- Topics Mentioned
- Certification(s):
- Cisco Certifications
- Exam(s):
- Cisco Exams
On January 25th, Cisco announced the creation of a brand new track of certification to fill the need for experienced service provider operations personnel.
This includes certifications at the associate (CCNA SP Operations), professional (CCNP SP Operations) and expert levels (CCIE SP Operations).
Details for the associate and professional level certifications are rather scant at this point but are set to be released in the second and third quarters of 2010, respectively.
The associate level of SP certification is targeted at entry level (tier 1) network operations technicians. The professional level is targeted at medium to high level (tier 2 and 3) operations engineers; these individuals are required to troubleshoot and isolate network performance issues. The expert level is targeted at the highest level (tier 3 and 4) of operations experience; these individuals are required to troubleshoot and maintain complex provider networks.
The difference between the SP Operations and the SP tracks is the work to be completed. The SP Operations track is focused at the operations of an existing network and the troubleshooting and maintenance that go into keeping the network up and running well. The SP track is focused at designing and building these networks, which is then turned over to the SP operations personnel.
SP Operations Objectives
Since the associate and professional level certification topics have yet to be published, the only reference is to use the expert topics.
The following is the section objectives for the CCIE SP Operations certifications:
| 1.0 | Manage the network fault management system |
| 1.1 | Develop a fault management process for a managed network environment collaboratively with the tools team |
| 1.2 | Determine the interaction between the fault management system and the ticketing system in collaboration with the tools team |
| 1.3 | Determine the method to gather appropriate metrics for an established fault management process |
| 2.0 | Manage performance and capacity |
| 2.1 | Identify spikes and potential trouble spots based on syslog and/or Network Management System (NMS) output |
| 2.2 | Develop a plan to solve a particular performance issue based on syslog and/or Network Management System (NMS) output |
| 2.3 | Identify the Network Management System (NMS) metrics and SLA metrics that will be needed in order to further troubleshoot a specific problem communicated orally, written, etc. |
| 2.4 | Develop a plan to establish a baseline and monitor the network in conjunction with the tools and performance groups |
| 2.5 | Create baseline network performance in conjunction with engineering and architecture teams |
| 2.6 | Monitor the network to look for variances against the baseline |
| 2.7 | Edit existing scripts which enable a network baseline management plan in conjunction with the tools and performance groups |
| 3.0 | Manage operations processes |
| 3.1 | Collaborate with the process team and NOC management on process development to meet a desired network operational objective |
| 3.2 | Develop a specific prototype and test plan for a particular planned network change, working collaboratively with the engineering and design groups |
| 3.3 | Develop, for a particular network, a list of needed tools working collaboratively with the tools team |
| 3.4 | Develop a detailed operations plan including metrics and reporting functions for a particular network working collaboratively with the process team |
| 3.5 | Develop a process change action plan based on the results of a network audit |
| 3.6 | Develop and maintain a spares plan for a particular network |
| 4.0 | Troubleshoot and fix reachability and transport problems within the network |
| 4.1 | Identify predecessor steps that have not been executed based on an escalation ticket dealing with reachability |
| 4.2 | Determine whether to fix or escalate a ticket dealing with reachability |
| 4.3 | Identify the area(s) causing a complex reachability problem of unknown origin |
| 4.4 | Troubleshoot a complex routing problem and, considering the technical aspects, determine the risks and fix it |
| 4.5 | Troubleshoot a complex security problem and, considering the technical aspects, determine the risks and fix it |
| 5.0 | Identify problems in implementation plans |
| 5.1 | Find issues of a rollout plan received from engineering before deployment |
| 5.2 | Identify hardware which is not backwards compatible on a new service rollout plan |
| 5.3 | Find hardware that needs operating system upgrades on a new service rollout plan |
| 5.4 | Review and provide recommendations on areas in which NOC support plans will not be sufficient on a new service rollout plan |
| 6.0 | Troubleshoot and fix network performance problems |
| 6.1 | Identify predecessor steps that have not been executed based on an escalation ticket dealing with network performance |
| 6.2 | Determine whether to fix or escalate a ticket dealing with network performance |
| 6.3 | Determine whether to fix or where to escalate a core network fault |
| 6.4 | Identify the source of a complex network performance problem |
| 6.5 | Troubleshoot a complex network performance problem and, considering the technical aspects, determine the risks and fix it |
| 6.6 | Identify a complex application performance problem and isolate it |
| 6.7 | Identify a complex computing device (server, call manager, etc – not the network or application) performance problem and isolate it |
| 6.8 | Troubleshoot a complex traffic pattern problem and, considering the technical aspects, determine the risks and fix it |
| 6.9 | Troubleshoot a complex, chronic performance problem and, considering the technical aspects, determine the risks and fix it |
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