I have considered holding off building my lab for now. Has anyone else heard of this possible revamp?

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down77

There is always going to be speculation on if/when a new version of the exam is coming out. The most important thing is that 80-90% of the content will be the same. If you are well prepared for the lab, then you will be more than fine if a new version is released. With that being said, you generally have 6 months from when the new version is announced until they retire the previous version.

People are paying close attention to any announcements at Cisco Live! in June. I would think they would announce a revamped CCIE Voice before the CCIE R&S, or maybe both at the same time!

Good Luck

Jackace

I'm not so much worried about the content as I am about the lab gear. If I start building a lab now it might not be viable after a revamp. Things like IOS v15 being added or even some of the NX or XR IOS stuff being added.

down77

NX-OS is tested on the Data Center track, IOS XE is tested on Service Provider Ops, and IOS XR is tested on Service Provider. You will most likely see IOS 15 on the next release and there is rumor that a large majority of the next version will be on IOU (IOS on Unix). This is the current platform that candidates experience on the v4 exam and may also allow cisco to test candidates on a larger number of devices and many more and difficult toplogies.

Yes there may be slight differences between IOS 12.4T (15) and IOS 15, but you can get IOS 15 compatible gear relatively cheap on Ebay.

PsychoFin

1841s are good IOS 15 candidates for R1 - R6, but 3560v2 aren't exactly what I'd call cheap if you want switches with IOS 15...

lrb

I know they won't but I personally hope that they get rid of Frame Relay and FRTS, and extend the MPLS section to include L2VPN, VPLS, and MPLS QoS!

down77

Considering they have Frame Relay on the updated CCNA blueprint and that it's still used in many locations (sad, I know) I don't seem them removing it.

L2VPN, VPLS, MPLS Qos, etc are on the CCIE SP track and are rarely seen in the enterprise environement unless as a PE-CE handoff. I'd actually like them to expand things like BGP with multi-as scenarios and confederations, more route optimization and summaries, and other core routing & switching topics that "experts" commonly face in large campus and enterprise environments.

Zartanasaurus

You'll be able to run IOS 15 in GNS3. Budget labs will still sink their money into real switches + GNS3 for routing. You'll probably need a server with more than 12 NICs though. Super budget minded people will acquire IOU through various means and not pay $1.

down77

[QUOTE=Zartanasaurus;739625 Budget labs will still sink their money into real switches + GNS3 for routing. You'll probably need a server with more than 12 NICs though.[/QUOTE]

Or use a breakout switch and spend less on NICs

Jackace

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

You'll be able to run IOS 15 in GNS3. Budget labs will still sink their money into real switches + GNS3 for routing. You'll probably need a server with more than 12 NICs though. Super budget minded people will acquire IOU through various means and not pay $1.

I have heard of the IOU setup and even read some articles about it. It sounds nice on the surface, but from what I have read it is not very flexible.

lrb

I seem to remember Narbik saying there were some limitations with testing QoS (and maybe multicast) running IOU. Maybe I was just braindead at the time, but I remember a few free resit students coming in with IOU and having a lot of troubles doing some of Narbik's exercises.

wintermute000

Can you elaborate on running IOS15 in GNS3? I guess I've not tried, but I thought 12.4T was the max supported? Also how do you get around the licensing needed (DATA/SEC PAKs specifically?)

gorebrush

If it's only licensing that will change, will there be a need for a CCIE to be aware of licensing? I'd have hoped not.