I was taking a peek at the available wireless CCIE lab seats this morning and saw that RTP is offering a wireless lab seat every week day starting in June.  So most weeks have 3 available seats ready to reserve (Tuesdays/Thursdays have been booked for months now).

That’s definitely going to be a big help to ease the 5-6 month wait period in the US.  But this also opens the door to doing the same thing in other locations.  RTP now, Brussels and San Jose soon?  With any luck we will see one or more other sites follow suit.

Greetings iPexpert Community!

My name is Andy Vassar and I am the newest addition to the team here at iPexpert. I am going to be focusing on the development and delivery of all the CCIE Collaboration content including the CCIE written bootcamp (and VOD), iPexpert’s CCIE Collaboration workbooks, and of course their CCIE Collaboration lab bootcamps – both the Online-HD-ILT version and the live classes in Chicago. Lastly, I’m currently overseeing the roll out of our new Collaboration racks, and putting together a vLectures schedule – which I’ll be posting within the next week or two. I’m excited to get rolling here, and I look forward to helping you achieve your CCIE Collaboration “digits”!

A little bit about myself to kick things off…I have spent about 10 years in the IT industry working with various different pieces of technology, from web development and database design to UC design, implementation, optimization, and everything in between. I just recently was employed at Cisco as an NCE for the last 6 years, where I was able to achieve both my CCIE in Routing & Switching in 2008 and Voice in 2010, which has since been updated to the CCIE Collaboration certification. I have a passion for all things technology and enjoy learning new things as often as I can. I also enjoy teaching others and explaining complex topics—especially when it comes to the CCIE!

So now that you know a little about me, let’s get down to business. The reason why you clicked on this page in the first place was to get some great information about the new CCIE Collaboration exam—and I intend to provide it.

As everyone is well aware, Cisco decided to retire the CCIE Voice (as of February 14, 2014) instead of continuing to update the exam, which has made way for the next generation CCIE exam called the CCIE Collaboration. This now includes “cutting edge” widely deployed technologies such as video, presence, IM, and of course, voice. So what’s the main point here? We’re not just talking about voice anymore. I believe that is why the exam was updated in the first place; to reflect the fundamental shift in technology being used in the industry today, which is why I’m a great fit to assist you in your lab preparation – I’ve been designing, installing, and teaching these latest “Collaboration technologies” for the past 5 years.

For those of you that have been preparing for the CCIE Voice exam, but were not able to get certified before the deadline, don’t panic. Nearly all of your hard work and studying can still be salvaged. Although many of these “newer” technologies are going to be tested heavily during the exam, at this point, a large portion of the CCIE Collaboration certification still focuses on the concepts introduced within the CCIE Voice blueprint. With that said, let’s have a look at the topic turnover as described by Cisco’s website.

As you can see from the above table, some of the “unnecessary” topics were removed, while a plethora of new material was added to the written test. It doesn’t really look like that long of a list, but when you start diving into each topic, you soon realize that each contains several layers of information that can take a while to explore.

As for the lab exam topics, it’s hard to believe, but Cisco has finally waved goodbye to the Gatekeeper. I remember a time during my initial CCIE Voice prep, when that device was the bane of my existence! Don’t forget everything yet, though! It is still “testable” on the written exam. The added topics, once again, pack a lot of punch. ILS/URI, SAF/CCD, and Cisco Jabber are all unfamiliar technologies for many.

If you’ll look carefully on the above table, you’ll begin to notice that not really that much has changed here. Sure, we’re losing and adding quite a bit of equipment, but nothing new when it comes to type. We are replacing like for like (albeit updated) in every category. The 9971 and the Jabber client are the only blatant additions. However, there are some specific changes with the PVDM3s especially that will be addressed within iPexpert’s suite of products.

Now that we’ve explored what has changed, let’s have a look at the weight that will be given to each section in the written and lab exams.

As you can see, not much is different between the written and lab exams. The only thing that is really missing from the lab portion is the “Telephony Standards and Protocols” section, which is inherently included in the exam anyway, by virtue of the technology that is being tested in the first place. Digging into the numbers a bit, you’ll find that CUCM and Cisco IOS make up a large chunk (45% of the written exam and 65% of the lab exam). So logically speaking, if you know those two topics, you are in pretty decent shape on each exam. However, you still need a score of 80 on the lab to pass and you can’t get that while knowing only two areas. The key point that I’m making here is that it is incredibly important to have core knowledge, but equally important to be able to implement and troubleshoot auxiliary components like UCCX. You never know when you’re lack of knowledge in one area can unintentionally affect another area of the exam!

Now that you have the updated blueprint fresh in your mind, you’re probably wondering how iPexpert help you conquer this beast that is the CCIE Collaboration certification. I’m glad that you asked, because that’s why we’re here!

