CCNA Data Center Completed

Iristheangel

Hello All,

Been awhile since I really checked in here and now I finally have some progress to report. I had been sort of half-studying for these exams the last few months since I had to put a lot of my ISE studies on hold (ISE project at work got put on hold). I have this goal to get through the CCNP Data Center this year so I've been heavily labbing on the INE DC racks with the INE DC Workbooks, I read through Lammle's 640-911 book (90% of that book is basic CCNA-level stuff so I skipped most of it), watched both the 640-911 and 640-916 CBT Nugget series, and some of the information really fell in line with the CCDP book I've been reading.

I ended up passing both exams and here's the rundown:
640-911 - Very basic CCNA-level stuff with some outdated concepts but overall, the Lammle book could get you through it and you could easily lab the topics of the test using the free simulator he has on his website
640-916 - This one was a little more tricky. I feel like this was more of a marketing test - knowing the difference between the models and marketing concepts. It felt a bit more like the CCDA in that sense. I would say that the CBT Nuggets series videos + reading up on the different Nexus, UCS, FEX types would be enough to get you through some test. Be comfortable converting hexidecimal to decimal to binary. That's about it.

I'm going to give myself the next 2-4 weeks to finish my ARCH studies. I have the last two chapters of the CCDP book left (YaY Multicast!) and I have about 30 INE videos left. After that, I'll probably take the exam and (hopefully!) I pass. After that, I'm dedicating myself fully to the CCNP Data Center and god willing, I get most of it done this year.

JeanM

Congrats Iris!

Any input on the CCNA Video?

Iristheangel

Haven't touched the CCNA Video. I probably won't to be honest. It's not really the most fascinating topic to me. Same with Voice - I got through the CCNA Voice a year and a half ago and decided I never wanted to go further in Voice. I know my limitations!

JeanM

Voice is one area I am getting myself more and more involved in at work. Video peeked my interest because I think it would help with understanding on the Telepresence type of end-points , have you played with them?

I figured voice would give some good foundation before video, sip/rtp and all....

typfromdaco

Congrats on the pass!

Iristheangel

We have Telepresence units at work and I've set up test VCs with them but never got deeper than that. Voice, video, and service providers are probably the things I'll stay away from professionally. I'm trying to get more R&S, security, design, and data center focused - sort of a master of the enterprise one day.

Morty3

Wonderful post. Well done. I passed my CCNA:S this friday (wohoo) and I'm thinking of getting right into Data Center. It feels like DCICN will be a piece of cake and I'm thinking I'm going to schedule it within 2-3 weeks. DCICT feels like a different beast - not even any textbooks avaible yet. You got any advice for me?

Iristheangel

@Morty - It was more of a terminology and product exam - very little actual commands. You need to know the different port types in a unified fabric environment, what kind of ports the various Nexus and MDS switches have, etc. If you watch the CBT Nuggets videos and read around the Cisco product's site, you'll be able to pass the exam without an issue. 640-916 was a little bit of a challenge but 640-911 was a breeze. Anyone with a year of experience and 30 minutes of labbing on Lammle's free simulator should be able to pass this exam without studying.

PCHoldmann

Congrats!

FloOz

Congrats!!!

TBickle

Congrats! And thanks for that detailed write up. I've been studying 640-911 on and off for the past 3 or so weeks, and after your write up, I think i'll go book it.

SteveO86

Congrats on the pass Iris!! Thank you for the reviews to!

I've actually side-barred my Data Center studies to finish off the NP: Security track before they get retired (Only have to get through SECURE), but once I finish up I'll be tackling Data Center head on.

Is there any subject in particular you found more challenging then the others?

Good luck on ARCH/CCDP!

Iristheangel

@TBickle - With a CCNP and some experience, you're good to go on the 640-911

@SteveO86 - Memorizing the different ports amounts and types on different devices. UGH. I probably got only half of those questions right. The names of the port types were also important, little UCS tidbits, knowing which Nexus 5K models are L2 vs L3 (55XX == L3, 50XX == L2 for the most part), what models support FabricPath, etc. It wasn't really complicated stuff - just a memorization and common sense questions. You could probably get by watching CBT Nuggets 640-916 once or twice and taking some great notes

SteveO86

Thank you for that information Iris!

Yea, the tidbit stuff is the most frustrating part of the Nexus line (way worse than 6500's in my opinion)... I'm in the process of re-doing three data centers (tail end of it now actually) and trust me I went back to the drawing more than once (more than three/four times actually) mixing and matching different line cards, chassis's, and features (& licenses, Nexus Licenses can be convoluted to).. then only to find out this doesn't support that

I didn't know CBT Nuggets had the 916 course up, I'll have to check that out soon. TY again!

Morty3

Thank you so much for the inside info Iris.

I'm halfway through the 911 videos now. Feeling pretty confident about this exam to say the least. Number conversion, basic terms, OSI. Ok. ICND1 level stuff but some nexus thrown in instead of ios.

Iristheangel

No problem. Download the free Lammle Nexus simulator here:
Cisco Nexus 7010 Simulator now on Mac and Windows | LammleSim

That's ALL you'll need for the Nexus aspect of 640-911

Morty3

Amazing, thanks!

Chitownjedi

Congrats... I am considering this down the line.. will reference your post in future!