CCIE Voice v3.0 Update! Live from Cisco Networkers Techtorial
By Mark Snow on Sunday, June 28, 2009 14:22Posted in category Ask the Expert, CCIE, News, Proctor Labs, Product Updates, Strategy, Techtorials, Voice, Voice Product Updates
This page has been updated! Read below for changes to this post …
So now that this seminar is over – this blog post has morphed into a permanent update and archive of what was confirmed here at the CCIE Voice Techtorial at Cisco Networkers.
Without further ado, below is a quick bullet list of things that are now officially confirmed from the Cisco CCIE Voice Content Manager, Ben Ng, for the new CCIE Voice v3.0 Lab Exam.
The format that will follow below is this: Each bullet point will first contain the new piece of information regarding the v3.0 blueprint CCIE Voice Lab Exam that is now confirmed from Cisco and Ben Ng here at Cisco Live! (Networkers), and then will have this character “—>” and then our Proctor Labs response regarding our preparedness to this announcement about a particular given new piece of information.
- All IP Phones will be 7965’s —> Proctor Labs vRacks updated our IP Phones to 7962’s sometime back. Only thing 7964 & 7965 can do that 7962’s can’t is GigEthernet and Color displays – neither of which have any bearing for the Cisco CCIE Voice Lab. Ben’s reason for 7965’s then? Simply more of these type of hardware available to them when they were developing the lab.
- CUCM and CUCME versions confirmed: 7.0(1) (bugs and all) —> This is the versions we are running in all of our Proctor Labs vRacks.
- All servers (CUCM, UC, CUPS, UCCX) are running on VMWare —> We are running our Proctor Labs vRacks on VMWare ESX – looks like we are in good company.
- “Possible” that AD/DNS Server introduced down the road, but not Day 1. This means VPIM cannot be tested Day 1 either, since UC requires DNS to function (CUE can use IP addresses, but UC cannot). DNS Server cannot be run on UCCX (only Windows box), so again – will not be tested right away. I would imagine 6-12 months down the road. —> We have an AD/DNS server ready at Proctor Labs vRacks, and will introduce it into our Mock Labs around that timeframe (expect 4-6 months).
- To reiterate: It is confirmed that Native DC Directory will be what is tested Day 1 and for a little while until they “run out” of content to add.
- Two Windows devices in Lab: UCCX Server and Test PC – both will be used for running CUPC for testing Presence and Device Mobility. RDP into UCCX, VNC into Test PC. —> Proctor Labs vRacks have CUPC installed on UCCX and will have the candidate install CUPC on his/her Mac/PC (it runs on both) to test this. This way we maintain more physical CPU/Mem (Power) on VMWare Host machine (unlike Cisco has been known for in this lab in the past :-0 ).
- 3 site topology preserved. CUCM at HQ, BR1 remote CUCM site, BR2 is CUCME —> We are, of course, good here.
- IOS on 3 site routers: 12.4(22)T —> This is the version we are running on our Proctor Labs vRacks.
- Confirmed: NO Video Endpoints in new v3.0 Lab —> Figured as much, but had VTA endpoints ready if we needed to add.
- E1-R2 and T1-CAS are testable topics, however – MANY features require ISDN technology-based features – so expect that ISDN (T1 & E1) PRIs will be much more heavily tested —> We allow testing of BOTH, and have a ridiculously easy-to-use web interface that requires all of a push of a button to change the PSTN T1/E1 format (CCS/CAS) at Proctor Labs vRacks.
- Some of the new features in CUCM 7.0 that specifically require ISDN (and require a 7961 or better IP Phone) are +Dialing Support, Call Globalization, Localization, and Mapping the Globalized Variant to a Localized Route Pattern. —> As we have mentioned, Proctor Labs vRacks has newer 7962 IP Phones, as well you will see quite an intense international dial plan lab surrounding these CUCM Features coming out here in the next couple of weeks as Volume 2, Mock Lab 2.