Our first product that will give you all the foundational knowledge necessary for the CCIE Collaboration is our Volume 1 Technology Focused Workbook. Going through this workbook and really cutting your teeth on the technology is what will help you lay the proper groundwork for your studies. We’ll dig deep into the technology to expose and eradicate any weaknesses. Since this is a new exam, the content for this workbook is currently under development. It’s a complete rewrite, and not just a partial update. I expect to release some updates over the next several weeks, and will continue to release additional chapters are they’re finished. If you’re a Voice customer, you’ll be getting updates free of charge. If you haven’t purchased yet – you may want to consider doing so quickly. Once the material starts to roll out, these incredible discounts being offered won’t be around, so if you’re looking to save some dollars – get in now.

The Volume 2 Mock Lab Workbook will put those newly acquired skills to the test by presenting you with several mock-lab scenarios that will test both your endurance and technological acumen. This is a great way to practice your overall lab strategy in addition to the configuration-based challenges. As with Volume 1, this content is currently under development and will be available in the June time frame.

Of course, in order to actually work through both of the workbooks, you will need a state-of-the-art CCIE Collaboration rack on which to practice. We offer exactly that—brand new equipment and software as well as an intuitive control interface that will allow you to load new mock labs and technology-based labs with ease. The focus here is on you the student, and helping you to get down to business without worrying about the painful set up process. The racks are now in the process of being beta tested along with the control interface. The first of the racks should be available in a few weeks. You’re going to love some of the things we’re doing with our rack rental interface! ;-)

The 5-Day CCIE Collaboration lab bootcamp as well as the One Week Lab Experience will serve to further cement your knowledge in these technologies. As your instructor, I will lead you through the most complex and challenging parts of the blueprint to help you make sense of everything. This is the perfect time to bring those burning questions about the exam with you so everyone as a group can benefit from the discussion. These bootcamps are very fast-paced, learning intensive programs designed specifically to take you to the next level in your CCIE preparation. My teaching style is to really get into the guts of the technology, and perform a lot of hands-on examples and demonstrations. We’ll configure, break and then reconfigure almost everything that’s listed on the blueprint – and make sure you leave with an incredible level of understanding. I will be leading all of iPexpert’s Collaboration bootcamps at our brand new facility at the Purdue Technology Center just outside of Chicago.

I’ll also be conducting free vLectures, using our amazing Online-HD-ILT training solution, on various topics within the CCIE Collaboration blueprint. These will be short sessions focused on a specific area and will be designed to teach complex topics in a short amount of time. Topic requests are always welcomed! Wayne has asked me to put together a list of the first 6 to 8 vLectures, so I expect him to be posting an updated vLecture list within the next few days.

Within the next 2 to 4 weeks, we will be making several major announcements here at iPexpert. We’ll be announcing our new R&S and Data Center instructors, as well as a new product suite and additional services. We’re excited about the change in direction here, and we’re very confident you will be too!

So, in closing, I want you to all know that I’m dedicated to helping you achieve this certification any way I can. I remember what it was like to go through the intense preparation; long days, long nights, no sleep, extreme focus, etc. If you don’t have the proper support during those times, the frustration can become unbearable. However, with the quality resources offered by iPexpert and the dedicated support that you will receive, I believe that those frustrations will be largely minimized throughout the course of your studies. Good luck in your preparation and thanks for reading and for watching!

A short while ago, Cisco talked about some upcoming policy changes for the CCIE that we wanted to share with you all.  It hasn’t been published on their normal CCIE policy pages yet.  But I will give you the important details in this post.  If you want to see the presentation that talks about these changes, you can find that here.  The presentation also covers some other CCIE topics as well.  So it may be worth a view for the other included information.

With one exception (noted below), these changes should take effect on August 1.  All of the images are taken from the presentation linked above.

Policy change #1- Written exam retakes

Current policy allows students to retake the written exam unlimited times with a 5 day minimum wait period between attempts.  The new policy drastically changes this.  Starting August 1, there is a 15 day wait period between attempts and a maximum number of attempts of 4 per year.

The wait period probably isn’t a big deal.  But the 4 attempts per year could be an issue to some people.  So if you have the strategy of taking the test early just to see what it’s like, you may want to alter that.  Most of us usually won’t need more than 4 attempts to pass this exam.  But it’s good to keep this limitation in mind as you plan your certification process.

Policy change #2- Lab exam retakes

Current policy is a 30 day wait time in between attempts.  The new policy starting August 1 is that there is a progressive wait time as you take more and more attempts.  As you can see in the chart below, it starts out with a 30 day wait after your first failure.  After the 2^nd through 4^th failures, it’s a 90 day wait.  After that, it’s a 180 day wait.

So let’s say you are starting fresh on your first attempt on January 1, 2015.  You can get 5 attempts in your first year.  After that, it’s 2 attempts per year.  For ease of illustration, I fudged the real numbers and just rounded off to the nearest beginning of a month.

