Back in 2020 I was planning to take the CCDE exam, but those plans were derailed by a little thing called a global pandemic. With test centers closed for an unknown period, I decided to wait until things calmed down before I started to really dig into it. Then, in 2021 it was announced that the CCDE was moving to version 3.0. I didn’t want to get end up in a race against the sunset of the v2 exam, which meant waiting until the release of v3. Add in some travel, a new job, and a handful of other events that distracted from my CCDE plan, and here I am, ready to give this another go.
I’m planning to continually add content as I’m learning new things, both as a way to help me remember what I’m covering, and hopefully in a way that might help others that are either working towards the CCDE or just looking to pick up bits of information along the way.
Study Materials
I have a handful of material that I’ll be using for the CCDE prep.
Primary resources:
- CCDE Study Guide: https://www.ciscopress.com/store/ccde-study-guide-9781587144615
- CCDE v3 Practice Labs: https://www.ciscopress.com/store/ccde-v3-practice-labs-preparing-for-the-cisco-certified-9780137499854
- In-Depth CCDE https://orhanergun.net/ebook/ccde-in-depth-book
- CCDE v3 Training: https://orhanergun.net/courses/self-paced-ccde-course
Additional resources:
- CCDE v3 Learning Matrix: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/ccde-design-expert?tabset-6020b=601f6
- There are tabs with reading suggestions for each topic area.
- This is the list of books, articles, blogs, and whitepapers in the matrix:
- Cisco Design Guide: Network Security Baseline
- Cisco Docs: Cisco SD-WAN Security Configuration Guide, Configure Geolocation-Based Firewall Rules for Network Access
- Cisco Docs: FMC – Understanding Traffic Decryption
- Cisco Guide: A Cisco Guide to Defending Against Distributed Denial of Service Attacks
- Cisco Learning Network Blog: Optical Fiber Explained and Demystified
- Cisco Press: CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1, 5th Edition
- Cisco Press: CCIE WIreless v3 Study Guide Cisco Press: CCNP and CCIE Enterprise Core ENCOR 350-401 Official Cert Guide
- Cisco Press: CCNP and CCIE Security Core SCOR 350-701 Official Cert Guide
- Cisco Press: CCNP Enterprise Advanced Routing ENARSI 300-410 Official Cert Guide
- Cisco Press: CCNP Enterprise Wireless Design ENWLSD 300-425 and Implementation ENWLSI 300-430 Official Cert Guide: Designing & Implementing Cisco Enterprise Wireless Networks
- Cisco Press: CCNP Security Identity Management SISE 300-715 Official Cert Guide Cisco Press: Cisco ISE for BYOD and Secure Unified Access, 2nd Edition
- Cisco Press: Cisco Software-Defined Wide Area Networks: Designing, Deploying and Securing Your Next Generation WAN with Cisco SD-WAN
- Cisco Press: Definitive MPLS Network Designs
- Cisco Press: Designing Cisco Network Service Architectures (ARCH) Foundation Learning Guide: (CCDP ARCH 642-874), 3rd Edition
- Cisco Press: Designing for Cisco Network Service Architectures (ARCH) Foundation Learning Guide: CCDP ARCH 300-320, 4th Edition
- Cisco Press: End-to-End QoS Network Design, 2nd Edition
- Cisco Press: IP Multicast, Volume 1: Cisco IP Multicast Networking
- Cisco Press: IPv6 Fundamentals: A Straightforward Approach to Understanding IPv6, 2nd Edition
- Cisco Press: Layer 2 VPN Architectures Cisco Press: MPLS Fundamentals
- Cisco Press: Network Management Fundamentals Cisco Press: Network Security Architectures
- Cisco Press: Network Security Technologies and Solutions (CCIE Professional Development Series)
- Cisco Press: Optimal Routing Design Cisco Press: Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1, 2nd Edition
- Cisco Press: Routing TCP/IP, Volume II: CCIE Professional Development, 2nd Edition
- Cisco Press: The Art of Network Architecture: Business-Driven Design
- Cisco Press: Top-Down Network Design, 3rd Edition
- Cisco Whitepaper: Network Configuration Management
- DevNet: Intro to Coding Fundamentals
- DevNet: Learn Network Prgrammability Basics
- DevNet: Model Driven Programmability
- DevNet: Zero-Touch Provisioning
The CCDE covers a massive range of topics. It will be a fun process working my way through all of it!
The Cisco CCDE and CCIE is on my list of certs in the very near future. I am just working on getting my ducks in a row.