CCIE Data Center

The long rumored, highly expected and very desired has finally been released and it’s a beast!

Since the release of the Nexus platform there has been talk about when these platforms were to be introduced in a CCIE track. With the introduction of UCS in 2009 this became an even higher request especially since UCS really took off in sales. When I started my CCIE Storage studies in 2010 I initially wrote an article for IPexpert about my predictions for the CCIE DC (http://blog.ipexpert.com/2010/01/13/storage-and-datacenter-ccie/). Most of them where very easy guesses, but those also became reality in the track, though with new hardware that is now available (2 years later).

You might have already read most information on other blogs, but I’m trying to consolidate that information. During the coming weeks/months more and more information will become available and during Cisco Live in June there will be a huge amount of information and questions during the 4-hour Techtorial (TECCCIE-9544).

The scope of the exam is pretty much based on the usual suspects, so in summary you should know the:

• UCS B-series blade systems
• UCS C-series rackmount systems connected to UCS Manager via FEX
• Virtual Interface Cards (virtualized NICs and HBAs) in all servers
• Nexus 7000 with all features like VDC, OTV, FabricPath, etc.
• Nexus 5500 with all features like FCoE, FEX
• Nexus 2000 connected to either the 5k or the 7k
• Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switch in ESX
  • There is no mention of any VMware product in the blueprint, so expect ESX and vCenter to be pre-installed on the UCS blades and FC boot to pre-configured disks
• MDS 9222i for connecting FC storage to UCS
• ACE appliance
• DCNM management software

Availability

From May 1^st the written exam is available in BETA all the way up to June 15. They specifically mentioned that the beta test is available for testing during Cisco Live, which is also when I’m going to take it. The live exam is available from September 1^st.

Currently there are no dates when the lab is available.

Written exam

The written exam has an extensive blueprint published to Cisco Learning Network (CLN) including a reading list. As mentioned before the beta version of the CCIE Data Center Written Exam will be available for scheduling and testing at all worldwide Cisco-authorized Pearson VUE testing centers beginning May 1 through June 15, 2012. The beta test will also be offered during Cisco Live San Diego event from June 10-14, 2012. Candidates may schedule and take the exam on the same day.  The beta exam will be offered at a discounted price of US$50, with full recertification or lab qualification credit granted to all passing candidates.

The current published reading list:

Data Center Fundamentals (ISBN-10: 1-58705-023-4)

NX-OS and Cisco Nexus Switching (ISBN-10: 1-58705-892-8)

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) (ISBN-10: 1-58714-193-0)

I/O Consolidation in the Data Center (ISBN-10: 1-58705-888-X)

Storage Networking Fundamentals (ISBN-10: 1-58705-162-1)

Please find the extensive blueprint published by Cisco on the bottom of this blogpost.

Lab exam

There is not much information available regarding the lab exam. Availability is not mentioned. There is however information regarding the hardware list and this is an immense list of expensive hardware you require:

Hardware blueprint:

Cisco Catalyst Switch 3750 = Switch for management connections
Cisco 2511 Terminal Server = Lab terminal server
MDS 9222i
Nexus 7009
- (1) Sup
- (1) 32 Port 10Gb (F1 Module)
- (1) 32 Port 10Gb (M1 Module)
Nexus 5548
Nexus 2232
Nexus 1000V
UCS C200 Series Server
– VIC card for c-series
UCS-6248 Fabric Interconnects
UCS-5108 Blade Chassis
– B200 M2 Blade Servers
– Palo mezzanine card (VIC card)
– Emulex mezzanine card (2 vNICs and 2 vHBAs)
Cisco Application Control Engine Appliance – ACE4710
Dual attached JBODs (prepare for pre-configured disks)

Software Versions
NXOS v6.0(2) on Nexus 7000 Switches
NXOS v5.1(3) on Nexus 5000 Switches
NXOS v4.2(1) on Nexus 1000V
NXOS v5.2(2) on MDS 9222i Switches
UCS Software release 2.0(1x) for UCS-6248 Fabric Interconnect and all UCS systems
Software Release A5(1.0) on ACE4710
Cisco Data Center Manager software v5.2(2)

How do I get my hands on this?

