Cisco Certified Voice Professional – CCVP!
July 14th, 2010 by 
admin
Two years ago I have decided to start working on Cisco Voice Professional certification track. It was logical step to make for me since I was working for several years in voice industry with different solutions, so when I started with Cisco solutions there was no doubt what to choose and why. In prior to further discussion about certification I would like to point that I am full time employed with lot of different responsibilities which can and does impact preparations for certification. So, for some people that might take this certification track this might be resolved faster, but all depends on attitude, basic knowledge and many other factors. I took a newer track based and created around Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.0. When I started preparing myself for CCVP, there was active certification based on Cisco Unified Communications Manager 4.1, and main difference beside versions of Cisco Unified Communications Manager is that old certification path included Gateway and Gatekeeper exam. I took all of the exams as Cisco is recommending on their web site for CCVP certification. So, that is as follows:
Cisco Certified Network Associate Voice – CCNA V
Although this is optional exam I think that this is very important step to make if you are coming from some other field and this is your first touch with voice. Please note that you will get this certificate if you successfully pass CVOICE exam, but I really think that there might be huge gap for people without experience between CCNA and CVOICE without this exam. After taking this exam you should be able to describe function of the voice gateways, digital signal processors operation, function and type of dial peers, calling privileges, productivity features and so on. Please note that this exam is created around Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express – CME which is version of CallManager designed to work on voice gateways without dedicated call processing server. As I said, i recommend taking this exam. When it comes to materials that you can use for this exam, there is really good CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide (640-460 IIUC) written by Jeremy Cioara.
Cisco Voice over IP – CVOICE
Cvoice was second exam on my voice certification path. It contains all of the stuff from CCNA Voice but it covers topics in much more details. Also, you will learn in details components of a gateway, describe a dial plan, describe the basic operation and components involved in a VoIP call, implement a gateway, describe the function and interoperation of gatekeepers within an IP Communications network, implement a gatekeeper and implement an IP-to-IP gateway. I would say that Cvoice is most useful exam on certification path because it provides strong basis and foundation. For preparation materials I would recommend Cisco Voice over IP (CVOICE) (Authorized Self-Study Guide) by Kevin Wallace. You can use CBT nuggets and ElementK video materials but please notice that taking one of the material sources is not sufficient for passing the exam.
Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Manager Part 1 – CIPT1
After Cvoice it is time to move to new area of Cisco and that is Cisco Unified Communications Manager – UCCM well known as CallManager. You will learn about foundations like perform an installation and initial set up of a Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster, describe and configure Cisco Unified Communications Manager to support on-cluster calling, describe and configure a route plan for Cisco Unified Communications Manager to support off-net calling, describe and configure Cisco Unified Communications Manager media resources, configure the Cisco Unified Communications Manager to support features and applications. For preparation materials you could use Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Part 1 (CIPT1) (Authorized Self-Study Guide) by Dennis Hartman.
Quality of Service – QoS
This was matherial that I enjoyed the most. It is covering topics like IP QoS Fundamentals, IP QoS Components, modular QoS CLI and Auto-QoS, Classification and Marking, Congestion Management Methods, Congestion Avoidance Methods, Traffic Policing and Shaping, Link Efficiency Mechanisms, QoS Best Practices. In my personal opinion, converged networks without Quality of service are past and should be past because best effort network can cause more problems then benefits and I am really sure that you will end up with some problem with voice (packet loss, jitter, round trip delay) without properly implemented Quality of Service. For preparing this exam you could use ElementK video materials.
Implementing Unified Communications Manager Part 2 – CIPT2
Once you understand Cisco Unified Communications Manager foundations and Quality of Service base, you are ready for some advanced features like Manage Tcl and VXML call applications on a gateway, Describe and implement centralized call processing redundancy, Describe and configure a multi-site dial plan for Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Implement bandwidth management and Call Admission Control, Secure an IP Telephony network, Implement mobility in an IP Telephony network, you will be faced will real voice network challenges and that is all that this exam is up to. When it comes to preparation materials I would recommend Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Part 2 (CIPT2) (Authorized Self-Study Guide) by Dennis Hartman.
Troubleshooting Unified Communications – TUC
Last exam was Troubleshooting Unified Communications. It is designed to test your knowledge on all of the areas mentioned above and that is really comprehensive exam. You will be faced with real time scenarios and issues that can happen in voice network and you will need to resolve them. One important thing to know in prior to taking this exam is that you need to know your log files and that you are going to be tested in details in almost every area which is covered in all of the above listed exams. In my personal opinion, this was the hardest exam in Voice Professional track. After this exam you should be able to apply the Cisco recommended methodology used to determine general Unified communications system problems and issues, troubleshoot call setup issues, troubleshoot registration issues, troubleshoot database issues, troubleshoot application issues and media resources, troubleshoot voice quality issues and security issues.
When it comes to equipment that you can use to accomplish certification you can use VMware to virtualize Cisco Unified Communications Manager and that is not some kind of hack, Cisco actually support that kind of installation legally. You can also use Cisco IP Communicator as a phone which you can register to CallManager. I had access to Cisco Voice gateways during my preparations but i suppose you could successfully use GNS to emulate this part. The best option would obviously be to buy Voice Lab from eBay or some other service for some reasonable price. This would be best option because it is most convenient and you would be able to test thing afterwords and so on.
After all I am really happy that I was able to work on this certification path and successfully get my Cisco Voice Professional certification. If there is some information or help needed in regards to CCVP certification, feel free to contact me and I will be willing to help.
Posted in cisco, education, networks, voip | 
5 Comments »
July 27th, 2010 at 9:45 am
My first real job in the networking industry was for a VOIP company about 5 years ago. I just renewed my CCNA a few weeks ago and I am currently working on my CCNP SWITCh exam. I’ve been planning on getting my CCIE ever sense I started with Cisco. How has it benefited you being specific just to voice rather than just going with the standard routing/switching CCNP?
July 27th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Well, I used to work as Cisco instructor on Networking academy teaching CCNA and it was very good for me since I stayed up2date with what it covers (networking foundations). Since I was working within one VoIP company when I started with Cisco it was logical to me to move forward with Voice after gaining my networking base with CCNA. Afterwards, I started to work for other company which is in telco business, and they are using cisco voice a lot and any voice knowledge was beneficial. I need to say that my CCNA knowledge was sufficient in most cases, but I needed to learn about high availability cisco solutions like HSRP, EtherChannel and so on. Also, I would say that load balancer CSS knowledge is also required and beneficial. Also, I know that most of people goes straight to CCVP after CCNA and it is somehow logical, but all depends on your knowledge and background. So, if you are working with networking mostly just go for CCNP and best of luck to you! If you would need some help, ping me and will check if I can help you somehow. Br,
July 28th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Congratulations my friend! Just want you to know how proud we are of you! Keep up on your stairways to success!
Regards,
Adnan
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August 3rd, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article