In March of this year, I passed my CCIE Voice lab, on my second attempt. To give you a bit of history, I learned on my first attempt that time management was a critical skill for the lab. In fact, after my first attempt, I told the proctor that I could have finished given another three hours. Obviously, I poorly managed my time.

Part of my poor time management was spending too much time on troubleshooting tasks. Part of it was spending too much time verifying my work, and part of it time was spent performing tasks inefficiently.

So, while gearing up for my second attempt, I developed a set of strategies that served me well. In this blog posting, I’d like to share those strategies with you at a high level.
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Q. When doe this course start?

A. Thursday, June 7, 2012, 8:00 – 10:30 PM EDT

Q. Who should attend this course?

A. This course assumes the student has already been through at least one practice lab on their own and that they are at least familiar with the technologies on the CCIE Voice Lab blueprint.

Q. What is the basis for the course content?

A. This live on-line boot camp walks the student through a new mock lab (that Kevin Wallace created) over a series of eight sessions.

Q. What distinguishes this boot camp from a tradition boot camp?

A. The biggest difference (huge!) is its focus on lab strategy. There are 12 strategies outlined in what Kevin Wallace calls his “CCIE Voice Alchemy” process, which helps the student “turn their lab day into gold.” This boot camp demonstrates these 12 strategies while working through the new mock lab (in a non-linear fashion).

Q. What is the goal of this bootcamp?

A. The goal is for the student to complete this boot camp with a much deeper understanding of the technologies on the lab, and (maybe even more importantly) have a set of strategies that they can use on lab day to make the most effective use of their time.

Q. Who is this Kevin Wallace guy?

A. Kevin Wallace is a CCIE R&S and Voice. With Cisco experience dating back to 1989 (on a Cisco AGS+ router running Cisco IOS 7.x), Kevin has been a network design specialist for the Walt Disney World Resort, a Senior Technical Instructor for SkillSoft, and a network manager for Eastern Kentucky University. Kevin holds a bachelor’s of science degree in electrical engineering (focusing on digital communications) from the University of Kentucky, and has also authored or co-authored multiple books for Cisco Press, including: Voice over IP First-Step,Cvoice Foundation Learning Guide, TSHOOT Cert Kit, TSHOOT Official Certification Guide, and ROUTE Cert Kit. Kevin’s website is1ExamAMonth.com.

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Instructors - Anthony Sequeira and Terry Vinson

Date and Time - Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 8:00 PM EST USA

Format - Live Online WebEx Training Center

Class Recording – Available immediately following the event

Extras – Daily (M-F) email challenges; 24×7 mentor support

Topics – Evening 1 topics

• The Quick-Fire Ticket Management Strategy
• The Quick-Fire Time Management Strategy
• Quick-Fire Layer 2 Strategies

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I have been answering the same two questions regarding our upcoming Online Operation and Troubleshooting Boot Camp on a daily basis. So I thought that I would take the opportunity to answer them here on the blog so that everyone can benefit from the explanations. The first question out of most candidates’ mouths is, “In your opinion did the Quick-Fire method make that much of a difference regarding passing the troubleshooting section of the exam?”

Honestly, that question presupposes a number of variables that have to be clarified first. It automatically assumes that the test taker has a solid foundation in the technologies and protocols being tested, it also assumes that ample time has been taken to practice and build speed at the console and at least develop some rudimentary deployment and resolution strategies. That being said my answer is absolutely!

I honestly think the Quick-Fire method made all the difference. In both labs that I took, I was working on trouble tickets up till the last few minutes. The approach helped me stay calm with all the pressure, plus it kept me focused on what was really important; securing points. Honestly, there wasn’t a question asked that any well prepared student could not have answered given enough time; the issue was the clock. The time goes so fast and even a few minutes of wasted time on each ticket can mean the difference between passing and failing. In both attempts, there where tickets that I solved almost immediately and then some I resolved in the last few moments (the ones I considered very hard) before the final verification. The Quick-Fire method is designed to optimize time while maximizing the chances at getting the most correct tickets before it runs out. In both actual lab attempts where we tested Quick-Fire, the tickets ranged from easy to what I considered extremely hard and some contained multiple errors. The Quick-Fire process helped me gather all the “low hanging fruit” quickly and efficiently, and bought me the time necessary to really focus on the harder tickets.
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This post is an excerpt from the CCIE Data Center Written Bootcamp that begins live, online July 31, 2012 here IPexpert.

Overview

In a previous post, we introduced students to an important component of the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) – the Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnect. That previous post can be found here:

Introducing the Cisco UCS 6120XP 20-Port Fabric Interconnect

In this post, we are going to talk about the importance of these devices for providing high availability. When we configure two of these Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects in a cluster, both data planes are able to actively forward traffic. The management plane operates in an active-standby type relationship between the two devices.

Creating the Cluster

As you might expect, in order for this clustering to take place, both fabric interconnect models must be identical. So, for example, a Cisco UCS 6120 fabric interconnect cannot cluster with a Cisco UCS 6140. Also, keep in mind that the two devices must run the same version of the Cisco UCS Manager software.

Now, thankfully, there is one important exception to this identical model requirement. In order to facilitate an upgrade to the number of ports in your UCS, an unconfigured 6140 can connect to the active member of a 6120 cluster. Once the database is synchronized to the 6140, the 6120 can be removed from the cluster and replaced with a 6140.
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