Greetings, everyone.
And welcome to this edition of ENCQOR version 1.1, also known as 350-401, or Implementing
Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies.
It's great to be here for these eight sessions we will have together as we go through the
various topics and concepts related to the ENCQOR version 1.1 certification exam.
Before we dig in to the course material, folks, I'd like to find out what your job
role is, what your Cisco experience is, and why have you joined us here in ENCQOR.
So, chat in.
You don't have to provide a whole lot of detail.
You don't have to put your first name, either, because you've already joined the chat.
Your first name is there, hopefully.
But I'm more really concerned about, you know, what is your job role?
You know, are you a network admin?
What's your Cisco experience?
Because some people come here and they have no Cisco experience, that's why they're here,
because they're now in an environment where they're a network admin with very little Cisco
experience.
Now, they have to learn about Cisco products and learn about how Cisco does the things
they do versus some other company that's out there.
More importantly, why have you joined us?
Are you here to prepare for the exam?
Are you here because your boss told you to be here?
Why are you here?
So, I'm Raymond.
I am an instructor.
I am also an author.
And if you didn't know, I am the author of various Cisco press books.
The most recent Cisco press book is the NRC certification exam.
So, NRC 30410, maybe some of you will go on to take NRC 30410, but yes, that is me.
If you have ever wondered if that is the same person, that is absolutely me.
So, yeah, if after Encore, you decide to go on to NRC, we've got a great course here
for that.
We cover a lot of really cool things in that course that you really need to see live, folks.
You really need to see them live because it's going to give you the opportunity to learn
it in the way that it's needed to be known to pass that certification exam.
So, I always encourage people to go on to that one after so that you can expand your
routing knowledge.
So, here in Encore, we're going to learn a lot of different things.
We're going to spend a lot of time taking a look at a lot of the stuff we learned in
CCNA, expanding on that, exploring that in more detail.
But then we're going to get even deeper into some other technologies and services and features
and functions that you have maybe not even heard of at all at this point in your career,
but they are going to be technologies that are going to be extensively used over the
next five and ten years.
So, you're going to have to start becoming familiar with them now.
So, Cisco introduces them here in this particular course.
So, instructor, author, network, cloud, dude, cyber security, dude, I got to update that
now.
And I'm here because my boss told me.
No, I'm here because I want to share all my knowledge, all my experience with each and
every single one of you.
So, that way there you have an opportunity to, one, become a more valuable member to
your organization or wherever you are trying to move to at some point in time in your career,
but also so you can pass the certification exam, okay, because the certification exam
gives you that opportunity to have that proof that you know what you are talking about and
people can trust you and people can come to you for all the information that they need.
So, let's introduce you to our actual course here and the exam objectives.
So, that way there we have an opportunity to get ourselves into the right mindset as
we prepare for this course and the certification exam.
So, who do we have here?
We have a multitude of people with different job roles.
So, we have network engineers.
We have people that are getting ready for the certification exam, infrastructure analysts,
using this to recertify CCNA, plus get another certification under their belt, excellent
support technician, all right, getting into junior network engineering, awesome, great
to hear about that.
So, excellent.
So, all of you have different level, varying levels of knowledge, and that is perfect.
That is what this course is designed for, that's what this certification is designed
for, to make sure that we can all take whatever various levels of knowledge we have and bring
it to a certain level that Cisco expects us to have at this particular point in time.
So, what do we have here?
We have to go out to our live environment here, our demo environment, and take a look
at our course.
So, today you would have either clicked up here under see more, you would have tuned
in, you're watching the live session right now.
Maybe you clicked on this tune in button, so you're watching the live session, or maybe
you've clicked on this button here, and now you're watching the live session.
However way you joined today's session, doesn't matter, you are in the right spot for today's
live session.
But what I want to point out to you, if you don't know, is that we record everything we
do.
So, right now, we are in the introduction to Encore course and exam objectives.
So, we're recording that, and at the end of today, I'm going to upload that video.
I'm going to do that for every single one of these videos today.
So, that way there, if you miss anything, if something happens, you've got to step away.
Just make note.
Write it down.
I stepped away at this particular time and this particular topic.
So, that way there, you'll know what you missed, and you'll be able to come back later on tonight
and pick up what you missed.
So, that way there, when you come to class tomorrow, you have reviewed everything that
you missed, and you're ready for tomorrow's session.
So, if you do miss something, the recordings will be available approximately within an
hour after today's session, so you can go back and review them.
So, we're going to do that for every single one of our sessions.
Now, we will not cover everything that we need to know for the exam live.
We will not.
So, in our eight sessions, you'll see what we're covering in this list, but you are going
to have to, on your own, review some additional videos on your own to get fully ready for
the certification exam.
So, covering things like stateful switchover, nonstop forwarding, VSS and stackwise, some
things on device architecture, some things on virtual servers and switches, it's going
to be important for you to ensure that you have the basic fundamental information that
the exam expects you to have in these regards to pass the certification exam.