Attempt 1- January 1, 2015
Attempt 2- February 1, 2015
Attempt 3- May 1, 2015
Attempt 4- August 1, 2015
Attempt 5- November 1, 2015
Attempt 6- May 1, 2016
Attempt 7- November 1, 2016

Of course, this assumes you can even schedule your subsequent attempts when you want.  For some tracks, bookings go out quite a ways so this might not even be possible.

Again, most of us don’t need more than 5 attempts.  So it would be rare to run into the 180 wait period.  But 3-5 attempts isn’t rare.  So a fair number of people will hit the 90 day wait period.

Policy change #3- Lab rescoring

There has been a long standing reread policy for R&S and SP tracks where you can pay money to have your configs loaded up onto a rack and have the entire lab rescored.

Now a Review process is being introduced on August 1 that allows another proctor to view your answers and debug data and a rescore can be completed.  The way that I understand what they said, this is different in that they don’t reload your entire configs.  But instead they look at the output of the original verifications and proctor notes to do the rescore.

The nice part about the new review process is that it is available across all tracks.  The reason that it’s not a full config reload is probably because that is not possible across most tracks.  For instance, I know on Wireless and Collaboration there are many server configs.  So in order to load up a student lab, server snapshots would have to be taken.  Or in the wireless lab, there is a 7925 phone that typically would need manual configurations, and those could not really be saved for future re-scoring.

I don’t know what the odds of a review changing your score will be.  But I guess it’s the best that they can do for these other tracks where a full config reload isn’t feasible.

Policy change #4- Lab exam rescheduling

This is the one change that is currently live right now.  Previously, you could only change your lab dates if you hadn’t paid yet.  You get charged at the 90 day mark.  So if there are fewer than 90 days until your lab date, you were stuck with whatever date you scheduled.  No refunds and no date changes were possible.

With the new policy, you can change your lab date for a fee.  I don’t recall them mentioning what the fee was.  But it sounded like it might be different if you were more or less than 45 days out.  That is good news for those of us who have things change in those last 90 days.

Policy change #5- CCIE Emeritus exception

I haven’t even gotten close to my 10 year mark yet.  But evidently the previous policy required that you be an active CCIE at your 10 year mark to convert over to the Emeritus status.  Now there is an alternate way for those people who are in an inactive status.  They just need to get a business transformation certification and then they can convert their inactive CCIE to the Emeritus status.

So this is helpful to those looking to move to the Emeritus status.  Usually they aren’t looking to pass a technical exam like the CCIE written if they are interested in the Emeritus program.  The business transformation certificates may be more applicable to their current roles.

Thoughts about the policy changes

I think the changes are good overall.  The last three changes actually increase our freedom and flexibility.  The written and lab retake policies are the ones that make things more restrictive.  But I don’t think they will have a significant impact to the majority of CCIE hopefuls.   Very few people need more than 4 attempts at the written or 5 attempts for the lab.  The longer wait periods will slow some people down.  But they should have a positive impact on the program overall.

Definitely check out the video if you have some time.  If you jump to the 34:35 timestamp, they start talking about why these policies are being implemented and then go over each of these policies.  This part of the video spans about 11 minutes.

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Lau Chun Yin CCIE #36089 (Routing & Switching)
• Joseph Lipsey CCIE #42683 (Routing & Switching)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

I’m excited to announce that a new update to my CCIE Wireless Lab Essentials video series has been released.  This release actually starts a new version of the lab essentials product.  The good news is that all current and future owners of the lab essentials video series will have both the original version and the new version available to them.  So nobody will lose out on anything.  The original version will be referenced as v2.0 and the new version will be referenced as v2.1.

The new v2.1 series will be released in stages.  The first section released is the Network Infrastructure section.  It contains nearly 11 hours of video detailing just about everything that you will need to know about configuring the switches in the lab.  This is nearly double the number of hours for the same section as compared to v2.0.  As you can imagine, it covers more topics and gets into more detail.

So why release an update to a product that has already been well received?  There are two main drivers for the update.  First, I wanted to have a video series that was more complete.  The original version was taken from a bootcamp class that I did a while back.  Due to the time constraints of a weeklong class, I couldn’t dig into every last topic.  So creating a dedicated self-study series allows me the ability to devote as much time as needed to cover all of the topics that I want.  Second, I am also re-writing workbook 1 (look for the first section soon).  I wanted to be able to have a workbook/video combination where all topics in the workbook are addressed in a video and vice versa.  Basically have products working together harmoniously.

The first section of the new v2.1 video series should be in your account now if you owned the Lab Essentials Video product before.  I hope to have new sections release every month or so.  Next up will be AnyConnect and ACS.  Enjoy!

