We’re pleased to announce the launch of a service that’s been requested for years, a CCIE job / recruiting service. In the past we’ve attempted to partner with various firms, but in the end – it just didn’t work. So – if you’re a CCIE (or even a CCVP or CCNP) and you’re seeking a new job or interested in hearing about new career opportunities – or, if you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum and you’re the company, organization (or even another recruiting firm) looking for the ideal high-end CCIE for a job opening you have – I encourage you to visit Platinum Placement Services. You can also follow their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn social initiatives where various CCIE jobs will be posted periodically.

- Wayne

Have you ever wanted to attend one of IPexpert’s industry-leading CCIE classes?
Have you ever had problems really understanding a specific technical topic?
Do you want to improve your chances at pass the CCIE Lab?
Do you want to see why IPexpert’s  CCIE instructors are considered the best in the training industry?
Do you want IPexpert, the company who has trained more CCIEs in the world, to help you?
…How would you like some FREE CCIE Lab training?

IPexpert is now offering FREE online training sessions to all IPexpert clients. If you want to improve your chances at passing Cisco’s rigorous and prestigious CCIE certifications, or if you simply want to fully-understand a specific technical topic – you can’t miss our FREE Online vLectures! Several times a week, you will be able to sit in, watch and interact with the IPexpert Instructor who will be teaching technology-focused classes on a specific track and topic. If you’re an IPexpert client and wish to join these sessions, please be sure to reserve a “virtual seat” now, these have been highly anticipated and we’re quite confident that these online training seats will fill up quickly.

IPexpert’s FREE vLecture schedule for this week and next is as follows:

CCIE Security:

• Date / Time: July 29^th at 2.00 PM EST
• Instructor:  Tyson Scott
• Topic: NAT

If you’re interested in this FREE online session, click here to Schedule Now!

CCIE Voice:

• Date / Time: July 27^th at 3.00 PM EST
• Instructor: Vik Malhi
• Topic: Ask the Expert

• Date / Time: August 3^rd at 2.00 PM EST
• Instructor:  Vik Malhi
• Topic: Cube

If you’re interested in this FREE online session, click here to Schedule Now!

Today I want to talk about a testable UCM feature, call park, this will be the first one of a series including topics like call pickup, barge, call back and other supplementary services like UCM conference and transfer features, hold retrieval, etc.

Call Park is a feature that allows you to hold a call within UCM to later be retrieved from other phone in the system.

There are two flavors of the Call Park Feature, the traditional Call Park in which a call is held in a park slot by using the park softkey on the phone and retrieved from other phone in the system by dialing the park slot number, and the new Directed Call Park feature, where the user can transfer the call to the park slot and retrieve it from other system phone by dialing the retrieval access code plus the call park number, this call park mode allows a user to monitor through a BLF Button on the phone whether the call park slot is in use or not, furthermore the user can take advantage of this BLF/SD button to transfer calls to the park slot. The main difference between the two is that in the traditional Call Park, the parking phone cannot choose the call park number (it will be assigned by the system) which can be done with the Directed Call Park feature. In both cases there can be only a single call parked.

Let’s visit configuration steps.

Call Park

Go to the UCM-> Call Routing-> Call Park Menu and

• Assign a number or range of numbers (max 100) available for the call park feature
• Select a partition, (this could be the same internal partition you used with your phone lines for sake of simplicity), and that is reachable for all the system phones
• Select an UCM server; be aware that calls are parked where the parking phones are registered to, so it may be convenient to create two call park number ranges, one for each server, assuming you have a pub/sub pair

Make sure also that the phone softkey template includes the Park Softkey, Standard User should be good.

In addition, there are two service parameters (located in Service Parameters-> Call Manager service) related to this particular feature, the Call Park Display Timer which sets the time the park slot number is displayed on the phone screen after you hit the Park Softkey and the Call Park reversion timer that defines the maximum time the call can be parked before it returns to the parking phone.

