CCIE Training

Time is a valuable resource in the lab.   In a lab task, if asked to configure a policy-map named “BOB”, it doesn’t get the same point value if we happen to accidentally name it “bob”, especially  if they are looking to see if you configured what they asked for.

The challenge is, that when reviewing a lab task, and we discover that we need to change a name, it could be a hassle, as we need to remove the policy-map, recreate the policy map, and then put it in place again.

So if you are down to the last minute, here is a time saving solution, that can assist with that process.

IOS allows us to rename a policy-map, and the IOS will swap out the name in other areas of the configuration that reference that policy map.

Here is an example, of a policy map from Volume 2, lab 5.

Rack1R5#show run policy-map
Building configuration...

Current configuration : 352 bytes
!
policy-map TRANSIT_RATE_LIMIT
class FRAGMENTS
   police rate 1000000 pps burst 200000 packets
policy-map type port-filter HOST_PORT_FILTER
class CLOSED_PORTS
   drop
policy-map CEF_EXCEPTION_RATE_LIMIT
class class-default
   police rate 100 pps burst 20 packets
policy-map HOST_RATE_LIMIT
class ICMP
   police rate 10 pps burst 5 packets
!
end

Rack1R5#show run | begin control
control-plane host
service-policy input HOST_RATE_LIMIT
service-policy type port-filter input HOST_PORT_FILTER
!
control-plane transit
service-policy input TRANSIT_RATE_LIMIT
!
control-plane cef-exception
service-policy input CEF_EXCEPTION_RATE_LIMIT

Let’s say that after reviewing our configuration, we discovered that the policy-map for the cef-exception sub interface of the control plane should have been named “NEW-NAME-CEF”.

To change it everywhere in the configuration, instead of creating it new, and replacing it, we could simply do this:

Rack1R5(config)#policy-map CEF_EXCEPTION_RATE_LIMIT
Rack1R5(config-pmap)#rename NEW-NAME-CEF

Now, when we look at the configuration, we can see that not only the name has changed for the policy-map, but it also updated our control-plane configuration to reflect the new name there as well:

Rack1R5#show run policy-map
Building configuration...

Current configuration : 340 bytes
!
policy-map TRANSIT_RATE_LIMIT
class FRAGMENTS
   police rate 1000000 pps burst 200000 packets
policy-map type port-filter HOST_PORT_FILTER
class CLOSED_PORTS
   drop
policy-map NEW-NAME-CEF
class class-default
   police rate 100 pps burst 20 packets
policy-map HOST_RATE_LIMIT
class ICMP
   police rate 10 pps burst 5 packets
!
end

Rack1R5#show run | begin control
control-plane host
service-policy input HOST_RATE_LIMIT
service-policy type port-filter input HOST_PORT_FILTER
!
control-plane transit
service-policy input TRANSIT_RATE_LIMIT
!
control-plane cef-exception
service-policy input NEW-NAME-CEF
!
!

Best wishes on your studies, and may your policy-maps be named correctly the first time around.

Keith

So many students have written me excited for the upcoming Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) 5 day online bootcamp. In this blog post I want to provide everyone with a preview of some of the hugely valuable content in this course.

Early in the week of the event, we review a network health checklist from Cisco Systems. We take this one step further during the bootcamp  and show you how to actually obtain these measurements without breaking your budget:

• Ethernet segments should not feature a sustained utilization of 40% or higher
• All Ethernet segments should be switched – no shared segments (hub-based)
• No WAN links should feature a sustained utilization of 70% or higher
• Response times should be generally less than 100 ms
• LAN response times should generally be 2 ms

• No segments should have more than one CRC (cyclic redundancy check) error per million bytes of data
• No segments should have more than 20 percent multicast or broadcast traffic
• For Ethernet segments, there should be less than .1 percent collisions
• Over 5 minute intervals, CPU utilization should not exceed 75%
• The number of output queue drops should not exceed 100 in an hour
• The number of input queue drops should not exceed 50 in an hour
• The number of buffer misses should not exceed 25 in an hour
• The number of ignored packets should not exceed 10 in an hour

Are you wondering what the month of August 2010 will bring for INE fans?

Try all new, online bootcamps in the following disciplines:

• MPLS
• BGP
• CCNA
• CCNP
• CCDA

Watch the blog and your email for all of the exciting new details.

Join the INE Experts Online in August

As you know, the foundation products for self-paced CCIE R&S studies are the IEWB-RS VOL1 and VOL2 workbooks. Together, these two sum up to 4000 pages of hands-on practice content. VOL1 consists of over 600 technology-focused scenarios, while VOL2 consists of 20 full-scale scenarios that now started featuring independent troubleshooting sections and detailed breakdowns, linking you to VOL1 scenarios relevant to a particular task. With this amount of training content, it is not a secret that the major issue people are having while preparing to CCIE lab is lack of study time. Typically, available time slots are random, fragmented and limited to four hours maximum per day. Students may obtain larger time-slots on weekends. Such limitation in contiguous time slots results in people biasing their study habits toward the exclusive use of VOL1, while neglecting VOL2 and practicing only a few out of all 20 scenarios.This results in the following major problems:

• Working mainly through VOL1 in linear fashion, people tend to forget the information they learned earlier during the study process. Based on the logical grouping of VOL1 topics, these are typically L2/L3 and IGP/BGP technologies.
• Missing time to practice VOL2 (full-scale 8 hour scenarios), students find themselves in a situation where they know how to configure and troubleshoot technologies individually, but cannot deal with the complexity of mixed, multi-technology full-scale scenarios.

