Exam Profile: CCIE Voice v3.0 Written (350-030)

Date: Mar 21, 2011

This article profiles the CCIE Voice Written exam (350-030), which is the qualifying exam for attempting the CCIE Voice Lab. Pearson IT Certification provides a variety of exam preparation tools to help our customers in their quest for certification. As part of our service to you, we have developed this Exam Profile series. Each profile is developed based on the testing experience of one of our trainers or authors. You won’t get exact questions or answers, but you will get a real feel for the exam. Each profile describes question forms, trouble spots, hints for exam preparation, and recommendations for additional study resources. Find out what you can expect to see on the exam and how you can better prepare for it.

The CCIE Voice Written exam (350-030) is the exam you must pass to quality to attempt the CCIE Voice Lab. Once a CCIE Voice candidate passes this written exam, they must make their first attempt at the CCIE Voice Lab within eighteen months. If they are unsuccessful on their initial lab attempt, they must attempt the lab again within the next year to avoid having to take the written exam again.

Exam Details

Type(s) of questions: Multiple-choice questions; these may present a topology diagram, a screenshot of a voice server’s administration screen, or a configuration example.
Number of questions: 100 questions
Passing score: Cisco does not publish the passing score for the CCIE Voice Written exam.
Time limit: 120 minutes
How to register: Pearson VUE

Trouble Spots

Cisco offers voice certifications at the associate, professional, and expert levels. Therefore, many CCIE Voice candidates will have earned their CCNA Voice and CCNP Voice (formerly CCVP), and anticipate they might be ready to take the CCIE Voice Written. However, much of the content appearing on the CCIE Voice Written exam is not found in the CCNA Voice or CCNP Voice curriculums.

Also, be aware that the material someone with their CCNP Voice has been exposed to will vary with when they earned their CCNP Voice. Specifically, in October of 2010, Cisco revamped their CCNA Voice and CCNP Voice tracks.

The old CCNA Voice track consisted of the IIUC1 course, which primarily focused on Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CUCME), Cisco Unity Express (CUE), and the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business. The new CCNA Voice track consists of the ICOMM course, which exposes the learner to a wide variety of Cisco voice technologies, including Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), CUCME, CUE, Cisco Unified Presence Server (CUPS), and Cisco Unity Connection.

Similarly, the courses in the new CCNP Voice curriculum (that is, CVOICE, CIPT1, CIPT2, CAPPS, and TVOICE) include coverage of CUPS and Cisco Unity Connection, topics not addressed in the older CCNP Voice curriculum.

Since the CCIE Voice Written exam covers CUPS and unified messaging topics, the typical CCNP Voice certification holder who earned their stripes with the new curriculum will be better prepared than one who completed the prior CCNP Voice track. That being said, the CCIE Voice Written can still hold surprises for those not familiar with the exam blueprint. (NOTE: You must be logged in to Cisco’s website to access the exam blueprint.)

For example, CCIE Voice Written exam candidates should be ready to answer questions on topics such as: Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX), unified communications (UC) security (for example, DHCP snooping, firewall, and NAT topics), and IP multicast.

Preparation Hints

Since the CCIE Voice Written exam assumes familiarity with a variety of unified communications solutions (for example, CUCM, CUCME, unified messaging, CUPS, and UCCX), you would certainly benefit by first successfully completing both the CCNA Voice and CCNP Voice tracks. Then, you could fill in the gaps (for example, UCCX and UC security) through self-study.

Perhaps you have the luxury of working with some of these technologies in your current employment. If so, you might check into the feasibility of constructing a voice lab topology, which can help you prepare for not only the CCIE Voice Written exam but ultimately the CCIE Voice Lab exam.

If you don’t have the good fortune of working with these technologies, you might consider renting rack time from one of the many CCIE training companies. You might consider attending a CCIE Voice Written boot camp class. Or, you might invest in a series of Cisco Press books (as detailed in the next section).

Finally, consider attending a CCIE Voice Written book camp. While I have learned much through self-study, if your budget allows, the benefit I’ve seen from attending a boot camp is that it seems to compress time. Here’s what I mean: when preparing for my first attempt at the CCIE Voice Lab, I attended a week-long boot camp. Upon leaving the boot camp, I remarked that I learned more in that one week than I would have in a month and a half of independent study. So, while I felt that I could have reached that level on my own, it would have taken much longer.