Directed Call Park

In this case go to UCM-> Call Routing-> Directed Call Park Menu

• Assign a number or range of numbers (max 100) available for the call park feature.
• Select a partition, (this could be the same internal partition you used with your phone lines, for sake of simplicity), and that is reachable for all the system phones
• The Reversion Number and Reversion CSS field sets the number to which the call returns after the Call Park Reversion timer service parameter has expired (if left blank the call will return to the parking phone) and Calling Search Space to reach that number respectively
• The Retrieval Prefix is the code users must dial along with the call park number to retrieve the call, be aware that the only way a directed call park call can be retrieved is with the use of this code first, no retrieval occurs when the park number is dialed directly (unlike the traditional call park feature), in this case the system thinks you are trying to park your call in that slot

To configure the BLF button to monitor the directed call park slot, you should create a phone button template going to

Device-> Device Settings-> Phone Button Template

for your phone type and add the BLF Directed Call Park button, save it and assign it to the phone in which you want to perform the park function. Once in the phone configuration, select the newly created button and assign it the Directed Call Park number defined in previous step. This BLF button will blink when the park slot is in use.

Users can then transfer the calls to the park slots by using the normal transfer function, i.e., with the active call, press the transfer softkey, then press the BLF Directed Call Park button and finally the transfer softkey again or just going on-hook, if the on hook transfer service parameter is set to enable (disabled by default).

Well, be familiar with these configurations and play with these features, you could get easy points in your lab.

–
Otto Sanchez – CCIE #25592 (Voice)
Support Engineer – IPexpert, Inc.
Web: http://www.IPexpert.com

Cisco Unity Express uses three type of Message Waiting Indication mechanisms when integrated with a CME or SRST router. All 3 mechanism used are based upon the SIP protocol. Contrast this with the way CUE updates the MWI status on phones registered to UCM- in this instance JTAPI is used.

The focus on this particular article is a technique which relies on the SIP Notify method which is used to tell the CME to light the lamp for a particular extension. An example of a NOTIFY method being received by the CME from the CUE is shown below after the debug ccsip messages command has been used on the CME router.

In this case extension 3002 has a new mail and the picture above is showing the subsequent NOTIFY method.

The CUE Module can be configured to send the NOTIFY  to the CME when phones (and SIP UAs) have subscribed to receive MWI updates using the SUBSCRIBE message.

The first step when configuring the sub-notify mechanism is to select the sub-notify option within the CUE module as shown below:

The sub-notify option can be used concurrently with the outcalling option which is discussed in a separate blog.

Secondly the mwi-server needs to be set up on the CME as shown below:

sip-ua
mwi-server ipv4:10.10.202.2

The SIP-UA and the SCCP-based ephone-dn need to send the SUBSCRIBE method to the mwi server defined in the step above:

voice register dn 1
 number 3005
 mwi
!
ephone-dn 1
number 3001
mwi sip

The above configuration will force the subscription to the mwi service defined on the CUE and now the CUE module will notify the dn’s with an mwi update whenever there is a new voicemail for the appropriate voicemail accounts.

The unsolicited NOTIFY option (notify without subscribe) will force the CUE to send the NOTIFY indicating that a new message has been received on the CUE- in this instance the CME phone does not need to send the SUBSCRIBE method to the mwi server (CUE).

When configuring the unsolicited notify, the CUE module needs to be set up accordingly as shown below:

The voice  register dn and ephone-dn will no longer  need the mwi option configured since the notify will occur without subscription. The mwi-server defined on the CME needs to be set up to receive unsolicited notofy as shown below:

sip-ua
mwi-server ipv4:10.10.202.2 unsolicited

Vik Malhi – CCIE #13890
Instructor – IPexpert, Inc.
Mailto: vmalhi@ipexpert.com

CCIE lab exam has been with us for more than 15 years now. In these 15 years, many strategies and many techniques were developed and established themselves as axioms – things you should do when you are taking the lab exam. One of these things is “redraw the diagrams”. In recent months, things in CCIE R&S have changed in such a that may need to force us to rethink that approach. While the main audience of this post are CCIE R&S candidates, other CCIE students may benefit from these words. What happens in R&S, invevitably comes to other tracks, as well!

Challenge of Complex Diagrams

First off, let’s examine a simple network diagram presented below. Let’s work with the assumption that other relevant information, like IP addressing and routing protocols are drawn on the diagram. They are not on this one, but this is just an illustration of the concept anyway.

