In order to provide the best possible service to our customers, and to the CCIE community as a whole, we have implemented a new combination web forum / mailing list server as a free service. Internetwork Expert’s Online Community (http://www.IEOC.com) officially replaces our previous Discussion Forum as a place where you can discuss both general CCIE topics for all tracks as well as Internetwork Expert specific products.

IEOC allows you to create new posts and reply to other posts like a normal web forum, but you can also read and submit posts via email! For example if you email ccie-rs@ieoc.com your message will be sent out to all users subscribed to the “CCIE Routing & Switching Technical” email feed, plus posted on the web forum as viewable and searchable content. Personally this is my favorite feature of the new server, as I dread checking web forums daily, but I am completely obsessed with checking my email every five minutes.

Also keep in mind that this new service is not designed to be just for product specific support. All users, customers and guests alike, are welcome to join and participate. Simply visit http://www.IEOC.com, sign up for an account with a valid email address, then click on the Forum Subscriptions link from the main page. Forums are organized per topic basis for CCIE tracks, and per product basis for IE specific support. On this page you’ll see the unique email address that is used to post or reply to that forum, and a yes/no selection under Subscribe to add yourself to the email feed.

All CCIE tracks are also broken down into separate “General” and “Technical” forums, so if you want to spend endless hours debating the merits of CCIE vs. PhD, please feel free to do so in the “General” forum.

A good starting place for most candidates would be the CCIE Routing & Switching Technical forum (ccie-rs@ieoc.com). This forum, amongst the others, is going to be actively monitored by not only myself, but also Brian Dennis, Scott Morris, and Petr Lapukhov.

If you are interested in any custom forums or mailing lists please feel free to contact me directly.

Thanks!

Everyone has heard things about the CCDE Practical. And how it’s a flash-based, computer-based examination regarding design scenarios. Different people have different views about this. And we’ve seen a few opinions offered on different message boards already! Well, there was a demo of it in the Certifications Booth at Cisco Live (Networkers) this year!  Hopefully you got a chance to wander back and see it!

So a couple different things to look at and think about here. Things were discussed during a breakout session about the CCDE. It is a computer-based exam. It will be offered at Vue testing centers. Well, sort of. Don’t freak out or anything yet, because it’s not going to fall victim to any of your typical “shortcut methods” to certification!

It’s going to be given at Vue’s Super Testing Centers. There’s a lot of extra comforts (since you’ll be stuck for 8 hours) and extra security measures. There are very few of these locations to begin with (but more than Cisco has CCIE Lab test locations!), and more so, right now they are looking at one location per quarter (4 times per year then!) in a different location.

There will be changes/updates from one time to the next as well, so even if you heard something (which still isn’t cool to break NDA) it won’t necessarily help anyway!

With this program, Cisco is taking some interesting steps to assure the integrity of the program along with giving the opportunity to reach different geographic areas that may not e conveniently handled by current CCIE Lab locations. Watch for further announcements there!

On a completely different line of thinking was the demo itself. It was pretty slick. There was lots of reading to do (see Michael Morris’ blog on NetworkWorld’s site for some screenshots as well) and tasks associated with it. There was also a LOT of background noise while doing the demo, so hopefully that will not be part of the torture in the real practical!

Another interesting thing (being that it’s a beta), not everything was perfect. Note to self… When you ask a proctor a question, and they smile when they are answering, it may not be entirely honest! It’s all good though! Needless to say, I did not perform in any spectacular fashion on this 8-9 question beta scenario here.

However, the one important thing I did come away with was an idea of what they were grading and HOW they were grading, and the types of things they were looking for. I also had some conversations with people inside the program to further that and I have to say that even though many people downplay the idea of the computer-based testing for design, I think the way they are going about it in detail is really very strong.

It’s definitely unlike any computer-based testing you’ve ever done before!

But that’s half the fun, isn’t it? I’m sure more announcements with this will be coming down the road, but I’m looking forward to being thoroughly abused by eight hours of it in October!

The catch is that you must fail the test the first time

“Come Back” Promotion

Here’s how to redeem your Cisco “Come Back” Exam:Register for an exam at full price. If you fail the exam, you may schedule a free retake of the same exam by entering the promotion code: COMEBACK at the time of registration.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Both the full-price exam and free Come Back retake must be scheduled and taken between April 15, 2008 and October 15, 2008, to qualify for this special promotion. Free exams may only be scheduled via the web. More…

UPDATE: It looks like there is another catch to this ;)  Quote from Cisco Certification Support:

The “Come Back” Promotion applies to candidates whose certifications have expired.
The first attempt must be paid, but the second is free. This promotion does not apply if you are currently certified.