Countdown – 33 Days

CRCX

Dear fellow CCIE Voice candidates,

I apologize for being out-of-touch these days.  I have a few folders in my Dropbox with massive amounts of checklists and debug explanations.  However, life has been so chaotic in the past few weeks that I have not had the time to faithfully update this blog.

It’s my promise to you that I will add more information to this blog once I pass.  I want this to be a resource that people can use for different Cisco voice questions.  The most important part of the CCIE is the journey that transforms you from a puny n00b with poor troubleshooting skills and no understanding of Cisco’s documentation site to a stone-cold VoIP issue killer.  “One-way audio?  Dropped calls?  That’s nothing!”

If you have been on this journey for a while, suffered long nights, and experienced the chronic aches and pains of caffeine overdose, then you understand what I’m saying.

MDCX

Ok, changing focus…

I am 33 days away from my exam.  I feel pretty confident in my core skills.  I am weak in SIP, however.  Not in the SIP basics like dial-rules, voice register commands, and Early Offer enticements.  Instead, I’m weak in the troubleshooting skills that are required to deploy a basic SIP solution in under eight hours without any major hiccups.  I plan to be reading the old, but not outdated, “Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony” book by Cisco Press as well as the “SIP Trunking” book.

SIP is a very cool protocol, though I’m unsure of how or when it will replace the good ol’ ISDN PRI.  This is just one curiosity that has to be tucked away for a rainy day when there are no projects and no CCIE lab looming on the horizon.

I’ve been very tired these days.  In fact, I might not have paced myself adequately because I’m exhausted every evening.  I’m a big believer in good sleep and mental clarity before taking an exam.  I might take a few days easy before diving in for the last stretch.

Good luck to all of you out there!  I’m cheering you on!

I’ll try to post a few more times as the Day draweth nigh.

DLCX

The “Voice (soon to be certified) Guru”