Table of Contents
UPDATE on 2.11.2013 – There will be an update in February 2014!
Read all about the new announcement in the latest article here! with all new topics added and removed from CCIE lab exam v5.
UPDATE on 23.07.2013 – There will be not update this year to v5 at least not for now…
So, there are some news. The news is that at this moment, few weeks after Cisco Live in Orlando we can say that CCIE lab exam v5 update is not going to happen this year. I other words, for us studying for the lab exam, the old topology and all the topics from v4 are still valid. Many of us will think now that we can be in peace for another year now and try to learn and understand everything so that we can pass the exam before the change. From my perspective, maybe this is not the whole truth. I think that even the change in the exam and all the topics mentioned down here that would change will not necessary mean that the exam would become more difficult. My perspective is that if you are prepared to pass the CCIE lab on v4, you will be probably also prepared to pass it on v5. My point is in that there is so many networking topics covered here that all the changes would not disturb you in your goal, maybe only those people who studied but not really with 100% understanding. The road to CCIE is not short, and is not easy either but it can be fun and in the end it will be worth the effort.
Learn and enjoy the process to, not only thinking on the resulting cert. In that way, you will probably be more succesful even in the CCIE lab changes a bit.
As someone who is trying to study for the CCIE R&S last few months now it is one of the most concerning questions these days. Cisco Live in Orlando is just starting and everybody that has something to say about the CCIE R&S lab exam is speculating about the next CCIE lab exam version 5 announcement. It is true that the actual exam is fairly old now. Last change was more than four years ago. To be precise, version 4 was announced in April 2009. There is a lot of forums with a lot of folks that are saying this change will disrupt their learning process. Every change means that from the announcement of new blueprint you have only 6 months to take the old version of the exam (or change and prepare for the new one). But the true from my side of view is slightly different. From my perspective, if you are prepared to pass CCIE lab, there is no change in the world that could make your life more difficult. You know, all the most important parts of this lab will not ever change, all the protocols are there for 20 years now and they are planned to run our networks in the future to. Frame Relay, hm, maybe this on will go in v5 but to know something about different network types and config of routing protocols across Non-broadcast multiple-access network will not hurt you in your future life as CCIE. Next. The preparation for this exam will take 18 months if you are a good learner and you are not in too much of normal social life. If you are now thinking that the change of the blueprint for CCIE lab exam if close, and it is, maybe that’s a good thing. Just skip RIP, Frame Relay and learn more OSPF, BGP, IPv6, MPLS and multicast as those will be hardly tested in the next version and when you finish with these new lab exam will be already online
Hey, don’t forget PfR. It’s a technology that makes first step forward to SDN networking on Cisco gear. I did skip the RIP for now, yes, it’s true that it’s the best protocol for learn how to troubleshoot routing protocol redistribution problems and loops, but that is why he is goes into history.
When will the new blueprint be announced? In three days!
If you ask me, there is a 99% of chance that it will be in couple of days on Cisco Live US June 23-27 this year.
WHAT?
Version 4 did run virtualized IOU (IOS on Unix) for the troubleshooting section of the exam. In the v5 there will probably be the whole exam with virtualized routers. I this way you can only hope to get 6 routers topology. It will more likely be some 20 or so devices in the lab. Switching part of the story. I don’t know what to say. I do hope that there will be some real gear there. Hopefully some 3850 switches that are Cisco switches to be deployed in the future.
Holly IOS
12.4(15)T on the routers, 12.2(46)SE on switches is so old. It’s like running Windows 3.1 I would expect to see 15.2 on routers, and 15.0 on switches.
Okay, so what’s different really
Rumors I’ve heard include:
- Frame Relay is going out
- PfR, a lot of it I think
- IPv6 everywhere and in more details.
- No more RIPv2
Question Styles/Exam Layout
Everything will now be like the Troubleshooting section and troubleshooting should stay as it is. This part is intentionally made so that it test how you manage to work under time pressure.
What to do now?
Nothing, labs labs labs. There is nothing that can be done to pass this sort of lab exam except to know as many as you can learn from networking. This is why CCIE is so reputable. Because if you have it, it means that you know something. If you did bought some study materials, perhaps like me from INE, they will give you new materials with updates when they make the changes but the current versions have almost all you need and a lot to learn until you wait those updates.