After 15-20 or so minutes, we may end up having diagram that looks something like this.

Other than wasting time and introducing few mistakes (let me know when you spot them!), what would be the benefit of redrawing the entire diagram, when the one provided is pretty good to begin with? If we continue working with our own hand-drawn diagram, introduced errors may cost us deerly in the lab.

Does this mean we shouldn’t draw our own diagrams in the lab, you may ask? The answer, as with so many things in our wonderful CCIE world is – it depends.

Section Diagrams

Redrawing the entire diagram may be pointless and a waste of time. However, when faced with apparently difficult task, or a troubleshooting ticket, drawing a section of the diagram may be of great help. Let’s play along and take a look at few possible questions related to the network from our diagram.

Ticket 5
• Fix OSPF on routers R12, R19, R20 and R21 so they are able to ping each other’s Loopback0 interfaces.
• Do not modify any configuration on router R30.

What I may do at this point, is quickly redraw the relevant section of the diagram to make things a little bit more clear. Let’s take a look at that.

Since I’m not allowed to touch R30, I’m not even going to draw it. It’s a cloud – a Frame Relay cloud. R12 looks like a hub, with R19, R20 and R21 as spokes. That tells me pretty much what I need to do there…

Let’s look at a little bit more challenging task next.

Redistribution
• RIP is running between R10, R11, R13 and R14.
• EIGRP is running between R13, R14, R15, R16, R17 and R18.
• Interfaces connecting only R13 and R14 run EIGRP.
• Mutually redistribute between all protocols running on R13 and R14.

Again, we can quickly draw a redistribution diagram here that can help us understand what needs to be done. Remember, if you can – use colors. Personally, I have color code for all IGPs. I use red for RIP, green for EIGRP and blue for OSPF. You are, of course, free to use whatever you like! Let’s take a look at the diagram I might make.

In this section diagram, I have everything I need. I know which routers are running RIP, which are running EIGRP and more importantly, I see the redistribution points clearly. Tags that will be used for filtering are also there. I indicated cyan and magenta redistribution directions. I have added descriptive rules in upper corners, indicating what needs to be disallowed and allowed in each direction. In bottom corners I included route-map names for both redistribution directions. This is something I always do when I have anything but very straight-forward redistribution scenario!

This may look confusing at first glance, but after you sit in one of our Instructor Led Classes, it may make much more sense!

Conclusions

Unless you have a really bad diagram in front of you, don’t waste time redrawing entire topology, especially if it’s particularly large. Use diagrams you have provided and if they are missing some information or you may need to analyze specific case in depth, create a section diagram and use that one instead. You are much less likely to make mistakes and you can more easily add the relevant information for the task at hand. This can become very useful when you start end-of-day verification process!

Being able to draw quick section diagrams is very important and this blog barely scratches the surface. You should practice this technique as it will probably save you a lot of time and help prevent mistakes in the lab.

–
Marko Milivojevic – CCIE #18427
Senior Technical Instructor – IPexpert
Join our Online Study List

Cisco Unity Express uses three type of Message Waiting Indication mechanisms when integrated with a CME or SRST router. All 3 mechanism used are based upon the SIP protocol. Contrast this with the way CUE updates the MWI status on phones registered to UCM- in this instance JTAPI is used.

The focus on this particular article is a technique known as outcalling. As the name suggests the CUE module simply makes a call to the CME router using SIP. An INVITE message is sent to the CME gateway. A copy of this INVITE message is shown below (debug ccsip messages).

In this instance we have the MWI numbers created as ephone-dn’s within the CME configuration, as shown below.

ephone-dn 3
 mwi on
 number 3999….
!
ephone-dn 4
 mwi off
 number 3998….

This information is imported from the CME and into the CUE module when the CUE is being set up. The picture above shows CUE informing the CME that extension 3006 has a message waiting and that the CME should light the MWI lamp on the phone which has extension 3006 configured.

The CUE configuration related to MWI is shown below:

Note: We are focusing on the outcalling method in this particular article but there will also be a secondary notification using the NOTIFY message.