In this publication we are suggesting an alternative approach for working with VOL1 and VOL2 products, which aims at faster learning and better memorization. The step by step process is outlined below in two different variations, called “Gentle Start” and “Kick Start”. In this publication, the terms “core” and “non-core” technologies are used extensively. The CCIE R&S “core” topics encompass Layer 2 Technologies (e.g. Ethernet, Frame-Relay, PPP), Layer 3 Technologies (IP/IPv6/IGP/BGP), MPLS VPN (MPLS/LDP/MP-BGP) whilte “non-Core” topics are Multicast, QoS, Security and Network Services. The main differentiator is that “core” technologies provide connectivity services, while non-core technologies provide additional functionality on top of the working network.

Gentle Start

This variation offers clearly structured approach to learning and features “smooth” introduction. The unavoidable drawback is larger amount of study time required by this approach, which is approximately 6-7 months. You may choose this option if you have enough time before the lab exam and look toward more “predictable” performance. Make sure you estimate your time availability reasonably, and schedule your lab say a month after you project your training to be completed.

Step 1

Ensure you have enough preliminary knowledge to try a VOL2 scenario. You need to pass the CCIE written exam and fully understand topics covered in the test. As for hands-on component, take a look at Appendix A for the “minimal” set of VOL1 scenarios that you may need to practice to boost your core technologies configuration skills. You may want to use the Advanced Technologies Class-on-Demand to fill up missing knowledge gaps as well.

Step 2

Select a day when you can allocate enough time to complete VOL2 Lab 1 sections “L2, L3, IPv6 and MPLS VPN” (the core sections). Do not spend time on Security, QoS and Network Services sections at this moment. Focusing on topics in this manner should take you about 4-5 hours to finish the “truncated” full-scale lab. Try completing as much core tasks as possible, but don’t get stuck in the areas you are unfamiliar with. For scenarios you completely have no idea how to deal with, manually copy the solution from the solution guide into notepad and paste it into the respective devices. This approach, while looking cumbersome at first sight, has unique benefit of building up your visual and kinetic memory. However, keep in mind that your primary focuse is compiling a list of the individual technologies you need to practice.

Now some really good news – VOL2 labs are starting to have references to VOL1 sections you need to practice to master a particular section of VOL2 lab. This is exactly the list of VOL1 labs that you need to compile for yourself. Also, don’t feel frustrated if you cannot understand the breakdowns in VOL2 at this moment. The VOL2 breakdowns are supposed to be a condensed explanation of the solution and not the detailed technology breakdowns in the newer versions of the product. You will cycle back to VOL2 breakdowns once you’re done with individual technology topics extracted from the selected full scale lab.

Step 3

Practice VOL1 scenarios from the list you made at Step 2. You may also use Advanced Technologies Class-on-Demand as a helper in understanding complicated topics, but make sure you spend time practicing on your own. It is important to note that this process will take you across multiple sections of VOL1 (e.g. L2, L3, IPv6), so you’ll be learning multiple different technologies separated by short time spans. While this could look complicated at first, such process has benefit of keeping your memory up to date with every core technology domain in VOL1. Compare this to the typical “linear” approach of working through VOL1. If you do not have enough time to do every scenario live on a rack, make sure at least that you understand all the breakdowns and retype the solutions to build visual/kinetic memory. You will most likely practice the technology live in the remaining VOL2 scenarios. When you’re done with individual technologies, go back to the full-scale lab you practiced and read the solutions over again – this time making sure you understand the breakdowns.

Step 4

Repeat Steps 2-3 for VOL2 Labs 2-10. Aim at completing this in about 1.5-2 months. This will build solid foundation in core technologies and give better feeling of the lab exam, without stressing you too much with details of non-core topics. Simply practicing the core technologies and mixing full-scale scenarios with individual topics has great overall educational effect.

Step 5

Cycle through labs 1-10 once again, but this time do them in their entirety. Complete as much troubleshooting tickets as you can and identify the non-core topics that are unfamiliar to you and to practice them after the full-scale lab. However, this time do not spend too much time on hands-on for selected VOL1 scenarios. Rather, use them mainly as reading reference and source of configuration samples. Copy the code samples by hand, simply to better memorize the commands, but don’t try completing them all, as this might be too much of the burden at the moment.

