How to nail the CCIE voice lab

notes from passed guy

Posted: July 28, 2008 in LAB EXPERIENCE
Tags: Cisco CCIE voice lab Stratedgy - personal notes from pu, how to pass ccie
voice lab how to nail ccie voicelab
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Here are the strategies what I have used and eventually I got the success in fol
lowing them up. I developed these strategies that I learnt in the hard day . I have
also tried to explain my the famous lab day experience.
!
These are my personal notes and may not work for you. I don t thin
k there is any Cisco NDA violence . Use these information on your own risk. Happ
y studying.
When I step into the lab, I was ready for any scenarios they can through at me.
So this time I went to the lab with 200% confidence thinking of I will bloody na
il it. This attitude is a must even you think that you are not expert in answeri
ng all the sections. It really helps to build the confidence level and gives so
me energy to face any hard question in the lab exam.
Once I step into the lab, after proctor s briefing when hopped on my POD I follow
ed the following;
!

STEP 1

Write down the sections in the paper without reading the exam.
Expected time; 2-5 mintues.
I have
First of all, I grabbed 2 color pencils [green and red], didn t read the lab and n
oted all sections of the labs in 2 column; e.g with the green pencil, written dow
n all the sections from the lab papers into a blank sheet provided in the lab.
1.1
1.2
1.3
<<<<<then space of few lines between sections
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
.
9.1
9.2
<<<<<then space of few lines between sections
10.1
10.2
blah blah
.
When to use this sheet?
The TRICK is take the RED pencil and cross the sections you ve fully tested from e
ach and every angle. I have learn this from a TRIPPLE CCIE guy [thanks Mike]. Ca
ll me a nut, because I didn t even read whats in the exam and started listing them
in a empty paper! but yeah, this was what I have been lacking with in my previo
us attempts.
Why is it necessary ???

Well we all know how to do SRST, Call routing . everone does the same task but in
different ways.
Lets take an example of AAR,
Task- configure AAR between HQ and SITEB.
You ve probably done everything e.g. putting EPNM on the phones at each location,
assigning them AARCSS and AAR groups. makeing sure that GW at both site has AAR
CSS and aar-group defined. Making sure that your route patterns at both sites ar
e well defined. Even you ve tested that AAR functionality by reducing the bw in cc
m.
When u do the above practice, I bet u will start to believe that you ve nailed th
is topics and tested it many time and every time it worked with 100% success. B
ut hey , you are wrong here, you haven t really nailed this section yet.
So.. what?, well in this in the sheet above, do not CROSS this section yet. Han
g in a sec, this is because this bullet point has not yet been fully tested. So
now you d be thinking that what the fuck actually I am missing here in AAR [tested
and works but I still got 0 in HA section]. Ask yourself honestly and think about
this;
1. Have you also tested during AAR if Active CCM fails, SITE B phones still be a
ble to register on secondary CCM?
may be in a havoc you think that u created the
CCM group but u actually missed click on that and configured the next item in t
he ccm-menu-list. So when sub [primary] is failed, your AAR won t work.
That is one of the classic example of what Cisco expect for this Expert level ex
am.
2. Lets say, in the above example, you ve taken care of point#1. U also have ensu
red that a correct CCM-group is defined and pub/sub are listed in the group. But
if you test the HA function during AAR and shut the primary CCM to test if phon
es registers to the secondary CCM you found out that still phones are not regist
ering what s wrong here now!?
Think about that situation .
doesn t it get complex? why the phones are not registering to the secondary call p
rocessing engine?
Above is another classic example of we need to think outside the box as well. Th
is is an expert level exam. When we people complain that my AAR was working, I h
ave tested it 3 times but I still got ZER0? in AAR section and start winzing and
blaming Cisco/Proctor that they are not playing fair game. Well I had the same
concept diffted in my head and even I opened a case on cert support, yes call me
a nerd
. :-)
Here is another example, you think u have configured and tested the SRST as per
questions requirement but other sections in the exam had a requrement saying al
low maximum 3 conferences during SRST. Here is what your config looks like;
call-manager-fallback
secondary dialtone 9
max-conferences 2 gain -6
transfer-system full-consult
timeouts interdigit 6
timeouts busy 6
ip source-address 2.2.2.2 port 2000 strict-match
max ephones 10
max dn 10

