CCNP Data Center – DCCOR 350-601 Exam Experience

I started a blog post about the resources I used for the exam here: https://www.mytechgnome.com/2021/12/ccnp-datacenter-journey-dccor-350-601.html

I started with the Cisco Press Official Certification Guide, and I think it’s an awesome resource.  Unfortunately, I struggled with reading it and I literally found this book was putting me to sleep.  (That’s more a me problem than a book problem).  I found it worked better for me to use it as a reference for specific topics instead of trying to read it cover-to-cover.  One other thing I realized early on is the DCCOR exam replaced the CCIE written exam.  I found myself questioning if the depth covered in the book was for the benefit of the DCCOR exam, or as a resource for the CCIE lab (spoiler alert – it is for the DCCOR).

When I was having difficulty getting through the book I switched to the INE material.  Their video training is great, but incomplete.  At least at the time I went through it the HyperFlex and Automation sections are listed as “Coming Soon”.  It also seems like the Storage section was just duplicated from the previous CCIE:DC training.  I thought it was very hands-on like what I’d expect when preparing for a CCIE lab, but it seemed to focus more on the configuration requirements than I would have expected would be needed for the DCCOR.

I switched over to the CBT Nuggets training to compliment what INE covered, and to fill the gaps in what INE hadn’t published.  There were a number of things covered in the CBT Nuggets material that wasn’t covered in the INE material, so I was happy I went through it as well.

Books and video training are great, and they have their place, but the fun part of learning new stuff is to actually do it!  To prepare for the exam I used a few different tools provided by Cisco.

For the Networking topics CML is nearly perfect.  With CML you can create labs to cover most of the network topics.  I created maybe ten different lab environments and built out a bunch of different configurations:

• Switching: STP, vPC, LACP, HSRP, VRRP
• Routing: OSPF, BGP (iBGP and eBGP), PIM
• Overlay: OTV (CML can’t do OTV on the data plane so you can’t actually pass traffic), VXLAN

To get hands-on with ACI I primarily used the ACI simulator.  With the simulator I was able to do a large deployment with three APICs, as well as two spine and two leaf switches.  I was able to go through and build out EPGs, contracts, domains, etc.  One thing that I found particularly cool with the ACI simulator was that I could SSH to spine and leaf switches.  This allowed me to get hands-on with the CLI of the underlying hardware.

On the Compute side, I used the UCS emulator.  This allows you to run UCS manager and create virtual UCS hardware and policies.  Like the previous tools, the UCS emulator also allows CLI access to the virtual FIs.

The storage portion of the exam was the most difficult to actually get hands-on labs for.  There are some labs available through the DevNet Sandbox and dCloud that have MDS switches, but the labs are limited in what they can do.  The good news is that comparatively the commands for storage are far less than what you need to know for other topics.

With both Automation and Security all of the above resources can be used.  DevNet also has a lot of good resources for automation.  The security side is mainly just being familiar with how accounts and roles are created and the configuration of RADIUS/TACACS connections.

I took the exam remotely, which generally has been a positive experience.  There are a few of tips that I can provide for the online exam.  First would be to go through the pre-check to make sure everything works as expected.  I used a laptop with an external monitor, and I found that it defaulted to the laptop webcam (with the laptop lid closed this didn’t work), but there’s a dropdown to select the webcam so it was an easy fix.  Make sure you have good audio.  The proctors often do PC-based calls, and I found them difficult to hear using my monitor speakers.  Switching to the laptop speakers solved that problem.  Also I recommend installing the Pearson app when checking in.  I had numerous issues using the web-based tool.  It seemed like when trying to upload images they were blurry in the web app, and when I switched to the mobile app the issues were resolved.

Cisco has an NDA all test takers have to accept, so I’m going to be very vague in what I say about the actual exam.  The first thing is I will reiterate that this exam is broad.  For each topic area (ACI, Nexus, UCS, MDS, etc.) be familiar with all of the different tools used to manage them.  That means GUI, CLI, and API.  Make sure you are paying close attention to the exam topics, and you have a firm grasp on each and every topic item.

I did get some questions that seemed to be poorly worded, and a couple left me confused on what specifically was being asked.  In some cases it was just be the way that I read the question, and taking a moment then rereading it and it made more sense.  In others, it didn’t matter how many times I read it, it just didn’t make sense.

One other trend that I’ve found with exams is the tendency to find the most obscure question possible.  As engineers we have access to context sensitive help.  Preparing for the exam I watched CCIEs extensively use the “?” to find the syntax that was needed, or look for a config option in the wrong area.  I find it frustrating when on an exam there are syntax questions that are needlessly specific.  An example would be something like if something is measured in bits, kilobits, bytes, kilobytes, etc.  Another example would be if a timer is configured in seconds or milliseconds.  If these situations ever came up, I’d have access to tools without needing to memorize the plethora of commands and options.  To make matters worse, often when these questions come up they are on commands that are rarely used.  This exam is no different.  Make sure you are committing the exact syntax of commands to memory.

On my first attempt I failed, and looking at the score report I’m guessing it was close.  The passing score and received score aren’t provided anymore, but the percentage per topic is displayed. Not surprisingly, the areas I performed the worst in were Storage, Automation, and Security.  Those areas were where I had much more general knowledge initially, and it showed.  However, after having actually taken the exam I knew where I was weak, and the level of depth on the exam.  I went back and reviewed the Network and Compute topics, and spent more time digging in to the areas I needed to improve.  When I retook the exam I was able to pass the exam.

This exam is tough.  I can confidently say it’s one of the most difficult exams I’ve ever taken.  It’s a mile wide, and it can also get quite deep.  There are plenty of challenging questions that really test your knowledge.  With enough preparation and practice it is something that can be accomplished.