The outcalling procedure is reserved for SCCP phones. The CME router needs to receive the incoming MWI INVITE message from the CUE and pass this onto the ephone-dn which contains the mwi on statement. Remember ephone-dn’s are merely branded POTS dial-peers. Taking a look at our ephone-dn configuration from earlier, you will see the following dial-peers after issuing a show telephony-service dial-peer command:

dial-peer voice 40002 pots
destination-pattern 3999….$
port 50/0/2
!
dial-peer voice 40003 pots
destination-pattern 3998….$
port 50/0/3

If we use the debug voip dialpeer command we should see the outgoing dial-peer in this example being set to 40002. Once the outgoing dial-peer has been correctly matched, the mwi on procedure is invoked and the light for 3006 will be lit. However the following dial-peer shown below will cause problems:

dial-peer voice 1 voip
incoming called-number .
 codec g729r8
dtmf-relay h245-alphanumeric

This dial-peer is very much required in order for the CME to receive calls from over the WAN (using gatekeeper or from UCM). Also the codec here is shown for information purposes since this is the default codec within a dial-peer.

One of the major problems is that the INVITE being sent by the CUE module contains Session Description information (SDP). A codec is specified within the SDP portion of the INVITE message (although logically speaking no codec is required since this is an MWI update and there is no resultant active call). The codec specified from CUE will always be g711ulaw. The inbound dial-peer on the CME is dial-peer 1 which has the codec set to g729r8. Consequently there is a codec mismatch and the call will fail (dial-peer 40002 will never be selected because the call/mwi update is failing on the inbound call leg and there is no subsequent outbound call leg which is housing the mwi on/off procedures).

The solution is not to change the codec in dial-peer 1 since this will have an impact on calls being received from the WAN. Instead you can create another dial-peer which is more specific for the MWI #’s as shown below:

dial-peer voice 2 voip
incoming called-number 399[89]….
codec g711u

Note: the inbound dial-peers support either the SIP or H323 protocol and does not need to be defined.

Going back to the picture of the INVITE message, a debug voip dialpeer will show the CME gateway match dial-peer 2 as the inbound dial-peer and 40002/3 as the outbound dial-peer whenever there is a MWI update being sent from the CUE using the outcalling method.

–
Vik Malhi – CCIE #13890
Instructor – IPexpert, Inc.
Mailto: vmalhi@ipexpert.com

Have you ever wanted to attend one of IPexpert’s industry-leading CCIE classes?
Have you ever had problems really understanding a specific technical topic?

Do you want to improve your chances at pass the CCIE Lab?

Do you want to see why IPexpert’s  CCIE instructors are considered the best in the training industry?

Do you want IPexpert, the company who has trained more CCIEs in the world, to help you?

…How would you like some FREE CCIE Lab training?

IPexpert is now offering FREE online training sessions to all IPexpert clients. If you want to improve your chances at passing Cisco’s rigorous and prestigious CCIE certifications, or if you simply want to fully-understand a specific technical topic – you can’t miss our FREE Online vLectures! Several times a week, you will be able to sit in, watch and interact with the IPexpert Instructor who will be teaching technology-focused classes on a specific track and topic. If you’re an IPexpert client and wish to join these sessions, please be sure to reserve a “virtual seat” now, these have been highly anticipated and we’re quite confident that these online training seats will fill up quickly.

IPexpert’s FREE vLecture schedule for this week and next is as follows:

CCIE Routing & Switching:

• Date / Time: July 6^th at 2 PM EST
• Instructor:  Marko Milivojevic
• Topic: IP Multicast & Protocols (BSR, Auto-RP, PIM)

• Date / Time: July 8^th at 12 PM EST
• Instructor:  Marko Milivojevic
• Topic: Multicast VPNs

If you’re interested in this FREE online session, click here to Schedule Now!

CCIE Service Provider:

• Date / Time: July 8^th at 12 PM EST
• Instructor:  Marko Milivojevic
• Topic: Multicast VPNs

If you’re interested in this FREE online session, click here to Schedule Now!

CCIE Voice:

• Date / Time: July 13^th at 2 PM EST
• Instructor:  Vik Malhi
• Topic: CUCME Features

If you’re interested in this FREE online session, click here to Schedule Now!