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Jaime Herrera, CCIE #43439 (Wireless)
• Jay Killion CCIE, #17873 on passing his CCIE Wireless (He’s also a CCIE R&S)
• Christos Stefaneskou, CCIE #43578 (Wireless)
• Mercedes Carvalhinho, CCIE #39670 (R&S, Service Provider)
• Faisal Abdul Gaffoor, CCIE #43600 (Data Center)
• Evgeny Varnavsky, CCIE #27127 on passing his CCIE Wireless (He’s also a CCIE in Security and R&S)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

I’d like to congratulate Andy, our CCIE Collaboration instructor, on passing his Collaboration lab. This makes him a triple IE – with his R&S, Voice and Collaboration. He’s one of less than 10 in the world who have passed this new CCIE certification. Stay tuned for a blog from Andy, tomorrow, discussing our Collaboration self-study workbooks, videos, racks and bootcamps and our ETAs.

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Andy Vassar CCIE, #22042 (Collaboration, Voice, Routing & Switching)
• Arun Wadhawan CCIE, #43653 (Wireless)
• Jere Vasama CCIE, #43662 (Wireless)
• Jeremy Holmes CCIE, #43606 (Wireless)
• George Mukenya CCIE, #41742 (Security)
• Ammett Williams CCIE, #43659 (Routing & Switching)

Jaime Herrera CCIE, #43439 (from last weeks success story)
iPexpert was a key element in my studies towards achieving the CCIE Wireless certification. Jeff’s CCIE Wireless Video On Demand course is a must have for any candidate. He covers all sections of the blueprint in detail. I would highly recommend iPexpert to anyone. Also, iPexpert doesn’t just take your money and run away like most other vendors. The whole team was always there to answer any questions with racks, workbooks, etc. Thanks iPexpert!

Jeremy Holmes CCIE, #43606
Jeff, I just wanted to say Thank You very much for sticking with me throughout  my studies!!! Your willingness  to answer questions after hours and ability to describe solutions in exact detail where key components in achieving my goal.   Will be sending another engineer in your direction as soon as the new version is released.  Thanks again!

Ammett Williams CCIE, #43659
“I have been actively pursuing CCIE R&S for approximately 1 year five month. My main study source was the iPexpert R&S BLS solution. In addition to the great material which is very in-depth & in some cases actually tougher than the actual lab, the customer service I received was superb. I was assisted in every aspect from online rental rack problems to purchase inquiries with excellent responds each and every time. I would like to thank the whole team and make a special mention to Mike for his support. Looking forward to the Collaboration track .“

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Renan Abreu CCIE, #42638 (Routing & Switching)
• Luis Orozco, CCIE # 43623 (Routing & Switching)
• Richard Barbosa, CCIE #43765 (Data Center)
• Jarrod Mills, CCIE #6679 (Data Center, Routing & Switching, Service Provider, Security)
• Trevor Roberts, CCIE #43787 (Data Center)
• Anivaldo Malungo, CCIE #39670 (Routing & Switching, Service Provider)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Hello iPexpert Community!

As many of you know by now, I was able to pass my CCIE Collaboration lab exam a couple weeks back on May 13th.  Like any other CCIE lab exam, it was very difficult and took a great deal of hard work and dedication to pass it.

Throughout my preparation, I relied heavily on the information found in the Collaboration SRND as well as Configuration Guides, Command References, and Configuration Examples found within Cisco’s documentation.  In addition to Cisco’s provided documentation, I also took a few detours through RFC-land (reading through several RFCs) to take a closer look at a few technologies on which I just didn’t get enough detail using the Cisco documentation.  Using the documentation, I spent countless hours “labbing up” different scenarios and troubleshooting the associated problems.  There is no better way to learn a technology in my opinion.  After I was confident that I had a thorough grasp on the each technology found in the blueprint, I wrote some quick mock labs to practice my speed.  Nothing introduces problems more quickly than when you put a countdown on your problem solving ability.  Mistakes are made, corners are cut, and points are lost.  That is why it is so important to practice against a clock.  While speeding through the labs, it revealed some of my deficiencies in several different areas.  For example, what happens when you are running CUBE, CUCME, and video conferencing services on the same router?  Chaos is a good first guess.  However, going back to the drawing board and thoroughly testing everything individually revealed great information that I may not have learned otherwise.  This happened countless times with other technologies like IM & Presence, UCCX, and Unity Connection.  The point here is, you must always understand the technology thoroughly before you can even dream of configuring it in a mock lab scenario.  If you don’t understand the technologies detailed into the blueprint in excruciating detail, you do not have a realistic shot at passing the lab—it’s that simple.