Now this is a huge list. I’m so fortunate that I work for Telindus-ISIT a Cisco Gold partner with huge focus on Nexus and UCS, so we have most of this already available in our lab! Cisco knows that not everybody will be able to purchase a lab or even lab rental companies can’t afford this. Therefore they confirmed at Cisco Live Melbourne that Cisco will start offering rack rentals for the CCIE Datacenter, probably through the Cisco 360 program.

Other available information

During the session at Cisco Live Melbourne, more information was provided than already mentioned. Some important topics are:

CCIE Storage?

There are currently NO plans for replacing CCIE Storage for CCIE Datacenter. Because of this, there will not be a large focus on MDS/FC configuration as there is another track for that.

What about P and A tracks?

A CCNA Data Center and CCNP Data Center will be released soon!

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting will be a big part of the exam, which is also pretty clear in the blueprint. There is no confirmation yet how this will be introduced, either using tickets in the CCIE R&S or just by pre-configuration on the lab. I can imagine that they pre-configured a broken Nexus 1000V on a ESX installation on one of the JBODs. More information on how this troubleshooting is done will be available during other Q&A sessions. The implication is that it might be trouble tickets like the CCIE R&S.

Written Blueprint

Cisco Data Center Architecture

• Describe the Cisco Data Center Architecture
• Describe the products used in the Cisco Data Center Architecture
• Describe Cisco unified I/O solution in access layer
• Determine which platform to select for use in the data center different layers

Cisco Data Center Infrastructure—NX-OS

• Describe NX-OS features Describe the architecture of NX-OS Describe NX-OS Process Recovery Describe NX-OS Supervisor Redundancy Describe NX-OS Systems file management Describe Virtual Output Queuing (VoQ) Describe Virtual Device Contexts Configure and Troubleshoot VDCs Describe fabric extension via the nexus family
• Design and implement NX-OS Layer 2 and Layer 3 functionality Describe VLANs Describe PVLANs Describe Spanning-Tree Protocols Describe Port-Channels and Virtual Port Channels Compare and contrast VPC options Describe basic features of routing protocols in a data center environment Implement jumbo frames end-to-end in a data center Describe FabricPath Describe VRF lite in a data center environment Validate configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands.
• Describe Multicast Describe Multicast Operation in a data center environment Describe Basic PIM configuration Describe IGMP operation and configuration on the Nexus Platform Validate Configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands
• Describe basic NX-OS Security features AAA Services RBAC, SSH, and SNMPv3 Control Plane Protection and Hardware Rate Limiting IP ACLs, MAC ACLs, and VLAN ACLs Port Security DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection, and IP Source Guard Validate configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands
• Implement NX-OS high availability features Describe First-Hop Routing Protocols Describe Graceful Restart and nonstop forwarding Describe OTV Describe the ISSU process Validate configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands
• Implement NX-OS management Describe DCNM LAN features Implement SPAN and ERSPAN Implement embedded Ethernet analyzer and Netflow Describe XML for network management and monitoring Describe SNMP for network management and monitoring Describe Implement Embedded Event Management Describe configuration management in Data Center Network Manager Describe Smart Call Home Detail connectivity and credentials required for Data Center Network Manager Validate configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands

Cisco Storage Networking

• Describe Standard-based SAN Protocols Describe Fiber Channel Standards and protocols Describe SCSI standards and protocols Describe iSCSI standards and protocols Describe FCIP standards and protocols
• Implement Fiber Channel Protocols features Describe Port Channel, ISL, trunking and VSANs Design basic and enhanced zoning Describe FC domain parameters Describe Cisco Fabric services and benefits Design and implement proper oversubscription in an FC environment Validate proper configuration of FC storage based solutions
• Implement IP Storage based solution Implement FC over IP (FCIP) Describe iSCSI and its features Validate proper configuration of IP Storage based solutions
• Design and describe NX-OS Unified Fabric features Describe Fiber Channel features in the NX-OS environment Describe Fiber Channel over Ethernet Protocol and technology Design and implement data center bridging protocol and lossless Ethernet Design and implement QoS features Describe NPV and NPIV features in a Unified Fabric environment Describe FCoE NPV features Describe Unified Fabric Switch different modes of operations Describe multihop FCoE Describe and configure universal ports Validate configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands
• Design high availability features in a standalone server environment Describe server-side high availability in the Cisco Unified I/O environment Describe Converged Network Adapter used in FCoE topologies Configuring NIC teaming
• Implement SAN management Describe Device Manager for element management Describe configuration management in Data Center Network Manager Describe connectivity and credentials required for DCNM-SAN Describe how to monitor and trend utilization with DCNM Dashboard