At this step, aim primarily at developing configuration speed in “core” topics and building up troubleshooting skills. It is worth mentioning again, that since you practice a mix of technologies at once, the forgetting curve effect will not be so noticeable as it would be in case of linear study approach. Depending on time available to you, this whole study cycle should take approximately 2-3 months.

Step 6

Continue with Labs 11-20 and complete as much of these as you can, in the same manner you worked through Step 2: identify topics you are weak at and practice them afterwards using VOL1 + ATC as your main reference. Notice that this time you will have to allocate full 8 hour time-slots for every VOL2 lab and focus on completing all core scenarios and as much non-core topics as you can. This is no longer plain core-technology practice, but rather full-scale lab exercise. You should aim to be at the 6 months mark after completing this step.

Step 7

Still have some time left? You should have already spent about 5-6 months on hands-on practice at this moment and built solid foundation for passing the lab exam. Take a look at the list of all VOL1 topics and skim over the technologies you think you are weak at. It would be great time to take a few graded mock labs (e.g. ML1-4) and see how you do there. If your scores are rather disappointing, you have about a month to correct the situation. If you are getting good scores in at least 3 labs, then practicing some scenarios from VOL3 or VOL4 is a perfect time filler before your lab exam, especially if you combine them with a handful of VOL2 labs. Just keep in mind that your last month should be dedicated to practicing as much full-scale labs as possible, developing speed and accuracy.

Kick-start

This is an option for people who has less time to prepare and can tolerate some “roughness” in the beginning. The main challenge of this approach is high level of stress and frustration associated with diving into technology topics with little prior experience/knowledge. Estimated time to complete this plan is about 4 months, as compared to 6-7 months of “gentle” start. Unlike more structured “gentle” start, however, obtaining predictable performance might be harder with “kick-start”. We would suggest you not to book a lab exam until you spent at least a month familiarizing yourself with this approach.

Step 1

Ensure you have knowledge of routing and switching technologies at least at the level of CCIE Written test blueprint. It is important that you pass the written test prior to starting the hands-on and do understand the theoretical basics mentioned there. Practicing the VOL1 lab list from Appendix A is advisable, but not highly necessary, unless you really lack configuration skills.

Step 2

Dive into VOL2 Lab 1 and try completing it entirely. However, depending on your posture, you may not be able to configure most of the topics. Don’t feel frustrated, it’s just a rough start. If you don’t understand the solution, simply type the it from the solution guide into notepad and paste it into devices. Run the verification commands to see if the solution works. For troubleshooting sections of VOL2, try spotting the issues, and if you can’t , simply try memorizing the symptoms and mapping them to the problem. Sounds more like cramming, but this is what you get in the beginning.

As you done with the lab, build the list of VOL1 topics you need to deal with as per the results of this lab. Most likely the number of topics would be close to the number of tasks in the full-scale lab.

Step 3

Proceed to completing the VOL1 labs you made based on the full-scale lab at Step 1. However, unlike with gentle start, don’t aim at completing them all live on the racks. Rather, practice just the technologies you find most confusing and complicated. For other VOL1 scenarios, simply read over the breakdowns and “copy” the solutions to notepad to build the visual/kinetic memory. This is by far not the perfect approach, but it will save you a lot of time you would need to spend otherwise working on foundations. Your main goal at this stage is getting to understand the technologies you’ve been dealing with in the full-scale scenario you just have completed.

Step 4:

Repeat Steps 2-3 for Labs 1-10. This should take you about 2-3 months, and in the end you would have approximately 60-70% of the knowledge you need to pass the CCIE exam. You may not be completely solid at core topics yet, but you would surely do much better compared to the time you were just starting Lab 1.

Step 5:

Complete the remaining ten VOL2 labs. Use the same mode, spotting the topics you need to practice more, but aim at completing every lab as fast as you can. You should be done with these tens labs in another 2 months. After that, take at least one graded mock lab, approximately 3 weeks before your lab date and see if you have any weak spots. If you do, cycle back to the complete list of all VOL1 labs and see if there is anything you’re missing. Practice them, and complete VOL2 Labs 1-5. This should give you a good refresher in core skills.

It is highly advisable to have some extra time for completing at least some of VOL3 and VOL4 scenarios. Those are “advanced” focused workbooks aiming at refining your core configuration and troubleshooting skills.

Summary

We suggest a training approach that is different from the classic “linear” model, where students complete ATC and VOL1 prior to starting VOL2 full-scale scenarios, focusing mainly on the first two products. The proposed approach has two main features:

• Interleaving full-scale (VOL2) and technology-focused (VOL1) scenarios, which results in faster content memorization and better retention.
• Instense use of “blind” typing for router configuration command memorizing, where student types configuration in the notepad prior to pasting it to the routers. This greatly helps building speed an accuracy in Cisco IOS device configuration.

The two workbooks (VOL1 and VOL2) form the core of this training approach, with other products (e.g. ATC, VOL3 and VOL4) being additional tools used either to build foundation or refine skills obtained with the core products.