system message primary Your current options

dialplan-pattern 1 5152 extension-length 4
transfer-pattern .T
transfer-pattern .T
voicemail 4444
call-forward busy 4444
call-forward noan 4444 timeout 6
moh music-on-hold.au
multicast moh 239.1.1.1 port 16384
time-format 12
Now do you see there is something missing in the above configuration ? The answe
r is u are not satisfying the question which was asked in the earlier conferenci
ng section. Obviously you can not do the conferencing with a phone with single l
ine. Now you know why after pulling your hair, you ve probably noticed that the be
low line should be in the configuration.
max dn 10 dual-line
Also another point, such as a command time-format 12'. Which u think is okay but
you didn t think wide enough that what are the other question s requirements in oth
er sections. May be during SRST the time format is requirement is 24hours and in
normal operation its 12 hours format :)
Duh
all these head aches!. they go on and on seems never stopping and may cost famo
us $1500 USD lunch!!
!
Note: The above information are taken from Networker presentatio
n (Now Cisco Live).The Networkers presentation is a must read document. There ar
e some more example of why anyone looses points in the lab. Also it gives more
info and examples on each section and an overview of each technology. If someone
just starting for their first attempt Networker presentation is the way to go t
o warm up
Now, the above are a few examples of how you should be thinking any topics br
oadly. In other word if the question say drive a car from San jose to Sydney , u do
n t have to just think about driving the CAR. Think all other obstacles which may
stop your driving e.g. rain, hurricane etc. Most of us put our efforts for 20-30
minutes in configure AAR/SRST requirement but a tiny little mistake which we di
dn t take care of may cause that we get 0 in that section. Hence waste of our 30 min
utes in the lab. In my case, once I made sure that from each angle AAR/SRST is w
orking, then I crossed that perticular section in my table with a RED pencil.
The Second thing, marking and crossing the sections also helps to bring down the
mental stress/tension and fear of missing lab quesitons. Take it this way, if u
saw your 8 sections are crossed with RED pen before lunch, you ll be thinking dur
ing the lunch that you ve really nailed it. Therefore your mind will work stressle
ss.
This is also very important to test each and every section twice when your brain
is stress free.
!

STEP 2

read the exam and make a mind map of the whole exam.
expected time; 10-15 minutes max
Once I listed all the questions in the paper, then I started reading the questio
ns. I read all sections but skipped call routing requirement and QoS. I think th
ose are the sections which takes heaps lot of time to read so I skipped them but
just had a quick look not reading every words but the lines to know if they ve an

y other requirement which may be needed in other tasks. The tip here is
round at the same time, I started activating CCM services.
!

in backg

STEP 3

Divide the whole lab CLI task into rounds.

Approx time; 1 hour 1.5 hours
I divided the configuration tasks into rounds typically each round takes 5-10 mi
nuts max. e.g. round1, round2, round3 etc
round#1;
configure vlans in hq, siteb, sitec and assign them to the relivent ports.
trick# Use show cdp neighbor command [no need to see the table in the question she
et that is wastage of time] u know voice lab topology is fixed
[source 1="Ben" 2="NG's" 3="comments" 4="on" 5="the" 6="ASK" 7="Expert's" 8="for
um" language="quoting"][/source]
, u can see which port of switch has phone / ata connected.
note; vg248 doesn t support cdp so u may not see it on the switch. so u shud consi
der that in stratedgy#2
round#2
enable multicast, ntp, layer3 inteface, ip helper addresss on all 3 routers. whe
n configuring ntp on ccm-pub/sub/unity also configure dhcp on them. On sitec con
figure exclude range and run the
round#3
configure E1/T1 controller interface, Router s dialplan, SRST-fallback, MGCP, h323
dialpeers, sitec, and all left over in each router.
round#4 .
round#5 .
..
.. and so on .
note1; Very important point here again, use your critical thinking skills to cat
egorize the round. Which works for you, u can divide them into rounds. Once you
practice those logical rounds, u can t miss the tasks. Therefore u will reduce ove
rall lab bind up time.
note2; for bacd script, use the sample config from DoCCD. there are examples wit
h AA-dialpeer +
hunt-groups. So copy and paste in notepad, ammend the required parameters and pa
ste on the router. The round means in one go what and where u shud configure the
tasks. BACD is 5 minutes game [if it works straight].
!