Cisco Data Center Virtualization

• Implement Data Center Virtualization with Nexus1000v Describe the Cisco Nexus1000v and its role in a virtual server network environment Describe Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM) on Nexus1000v Describe Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM) Describe the Cisco Nexus 1010 physical appliance and components Describe Port Profiles and use cases in Nexus1000v Describe QoS, Traffic Flow and IGMP Snooping in Nexus1000v Describe Network monitoring on Nexus1000v Explain the benefits of DHCP snooping in a VDI environment Describe how to intercept traffic using Vpath and its benefits Describe and implement Nexus1000v port channels Describe Virtual Service Domain Validate configurations and troubleshoot problems and failures using command line, show and debug commands

Cisco Unified Computing

• Unified Computing System components and architecture Describe Cisco Unified Computing System components and architecture Describe the Cisco Unified Computing server deployment and implementation model Describe Cisco UCS Management features Describe Cisco UCS Connectivity from both LAN and SAN perspective Describe Cisco UCS High Availability Describe what the capability catalog is and how it is used Describe Cisco UCS C Series Integration Describe the functional differences between physical and virtual adaptors
• Describe LAN connectivity in a Cisco Unified Computing environment Describe Fabric Interconnect for LAN connectivity Implement server and uplink ports Describe End Host Mode Implement Ethernet Switching Mode Implement VLANs and port channels Implement Pinning and PIN groups Describe Disjoint Layer 2 and design consideration Describe Quality of Service (QoS) options and configuration restrictions Design and verify scalable Cisco Unified computing systems
• Describe Implement SAN connectivity in a Cisco Unified Computing environment Describe Fabric Interconnect for SAN connectivity Describe End Host Mode Implement NPIV Implement FC Switch mode Implement FC ports for SAN connectivity Implement Virtual HBA (vHBA) Implement VSANs Implement SAN port channels Describe and implement direct attach Storage connectivity options Describe and implement FC trunking and SAN pinning
• Describe Cisco Unified Computing Server resources Describe Service Profiles in Cisco UCS including templates and contrast with cloning Describe Server Resource Pools Implement updating and initial templates Describe Boot From remote storage Detail best practices for creating pooled objects Explain how to use the Cisco UCS KVM with Vmedia and session management Describe local disk options and configuration protection Describe power control policies and their effects
• Describe role-based Access Control Management Groups Understand Cisco UCS Management Hierarchy using ORG and RBAC Describe roles and privileges Implement integrated authentication
• Cisco Unified Computing troubleshooting and maintenance Understand backup and restore procedures in a unified computing environment Manage high availability in a Cisco Unified Computing environment Describe monitoring and analysis of system events Implement External Management Protocols Analyze statistical information Understand Cisco Unified Computing components system upgrade procedure Describe how to manage BIOS settings Describe memory extension technology

Cisco Application Networking Services—ANS

• Data center application high availability and load balancing Describe standard ACE features for load balancing Describe different Server Load Balancing Algorithm Describe health monitoring and use cases Describe Layer 7 load balancing Describe sticky connections Understand SSL offload in SLB environment Describe Protocol Optimization Describe Route Health Injection (RHI) Describe Server load balancing Virtual Context and HA Describe Server load balancing management options
• Global load balancing Describe basic DNS resolution process Describe the benefits of the Cisco Global Load Balancing Solution Describe how the Cisco Global Load Balancing Solution integrate with local Cisco load balancers Implement a Cisco Global Load Balancing Solution into an existing network infrastructure

Lab Blueprint

Cisco Data Center Infrastructure - NXOS

• Implement NXOS L2 functionality Implement VLANs and PVLANs Implement Spanning-Tree Protocols Implement Port-Channels Implement Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) Implement Fabric Extension via the Nexus family