Appendix A

List of “bootstrap” scenarios from VOL1:

Bridging & Switching: 1.1-1.15
Frame-Relay: 2.1-2.10
IP Routing: 3.1-3.11
RIP: 4.1-4.6
EIGRP: 5.1-5.8
OSPF: 6.1-6.11, 6.21-6.31
BGP: 7.1-7.9, 7.16-7.26
IPv6: 9.1-9.5, 9.12-9.14, 9.17-9.20, 9.29-9.31
MPLS VPN: 14.1-14.7

That is approximately 1/6 of the full VOL1. If you find every topic listed here familiar to you, you may start directly with VOL2 scenarios and skip the preliminary preparations.

A common question for the CCNA Voice candidate is – “Just how can we translate our analog voice waveform into the digitized form that is required for Voice over IP transmission through the converged network?” These active reading questions tell the story – enjoy!

Me Singing in the Shower!

Questions Only

In its natural form, what signal type is the human voice?

To send voice as a series of zeros and ones is known as what type of encoding?

Converting analog voice into digital data begins with taking “snapshots” of voice very frequently. This is called what?

If you sample voice too infrequently, the listener might hear a different sound. This is called what?

What is the reason that you would not want to oversample voice?

What theorem teaches that the sample rate needs to be twice as high as the highest frequency being sampled?

Based on the Nyquist Theorem, how often should we sample voice?

What is the initial process of voice sampling called?

What is the process of taking PAM amplitudes and assigning them a number?

What type of scale is used in voice quantization?

Rounding off during quantization can cause a “hiss” on the line. This is called what?

When is quantization error more noticeable?

What approach to the quantization logarithmic scale is commonly used in North America?

What approach to the quantization logarithmic scale is commonly used outside North America?

If VoIP equipment connects from different countries, what quantization logarithmic scale is used?

What is the breakdown of the 8 bits in a voice sample?

When considering voice sampling only- how much bandwidth is required to send voice and how is the value arrived at?

The process of encoding and decoding a wave form to save bandwidth is accomplished by what type of technology?

What type of codec does not actually compress the waveform and what is an example?

What type of codec sends the difference in the current sample versus the previous sample and what is an example?

What type of codec dynamically builds a codebook based on speech patterns and what is an example?

What is the most popular codec in the Cisco VoIP environment for sending voice over the WAN and why?

What is the bandwidth for a voice call required under the G.711 codec?

What is the bandwidth required for a voice call under the G.729 codec?

What type of codec is very similar to CS-ACELP but uses a smaller codebook and what is an example?

What are the bandwidth and delay characteristics of LDCELP?

What codec is typically used in the LAN in a Cisco VoIP environment?

What variation of G.729 uses a less complex algorithm?

What variation of G.729 enables VAD?

What is VAD?

What are four other factors that impact the size of a voice packet?

What VoIP quality measurement uses a trained ear to rate quality on a scale of 1 to 10?

What quality measurement digitally measures the difference in the original signal and the signal after it passes through the codec?

What variation of PSQM attempts to match the measurement with MOS?

Calculating the number of telephone calls during the busiest time of day is referred to as what?

What is an Erlang?

What is the formula for calculating the number of call minutes a corporate phone system uses during the busiest hour of the day?

What is the percentage of call to reject during the busiest hour of the day referred to as?

Questions and Answers

In its natural form, what signal type is the human voice?

Analog

To send voice as a series of zeros and ones is known as what type of encoding?

Binary

Converting analog voice into digital data begins with taking “snapshots” of voice very frequently. This is called what?

Sampling

If you sample voice too infrequently, the listener might hear a different sound. This is called what?

Aliasing

What is the reason that you would not want to oversample voice?

Requires too much bandwidth

What theorem teaches that the sample rate needs to be twice as high as the highest frequency being sampled?

The Nyquist Theorem

Based on the Nyquist Theorem, how often should we sample voice?

Every 125 ms

What is the initial process of voice sampling called?

PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation)

What is the process of taking PAM amplitudes and assigning them a number?

Quantization

What type of scale is used in voice quantization?

Logarithmic

Rounding off during quantization can cause a “hiss” on the line. This is called what?

Quantization error

When is quantization error more noticeable?

At lower volumes

What approach to the quantization logarithmic scale is commonly used in North America?

Mu-Law

What approach to the quantization logarithmic scale is commonly used outside North America?

a-Law

If VoIP equipment connects from different countries, what quantization logarithmic scale is used?

a-Law

What is the breakdown of the 8 bits in a voice sample?

1 Polarity Bit; 3 Segment Bits; and 4 Step Bits

When considering voice sampling only- how much bandwidth is required to send voice and how is the value arrived at?

8000 samples per second * 8 bits per sample = 64 Kbps

The process of encoding and decoding a wave form to save bandwidth is accomplished by what type of technology?

A Codec

What type of codec does not actually compress the waveform and what is an example?

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM); an example is G.711

What type of codec sends the difference in the current sample versus the previous sample and what is an example?