STEP 4

CCM gui config;(not the phones yet)

time 10-15 minutes;
first define all partions, then CSS. I used top to bottom, left to right approa
ch to configure all ccm options. enable auto registration on ccm.

trick#1, when I defined DP for hq and siteb, i also assigned the EPNM and CSS. I
knew by now what CSS and and AAR/DP group needs to be assigned to each phones.
Automated pushing most of the parameter to the phones when they registers to the
ccm. in that way i have to configure less parameter when i configure the phone.
trick#2, on siteb, before you run CME setup e..g
telephony-service setup, make sure your phone#2 port on switch is shut. In that
way, phone1 will get the first number and u don t hve to do much work. Once phone1
at cme is registered then enable switch port of phone2. then in that way phone2
will get next number. otherwise sometime it takes heaps time to move them back
and fourth.
!

STEP 5

Do the Media section now first in ccm;

time; 10-20 minutes max
This is because, once u done stratedgy#4, you will be lacking out of MRGL in any
further task u want to do e.g. adding gk/gw, configuring phones adding ipcc por
ts. u can t progress without MRGL. I read the moh section, made sure what i am goi
ng to do is correctly then created the moh groups, then followed by adding cfb,
xcoder etc. then finally made the mrgls for both sites. once i created mrgls, I
immidiately assigned them to the DP. see another trick, otherwise sometime u may
forget it and hence we later wonder why moh is not working or why xcoder is not
hooking up in the other xcoder/mtp devices.
!
Add gk/gw;
approx time; 10

STEP 6
15 minutes

Then I added GK trunks, GW s also made an appropriate RG, RL for example;

3 route groups:
rg-hq6608
rg-siteb-h323/mgcp
rg-gatekeeper-trunks
3 route-lists, 15 route-list-template***
hq6608 only
sitebgw only
gk only
template1 -add hq6608 only + sitebgw only + gk only to it
Copy template1 to 14 more template
te..

:0 lol damn what i am doing with these templa

template2
template3
template4
template5
.
template14
Yup I was a nut when I configured the template but that is a real time saver. U d
know why soon..
note; you will never need more than 18 route-list so standardize your most task

like above for example.

standardise your pt/css as well as mentioned in the previous stratedgy.
!

STEP 7

Unity and CUE in parallel (30 minutes-40 minutes);

Start from CCM, run unity-port-wizard, vm pilot, etc..
In the same time telnet to the CME router and take CLI session to CUE. Put this
screen behind the Unity screen so that u can flip through them. set unity SNTP i
f required.. using dos command.
note, when u create a siteb phone , don t forget to put alternate extension, late
r u don t need to come back on unity. I finished these section preety quickly If CU
E is not completed yet, start CRS and do it in a background of CRS.
!

STEP 8

CRS + ip phonees in hq/siteb

expected time; 30 minutes max.
I ran all ports, e.g. jtapi provider, rm, cisco media, added application with de
fault icd.aef appliction in one shot. Read the CRS script section what is requir
ed and do that now. Then just point the added application to the script after u
uploaded and created a new script.
Restarted CCM/CTImanager and crs engine itself once eveyrthign is done.
Tested call from HQ and other site.
TIPS: you can save 3-4 minutes in the lab, if you can remember, the service url
ip agent.
e.g. http://ipaddress:6293/ipphones/jsp/sciphonexml/IPAgentInitial.jsp
just think about ipphones , jsp, xml, sciphone , write it down 20 times and I beli
eve you can t forget it.
I never had a need to look for IP agent url in the docCD.
Now time to do the hq and siteb phones. modify template if required and assign p
t/css whatever is required.
Up to this section I nailed it by lunch time and after lunch I only had QoS and
Call routing When I was out at lunch I was very confident and thinking about that
I will nail this lab as most of the sections in my list were crossed.
Trick# Before you to go lunch, read the question which has been bugging you and
give it a go during lunch time. May be something will click in your brain and yo
u d be able to do that. Just don t go out for a shake of lunch [remember it could co
st $1500 ]. In other words, just utilise your lunch time, thinking about questio
n and trying to get the workable solution.
!

