Today I passed exam CWDP-302 and got CWDP.
To be honest I had to renew my CWNA that was about to expire but I don’t really like to renew, I prefer o move forward when I can.
Exam preparation To prepare the exam I read cover-to-cover the official study guide and review some topics on the CWNA study guide.
The study guide is dated 2011 so it covers up to 802.
Today I passed exam VCP550 and got VMware VCP5-DCV certification.
Exam preparation For exam preparation I attended the official training that is mandatory to access the exam. The printed material provided with the training is good enough but I integrated with the great Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 by Scott Lowe. The official documentation available online for free.
I had some hands-on experience with VSphere, did some installations myself and supported some trouble tickets so even if I don’t work every day with VSphere I have a decent knowledge on the topic.
As a holder of many technical certifications every few months I have to renew some.
When possible I try to renew the certifications with a new track instead of doing the newer version of the exam I’ve already done.
This time was the turn of HP ASE - Network Infrastructure 2011 to be renewed as HP ASE - FlexNetwork Integrator V1 and HP ASE - FlexNetwork Architect V2.
Four exams are availale to upgrade, I choose HP2-Z31 - Creating HP Software-defined Networks because I hear a lot about SDN but I had not the opportunity to explore this topic yet.
Today I’ve attended a Meraki technical training course at Cisco offices.
The training was organized in short presentations of product features followed by hands-on labs based on all the products available today.
I was suprised to find not only people from small companies or system integrators but more that 50% of the attendees were from Cisco Gold Partners sent to evaluate the products for “managed network” services. Cloud managed network gear is quite a hot topic today and I expect many projects in the future will involve this kind of solutions.
In the very last day of availability of the CCIE v4 350-001 written exam I’ve renewed my CCIE for a couple of years more:
My plan was to recertify with another track - Wireless or Security - but life happens and I took the easy path and did R&S again.
I’ve passed the same written exam 3 times. The first time in 2010, followed by a failed lab attempt in 2011.
This means two things:
I’m CCIE for over one year now I need to prepare again the written exam The last day to test the v4 edition is June 3, 2014, I’ve passed that exam twice so I expect a little effort to pass it again.
Ten years ago I’ve passed my first Cisco exam: CCNA! What was supposed to be just a marginal skill for a junior systems engineer became both my job and my passion.
Ten years and 21 Cisco exams later (and a bunch of other vendors), with 2 labs in Brussels, 1 FAIL and 1 PASS, I’m still excited about networking and I hope the next ten year will be as valuable and inspired.
As many other vendors HP has a fast track for people already certified with Cisco to achieve an HP certification skipping some basic exams. There’s an upgrade path tool available on HP website than shows the required exams for each path. CCIE R&S certification in my case allows to get “HP MASE Network Infrastructure” passing two exams:
HP0-Y32: designing and troubleshooting open standard networks
HP0-Y37: migrating and troubleshooting HP enterprise networks
Today I’ve passed 642-874 ARCH exam that in conjunction with CCIE and CCNP entitles to obtain the CCDP certification.
To prepare the exam I’ve used the official study guide along with the documents in the Cisco Design Zone.
The hardest part of the exam preparation was to study technologies I’ve never really implemented and to focus on design, scalability and restrictions more than on the commands.
Huawei network devices are becoming more and more popular in European market lately. It all started with 3G adapters, then mobiles, and now I see routers and switches deployed in many locations.
For a project I’ll deploy in the next few weeks I had the opportunity to attend an Huawei training.
Huawei provides a fast-track for people already certified with other vendors, three training courses are condensed in just one week but it works if you don’t want to hear for the 100th time how STP works ;)