- All CCIE test pods will have same IP addressing scheme and PSTN numbering scheme. No more “YY=pod#” for IP or Dialplan numbering schemes
- All CCIE test pods will have same IP addressing scheme – no more “YY=pod#”. However, PSTN and Dial Plan numbering scheme WILL change from lab to lab! —> We made the decision long ago to work tirelessly to provide EXACTLY this feature using Proctor Labs vRacks! Simple press of a button on our web UI pre-loads your PSTN Dialplan (as well as many other pre-configurations)! NO OTHER PROVIDER CAN DO THIS!! (Some claim that they can – but rent a single rack session from them and you will quickly see that their definition of pre-loading configuration means simply a wipe back to a single base clean config – nothing more).
- “Very Likely” that UCCX and VM Ports will be integrated beforehand
- New update to UCCX integration: UCCX Integration WILL BE DONE for you, however be prepared to Troubleshoot the integration.
- New update to Unity Connection integration: UC will be pre-configured with “base” integration info, however you will still be required to know and create Subscribers, Call Handlers, etc. Both of these previous two announcements are very nice timesavers indeed for the candidate. —> As stated above, Proctor Labs vRacks does custom, per-lab, pre-loading of configurations to every device including servers, this means that all future Mock Labs in Volume 2 and Instructor-Led Courses, we will have UCCX/UC ports pre-integrated.
- CUPS Server will NOT be pre-integrated with CUCM (this keeps in line with the blueprint). Also there are 3 types of Presence clients used in exam: IPPM (IP Phone Messenger – basically IM on the IP Phone), CUPC-control of 7965, and CUPC standalone softphone-mode. —> Proctor Labs vRacks has all three of these our labs today.
- IP Phones “Do not have VLANs assigned”, but that does not preclude them from being pre-configured in CUCM(E), just definitely not registered when candidate sits down —> See our above note for how we can and do test both (or any scenario for that matter really).
- IP Phone Firmware changes are definitely testable topics at both CUCM and CUCME sites (study this well folks or else it could cost you a LOT of time!!) —> We test it!
- @ Dialplan (predicated upon a given country’s national numbering plan), and so therefore also Route Filters – has not ever previously been a testable topic. At this point it will still not be tested, however in the future Ben stated that they reserve the right to leave it open as a future testable topic, although it probably won’t be anything that happens in the near future. —> Again, we are on top of it and plan to incorporate it into later Volume 2 Mock Labs.
- 4 Open-Ended Questions (OEQ’s) focusing on “Core Knowledge” will be tested from Day 1 (July 16) —> For this and the next few topics regarding these OEQ’s: We will be releasing our CCIE OEQ Prep Quizzer tomorrow (Monday, June 29th).
- RE:4 Open-Ended Q’s: Will have 30 mins to answer 4 questions, answers will be 5 words or less, if you finish early you can proceed onto Lab Configuration
- RE:4 Open-Ended Q’s: Must answer 3/4 correctly, if you do answer EITHER 3 or 4 of the 4 Q’s correctly – both result in award of 21pts, then you need 59 points from Lab Config portion of exam, so in essence – you need ~75% to pass the CCIE Voice Lab
- RE:4 Open-Ended Q’s: Purpose is specifically designed to “Preserve Integrity and stop [people from] passing who just memorize lab [tasks from cheat websites]“
- RE:4 Open-Ended Q’s: During these 4 questions you will NOT have access to any resources (Cisco Documentation Website or 4 SRND PDFs on desktop). Restated: You have no resources other than your brain during the 4 OEQ’s.
- Voice Lab Exam testing centers to include Dubai, Bejing, and Bangalore. More seats “should” mean more availability. We hope.
- All CCIE Voice grading is still being done by hand by the Proctors at the moment. May integrate automated grading at a later date.
- Configuration of Dial Plan is not checked. Grading is based on results: (i.e. test calls are made, primary gateways shutdown, test calls are made again to test backup gateways, etc).
- If a gateway is not registered you will score 0 on dial plan.
So as clearly stated next to each update, we starting planning ahead more than a year ago for this change, and all of these updates confirm that we were dead-on track for 100% of these changes. We have ALL (repeat 100%) of these things in our Instructor-Led Training courses and our Workbooks: TODAY!
Cheers,
Mark and Vik
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ron Cannella says:
June 28th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Great update guys! Its awesome to finally get some solid answers on the new 3.0 Voice Lab. And its very good to know that I am in the the right hands when it comes down to where I am spending hours upon hours of lab time on the new blueprint.