The week of Cisco Live! 2010 in Las Vegas came to an end. It started on Sunday and up until Thursday, thousands (apparently more than 15.000) of network engineers gathered in one place to participate in the largest of Cisco’s social and learning events. Of course, we were there and here is just brief summary of the things future will bring

There were two things that were on everyone’s mind before “Networkers” started. Will there be a new CCIE track announced (CCIE Data Center) and the overdue blueprint change for CCIE Service Provider. We waited in anticipation for both of these, alas… nothing came out from Cisco. But, there were a lot of technical sessions, marketing presentations and very open and frank conversations with Cisco people that helped us understand what future holds. Without further ado, here we go.

CCIE Routing and Switching

Blueprint is currently in version 4.0 and it is likely to remain like that for at least the next six months. However, that doesn’t mean there are not going to be changes and tweaks. Just to quote one of the people from the program who told me “we are bringing routing to routing and switching”. What that means is that there is going to be more emphasis on the core subjects, like IGP and BGP, as well as interaction (redistribution) between protocols. Another thing that is coming is more in-depth and more relevant troubleshooting tickets. As you will see with some of the other tracks, troubleshooting is becoming a major component of the CCIE exam and students going for the exam must absolutely be ready for it!

What does more distant future for R&S hold? Since troubleshooting is 100% in virtual environment, we believe it’s only a matter of time (perhaps within next 2-3 years) that R&S lab will be 100% virtualized, or at least hybrid of virtual and real equipment, allowing Cisco to create more modular and dynamic lab content. The team of engineers within Cisco responsible for CCIE R&S is very capable and eager to keep this track as the most important and relevant IT certification and they are doing a pretty good job at it!

Summary:

• No pending blueprint update.
• More in-depth troubleshooting
• More focus on “core routing topics”
• More virtualization in the distant future

IPexpert’s Summary:

• Changes mentioned are very well covered by our CCIE R&S Blended Learning Solution
• Minor content update may be forthcoming to include more troubleshooting exercises

CCIE Voice

There were no changes to the blueprint announced (thankfully!). All software versions will remain at 7.0 and are likely to remain at this release for a couple of years. It is worth pointing out that Cisco are well aware of the fact that there are several “bugs/undocumented features” that can be expected with any “.0” release. However candidates are expected to provide workarounds where applicable.

As most of you know, the Core Knowledge questions were removed some time in May 2010 and were replaced with troubleshooting tasks. The speaker repeatedly brought attention to the types of troubleshooting tasks candidates can expect. We have tried to summarize some of the most important points raised below.

• There is no dedicated troubleshooting section for the time being- troubleshooting is embedded into the configuration tasks of the exam. This is subject to change- in other words they may look at providing a dedicated troubleshooting section at some point in the future.
• Troubleshooting tasks account for approximately 15% of the points on the CCIE Voice Lab exam.
• Candidates will have to troubleshoot existing configuration which has built-in errors. More details of example errors are given below.
• Infrastructure tasks will for the most part be complete and will not be the responsibility of the candidate. However configuration might not be 100% correct!
• Going forward phones will be pre-configured into the UCM database. It was mentioned that SIP endpoints have not been tested thus far but candidates should expect SIP endpoints in the lab in the very near future. Interestingly it is the intention to have phones pre-registered with the correct firmware in advance- that means candidates will not be responsible for changing the firmware of the phone. This will come as a relief to many of you since this process is time-consuming.
• Troubleshooting tasks could potentially include in depth knowledge of the protocols used for establishing call setup. Detailed knowledge of the call flow involved in protocols such as SIP/MGCP/H323/SCCP/Q931/etc will be required in order to explain why certain calls to the “provider” are failing. It was mentioned that the candidate may not even have to fix the problem and instead create a text file with the relevant traces/debugs and a suitable explanation. A process not too dissimilar when you create a TAC case.
• Cisco will continuously modify the content of the lab and this includes changing the number of UCM and UCME sites. You can expect 3 UCM sites, 3 UCME sites or anything in between!
• Gatekeeper/CUBE/SIP Trunk tasks will be added to the lab at some point in the near future (if not already!). The PSTN provider in the lab may not necessarily be a T1/E1 connection but rather a H323 or SIP ITSP.
• Security related tasks (authentication and encryption of signaling and media) are not going to be tested since these tasks are too difficult to maintain and implement. However the CCIE Voice Written test which will be updated later this year will cover those topics.
• The Voice CCIE pass rate is currently between 20% and 25% but expect that figure to drop as the impending lab updates will no doubt increase the difficulty of the test.

