About Writtens and CCIE DC written prep

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I'm constantly been asked of several things about certs, and particularly about written exams. In this post I will try to summarize two things, one is my personal belief and the second one is the study method / reading list that I followed up.

So, lets start by saying a bad word... dumps. Lot (and i mean a LOT) of people asks me "which dumps have you used to clear XYZ?", "I'm waiting till dumps get more accurate" and so on... My answer is always the same: "you can do whatever you want, but think if time spent by reading questions worth it", how much time do you spend by reading a series of 2^20 Qs? And by memorizing them? And it gets better, do you enjoy that process? If you do, just skip this post since you're not going to need the book list and start thinking if you can memorize cards in a casino, maybe you get a bigger reward ;) if you don't... don't feel silly, we are at least two guys (And believe me I know a lot of people who enjoy the process of reading books instead of memorizing Qs)
Also, another thing that i really want to point out about this is that I know that Cisco is working really hard to overcome dumpers by releasing new Qs everyday (maybe that is too much, but they are working on it, believe me)

Well, after all the introduction setted up (feel free to comment if you agree or not), I will post my study methodology for writtens and my book list for DC (v1, sorry guys.. I will post the books readed for v2 but for written i took v1 in beggining of 2016).

Study methodology

1. Read the blueprint at cisco cert page and topics included in written (https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccie_data_center/written_exam/exam-topics)
2. Start by identifying the topics that you (think) master and those you definitely don't.
3. Mix reading of topics you don't know anything of with those that you do, this is key to avoid being overwhelmed by new stuff (your brain will thank you)
4. Always take notes! For CCIE written exams and similar certs you have to note down those concepts and configuration maximums/limits that you will never remember in real life! 
5. To use as a guide, be sure that you have a section on your notes for each protocol that is in the blueprint, i.e. for FabricPath you should have at least this info:

"Running per Supervisor Engine, on a per-VDC basis:●   FabricPath IS-IS - SPF routing protocol process that forms the core of the FabricPath control plane
●   DRAP - Dynamic Resource Allocation Protocol, an extension to FabricPath IS-IS that ensures network‑wide unique and consistent Switch IDs and FTAG values
●   IGMP - Provides IGMP snooping support on FabricPath edge switches for building multicast forwarding database
●   U2RIB - Unicast Layer 2 RIB, containing the “best” unicast Layer 2 routing information
●   M2RIB - Multicast Layer 2 RIB, containing the “best” multicast Layer 2 routing information
●   L2FM - Layer 2 forwarding manager, managing the MAC address table
●   MFDM - Multicast forwarding distribution manager, providing shim between platform-independent control-plane processes and platform-specific processes on I/O modules

Global components that run on each of the I/O modules, processing forwarding information from each VDC and programming it into the I/O module hardware:
●   U2FIB - Unicast Layer 2 FIB, managing the hardware version of the unicast Layer 2 RIB
●   M2FIB - Multicast Layer 2 FIB, managing the hardware version of the multicast Layer 2 RIB
●   MTM - MAC table manager, managing the hardware version of the MAC address table"

Well I think that finally a book list is expected:

• NX-OS and Cisco Nexus Switching: Next-Generation Data Center Architectures, 2nd Edition
• I/O Consolidation in the Data Center
• Storage Networking Fundamentals: An Introduction to Storage Devices, Subsystems, Applications, Management, and File Systems
• Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) (Data Center): A Complete Reference Guide to the Cisco Data Center Virtualization Server Architecture
• Policy Driven Data Center with ACI, The: Architecture, Concepts, and Methodology
• Cisco Live docs, don't you use that? You're missing a GREAT resource
• BRKDCT-2404 VXLAN Deployment Models - A Practical Perspective
• BRKDCT-2370 - Intermediate - End-to-End Application-Centric Infrastructure Automation with UCS Director
• BRKDCT-2049 - Overlay Transport Virtualization
• BRKDCT-3237 - Advanced - Versatile architecture using Nexus 7000 with a mix of F and M modules to deliver FEX, FabricPath, Multihop FCoE, MPLS and LISP all at the same time 
• BRKDCT-3145 - Advanced - Troubleshooting Cisco Nexus 5000 / 2000 Series Switches 
• BRKDCT-3378 - Advanced - Building simplified, automated and scalable DataCenter network with Overlays (VXLAN/FabricPath)
• Also lot of blogs... I will write down my RSS feeds soon :) there is really smart people near us :)

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