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IPexpert is on the scene at Cisco Live 2011 in Las Vegas! I was privileged to attend the CCIE Wireless Techtorial, presented by Erik Vangrunderbeek (CCIE Wireless Product Manager,) Javier Contreras (senior escalation engineer for the Cisco Wireless Business Unit,) Matt Swartz (Technical Leader at Cisco,) and Stephen Orr (Cisco Senior Consulting Systems Engineer.)
As we previously reported in this blog the CCIE Wireless will be updated to version 2.0 starting on November 18, 2011. We’ll look at some of the important changes coming (including Core Knowledge Questions,) as well as some items that affect the current and the coming versions of the lab.
Version 1 Information
There was not much information related to version 1, since version 2 is coming. However, there were some interesting tidbits
- 45 people have passed the CCIE Wireless, out of over 300 attempts. About 60% of those work for Cisco.
- The latest one passed last Thursday. Congratulations to Kara Muessig (who has been a welcome participant on the Online Study List) for becoming the first woman to pass!
- There are two places where equipment is located – San Jose and in Brussels. RTP and Sydney are remote.
- If the lab requires the use of the ADU client, then RDP will be used to access the laptop. If the CSSC is used, then VNC is used due to an interaction issue between CSSC and RDP.
General Recommendations
The speakers provided some recommendations for those taking the lab, no matter which version is being taken.
- Read through the entire lab in order to develop a game plan and see what items are dependent on others.
- When studying, read the “Notes” sections in the config guides. These are a key source for lab development, since they address the “gotchas” and key requirements for specific features.
- The requirements either come from TAC cases or real life customer examples. Nothing is developed without some basis in reality (even though it may seem like that some times!)
- All of the solutions were required to have documentation. If it wasn’t available on cisco.com, then it was created.
- Don’t fight the exam. Read the requirements and do what is asked.
- Configurations will be based on best practice for 95% of the exam. One difficulty with this, which was acknowledged is determining best practice from the available documentation. And, that is especially true if the documentation is conflicting. In general, newer documentation is recommended for review, since it was probably updated based on the lab requirements. Also, please provide feedback on Cisco.com if you have concerns about anything you find in documentation. These guys do get the feedback.
- No partial credit. This is often said, here and in other locations, but it can’t be emphasized enough. Every little bit of a requirement, and anything it is dependent upon, must be correct.
- In general, most VLANs, IP addressing and WLC interfaces will already have been configured. Whether or not they were configured correctly will be up to you to determine.
Grading
Grading is always a concern. How does it happen? Here are few key things to know:
- Scripts are used to verify certain components. These generally consist of “show” commands that have expected output. One example provided was “show ip route” which listed various required routes and their source.
- If possible, CLI verification is used. This allows for more automation of grading.
- If there are items that can be variable (such as RADIUS server group names on autonomous APs or a mobility domain name if not otherwise defined in the requirements,) these are allowed. Their consistent use will be checked.
- There are certain things that require interaction (maps in WCS, phone calls) that the proctor will grade by hand.
- There is a 300+ configuration verification document, which has links to the Cisco documentation supporting the required answer. That, of course, is not available :)
- There are no re-reads of the lab exam at this time.
Format
There were some different format changes that will be coming with version 2.
- As mentioned, there will be no more OEQs. Troubleshooting will be a part of the total 8-hour exam; it will not be a separate section.
- The current printed, 3-ring binder format will be replaced with the Lab Delivery System, currently used by the R&S exam. So, no more taking out those pages and spreading them across the desk. This makes drawing a topology and documenting notes even more important.
- The lab will be more modular, with less repetitive tasks.
Core Knowledge Questions (or Open End Questions or OEQs)
First, the CCIE R&S and Voice exams had the OEQs removed, then Service Provider didn’t have them. It has already been announced that Security and Storage Networking exams will not have the questions starting August 15, 2011. The CCIE Service Provider Operations hasn’t had them. So, that left the CCIE Wireless as the only one that was still listed with the Core Knowledge Questions. Well, the wait is over (or will be.) With the launch of version 2 of the lab on November 18, there will not be OEQs on the CCIE Wireless exam. Similar to the other exams, it was found that there are more effective means of maintaining the integrity of the lab exam.
Troubleshooting
From the start, the CCIE Wireless lab exam has had “gifts” as part of the lab experience. You know, those things that were purposefully misconfigured that made other things not work properly. Well, with the OEQs removed, expect more of these. Related to this, there will be more scenarios that describe problem situations and require configuration changes to resolve the problem.
Version 2 Content Specifics
While the updated blueprint was reviewed, there were some areas that were discussed in much greater detail than others.
- Multicast
- This was discussed multiple times. This is due to the inclusion of IPv6 (which requires multicast in many circumstances including WLC support for IPv6,) VideoStream, and Multicast VLAN, among other things.
- If not specified, use as simple a PIM-Sparse Mode configuration as possible
- Configure a loopback to serve as the Rendezvous Point unless otherwise specified
- IPv6
- There won’t be a lot of “subnetting,” but understand how addressing works
- Examples of OSPFv3 were provided, so there may be minimal IPv6 dynamic routing
- Be aware of the “sdm” template required for IPv6 configuration on the 3560E switches.
- Locally Significant Certificates
- Mesh
- Will be based on indoor deployment, based on hardware in list
- Dynamic Rate Adaptation and Client Backhaul Access (don’t enable by default) were specifically mentioned
- Video
- VideoStream, including multicast stream prioritization and limiting the number of unicast streams
- Know the interaction between this and CAC/ACM
- RRM Updates
- While there have been some significant updates in the algorithm in the last few WLC versions, most changes are under the hood. Know how those interactions (like updated DCA metric thresholds and averaging of AP power for TPC) impact configurations.
- BandSelect was mentioned. Javier says to NOT use BandSelect with voice clients, due to the potential 1.5 second delay when moving between bands that this can introduce.
- CleanAir
- Of course, this was included. There is a 3500 on the equipment list, after all.
- Understand the configuration and interaction between the WLC, WCS, and MSE for this
- Understand the different features that those components provide for CleanAir in order to configure requirements as presented.
- ACS 5.2
- While it is generally more intuitive, it is a different animal than ACS 4.2. In order to be fast, become very familiar with the interface.
After the material was presented, a mini (40 point) lab was discussed as a group. It was great to hear the thoughts on how to approach the lab (grouping key items together, such as network infrastructure, ACS, etc.)
Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow, as I sit through the CCIE Voice Techtorial.
Take care!
Jason Boyers– CCIE #26024
Senior Technical Instructor – IPexpert
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Tags: CCIE, CCIE Wireless, CCIEW, Wireless