Overall we were very pleased with the outcome of the discussion- no major updates for a couple of years will come as a huge relief to all training vendors. The IPexpert BLS and bootcamps have for more than a year now been covering SIP Phones, CUBE, multiple UCME sites and detailed knowledge of the protocols involved in call set up. The biggest takeaway from the session was undoubtedly troubleshooting is going to be the singular most important skill candidates will need to pass the lab – if you are going to pass the CCIE Voice going forward you need to focus on the why and not only the how as has been the case in the past.

CCIE Security

This seems to be the least exciting track as far as news go. The content is stable, there are no immediate pending blueprint changes and content updates.

IPexpert’s Summary:

• No pending product updates, based on changes.

CCIE Service Provider

Let me get this out of the way, first. There was no new Service Provider blueprint announced. However, it is ready and will be announced very, very shortly. Blueprint and content are ready, what is pending are hardware upgrades for lab locations. We can expect it to happen at any moment. So, what are the forthcoming changes, then?

IOS XR is making the appearance. It is not a rumor, it is not a speculation, it is going to be there. The major focus area is on IP and MPLS, still, but there will be also a focus on service provider approach to IPv6 and interaction between IOS and IOS XR. We can expect any number of routers running IOS and IOS XR in the new lab, where there will be a mix of IOS and IOS XR devices in the “core” and the same at the edges. CE routers will remain strictly IOS.

Also, there will be troubleshooting on the exam, but it is still not 100% certain whether that includes a dedicated troubleshooting section, or preconfigured faults in the configuration section. For this, we need to wait the official announcement. Everyone afraid of pending changes, should aim to proceed with their lab preparations. If you are not concerned (and really, there is no need to be), keep to your schedule, as planned.

Summary:

• Blueprint change is imminent.
• IOS XR and IOS will be tested.
• IPv6 will be tested.
• Troubleshooting will be a component.

IPexpert’s Summary:

• We are, like everyone else, waiting for blueprint update.

CCIE Service Provider Operations

This track was a mystery for me before going to Cisco Live! What is the idea behind it? Well, after talking to relevant people at Cisco, I actually like this track and I’m likely to go for it in the future. So, let’s see…

CCIE SP Ops is the track that focuses strictly on NOC personell. Cisco sees this as one the fastest growing CCIE tracks in the future, in fact. There is heavy focus on troubleshooting and processes in this exam. In fact, two sections of the lab reflect this. The lab will be split in two parts. The first part is dedicated troubleshooting section, which will include complex problems involving both IOS and IOS XR devices. The second section is scenario-based test, focusing on processes (ITIL) and high-level problem troubleshooting and escalation.

Since this exam is still not available to general public, it remains to be seen what will happen here.

Summary:

• Heavy focus on troubleshooting complex IOS and IOS XR issues.
• Heavy focus on processes and process frameworks (ITIL).

IPexpert’s Summary:

• At this point, we do not have immdiate plans to provide training for this track.

CCIE Wireless

Petentially, one of the most interesting tracks in the future. Fast growing market and ever evolving technology. Cisco understands this and CCIE Wireless is in good hands within Cisco in that respect. So, what’s going on with the exam? First of all, there will be some changes in the next couple of months, but no immediate blueprint change – which will happen within 9-12 months, though. The biggest change that is going to happen soon is that Cisco is “quietly” going to remove Location appliance from the exam. The reason for that is that it’s end-of-life and Cisco wants to replace it with something more relevant. The more relevant thing is Mobilite Services Engine. However, that will require major software changes on the rest of the equipment in the lab and requires blueprint change, which they are not ready for at this moment.