Fear not though, CCIE Collaboration hopefuls!  That’s where iPexpert comes in!  I have been and will be pumping all of those countless hours of lab prep into the creation of all the iPexpert content.  I’ll be using all of those “lessons learned” to create industry-leading documentation, course content, and lectures geared towards teaching you the concepts and technologies detailed on the Collaboration lab exam.  Through iPexpert’s brand-new, completely re-written, suite of products, including technology-focused and mock lab workbooks, live and online HD-ILT bootcamps, “Next Generation” HD VoDs, and Proctor Labs rack rental solutions, I am confident that iPexpert can help you to achieve your goal.

Technology-Focused and Mock Lab Workbooks

I am pretty excited about the direction that iPexpert is heading here.  Soon, the days of accessing workbooks using only PDFs will be overtaken by a more interactive, intuitive workbook system that will allow blended access to related VoDs, an area for user notes, detailed solutions for each question, and access to the members-only support forum within a few simple clicks.  For those of you that would still prefer to use the PDF format, don’t worry; you will be able to generate that document on demand when needed.  The format of the technology related questions also present a major change from the previous iterations of iPexpert workbooks.  Instead of sending you through a 5-hour journey to complete one technology-focused lab section, there will instead be several “mini-labs” that can be completed in about 20 to 45 minutes.  This will allow you to focus on very specific pieces of technology and manage your time more effectively.   Also, since the new format will be extremely modular, expect to see more fluid refinements and additions than ever before.  The first of our workbooks will be released within a few weeks, targeting June 13th as the release date.

With regard to the mock lab workbooks, the same changes outlined above will apply.  Obviously our focus here is to create labs that are just as difficult and time consuming as the actual lab; maybe even more.  If you can successfully take down our mock labs without breaking a sweat, you should be ready to “slay the beast”.  The mock labs will start to trickle out shortly after the release of the Technology-Focused workbooks.

Live and Online HD-ILT Bootcamps

As I wrote about in my last blog, I will be teaching the live bootcamps out of our new location at the Purdue Technology Center in the Chicago area.  The bootcamps are a great way to refine your skills and take in a lot of information in a short amount of time.  The 5-Day Lab Preparation bootcamp will take you through the blueprint from top to bottom and really give you a solid grip on your level of preparedness for the actual lab exam.  I ask that students come prepared to “drink from the fire hose” as there will be a large amount of topics that will be covered throughout the course of the week.  The One Week Lab experience (OWLE) bootcamp is solely focused on mock labs and lab strategy.  There will be 3 full-scale, timed labs given throughout the week and will put the knowledge of the student to the ultimate test.  Of course, these bootcamps can be taken at separate times, but it is very beneficial to combine the two courses with the 10-Day Lab Preparation bootcamp.  Spending a full 10 days with extreme focus on lab preparation is the best way to gain the crucial knowledge needed to pass the lab exam.  Taking both courses back to back will provide the perfect building blocks to take your knowledge to the next level.  For more information and detailed course outlines, check out our CCIE Collaboration Bootcamps page.

“Next Generation” HD Videos on Demand

As my colleague Terry Vinson wrote, the iPexpert Next Generation VoDs are a game changer.  As a company, we are focusing on generating high quality video content that can be accessed at any time, when it is most convenient for you.  Come on, who hasn’t had that late-night, 3am craving for a CUBE lecture?  I know I have!  In addition to providing high-quality on-demand content, we’re going to be running Online HD-ILT courses, workbook mentoring sessions, and vLectures that will allow seamless interaction with the instructor so you can ask clarifying questions to truly understand the technology.  Video content from those sessions will be recorded and accessible through your member account.

Proctor Labs Rack Rentals

I have had several questions regarding the rack rental hardware set up, so I thought it best to try and answer everyone using a blog post.  First of all, the racks that we have built are state-of-the-art.  We have the server horsepower to run all of the required virtual machines as detailed by the blueprint.  In addition, the routing and switching hardware and IOS software is the same that you will experience on the lab.

Topology Diagram

Students also want to know how the modules have been allocated.  Cisco’s blueprint defines the necessary “testable” modules as seen in the following link:  https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-20807.  The below list is how Proctor Labs has allocated each module per router.

R1

• 2911 Router
• VWIC3-1MFT-T1/E1 —> For Voice PSTN
• HWIC-2T —> For Frame Relay Connections
• PVDM3-128 —> For Media Resource Usage

R2

• 2911 Router
• VWIC3-1MFT-T1/E1 —> For Voice PSTN
• HWIC-2T —> For Frame Relay Connections
• PVDM3-128 —> For Media Resource Usage
• EHWIC-4ESG-P —> Etherswitch Module for Phone Connections

R3

• 2911 Router
• VWIC3-1MFT-T1/E1 —> For Voice PSTN
• HWIC-2T —> For Frame Relay Connections
• PVDM3-128 —> For Media Resource Usage
• EHWIC-4ESG-P —> Etherswitch Module for Phone Connections
• SM-SRE-710-K9 —> Cisco Unity Express Services Ready Engine

SW1

• 3750 PoE Switch

BB

• 2811 Router
• VWIC2-2MFT-T1/E1 —> For Voice PSTN
• VWIC2-1MFT-T1/E1 —> For Voice PSTN
• HWIC-4T —> For Frame Relay Connections
• 2x PVDM2 – 64 —> For Media Resource Usage
• NME-16ES-1G-P —> For Phone Connections

In addition to the routing and switching hardware, virtualization technology was used to build out the necessary virtual machines.  We have a total of 13 virtual machines running in each pod.  As you can imagine, this requires a large amount of server resources.  This will not only provide an environment for user configuration, but also a simulation of the backbone environment that you might see on the actual CCIE lab.

