Step up Your Study Strategy with CCIE Service Provider Practice Labs

Before you take your CCIE lab exam, wouldn’t it be great to have time to practice and increase your chances of passing or raising your score? That’s the purpose behind CCIE Practice Labs. You can rent time on a pod in a special online environment that mimics the actual CCIE environment you’ll use during your CCIE lab exam.

The CCIE Service Provider Practice Labs offer a real exam-like platform that lets you perfect your skills in a controlled setting. You’ll get hands-on experience with networking devices and protocols. These scenarios will test certain skills and a range of knowledge fields.

When you incorporate CCIE Practice Labs into your CCIE Service Provider study plan, you’ll reap the rewards in more ways than one. Here are a few:

• Hands-on experience: The labs let you interact with networking equipment and software, so you can hone the skills you need for the actual exam.
• Enhanced troubleshooting: You’ll gain the ability to quickly resolve complicated network issues.
• Greater retention: When you’re plugged into lab scenarios, you’re more likely to quickly learn complex concepts and better retain them during the exam.
• Improved time management: When you must complete a task within a certain timeframe, you learn to manage your time, working more efficiently during the exam.
• Immersive learning: When you’re totally immersed in a hands-on experience, you can more easily apply your theoretical knowledge in exam lab scenarios. 

CCIE Service Provider Practice Lab Scenarios

All CCIE Service Provider Practice Labs share the following topology, which always contains all devices that appear in this diagram:

Yet depending on the Practice Lab, the initial configuration of separate devices might differ. Each scenario focuses on a subgroup of devices, but you’ll have access to all devices in any given scenario.

The topology encompasses two service providers, Emerald and Garnet, connected through eBGP links. Emerald is an SDN-based service provider, with a converged SDN transport solution. Garnet is a legacy-based service provider that starts with LDP and RSVP-TE but would need to migrate to SRv6. Emerald has acquired Garnet and runs L3VPN services on both service provider infrastructures.

In all labs, you’ll focus mainly on IOS-XR devices and some IOS-XE devices. Garnet has customer edge (CE) and route-reflectors (RR) serving as IOS-XE devices. In the automation and assurance lab, you’ll also work on NSO. Required network element drivers (NED) for NSO come pre-installed, and you can reach all the devices through the management network. In all labs, you’ll work on virtual ASR9000 and CSR1000 platforms.

Service Provider Core Routing Lab

Objective: Build an optimized network architecture, with reduced layers, converged networks, and intelligent data-driven optimized routing, peering, and function placement. Tasks include implementing IS-IS as IGP, segment routing, SRv6, BGP-LU, SR-TE using SR-PCE, SR-ODN, and Flex-Algorithm in Emerald and Garnet.

Service Provider Services Lab

Objective: Deploy network service capabilities (information and control) to the end-user services layer and thus enable alignment of the service and/or application with the most suitable end-to-end traffic treatment. Tasks include implementing EVPN-VPWS, L3VPN, QoS, and internet services across Emerald and Garnet.

Service Provider Security Lab

Objective: Concentrate on the control plane, management plane, and infrastructure security on Emerald and Garnet service provider networks. Tasks include implementing a network baseline in Emerald and Garnet as well as implementing IS-IS and BGP authentication, BGP Flowspec, route and prefix filtering, RTBH, and BGP RPKI.

Service Provider MVPN Lab

Objective: Concentrate on Multicast VPN on Emerald and Garnet service provider networks. Tasks include implementing relevant MVPN profiles across Emerald and Garnet as well as implementing the following profiles:

• Task 1 – Profile 0 (Default GRE MDT with PIM A-D and Signaling)
• Task 2 – Profile 0 (Default GRE MDT with Legacy BGP A-D and PIM Signaling)
• Task 3 – Profile 3 (Default GRE MDT with BGP MVPN A-D and PIM Signaling)
• Task 4 – Profile 11 (Default GRE MDT with BGP MVPN A-D and Signaling)
• Task 5 – Profile 12 (Default MDT mLDP P2MP with BGP MVPN A-D and Signaling)
• Task 6 – Profile 14 (Partitioned MDT mLDP P2MP with BGP MVPN A-D and Signaling)

Service Provider Automation and Assurance Lab

Objective: Concentrate on network assurance and automation on Emerald and Garnet service provider networks. Tasks include implementing an automated provisioning solution using NSO in Emerald and Garnet, automating L3VPN services, and implementing features such as BFD, IGP convergence, ACL, and SRv6 policies.

To fully benefit from CCIE Practice Labs, consider these tips:

• Integrate practice labs early in your study plan to hone your skills.
• Practice on a consistent schedule to reinforce your learning and build confidence.
• Build on weak points to sharpen areas of knowledge that need improvement.
• Diversify your practice by using a mixture of different lab scenarios.
• Collaborate with others in the same boat by joining study groups or online communities.

Prep tips for best results:

• Get familiar with the exam topics blueprint, and stay informed about changes.
• Get more hands-on practice; create real-world lab scenarios in your home lab environment.
• Purchase quality study materials, such as official Cisco press books.
• Manage your time wisely during study prep to simulate the exam environment:
  • Get familiar with the exam format and modules.
  • Review topics you’ve covered in training and revise key concepts.
• Arrange for a peer review with mentors to assess your configurations and solutions.
• Time yourself as you practice tasks to simulate exam-day stress. During the exam, don’t spend too much time on a single task (draining your exam time), and prioritize items to meet time constraints.
• Deep dive into underlying technologies behind networking protocols.
• Be aware that backward navigation is disabled between DES and DOO modules during the exam. This means you cannot navigate backwards to the DES module once it has ended. You also cannot navigate backward within the DES module. But you can within the DOO module.
• You’ll have three hours to complete the DES module, but you cannot add time to the DOO module if you finish early. You’ll have five hours for the DOO module.
  • Point values for the DES module are hidden but shown in the DOO module.
  • DES has a few partial-scoring complex questions, but DOO does not. If you miss any of the question requirements in the DOO module, you will score zero on that question.
• Get enough sleep the night before and on exam day, arrive on time, stay calm and confident, follow morning briefing instructions from the lab proctor, read questions carefully, eat lunch, and stay hydrated!

Remember, the CCIE practice labs are here to help you do your best on exam day. Take advantage of them. You won’t regret it, and it could significantly increase your chance of achieving your CCIE SP certification.

Good luck!

CCIE Service Provider Lab Resources

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CCIE Lab Rentals for Practical Exam Preparation

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