Few most important topics for CCIE Routing & Switching exam

Certification: Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching

The CCIE certification is a certification that is offered by the Cisco Systems. The certification certifies the skills of n individual working in the networking department of Cisco equipment. The certification measures the skills of network engineers in the filed of planning, operation, complex troubleshooting, converged network infrastructure of Cisco equipments. The certification provided by the CISCO certifies skills that are specific in the field of networking.

The certification of CCIE is divided into seven areas of expertise, giving options to professionals to choose. The track which the individual choose certifies him/her in that area of networking. The certification assures the individual being him/her expert in that field. One can choose multiple levels of CCIE tracks and get certified in different areas of Cisco equipments. The CCIE tracks in which one can get certified are: Routing and Switching, Security, Service provider, Service Provider Operations, Data Center, Voice/Collaboration, and Wireless.

Routing and Switching

This track of CCIE is the most sought after track and popular among networking professionals. About 85 percent of the total no CCIE certificate holders have the certification of CCIE Routing and Switching certification. This certification certifies that the individual is expert in the networking of LAN and WAN interfaces and diverse range of routers and switches. The certified CCIE professional is capable in variety of LAN/WAN networking, protocols that are globally related network operations like spanning tree, IGPs, IP multicast, BGP, IPv6, QoS, network security, IOS services, MPLS and many more. The Routing and Switching track of CCIE has undergone two updates having two versions of the exams and lab versions:

CCIE Routing & Switching written and lab exams version v3.0 was revised to v4.0 on October 18, 2009
CCIE Routing & Switching written and lab exams version v4.0 was revised to v5.0 on June 04, 2014

The CCIE Routing & Switching version v5.0 is the most updated version of the certification. So the candidates who successfully have the certification shows that the have networking skills of higher level. The candidates should have minimum three to five years of experience in the field and the in depth knowledge of the topics before sitting for the certification.

The blueprint of the CCIE RS exam

The exam comprises various topics such as, layer 2 switching, IPv6, MPLS layer, IPv4, 3VPNs, network security, IP Multicast, Network Services, troubleshooting, QoS, network monitoring, & various proposed changes in the network. The most important reason behind the CCIE Routing and Switching exam lies in the fact that it is the certification that will allow you have a kick start in your career. The exam is of 2 hours administered at the Pearseon VUE. The exam consist of 100 multiple choice questions with no questions on simulation. Every student thinks that what will be on the paper. He/she should look into the general guidelines provided by Cisco on Routing and Switching exam. The blueprint of the test consists of the topics to be covered by the students before sitting for the exam. There are changes in the blueprint often, which you have keep check on. Cisco changes both the written as well as lab blueprint over time, but the number of exams seldom changes. Whenever there is change in the topics, the students should go for the updated version of the books, so that they have material on the added topics too. The blueprint of the exam makes you aware about the important topics to study and what to not. It’s your implications and intuition that will devise the topics important for you. But you have to decide how deep you have to go while studying a topic as the blueprint will not provide you any idea about the scope and depth of the topic.

You can have the idea by solving as many questions as you have on hand. When you start preparing for the exam, it will be good if you get into as much details as you come across, because the practical exam is more rigorous than the written exam and is more difficult to pass. You should be careful while studying and look for the topics Cisco has removed from the updated blueprint and study accordingly.

Important Topics

The written and lab exam topics have undergone changes from version 4.0 to version 5.0. The new curriculum is more organized in respect to topics. All the topics of the earlier version are organized into six new domains in the new version. A new domain is added which covers the Network Principles. It includes the fundamentals of networking which will be covered in the written exam. The Layer 2 Technologies of the blueprint covers the switching of LAN and WAN circuit technologies. The Layer 3 Technologies is the most important section of the blueprint, and covers exterior and interior routing protocols. This section only contains IPv4 and IPv6; there is no dedicated section as earlier. There is introduction of new domain VPN technologies, which is a stand alone section including Encryption and Tunneling domains. This might be considered important as it is introduced new into the syllabus.

Another change in the exam topics of the written exam is the weighting factors of the six new domains that give the relative amount of knowledge and focus that is required for the field of each domain, either in written section or the lab section. The exam focuses mainly on the Layer 3 Technologies, which covers almost 40 percent of the curriculum. So the student is required to study according to the blueprint available and look for the topics that are more relevant in the current scenario. The certification seems to be tough but if you are willing to have it you will.

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