• HQ CUCM Publisher
• HQ CUCM Subscriber
• HQ CUC Publisher
• HQ IM & Presence Publisher
• HQ Unified Contact Center Express Publisher
• HQ Windows Server (LDAP Services)
• HQ Test PC 1 (PhoneView, Jabber, UCCX Editor, RTMT, etc)
• SB CUCM Publisher
• SB CUC Publisher
• SB IM & Presence Publisher
• SB Test PC 1 (Jabber, RTMT, etc)
• BB CUCM Publisher
• BB IM & Presence Publisher

The control interface for the lab is also a great asset to assist in your studies.  It will allow the student to seamlessly revert, reset, shutdown, etc the virtual machines, routers, and switches within the topology.  The interface will also allow you to load labs corresponding to those found in the technology-focused and mock-lab workbooks.  This allows you to focus on your studies instead of on the “behind the scenes” hardware setup.

With all that said, I’d like to emphasize that it is NOT a good idea to try and build this setup on your own, unless you like dealing with problems that have nothing to do with Collaboration lab prep.  Sure, it is a challenge to do and you may even be able to save some money doing it, but in my opinion, it’s just not worth it.  Your time is a valuable commodity; especially on the CCIE Collaboration lab.  You’ll have to deal with CPU/RAM/HDD issues, license issues, and hardware problems with 100% certainty.  Contrast that with renting rack space through Proctor Labs; you get the peace of mind of 24/7 support and guaranteed access to work on complex lab scenarios during your chosen timeslot with none of the headache of worrying about “behind the scenes” type problems.

If you still insist on building this out yourself, try replacing some of the more expensive 2900 series routers and PVDM3s with the 2800 series and PVDM2s.  In my opinion, you will still need to have at least one 2900 series router with a PVDM3-128 so you can support both homogeneous and heterogeneous conferencing.  Ideally, however, you would have at least two to practice full lab scenarios.  It is also important to have at least one of the EHWIC-4ESG modules to get a feel for how it behaves with respect to older versions of the module.  Unfortunately, you’ll also need the SRE module for Unity Express and the VWIC3s for practicing T1/E1 scenarios.  I hope that helps in your build-quest!  Keep in mind, you can always rent rack space from Proctor Labs if you find yourself without an adequate practice environment.

As always, stay tuned for updates from me for all things CCIE Collab.  Thanks for reading and good luck in your preparation!

Regards – Andy

About Andy

CCIE Collaboration Instructor
CCIE #22042 (Collaboration, Voice and R&S), CCNA, CCNP R&S, CCNP Voice

Andy Vassar is a triple CCIE who passed the CCIE Routing & Switching lab in September 2008, the CCIE Voice lab in September 2010, and his Collaboration lab in May 2014. Andy also holds a Bachelors Degree in Network Engineering Technology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has been a part of the networking industry for over ten years, and has recently been focused on corporate voice & video (collaboration) network design, support, and implementation. While working for Cisco as a senior network engineer in Chicago, Andy had the opportunity to work with several highly-visible, large-scale clients where he designed, optimized, and trained various staff departments and employees on how to support their enterprise voice and video networks. With nearly a decade of hands-on experience with Cisco technologies, as well as Cisco’s Collaboration hardware and application portfolio, Andy is leading iPexpert’s Next Generation CCIE Collaboration training and product development initiatives, and will be delivering live CCIE Collaboration bootcamps in our newest office, right outside of Chicago.

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Patrick Mostad, CCIE #43908 (Wireless)
• Dandrea Brown,CCIE #43850 (Data Center)
• Andy Ritter, CCIE #43832 (Data Center)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Ville Franck, CCIE #12810 (Wireless, Security, Routing & Switching)
• Ajayi Olatunde Olumide, CCIE #43651 (Security)
• Aaron Hilley, CCIE #44047 (Wireless)

Ajayi Olatunde Olumide, CCIE #43651
“I passed my CCIE lab exam on the 13th May 2014. Your workbook really helped me achieve success in my exam. I will recommend your workbooks to anyone looking at passing the CCIE lab exam.”