One thing was very much stressed out during the technical session on CCIE Wireless – candidates must understand routing and switching in order to complete the lab successfully! It’s is not as deep as in R&S track, but it is definitely covered on the exam. Students must know how to configure basic spanning-tree, IGP routing and redistribution to be successful. According to Cisco, this is one of the biggest hurdles candidates experience in the exam.

Summary:

• No pending blueprint change.
• Minor content upgrade – Location appliance will be removed.
• Basic switching, unicast and multicast routing configuration.

IPexpert’s Summary:

• Stay tuned for pending product announcements for this track. We will be updating our website this month to reflect the following products:
• CCIE Wireless racks
• Self-study Workbooks (Volume 1 and 2) with Detailed Solution Guides
• A Video on Demand Boot Camp
• A Live 5-Day Instructor Led Class

CCIE Storage

We all expected to see CCIE Data Center announced this year. However, it was not, nor is it planned for immediate future. That being said, Cisco engineers involved in the program informally refer to the Storage track as the CCIE Data Center. Also, they are investigating the future possibility of creating more comprehensive Data Center CCIE, but it’s in the early planning stages as of right now.

However, there are important bullet points that we should mention here for the people who are preparing for this track. First of all, focus of the exam is only on Cisco equipment and devices. Carefully examine the list of devices mentioned in the blueprint and focus the studes on this equimpent.

The world of data centers is fast evolving, which makes it very difficult to create a “stable blueprint” and CCIE program managers are waiting for the product range and technology to stabilise, before they introduce major changes. There are probably going to be blueprint updates in the next 6-12 months, but no major changes will happen overnight.

Summary:

• No pending blueprint update.
• Fast-changing and evolving technology that will only grow in the future.
• Strict focus on Cisco equipment in the exam.

IPexpert’s Summary:

• Stay tuned…Although we currently have several CCIE Storage Racks and Tyson Scott (IPexpert’s x3 CCIE is working on this track, currently) we’re going to wait until the Data Center is announced before we pursue any products in this space.

Overall Summary

It has been a great week for IPexpert and everyone who attended Cisco Live! We met with great people, our former, current and future students. We enjoyed the excellence of Cisco’s technical presentations, immersed ourselves in deep technical discussion with our peers and had the great opportunity to socialize with like-minded network engineers, both from Cisco and elsewhere.

See you all in classes and next year at Cisco Live! 2011 in the CCIE lounge – where you all need to be with fellow CCIEs!

Regards – The IPexpert team

We are pleased to announce that we were in attendance at the CCIE Voice Techtorial, given by Ben Ng (Cisco CCIE Voice Program Manager) at the Cisco Live Networkers Conference.  In that 8-hour session, we found out some interesting information regarding the CCIE Voice Written and Lab exam that we would like to pass along to you in no particular order.

There were no changes to the blueprint announced (thankfully!). All software versions will remain at 7.0 and are likely to remain at this release for a couple of years. It is worth pointing out that Cisco are well aware of the fact that there are several “bugs/undocumented features” that can be expected with any “.0” release. However candidates are expected to provide workarounds where applicable.

As most of you know, the Core Knowledge questions were removed some time in May 2010 and were replaced with troubleshooting tasks. The speaker repeatedly brought attention to the types of troubleshooting tasks candidates can expect. We have tried to summarize some of the most important points raised below.