Tanner Ezell says:
June 28th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Hey awesome guys, thanks for providing the updates! I can’t wait till my time to seat the lab, I’m pretty excited! I’m a bit disappointed it doesn’t test more subjects such as meetingplace express or emergency responder (since I would love the lab books to include these!), but I guess there’s only so much you can do in 8 hours :)
John Spaulding says:
June 28th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Ron! how is the studying going !!! I have my lab on July 20th..Ill let you know how it goes. what your new email address?
Aamir says:
June 29th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Mark/Vik,
Just a quick clarification please. I see conflicting information regarding IP addressing scheme on ipexpert blog and twitter
Ipexpert blog:
All CCIE test pods will have same IP addressing scheme – no more “YY=pod#”. However, PSTN and Dial Plan numbering scheme WILL change from lab to lab!
Twitters:
correction from earlier post. IP Addressing & Dial Plan will change from lab to lab.
Can you please confirm which one is true??
Otto Sanchez says:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Any insight on the troubleshooting aspect of the lab?, is this going to be mixed with configuration tasks? will be a separate section?, any details very appreciated,
Thanks!!
Mark Snow says:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
@Aamir, The conflicting information on twitter is only due to the nature of us reporting as we heard things from the speaker, Ben. Later he made updates that we revised on twitter, and also made more permanent updates to this blog article (thus the strike-throughs on some things we had previously written here). What is here in the blog, and doens’t have a strike-through, is the final word from Ben and Cisco.
So the word is same IP addressing from pod to pod, however very possible changing pstn dial plans from lab to lab.
Cheers,
Mark
Mark Snow says:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
@Otto,
Troubleshooting for the Voice lab will be a part of the configuration section. No separation at the moment like there is with the RS exam. So once you finish your OEQ’s, you will have the rest of the day to work on both.
HTH,
Mark
Daryl says:
June 30th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Great post, when you will you begin to relase practice labs?
Mark Snow says:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
@Daryl,
We have an entire Volume 1 Lab Workbook that focuses on technology-specific scenarios, and in the upcoming next couple of weeks we will begin releasing (one-at-a-time as they complete development) new Full Mock Labs along with (in the next 3-4 weeks) a full Video on Demand series with over 40 hours of brand new lecture along with tutorial exercises.
Cheers,
Mark
Matt says:
July 7th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Mark, is the 06/22 post still accurate as far as phone model requirements for physical phones?
Mark Snow says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:43 am
@Matt,
If by your question you mean “Will we (IPexpert) continue to use 7962’s in their development process?” – then the answer is: Yes, we will still continue to use the 7962 phone model as the primary model for development and testing in our Lab Workbooks. This is for two reasons: 1) We have already purchased a very large quantity of these phones for our classrooms (96 to be exact), but then also 2) The only added advantage of the 7965 phones over the 7962 phones is the fact that the 7965’s have GigEthernet and Color Displays. Other than those two features (which don’t play a part in testing in the CCIE Lab Exam in any way), all of the “testable” features are embodied in the slightly lower costing 7962 phone models. The only reason the actual CCIE Voice Lab chose to use those phone models was that they were more readily available internally to the Voice IE development team, than lower models were.
Bear in mind that while we might use 7962’s for our testing and solutions, there is nothing stopping our Proctor Labs customers who are using hardware phones, to purchase and use 7965, 7964, or even 7961 phone models instead of the 7962’s we have in the solutions. Only thing you may have to do is delete the 7962 phone device and re-add your model of IP Phone in the CUCM/CUCME DB after you load the “Initial Lab Configs” for the particular lab you are working on that day. 7960 Phone models however will not work in place of our 7962’s – they don’t support around 30% of the new features that were heavily talked about being tested in the CCIE Voice Techtorial at Networkers.
HTH,
Mark Snow
Paritosh says:
July 7th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Mark/Vik,
I have a question about AD/DNS. In the post above you noted the following
“To reiterate: It is confirmed that Native DC Directory will be what is tested Day 1 and for a little while until they “run out” of content to add.”
I assume that you mean the CUCM’s internal directory right? Also, without AD/DNS, how are they going to test CUPS? Cuz CUPS needs AD for presence? Does this mean that initially they will not be testing presence?