Recommended Study Resources

For self-study, several Cisco Press titles can help you prepare for various topics covered on the CCIE Voice Written exam:

A foundational book you might want to read first is Voice over IP Fundamentals, 2nd Edition. This book introduces VoIP basics, including a discussion of signaling protocols, VoIP security, and quality of service (QoS) issues.

You might then consider the some of the books which map to the courses in the new CCNP Voice curriculum:

The Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Voice over IP and QoS (Cvoice) Foundation Learning Guide, 4^th Edition book (scheduled for release in May 2011) maps to the new CVOICE 8.0 course, which focuses on the configuration of gateways, gatekeepers, and Cisco Unified Border Elements (CUBEs).

Cisco Unified Communications Manager and its myriad of features are addressed in two courses (CIPT1 and CIPT2). Books mapping to those courses include Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Part 1 (CIPT1) Foundation Learning Guide. 2^nd Edition (scheduled for release in June 2011) and Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Part 2 (CIPT2) Foundation Learning Guide, 2^nd Edition (scheduled for release in June 2011).

If you read this before the CVOICE, CIPT1, or CIPT2 are released, you can still purchase the Rough Cut Edition of these books directly from Cisco Press.

For Cisco Unified Presence Server study, I recommend Cisco Unified Presence Fundamentals.

While you might not be able to find any hardcopy book focusing on Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX), you can certainly turn to Cisco’s Product Documentation page for UCCX.

The Cisco Learning Network also has a list of recommended study resources you might want to check out.

Exam Objectives

The exam will include topics such as Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco CallManager Express, Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Unity Express, Cisco Presence and Messaging, Cisco Contact Center Express, and Integrated Contract Distribution.

The topic areas listed are general guidelines for the type of content that is likely to appear on the exam. Please note, however, that other relevant or related topic areas may also appear.

Infrastructure Protocols

DNS
TFTP
NTP
Power over Ethernet
Voice and Data VLAN
Troubleshooting Infrastructure Protocol

Telephony Protocols

SCCP
MGCP
SIP
H323 and RAS
IP Voice Signal Interconnect (CUBE)
RTP & cRTP
Analog Signalling (FXS/FXO/E&M/CAMA)
Digital Signalling (T1/E1. PRI/CAS, Common Channel Signalling vs. Channel Associated Signalling)
IOS Dial-peer and Digit Manipulations
Troubleshooting Telephony Protocols

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)

Device Registration
Device Settings
Device Redundancy
Codec Selection
CUCM Call Features
Dial Plan
Media Resources
CUCM Applications (EM, AC, IPMA)
CUCM CTI Integration
CUCM Serviceability and OS Administration
CUCM Disaster Recovery
Troubleshooting CUCM

IOS IP Telephony

CUCME
SRST
CUE
CUCME Call Features
IOS Based Call Queueing
IOS Media Resources
Troubleshooting IOS IP Telephony

QoS

Link Efficiency: LFI, MLPPP, FRF.12, cRTP, VAD
Classification and Marking
Congestion Management: Queuing
CAC: RSVP, GK
Traffic Policing and Shaping
LAN QoS
Troubleshooting QoS

Unified Messaging

Integration
MWI
Call Handlers
VPIM
Troubleshooting Unified Messaging

UCCX

Integration
ICD Functions
Scripting
Troubleshooting UCCX

Presence

Presence Components
CUPS Administration
CUPC
Troubleshooting Presence

UC Security

DHCP Snooping
OS Hardening
Phone Authentication and Encryption
TCP/UDP Port List
Firewalls and NAT
Troubleshooting UC Security

Application Protocols

IP Multicast
Video
Fax and Modem
Troubleshooting Application Protocols

Operations and Network Management

UC Product Upgrade Management

Where to Go from Here

Evaluate where you are in your voice studies. If you don’t work with Cisco’s Unified Communications products in your day-to-day job, you might consider going down the CCNA Voice and CCNP Voice certification tracks first.

Supplement you real-world experience and certification track studies with any of the previously listed resources that might help fill in the gaps for you.

If your budget permits, you might consider taking a CCIE Voice Written boot camp.

Also, organization in your studies is key to your success. Since the CCIE Voice Written exam covers such a breadth of topics, you should go through the exam blueprint, and make a list of all topics on which you need extra study. Then, take that list and identify how you’re going to study that topic (for example, buy a book or read documentation on Cisco’s website). Finally, an approach that I’ve personally found to be very effective: write down on a calendar which days you’re going to be studying specific topics. This level of organization helps ensure no topic goes overlooked.