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Lau Chun Yin, CCIE #36089 (Routing & Switching)
• Elvis Chong Tzy Chun, CCIE #40311 (Routing & Switching)
• Tommie Thomas, CCIE # 43936 (Routing & Switching)
• Francisco Solano, CCIE #28259 (Routing & Switching, Security, Wireless)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Miles Green, CCIE #44208 (Wireless)
• Jim Ferens, CCIE #16755 (R&S, Sec, Wireless)
• Derrick Williams, CCIE #44235 (Wireless)
• Kedar Karmarkar, CCIE #6724 (Wireless, R&S)
• Justin Wasden, CCIE #44270 (Data Center)

Jim Ferens, CCIE #16755 I passed the Wireless Lab at San Jose on the 3rd of July 2014. This was my second attempt. I primary used Workbook Volume 2 with a mixture of Proctor Labs and my own equipment for preparation. From start to finish it took me around 18 months. Workbook 1 and the Videos were very helpful in the beginning but near the end, it was practicing each lab in Volume 2 multiple times over. Overall I think the IPexpert material was great!!!!! As for Proctor Labs, I can not say enough about them. They were outstanding!!!!! The equipment was top notice and I had very little issues. Any issues I did have they were very fast to respond and resolve. If I had to do it all over again, I would not have purchased as much equipment as I did and use them more often. Having my own rack was great to practice individual technologies but using them to practice my strategy and time management made all the difference in the world. Thank You again for the outstanding Study Material. If I do another CCIE:) I’ll use you all for sure. Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

I was checking out the available CCIE wireless lab booking options this morning and spotted a 5th option for a location.  Starting in August, you will now be able to take your wireless lab in Hong Kong.  They are only offering the exam in that location once per week on Thursdays.  But this is a good sign that Cisco is continuing to expand wireless lab options.

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Trond Stangeland, CCIE #44179 (Wireless)
• Jeff Kish, CCIE #27226 (Routing & Switching, Data Center)

Jeff Kish CCIE #27226
Hi Jason and Terry,
First, a big thanks-thanks-thanks to your efforts in boosting me through the final phase of my CCIE DC prep. It obviously paid off in a big way, and you have my gratitude for it. Terry, your pep talk gave me a great perspective on strategy as I entered the bootcamp. Jason, your material hit all the critical pieces I needed to fill the gaps and solidify my exam approach, and you helped give me the confidence to approach the exam with a calm mind. The timing for your class was perfect, though I admittedly came down with cabin fever in my hotel room, awaiting my Friday exam following the end of the bootcamp

Again, thanks so much for all the help. I’m so excited that I can put this behind me and get back to real life – especially considering lab availability! Yikes. Best of luck to you and IPX as you continue to build your DC practice. Your offering is already far better than anything else out there, so market the heck out of it and establish yourselves as a force to be reckoned with

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

iPexpert is excited to announce a new batch of videos for our CCIE Wireless Lab Essentials v2.1 series. Jeff Rensink has brought his expertise to bear in these brand new videos explaining what you need to know to pass the CCIE Wireless lab.

Added today:

AnyConnect
-Client Security Options
-Installing AnyConnect
-Working with the NAM service
-Connecting to WLANs
-Using the Profile Editor

ACS
-Using the CLI
-System Administration configs
-Network Devices
-Users and Identity Stores
-Policy Elements
-Access Policies
-Monitoring and Reports

Current owners of the lab essentials product and subscribers to iPeverything should have these videos available in their members area.

Join us in congratulating the following CCIE on his great achievement;

• Kaue Colaneri CCIE #43577 (Wireless)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

I’m happy to announce that we’re taking a very aggressive approach to ensure that we have the very best CCIE R&S V5 training portfolio for our clients at a very affordable rate!

To start out, we couldn’t be more excited about the instructor who’s responsible for our R&S V5 content and bootcamps – Dual CCIE – Terry Vinson (R&S and Data Center). Terry is an experienced instructor who is one of the top experts in his field when it comes to R&S and Data Center technologies. Terry’s full BIO can be found here.

10-day Bootcamp News :: REDUCED TO $3,999 / Free 2-year subscription and UNLIMITED retakes!

We’re THRILLED to announce that we’ve dropped the price of our CCIE R&S V5 10-day bootcamp, and have updated what our students receive when they purchase one of our R&S V5 classes. For the month of August, our 10-day bootcamp is now aggressively priced at $3,999.

Students receive:

• A free 2-year iPeverything subscription – which gives them access to every single product (CCIE, CCNP and CCNA) in our library – every workbook, every video, every audio, free online training, VIP support and more.
• In our bootcamps, students are given access to our new V5 mock lab topology, which mimics the real topology seen on the lab, and consists of 30 routers and 6 switches (all routers running 15.4 IOS). We’ve received all hardware, and have built 30 of these typologies, and will be pushing them live to the general public before the end of the month.
• Also, one last benefit of attending one of our bootcamps over our competitors – is that we have a “guaranteed to pass” retake policy. You’re permitted to retake any of our 10-day bootcamps (either live or online) at no cost until you pass your lab exam – yes, UNLIMITED retakes!