Thanks,
Mark Snow says:
July 7th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
@Paritosh,
Yes, DC Directory is CUCM’s internal Directory.
The next question/statement (not sure which it was): “Cuz CUPS needs AD for presence” – isn’t entirely true. CUPS can do a lot more things with AD, however it does not HAVE to have it for basic testing of Presence-Aware application integration such as IP Phone Messenger (IM for the 7900’s), and CUPC. Truth be told that while it’s not the easiest (and certainly not scalable), that you can even have a Directory from which to view users’ presence status from the CUPC all without AD integration.
Take a look at our Volume 1 Lab 13 for an example of this.
Anyway – AD integration is not ruled out for the CCIE Voice Lab, just confirmed that it won’t be there day 1, and likely not until around 6-12 months into this new blueprint.
Cheers,
Mark Snow
TriniFOX says:
July 7th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
@Mark, Vik
Can I ask kindly that some where on IP Expert that a list of ‘acceptable’ Phones be drawn up in order of preference along with relative expense?
Mark Snow says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
@TriniFOX,
Sure.
Acceptable phones are listed when you login to your Proctor Labs account and click through the option to connect your Hardware Phones (Hardware VPN) solution.
Here is a minimum list:
(Qty 2) 7960 phones
(Qty 3) 7961 phones
Any higher 796x model phones will work just fine in substitution of any of these phone models – just not anything less than these.
Cheers,
Mark Snow
Basant says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Hi Mark/Vik
Did Ben gave any specific date when the Voice lab centers at Dubai or Bangalore will get started?
- Basant
Jeremy Land says:
July 9th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I am in the process of building a V3 lab and have a question about PVDM/DSP resources. How many PVDMs/DSP’s are needed for all new V3 labs?
David Blair says:
July 9th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I have a question of device subistutions. I have the following equipment which is below the v3 equipment list.
1) NM-CUE, 2) 3560 SW.
Could IPExpert publish a detailed equipment list in 2 forms: 1) Preferred, 2) Subistutions
TriniFOX says:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I am with David Blair I have an AIM-CUE and not sure what I’ll miss out on.
mikemc says:
July 13th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Buyer beware. Do not purchase classes or bootcamps from Faisal at
voicebootcamp.com. They are located in Canada but also teach around the
world.
Most americans are probably becoming aware that voicebootcamp is a scam
but some do not kow yet. If you live in East asia, then you might not have
as many options but people in the states or Europe, stay away from
voicebootcamp.com
This is what you can expect. They claim to offer unlimited retakes till
you pass but this is a scam. I have tried 5 times now to retake a class
and every time they (voicebootcamp) come up with an excuse. They will post
dates on their site but at the very last minute they will call you and
claim the class is cancelled. The last time I called about a class I was
supposed to be enrolled in they told me that it was cancelled yet I
couldnt speak to the instructor. Seems like the class was in progress but
I wasnt allowed to resit – hmm. Very fishey. I spoke with one of their ex
employees, a sales manager who actually sold me the package and she told
me that Faisal basically sits at home and when a company calls that has 5
people, he will travel to where ever they are located and teach the class.
The dates and locations on his web site are almost never true as he will
cancel it unless he has a full class and that he will do everything in his
power to offer an excuse and prevent someone from retaking a class. It is
not in his interest to offer retakes. But he will advertise this as it
makes a good selling point, but he has no plans to honor this.
Again, I have tried 5 separate times to retake the class and it was all in
vain. This was over 1 year I tried. I had 2 other students in my class
that requested a full refund as they were not satisfied with the quality.
We could not get the remote sessions working correctly and his updates
were not complete.
In his video lectures he will be on a topic and then when he cant get the
lab to work he will just end the video. Voicebootcamp is not profesional
at all.
I have tried calling Faisal on his cell phone, work phone and his manager
(this person changes every few months- high turnover) and via email but no
one will return my messages.
Voicebootcamp has no desire to assist the students and their policy is:
you can get a 100 percent refund after the first day only. After that, you
get nothing.
I would suggest going to any other school than voicebootcamp.
Erica says:
July 26th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Just want to ask is the lab including UCCX & CUC failover?
Sunjay says:
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am
Could you let me know what features are not supported by 7960 that are tested in the lab?