Adaptive Differentiated PCM (ADPCM); an example is G.726

What type of codec dynamically builds a codebook based on speech patterns and what is an example?

Conjugate Structure Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction (CS-ACELP); G.729 is an example

What is the most popular codec in the Cisco VoIP environment for sending voice over the WAN and why?

G.729; decent quality with lower bandwidth requirements

What is the bandwidth for a voice call required under the G.711 codec?

64 Kbps

What is the bandwidth required for a voice call under the G.729 codec?

8 Kbps

What type of codec is very similar to CS-ACELP but uses a smaller codebook and what is an example?

Low-Delay Conjugate Excited Linear Prediction (LDCELP); G.728

What are the bandwidth and delay characteristics of LDCELP?

It reduces delay, but at the cost of higher bandwidth

What codec is typically used in the LAN in a Cisco VoIP environment?

G.711

What variation of G.729 uses a less complex algorithm?

G.729a

What variation of G.729 enables VAD?

G.729b

What is VAD?

Voice Activity Detection – devices will not send “the sound of silence” with VAD

What are four other factors that impact the size of a voice packet?

Media, Tunneling, Header Compression, Codec used

What VoIP quality measurement uses a trained ear to rate quality on a scale of 1 to 10?

Mean Opinion Score (MOS)

What quality measurement digitally measures the difference in the original signal and the signal after it passes through the codec?

PSQM (Perceptual Speech Quality Measurement)

What variation of PSQM attempts to match the measurement with MOS?

PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality)

Calculating the number of telephone calls during the busiest time of day is referred to as what?

Traffic Engineering

What is an Erlang?

One solid hour of phone usage

What is the formula for calculating the number of call minutes a corporate phone system uses during the busiest hour of the day?

[Monthly_Call_Minutes/22] * .15

What is the percentage of call to reject during the busiest hour of the day referred to as?

GOS (Grade of Service)

As I mentioned in a blog article a few months back, INE installed 7961 phones in all of our Voice Racks used for customer rental, and simultaneously struck up an exclusive deal with the company called VoIP Integration so that our students could buy their fantastic Remote Phone Control Software at quite a significant discount. More students than I ever imagined would, have contacted me and received the INE Student Edition of this software for use during their studying sessions. In fact, many that already have phones of their own, bought the software just so that they could travel and stil practice labs – while on the road – with their phones and without having to pack up and take their phones with them.

This is the very tool we use during all of the live online and recorded CCIE Voice Deep Dive’s to show you exactly what is happening in real-time on the actual phones (which happen to be in front of me so that you can hear what is going on as well) for any given task we are all working through configuring or testing & troubleshooting.

Well, now VoIP Integration has updated their Remote Phone software to version 2.1 and brought quite a significant update in features. Standing out clearly in front of all of them – even in front of the great performance improvements – is support for IP Phones registered to Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express and IOS CME as SRST!

I have provided the basic configuration here that you would need to support them in CME.  Important NOTE: Don’t forget the “type” command on your ephone. Without it, CME doesn’t actually build the CNF files for that phone, and while they will register using the Default.cnf.xml file, that file doesn’t contain the necessary Authentication URL.

!
ip http server
no ip http secure-server
ip http path flash:gui
!
ixi transport http
 response size 4
 no shutdown
 request outstanding 1
!
ixi application cme
 no shutdown
!
telephony-service
 max-ephones 1
 max-dn 1
 ip source-address 177.1.254.3 port 2000
 url authentication http://177.1.254.3/CCMCIP/authenticate.asp admin cciecisco
 log password cciecisco
 create cnf-files
!
!
ephone-dn  1 dual-line
 number 3001
!
!
ephone  1
 mac-address 001B.5452.D7BD
 type 7961
 button  1:1
!

Download it and give it a spin, and read more about the support (found in Appendix C) of their latest Administration Guide.

Also, If you would care to purchase a copy of INE’s Student Edition of the VoIP Integration Remote Control software, please ping me at msnow at ine dot com.

A special congrats goes out to Issac on passing his CCSP!  Share his success with 30% off on Rack Rental Tokens, use code ISSAC from now through Friday July 23rd!

“Thanks for all of your help, I have obtained my CCSP Certification. This would have not be
possible without your support. I definitely look forward to your assistance as I pursue the CCIE Security Certification, thanks again.
 
see cisco partial congrat e-mail:
 
Dear Issac Grayson, Congratulations! You have earned your Cisco Career Certification. Your Cisco Certified Security Professional certificate is now available via the Certifications Tracking System.”

INE wants to thank IEOC member Ray Aragon (NET_OG) for his awesome contributions to our Cisco forums. Thanks so much Ray and enjoy 100 complimentary GradedLabs Rack Rental Tokens.

Ray's IEOC Avatar!