New V5 Workbook Content!

Our V5 R&S workbooks are being ENTIRELY rewritten. We aren’t using older material seen in our V4 workbooks, and the new R&S V5 Volume 1 workbook will consist of 45 labs. Most of the Volume 1 labs are built around a few devices, making it perfect for students running GNS3 or CML. Our V5 Volume 2 will consist of 5 mock labs all built around our 30 router / 6 switch topology. Volume 1 will be completed at the end of August (currently we have almost 30 labs finished), and Volume 2 will be completed in September.

Entirely New V5 Video on Demand (Next Gen format) :: Over 100 hours of new video content

Our new R&S V5 VoD is an entirely new product geared specifically around the new V5 lab. There will not be any legacy video content included, but we WILL have our V4 content (whatever is applicable) available to you as a “supplemental video” component.

Here are a few samples for your “viewing pleasure”

CCIE R&S V5 Lab Training :: CDP Theory

CCIE R&S Lab V5 :: EIGRP Named Operation

CCIE R&S Lab V5 :: RIPv2 Advanced Default Routing (Reliable Conditional Default Routing)

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Jaroslaw Dobkowski CCIE #22260 (Data Center, Routing & Switching, Service Provider)
• Sarah Howell, CCIE #44485 (Data Center)
• Keith Jones, CCIE #39995 (Wireless)

Keith Jones CCIE #39995 wrote:

I wanted to say thank you to iPexpert and Jeff for the excellent CCIE Wireless v2 training material. I had passed the written in May 2014 and booked the lab for August 2014. I then purchased an iPexpert self-study bundle including video content, mock labs, and rack rental time. Between a baby at home and a job where I often had no free time during the day, preparation was rough at times, but I somehow passed the lab on my first attempt. I never would have made it without iPexpert.

Along with the Cisco documentation, a few great blogs, and my on the job experiences, iPexpert was the only formal training program I used. It helped a lot to have done this all a year ago, so I knew how intensive and focused my preparation needed to be, and I knew how to spot my weaknesses. I wish I had purchased the iPexpert material for R&S in early 2013! It would have saved me a lot of time, money, and frustration.

I’m looking forward to going for #3 next year!

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Sarah Howell, CCIE #44485 wrote:

Returning to work after 8 years as a Stay-at-home Mom was a daunting, intimidating task. I chose technology and networking as I knew it would always be a good, stable field, and I had a little bit of background in it. I bought the CCNA Routing & Switching book as well as the CCNA Voice book. It took a while, but I eventually passed those certs and Cisco took a chance in hiring me.

Through Cisco’s fabulous SAAP program, I continued learning the core fundamentals and left the six-month program with my written in Route/Switch. I was prepared to go for my CCIE in Routing & Switching, but I ended up on the Data Center Switching TAC team in August 2013. It made sense to switch gears, and I started studying for my DC written.

I passed the written in October and then focused on the lab. My first attempt was in March of 2014. I had no idea what to expect. I left 8 hours later a humbled, shocked, mentally exhausted, (insert favorite adjective describing abject frustration), etc. I allowed myself to be completely demoralized for 24 hours, then booked my next date – August 13, 2014.

This time, I decided to try a boot camp, get off the case queue for two weeks, and focus on only the lab. This did include moving out of my house for two weeks so my three wonderful kids (who have been continuously asking when they get their Mom back) and the rest of my life wouldn’t distract me from the hours I needed to put in.

I chose iPexpert’s Data Center Boot Camp as I had already been through the INE’s material several times and wanted to try something different. I had also heard good things about iPexpert from my coworkers. I also chose to physically attend a class as I learn best this way (and have a smaller chance of falling asleep.)

This was the absolute right way to go for me. Jason Lunde, my iPexpert instructor, is a phenomenal teacher and knows his networking backwards and forwards. He has even gone to Cisco’s BU to fully understand a concept (though I am not quite sure how he worked that magic). His way of expounding on a topic is interesting, comprehensive, and yet laser focused. And their labs? Not just simple “put in X and show output Y”. iPexpert’s are structured to challenge us to understand why configurations had to be a certain way – more like a “figure out X, test with A, B, and C, figure out why you don’t see Y, add/change with Z, now see Y” – my brain soaked it up as this kind of “break/fix until you understand the behavior” is a language my brain speaks well.

All in all, this journey has been over two years in the making. The end result? I passed my CCIE Data Center on my second attempt. Not gonna lie – getting that number was one of the happiest moments of my life. AND my kids have their Mom back.

So many thanks to Jason Lunde and iPexpert for filling in the holes and completing the Data Center picture for me!! I wouldn’t have done it without you!

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com