STEP 9

Call routing on CCM,

approx time; 20-30 minutes
As u know we already created the templates for Route-lists. now we only need to
put the pattern and customize them. Now time to read the question , remember I t
old ya that not to read the call routing requirement to save the time. Do call r
outing section by section. When you fully tested its requirement in each section
then only make a move and dont forget to TICK/cross the configured /tested task

in the task list.

trick for call routings
1. Use RL-6608 only , siteb only, for calls like 911, 9911 or the patterns whic
h doesn t need gw reduncandy. Do digit manupulation at Route pattern level. Use si
ngle rl-hq6608 for instance for all this type of calls. In that way you can cons
erve the total required route lists. When i used to do call routing in my homela
b i used to do the full call routing so that practice is always good and helped
me to speed up things quicker.
2. For redundant calls , use the route-list template we have created in the prev
ious sections. Do digit manupulation at route group level. remove unwanted RG fr
om the template and arrange the priority according to the question. Also stick t
o one method of sending /chopping digits from route patterns
e.g. XXXXXXX method
or predot method. U know what I mean, in that way u will never get confused. It
only took 20-25 minutes to do all call routing including testing.
Note; Many poeople prefere to make a table in the paper and put route pattern an
d gk/gw inthat. I personally don t think that that practice is required. It will w
aste your 10-15/20 minutes easily.
You know what 911 or intl or ld/local pattern will look like? so why to write th
em down? I just made my habit of just read the section and do it straight away.
The time you spent in writing them on paper u can use that time to test the conf
igured task.
!

STEP 10

QoS; everyone s Enemy! ha .. I will try to make it simpler for everyone those just w
ant an easy way!
Time; 5 minutes reading and max 10 minutes configuration

total 15 minutes

I diveded QoS in 2 rounds. Well its critical thing in the lab exam. I think to p
ass the lab we must have our QoS and Call routing upto 100%. You may have differ
ent view but that what I think. So I took extra precaustion in qos.
First round marking only do it on all routers, if its asked in the switches do i
t on switches in one round.
Then in that way I was sure that i will not make mistake by doing one task at a
t time in QoS
Second round, after marking then I did left over of QoS by reading each sections
twice. I used auto-qos for this, it only takes 5 minutes to activate them and c
ustomization takes only 5 minutes. verify qos once i configured all 3 sections.
I finished all lab tasks by 2:30pm. The only thing now was remaining to verify t
roubleshoot and recheck again and again.
!
STEP 11

the last one but Very important one

I started testing first AAR, then SRST then CFB, FXS stuffs. Then tested all cal
l routing one by one , section by sectoin. Took a second color pencil (yellow) t
his time and started crossing them.
first verification crossed by red pencil
second verification- crossed by yellow pencil
third verification -rounded them with black

When I left the lab I was sure that I have nailed it.
!

Once failed, when to re-book your lab exam

If you fail the lab make sure that you rebook your exam ASAP. The reason, you d kn
ow what you ve done where you ve done something wrong. Try to figure out what you di
d wrong. Get back to horse again. My re-take strategy after fail attempt was qui
te aggressive.
Now you see in the above table, I was ridding on a aggressive CCIE horse that ke
pt me riding. I hope it may help someone who is trying to speedup the speed. Pl
ease feel free to leave your comments/questions on this blog. I would be happy t
o answer them. Obviously, respect Cisco NDA when asking a question.
Cheers,