I am sure many of you would love to know more about Ray – here it is:

Ray Aragon is an SE in the Networking World and after 10 Plus years working with State/Local government and Major Carriers around the world he decided to get his CCIE using INE products as his primary study aide. Here were some facts Ray shared with me:

• I think I try to be helpful to others, and identify “pitfalls” and my “ahhh-haa” moments

• I like it when I run into a stumbling block and there is already a good discussion on IEOC

• Much thanks to Routing and Switching (networking)…

◦ I lived in London for two years

◦ I lived in Stockholm for two years

◦ I met my wife in Chile

◦ I have travelled to over 25 countries from Egypt to Indonesia

◦ I have over 1 Million Airplane miles flown

• I have an immense respect for anyone that has put in the time to become a CCIE in any track; it demonstrates a commitment that only after my pursuit I can appreciate.

• My Top 10 favorite cities: Madrid/Rome/London/Santiago, Chile/Rio de Janeiro/Santa Barbara/Miami/Lima/Cancun/Mexico City D.F

If you are like me, you want to take your knowledge of all the major Cisco Certification areas to at least the Professional level. For those intimidated by the VoIP track, have I got great news. One of the greatest Cisco Press titles ever written (in my biased and humble opinion) is the Voice over IP First-Step by my good friend and colleague Kevin Wallace.

While I was re-reading this book recently, I decided I would provide students with my list of Active Reading questions I developed. I would recommend you feed these into your SuperMemo app, or use one of the many Flash Card makers on the Internet if you are interested in mastering this exciting track.

Here are my queries from Chapter 1 Touring the History Museum of Telephony. For many blog readers, you might want to just challenge yourself with how many of these you can get without research. Enjoy!

POTS - But Nothing to Do With Marijuana

Questions Only

What does the acronym POTS stand for?

What is another term for a POTS telephone?

What does a telephone company’s CO stand for?

How many volts of power does the telephone company provide to a POTS phone using the wall jack?

What type of electrical current is used by the phone company to provide power to a POTS phone?

What phone jack is used in North America?

Of the six conductors in RJ-11, how many are actually used by a phone with a single line?

What are the two wires leaving your POTS phone called?

What is the POTS connection from your home to the local CO called?

In the POTS system, a connection from one phone switch to another phone switch in another CO is called what?

What does PSTN stand for?

What type of PSTN network typically includes local loop connections that provide a path for businesses and homes to connect back to the local CO?

What type of PSTN network typically interconnects local exchanges (for example, Class 5 offices) and tandem exchanges?

What type of PSTN network connects local exchanges with long-distance offices?

What does PBX stand for?

What is a telephone exchange that serves a business or office, as opposed to one that a common carrier or telephone company operates for many businesses or for the general public?

What is a multiline telephone system typically used in small office environments?

Name three types of phone call signaling.

Name three types of Supervisory Signaling.

What is Loop Start Signaling?

What is glare?

What is Ground Start Signaling?

What type of electrical current is used by Ringing?

What is Address Signaling?

What method of address signaling is used by a rotary phone?

What is a more efficient approach to address signaling when compared to pulse dialing?

Name four types of Information Signaling.

A Cisco Call Agent replaces many of the features of what traditional telephony device?

What VoIP device is used to forward calls between different types of networks?

The Cisco CallManager (CCM) is an example of what type of product?

What VoIP device can deny calls onto a WAN due to insufficient bandwidth?

What VoIP device is often used to assist with conference calling features?

What dedicated piece of computer circuitry is often used in an MCU?

How many channels are in a T1 line?

Questions and Answers

What does the acronym POTS stand for?

Plain Old Telephone Service

What is another term for a POTS telephone?

Analog Phone

What does a telephone company’s CO stand for?

Central Office

How many volts of power does the telephone company provide to a POTS phone using the wall jack?

-48

What type of electrical current is used by the phone company to provide power to a POTS phone?

DC (Direct Current)

What phone jack is used in North America?

RJ-11

Of the six conductors in RJ-11, how many are actually used by a phone with a single line?

Two

What are the two wires leaving your POTS phone called?

Tip and Ring

What is the POTS connection from your home to the local CO called?

Local Loop

In the POTS system, a connection from one phone switch to another phone switch in another CO is called what?

Interoffice trunk

What does PSTN stand for?

Public Switched Telephone Network

What type of PSTN network typically includes local loop connections that provide a path for businesses and homes to connect back to the local CO?

Local Network

What type of PSTN network typically interconnects local exchanges (for example, Class 5 offices) and tandem exchanges?

Exchange Area Network

What type of PSTN network connects local exchanges with long-distance offices?

Long-Haul Networks

What does PBX stand for?

Private Branch Exchange

What is a telephone exchange that serves a business or office, as opposed to one that a common carrier or telephone company operates for many businesses or for the general public?

PBX

What is a multiline telephone system typically used in small office environments?

Key System

Name three types of phone call signaling.

Supervisory, Address, and Information

Name three types of Supervisory Signaling.

Loop Start, Ground Start, and Ringing

What is Loop Start Signaling?

The switch at the CO seeing a home phone has gone off-hook thanks to the flow of current with the closing of the tip and ring circuit.

