Exam Profile: Introducing Cisco Voice and Unified Communications Administration v8.0 (640-461 ICOMMv8.0)

Date: Oct 5, 2011

This article profiles the Cisco CCNA Voice 640-461 exam. 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.

If you are reading this article, you are probably working on or considering the Voice and Unified communications path of training. The associate level of Cisco certifications in this area is the CCNA Voice, which requires you to pass the ICOMMv8.0 exam and have a valid CCNA certification.

This exam requires you to have a general understanding of the Unified Communications infrastructure, its components’ functionality and how these different components interact with each other. Also, a more detailed knowledge of Cisco Unified Communication Manager (CUCM), Cisco Unified Communication Manager Express (CME) and Cisco Unity Connection is required.

You should be able to perform administrative tasks including moves, additions, changes, and deletions in both CUCM and CME using the GUI interface, and system maintenance and monitoring using the utilities provided by the system like CDR and CMR reports.

Exam Details

Number of questions: 60 to 70 questions.
Type(s) of questions: Single choice, Multiple Choice, drag-and-drop. (Some questions have exhibits.)
Passing score: varies; approximately 700/1000
Time limit: varies; 75-90 minutes
How to register: Pearson VUE

Trouble Spots

Even though the test focus is mainly on CUCM, CME and Unity, it also covers the interaction with other systems that are part of a Unified Communication architecture, and it is important to understand these applications, their uses, and how they interconnect in an Unified Communication implementation.

This exam tests your ability to perform multiple administrative tasks using the graphical interface; for this reason, it is important to remember the different menus available on Call Manager, and what can be done on each one of these menus.

Unity connection is also a major topic of this exam. It is important to understand the different options to create users and user templates, and how they are used and how to troubleshoot issues that users may find while using their voicemails.

Although not extensively covered on the exam, it is worth understanding call signaling on the different types of digital channels available to connect to the PSTN, voice flow and the protocols involved, voice quality and QoS, and call processing on the CME.

Preparation Hints

Although the test mainly focuses on the Graphic User Interface (GUI) of CME, it is still important to know how to enable the GUI and have a basic understanding of the concepts and protocols involved in the processing of calls and the characteristics of the different audio codecs available. Also, understanding QoS queuing algorithms is highly recommended.

The best preparation is a hands-on approach with CUCM, CME, and Unity. Some of the main objectives are related to your being able to create and modify users, phones, and lines. If you do not have access to these applications, I recommend you at least map out the different menus and understand what can be done within each of these menus.

As important as it is to know how to create phones or users, it is also important to understand the steps required to troubleshoot problems that may arise on the system in a systematic way. Cisco has defined an 8-step troubleshooting method that is worth looking at.

Recommended Study Resources

The book CCNA Voice 640-461 Official Cert Guide, Second Edition is a comprehensive resource to prepare for the exam. This book starts by looking at the difference between traditional voice and unified voice, then the components that are part of the Cisco Unified Communications. Next, CME is used to implement a Small Business solution; in this section you will learn how to manage endpoints and end users, understand the dial plans, and how to enable some telephony features with CME. Once you have learned how to use CME for small implementations, an Enterprise VoIP implementation using CUCM is presented. Also, voicemail integration and Unified presence support is covered. The final section of the book covers issues and subsequent troubleshooting for working with CME, CUCM, Unity Connection and Cisco Presence.

Exam Objectives

The following topics are general guidelines for the content likely to be included on the Introducing Cisco Voice and Unified Communications (ICOMM) v8.0 exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any specific delivery of the exam. In order to better reflect the contents of the exam and for clarity purposes, the guidelines below may change at any time without notice. (d)Describe the characteristics of a Cisco Unified Communications solution

Describe the Cisco Unified Communications components and their functions
Describe call signaling and media flows
Describe quality implications of a VoIP network

Provision end users and associated devices

Describe user creation options for Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express
Create or modify user accounts for Cisco Unified Communications Manager
Create or modify user accounts for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express using the GUI
Create or modify endpoints for Cisco Unified Communications Manager
Create or modify endpoints for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express using the GUI
- Describe how calling privileges function and how calling privileges impact system features
- Create or modify directory numbers
- Enable user features and related calling privileges for extension mobility, call coverage, intercom, native presence, and unified mobility remote destination configuration
- Enable end users for Cisco Unified Presence
- Verify user features are operational

Configure voice messaging and presence

Describe user creation options for voice messaging
Create or modify user accounts for Cisco Unity Connection
Describe Cisco Unified Presence
- Configure Cisco Unified Presence

Maintain Cisco Unified Communications system

Generate CDR and CMR reports
Generate capacity reports
Generate usage reports
- Generate RTMT reports to monitor system activities
Monitor voicemail usage
- Remove unassigned directory numbers
- Perform manual system backup

Provide end user support

Verify PSTN connectivity
Define fault domains using information gathered from end user
Troubleshoot endpoint issues
- Identify voicemail issues and resolve issues related to user mailboxes
Describe causes and symptoms of call quality issues
Reset single devices
- Describe how to use phone applications

Where to Go from Here

The next step in your career development is CCNP Voice, which consist of 5 exams. Based on number of exams required, this certification is the longest of the professional level certifications; however, it is an area full of opportunities. Companies are turning to Unified Communications systems to increase productivity and reduce costs, like using video conferencing instead of travelling, and all these systems require of qualified and experienced people to develop and manage.

Have you taken the CCNA Voice exam? Share your experiences by posting to the CCNA thread in our forums.