CCIE Data Center Lab Experience

CCIE Data Center Lab
IT practitioners who are Cisco CCIE certified are considered to be uniquely qualified for the key roles in advanced data center environments, with knowledge in the broad range of technologies and industry-best practices which are sought after in technical leadership roles.

Cisco CCIE Data Center certification is going to validate the candidates are having expert-level skills required for the candidates for planning, designing, implementing and managing of complex modern IT data center infrastructure.

If you want to gain the CCIE Data Center Certification, you need to clear two exams.

1. CCIE Data Center Written Exam

You are first needed to clear the two-hour, written qualification exam which would be covering concepts and equipment commands related to data center networking infrastructure before you make yourself eligible to schedule the lab exam.

2. CCIE Data Center Lab Exam

Next is CCIE Data Center Lab which is going to be a two-part eight-hour timed exam that would be testing the skills of the candidate in diagnosing, configuring and troubleshooting a complex data center topology. The candidate should initially attempt the CCIE Lab Exam within 18-months of clearing the CCIE written exam. Candidates who fail to pass must reattempt the lab exam within 12 months of their last scored attempt so as to make their written exam to remain valid. The candidate is required to pass the lab exam within three years of passing the written exam, otherwise, the written exam would be needed to be retaken prior to the retaking of the lab exam.

The Lab Exam would be consisting of two parts timed in the eight-hour lab exam. They are to be taken in sequence during the day of the exam starting with Part 1, followed by Part 2. These two modules are:

•    Part 1: Diagnostic module which would be timed one hour and
•    Part 2: Configuration & Troubleshooting module which would be timed seven hours

Part 1: Diagnostic module is written:
Candidates would be provided with various pieces of information which are similar to information that would be provided to a Data Center support engineer that is assisting a customer for finding the root cause of an issue, and parallel to information that is provided by someone who is stuck troubleshooting an issue. The candidates would have no access to any skills is in this module.

This module includes multiple-choice, drag-and-drop type, and point-and-click type of questions. The Diagnostic modules which are also known as troubleshooting tickets containing a set of documents that the candidate would be consulting in order to be able to identify and understand the root cause of the issue presented. Candidates are required to analyze and correlate information so as to diagnose among the provided pre-defined options.

Part 2: Configuration & Troubleshooting module
The Configuration and Troubleshooting module would be testing hands-on practical capabilities. It would be consisting of various scenarios which are based on one topology. At the beginning of the module, the candidate has a full overview of the entire module; and could make a choice whether to work on items in a sequence or not. Candidates are not allowed to go backward and forward between modules during the exam.

I have also gone through both of these tests, and I have chosen to go in sequences. I would like to advise you to have a good night sleep, as this exam is going to be a gruesome eight hours, which if you don’t give with a fresh mind, would increase your chance of failure. One more thing I would like to recommend to you that if you want to ensure your success in clearing this exam, a good training institute would be a nice option. I would recommend you get training with SPOTO CCIE Club; they are the best training provider in CISCO certification.