What is glare?

A situation where the trunk link is seized from both ends at the same time. In other words, you pick up the phone, and someone is already on the other end of the line.

What is Ground Start Signaling?

A modified form of Loop Start Signaling whereby there is current detection at both ends which is used to request and then confirm that the trunk is available before it is seized.

What type of electrical current is used by Ringing?

Alternating Current (AC)

What is Address Signaling?

This allows the phone to specify the “address” of the destination phone using dialed digits.

What method of address signaling is used by a rotary phone?

Pulse Dialing

What is a more efficient approach to address signaling when compared to pulse dialing?

Dual Tone Multifrequency (DMTF)

Name four types of Information Signaling.

Dial Tone, Ring Back, Busy Signal, Reorder Tone

A Cisco Call Agent replaces many of the features of what traditional telephony device?

PBX

What VoIP device is used to forward calls between different types of networks?

Gateway

The Cisco CallManager (CCM) is an example of what type of product?

Call Agent

What VoIP device can deny calls onto a WAN due to insufficient bandwidth?

Gatekeeper

What VoIP device is often used to assist with conference calling features?

Multipoint Control Unit (MCU)

What dedicated piece of computer circuitry is often used in an MCU?

Digital Signal Processors (DSP)

How many channels are in a T1 line?

24

The author and poet Maya Angelou said “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.”. Well that is certainly what we have attempted to do with the CCIE Voice Deep Dive self-paced Class on Demand series – that is to bring the human instructional voice element to infuse deeper meaning to what is already fantastic Cisco Documentation. Anyone that has set out and determined to undertake the task of studying for and ultimately passing any CCIE Lab exam, knows that at some point during your studies, the words on paper (Cisco Docs, RFCs, books) – while a absolute phenomenal source of information – can at times seem to loose their impact. Perhaps you have been studying too long, read one too many docs, have the time pressure of your family and friends waiting for you to return to be a part of their life, or perhaps you are just starting out on your adventure and don’t know where to begin. Whatever stage you are at or whatever the case may be, it is certainly helpful to have a tutor and mentor there beside you at times, assisting you in understanding what each complex technology’s documentation is trying to teach you, in possibly a deeper and more insightful way than you can manage on your own.

Wait no longer for such help to arrive! INE is happy to announce that each Live-Online Deep Dive course that we have taught has been recorded, and you have the ability to access these extensive repositories of knowledge at any time.

Here are a couple of great demo’s of just a portion of the latest Deep Dive session we held on Globalization & Localization in order to whet your appetite:

Demo 1: Globalization Prezi – Theory and Reasons

Demo 2: Inbound Calling Party Localization

For each complex topic we have held — or will soon hold (listings to follow below) — a separate online class where we dive down deep and explore all the concepts, practical application and troubleshooting associated with each technology topic. We then allow you to purchase each module individually (if you like) so that you can either try small sections of the product, or so that those who only need to plug in small gaps of knowledge can do so at a very deep, intense level – either one without committing to purchase the entire product series.

The general format for each Class-on-Demand Deep Dive module spends between 4-7 hours on the given topic for that day, and during that time follows this outlined training methodology:

• Collectively discuss and teach all concepts involved in the technology
• Whiteboard concepts to further deepen every participant’s understanding
• Define a specific set of tasks to be accomplished
• Demonstrate how the tasks and concepts are implemented and properly configured
• Test the configuration thoroughly
• Vary the configuration to understand how different permutations effect the outcome
• Debug and trace the working configuration to understand what should be seen
• Break the configuration and troubleshoot with debugs and traces to contrast from the working set

Thus far, we have held 10 online sessions – each with a median recorded runtime of 6 hours. We have almost 60 hours of Class on Demand content, and we’ve only just begun! We conservatively estimate that by the time we complete our more than 30 planned modules, that we will have at over 200 hours of Deep Dive recordings.

Below is a detailed index from the 10 currently available sessions:

Module 1 :: Network Infrastructure with LAN Quality of Service

• Catalyst 3560/3750 Classification and Marking
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Conditional Trust
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Ingress Interface Mapping
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Ingress Interface Queuing
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Ingress Interface Expedite Queue
• Catalyst 3560/3750 L2 CoS to L3 DSCP Mapping
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Egress Interface Mapping
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Egress Interface Queuing
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Interface Queue Memory Allocation
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Egress Queue-Set Templates
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Weighted Tail Drop (WTD) Buffer Allocation
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Egress Interface Expedite Queue
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Egress Interface Sharing
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Egress Interface Shaping
• Catalyst 3560/3750 Scavenger Traffic Policing