• There is no dedicated troubleshooting section for the time being- troubleshooting is embedded into the configuration tasks of the exam. This is subject to change- in other words they may look at providing a dedicated troubleshooting section at some point in the future.
• Troubleshooting tasks account for approximately 15% of the points on the CCIE Voice Lab exam.
• Candidates will have to troubleshoot existing configuration which has built-in errors. More details of example errors are given below.
• Infrastructure tasks will for the most part be complete and will not be the responsibility of the candidate. However configuration might not be 100% correct!
• Going forward phones will be pre-configured into the UCM database. It was mentioned that SIP endpoints have not been tested thus far but candidates should expect SIP endpoints in the lab in the very near future. Interestingly it is the intention to have phones pre-registered with the correct firmware in advance- that means candidates will not be responsible for changing the firmware of the phone. This will come as a relief to many of you since this process is time-consuming.
• Troubleshooting tasks could potentially include in depth knowledge of the protocols used for establishing call setup. Detailed knowledge of the call flow involved in protocols such as SIP/MGCP/H323/SCCP/Q931/etc will be required in order to explain why certain calls to the “provider” are failing. It was mentioned that the candidate may not even have to fix the problem and instead create a text file with the relevant traces/debugs and a suitable explanation. A process not too dissimilar when you create a TAC case.
• Cisco will continuously modify the content of the lab and this includes changing the number of UCM and UCME sites. You can expect 3 UCM sites, 3 UCME sites or anything in between!
• Gatekeeper/CUBE/SIP Trunk tasks will be added to the lab at some point in the near future (if not already!). The PSTN provider in the lab may not necessarily be a T1/E1 connection but rather a H323 or SIP ITSP.
• Security related tasks (authentication and encryption of signaling and media) are not going to be tested since these tasks are too difficult to maintain and implement. However the CCIE Voice Written test which will be updated later this year will cover those topics.
• The Voice CCIE pass rate is currently between 20% and 25% but expect that figure to drop as the impending lab updates will no doubt increase the difficulty of the test.

Overall we were very pleased with the outcome of the discussion- no major updates for a couple of years will come as a huge relief to all training vendors. The IPexpert BLS and bootcamps have for more than a year now been covering SIP Phones, CUBE, multiple UCME sites and detailed knowledge of the protocols involved in call set up. The biggest takeaway from the session was undoubtedly troubleshooting is going to be the singular most important skill candidates will need to pass the lab – if you are going to pass the CCIE Voice going forward you need to focus on the why and not only the how as has been the case in the past.

Amy Ryan CCIE# 24677
Senior Technical Instructor
IPexpert Inc

“This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.” We have all been told this by a customer service agent before, and your supervisor has just informed you that the billing department needs the ability to record calls by end of business today.   Oh snap!  You ask yourself, “Does my Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express System support such a thing without 3^rd party integration?”  You do a bit of research, and viola!  Live record is the answer.   You breathe a sigh of relief that you will be able to secure your job. Now, how do you achieve this?  Let’s break it down.

Live Record is a feature supported in CUCME.  When initiated, via a configured soft key, this feature essentially grants end users the capability to record an active call.  Once the recording is complete, the end user will receive a message-waiting indicator on their phone indicating there is a new voicemail message available.   This recording will then be accessible via the end user’s assigned Cisco Unity Express voicemail box.

So based on the above description, we know the following:
-live record will need to be enabled on both CUCME and CUE
-it is invoked via a soft key on the IP Phone
-the live record initiator has to have an active voicemail box configured on CUE to store the recording

Enabling Live Record

The live record feature is a global setting that is supported for two-party calls or ad-hoc conferencing.  You must assign live record an ephone-dn that forwards to the designated voicemail pilot for CUE.  You will then enable it within telephony-service and CUE.

ephone-dn 5

number 3050 no-reg

call-forward all 3600

CUCME

telephony-service

live-record 3050

CUE

voicemail live-record pilot-number 3050

Enabling the Phone for Live Record

In order to give an IP Phone access to the Live Record feature, you must create a new ephone-template assigning the Live Record soft key in the “connected” state.  You should only assign the new ephone-template to the ephones that will be granted access to this feature.

ephone-template  1
softkeys connected  LiveRcd Hold Endcall Trnsfer Confrn
!
ephone  5
ephone-template 1

You are now ready to test and verify your configuration.   During an active call, press the LiveRcd soft key.  You should hear an entrance tone when your current call is joined with the live record feature.  This beep will continue during the time live record is active as a reminder.  You can adjust the duration (in milliseconds) and interval (in seconds) of the beep within CUE.

voicemail live-record duration 50
!
voicemail live-record interval 30

To cancel recording press the LiveRcd softkey again or EndCall.  Once the recording is completed the MWI will illuminate indicating a new voicemail message.   You can then log into voicemail and review and manage the recording the same as any other voicemail message.

LiveRcd behaves as a two-party ad-hoc conference call when paired up to record a call. In the event you need to record a call that is already active with two or more parties, you will need to configure CUCME for ad-hoc hardware conferencing.

Amy Ryan
Senior Technical Instructor
CCIE #24677 (Voice)