• Implement NXOS L3 functionality Implement Basic EIGRP in Data Center Environment Implement Basic OSPF in Data Center Environment Implement BFD for Dynamic Routing protocols Implement ECMP Implement FabricPath

• Implement Basic NXOS Security Features Implement AAA Services Implement SNMPv3 Configure IP ACLs, MAC ACLs and VLAN ACLs Configure Port Security Configure DHCP Snooping Configure Dynamic ARP Inspection Configure IP Source Guard Configure Cisco TrustSec

• Implement NXOS High Availability Features Implement First-Hop Routing Protocols Implement Graceful Restart Implement nonstop forwarding Implement Port-channels Implement vPC and VPC+ Implement Overlay Transport Protocol (OTV)

• Implement NXOS Management Implement SPAN and ERSPAN Implement NetFlow Implement Smart Call Home Manage System Files Implement NTP, PTP Configure and Verify DCNM Functionality

• NXOS Troubleshooting Utilize SPAN, ERSPAN and EthAnalyzer to troubleshoot a Cisco Nexus problem Utilize NetFlow to troubleshoot a Cisco Nexus problem Given an OTV problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given a VDC problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given a vPC problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given an Layer 2 problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given an Layer 3 problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given a multicast problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given a FabricPath problem, identify the problem and potential fix Given a Unified Fabric problem, identify the problem and potential fix

Cisco Storage Networking

• Implement Fiber Channel Protocols Features Implement Port Channel, ISL and Trunking Implement VSANs Implement Basic and Enhanced Zoning Implement FC Domain Parameters Implement Fiber Channel Security Features Implement Proper Oversubscription in an FC environment

• Implement IP Storage Based Solution Implement IP Features including high availability Implement iSCSI including advanced features Implement SAN Extension tuner Implement FCIP and Security Features Implement iSCSI security features Validate proper configuration of IP Storage based solutions

• Implement NXOS Unified Fabric Features Implement basic FC in NXOS environment Implement Fiber channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Implement NPV and NPIV features Implement Unified Fabric Switch different modes of operation Implement QoS Features Implement FCoE NPV features Implement multihop FCoE Validate Configurations and Troubleshoot problems and failures using Command Line, show and debug commands.

Cisco Data Center Virtualization

• Manage Data Center Virtualization with Nexus1000v Implement QoS, Traffic Flow and IGMP Snooping Implement Network monitoring on Nexus 1000v Implement n1kv portchannels Troubleshoot Nexus 1000V in a virtual environment Configure VLANs Configure PortProfiles

• Implement Nexus1000v Security Features DHCP Snooping Dynamic ARP Inspection IP Source Guard Port Security Access Control Lists Private VLANs Configuring Private VLANs

Cisco Unified Computing

• Implement LAN Connectivity in a Unified Computing Environment Configure different Port types Implement Ethernet end Host Mode Implement VLANs and Port Channels. Implement Pinning and PIN Groups Implement Disjoint Layer 2

• Implement SAN Connectivity in a Unified Computing Environment Implement FC ports for SAN Connectivity Implement VSANs Implement FC Port Channels Implement FC Trunking and SAN pinning

• Implement Unified Computing Server Resources Create and Implement Service Profiles Create and Implement Policies Create and Implement Server Resource Pools Implement Updating and Initial Templates Implement Boot From remote storage Implement Fabric Failover

• Implement UCS Management tasks Implement Unified Computing Management Hierarchy using ORG and RBAC Configure RBAC Groups Configure Remote RBAC Configuration Configure Roles and Privileges Create and Configure Users Implement Backup and restore procedures in a unified computing environment Implement system wide policies

• Unified Computing Troubleshooting and Maintenance Manage High Availability in a Unified Computing environment Configure Monitoring and analysis of system events Implement External Management Protocols Collect Statistical Information Firmware management Collect TAC specific information Implement Server recovery tasks

Cisco Application Networking Services – ANS

• Implement Data Center application high availability and load balancing Implement standard ACE features for load balancing Configuring Server Load Balancing Algorithm Configure different SLB deployment modes Implement Health Monitoring Configure Sticky Connections Implement Server load balancing in HA mode

Happy studying!