Module 02 :: CUOS GUI and CLI Admin

• CUCM WebUI: Service Activation and Stop/Start/Reset
• CUCM WebUI: Bulk Administration Tool (Import/Export, Phone Reports, etc)
• CUCM WebUI: DB Replication Status
• CUCM WebUI: Trace Files
• CUOS CLU: TFTP Files Management
• CUOS CLU: Status and Hostname
• CUOS CLU: DB Replication Assurance
• CUOS CLU: DB Replication Repair and Cluster Reset
• CUOS CLU: Trace Files
• CUOS CLU: RIS DB Search
• CUOS CLU: Performance Monitor (PerfMon)
• RTMT: Trace Files
• RTMT: Performance Monitor (PerfMon)

Module 03 :: CUCM System and Phone – SCCP and SIP Fundamentals

• CUCM Services
• UC Servers and Groups
• Date/Time with NTP Reference
• Regions and Codecs
• Location-Based Call Admission Control
• SRST References
• Device Pools
• System Parameters
• Enterprise Parameters
• Phone Button Templates
• Softkey Templates
• SCCP Phone Basics
• SIP Phone Basics

Module 04 :: Users, Credentials, Multi-Level Roles and LDAP Internetworking

• CUCM User Credentials and Policies
• LDAP Synchronization for CUCM and Unity Connection
• LDAP Authentication for CUCM and Unity Connection
• CUCM End Users
• CUCM User Roles
• CUCM Multi-Level Administration
• CUCM Device/Phone/Line User Association
• UCCX and CUP Basic Users

Module 05 :: Call Features – In-Depth

• SCCP and SIP Phone Display
• Phone Firmware
• Phone Logging
• Ring Settings
• Basic and Advanced Call Forwarding Display
• Auto-Answer Options
• CallBack (Camp-On)
• Intercom
• Advanced Call Hold Options
• Call Park
• Directed Call Park
• Advanced Call Park Settings
• Call Pickup
• Group Call Pickup
• Other Call Pickup
• Directed Call Pickup
• Call Pickup Attributes
• Shared Line
• Barge and cBarge (Conference Barge)
• Privacy
• Built-In IP Phone Bridge

Module 06 :: Media Resources – MTPs, Conf Bridges, Annunciator and Music on Hold

• IOS Software MTP
• IOS Conference Bridge
• IOS Transcoding
• Media Preference and Redundancy
• Meet-Me Conferencing
• Ad-Hoc Conferencing
• Annunciator
• Unicast Music on Hold
• Traditional Multicast Music on Hold
• Alternate Multicast Music on Hold

Module 07 :: Expert Gateways & Trunks

• ISDN Switch Types and Advanced CNAM options
• ISDN Information Elements
• SIP Trunks – Fundamental and Advanced Options
• H.323 Gateways – Fundamental and Advanced Options
• MGCP Gateways – Fundamental and Advanced Options

Module 08 :: Expert H.323 Gatekeeper

• Provisioning IOS H.323 Gatekeeper
• Registering CUCM with H.323 Gatekeeper
• Registering CUCME with H.323 Gatekeeper
• Routing Calls from CUCME to CUCM via Gatekeeper in Multiple Zones with Dynamic E.164 Aliases
• Routing Calls from CUCM to CUCME via Gatekeeper in Multiple Zones with Multiple Tech Prefixes
• Routing Calls from CUCME to CUCM via Gatekeeper in Multiple Zones with Multiple Tech Prefixes
• Routing Calls from CUCME to CUCM via Gatekeeper in Multiple Zones with Static E.164 Aliases
• Routing Calls from CUCM to CUCME and Back via Gatekeeper in One Zone with One Tech Prefix
• Gatekeeper Call Admission Control
• Routing Calls from CUCM to CUCME and Back via Alternate Gatekeeper Clustering in Multiple Zones with Multiple Tech Prefixes using GUP

Module 09 :: Dial Plan – Line Device Approach and the Not-So-Basic Fundamentals

• Class of Service: Calling Search Spaces and Partitions
• Gateways, Route Groups, Local Route Groups/Device Pools
• Route Lists and Standard Local Route Groups
• Route Patterns and Translation Patterns
• Digit Manipulation: Calling & Called Party Transformations and IOS Dial Peers
• Private Line Automatic Ringdown (PLAR)

Module 10 :: Dial Plan – Globalization & Localization of both the Calling and the Called Numbers, and with Mapping the Global Number to the Local Variant

• Inbound PSTN Calls (Ingress from PSTN, Egress to Phones): Calling Party Globalization :: GW Incoming Calling Party Settings
• Inbound PSTN Calls (Ingress from PSTN, Egress to Phones): Calling Party Localization :: Phone Calling Party Transformations
• Outbound PSTN Calls (Ingress from Phones, Egress to PSTN): Called Party Globalization :: PSTN Patterns – a.k.a. “Translation Patterns are the *New* Route Patterns”
• Outbound PSTN Calls (Ingress from Phones, Egress to PSTN): Called Party Localization :: Digit Manipulation: Calling & Called Party Transformations and IOS Voice Translation Rules & Dial Peers
• Mapping the Global Number to the Local Variant :: + Dialing and One-Button Missed Call DialBack

So stay tuned to this blog as we will shortly post the upcoming modules soon to be held online and recorded.