You might only get one question on each of these on the certification exam, or one question
at all for the certification exam, but in the end, it's important to realize that we
live are not going to cover everything, and you are required to make sure you watch these
videos to get those nuggets of information that you need for the certification exam.
Likewise, here with management protocols and services, I'm not going to bore you live with
network time protocol or span or flexible net flow or IPSLA or SNMP or Syslog.
Why?
Because pretty much the conversation we have in all of these are the same that we had in
CCNA.
So, repeating the same thing that you learned in CCNA with me or someone else is not valuable
to your time, especially when these on the exam are going to be more just your basic
multiple choice questions where other things are going to show you live, are going to require
you to actually configure, verify, troubleshoot, do all of that stuff.
So, we're going to focus on those in our live discussion.
Same thing with quality of service.
Do you know this term?
Do you know this definition?
Do you know this term?
Do you know this definition?
Basically, what it boils down to, so we're not going to do that live.
That is something that you can watch on your own.
So, same thing with things like EEM and then like DNA Center, data formats, data modeling,
so things like learning JSON formatting, learning Python, right?
We have other ways for you to prepare for that than here live, and then same thing with
our wireless discussion.
So, a lot of just little wireless videos to help you prepare for the exam because wireless
in itself is an entire course.
There's two courses in the world of Cisco for wireless at a minimum, right, that you'd
want to take.
So, Encore is not the place to learn wireless, so we're going to give you what you need to
get ready for the certification exam, all right?
Same thing with ChefPup and the Stackable.
This is not the place to learn about these, right?
There are other courses dedicated to that.
So, we cover exactly in these videos, okay, what do you need to know for the exam?
What do you need to know for the exam?
Because again, data modeling like gang data modeling and JSON formatting and RESTConf
and NEXTConf, this is not the place to learn those, okay?
You learn those in other courses that are dedicated to those, but Cisco likes to throw
that stuff in here.
So, we've put together videos that are going to help you get the information you need as
well as give you a little bit of a head start in those topics for the real world, all right?
So, that's what the course is made up of.
Now, you'll also see over on the top right-hand side, if we scroll back up, there's class
slides.
So, everything I'm going to show you on a class slide is available in the class slides.
You have a syllabus.
If you want to go back and take a peek at that syllabus, you can check things off.
There's a little exam crash.
This is just a little something extra I put together, and it's not something that you
can say, oh, I'll just read through this and I'm ready for the exam.
No, no, no.
That's not what this exam crash means.
This is just simply referring to the fact that I have taken the time to give you a little
bit of extra help with some of those strange topics, like on-prem versus cloud.
What are the things you might want to remember for the exam?
VMs versus vSwitches, what are the things you might want to remember for the exam?
Some cyber threat defense solution information, DNA center information, REST API information.
So, just throwing it in here, and it says here, you know, if it's something that's bolded,
it's something that you might want to remember.
So, again, nothing bolded here, though, but, again, compare and contrast, compare and contrast,
compare and contrast, compare and contrast.
Typically what type of questions on the exam might you get when you have to compare and
contrast different things, folks?
Does anybody know?
Would it typically be a multiple-choice question, or would it be something else?
If it is that, something else, what do we call it?
Yeah, typically a drag-and-drop, typically a drag-and-drop.
Drag these over to here, matching them up where they need to be.
So, with that in mind, right, something where you have a slide like this comparing and contrasting,
maybe I built it that way on purpose for your exam prep.
Same thing with something like this, who manages what when it comes to cloud services?
So, I do have a, you know, cloud discussion later on in the videos, but this will just
help you come back and use this for memorization purposes so you can know who manages what.
Again, not something that in Encore really matters all that much from a sort of, from
a real-world standpoint, because, again, there's other courses dedicated to this, like cloud-related
courses.
But it's thrown in here, and these are little things that you need to know just so that
way there you have a billion things in your mind, and then you'll be tested on, let's
say, 80 of them, 90 of them when it's all said and done, right?
Same thing with virtual machines, benefits of virtual machines.
Again, it could be a drag-and-drop, could be multiple choice, so on and so forth.
So, there's a lot of things here, and I have even some Python examples in here later on
down the road.
So, just take your time and go through that at your own leisure at some point in time.
It'll help you.
It's not mandatory, but it'll definitely help you memorize some of the things that may show
up on the exam.
All right, another little, some additional information on FlexConnect, all right, to
help you out in case FlexConnect shows up on the exam for wireless, and then you get
your practice exam, you got your labs, make sure you do the labs.
You have to do the labs.
All right, if you think you're going to pass this exam without doing labs, it's not going
to happen.
So, make sure you do the labs, and if you don't even plan on taking the exam, please
do the labs anyway.
You're going to gain some very valuable information that's going to pay dividends in the real
world for you just by doing the labs later on anyways.
And then anytime you need any help outside the class, folks, request mentoring.
Take the time to request mentoring.
Take the time to get help.
We have a mentoring team behind the scenes that are going to be able to assist you, and,
but if you want them to forward the email to me, just put in your email, please forward
this to Raymond, and they'll be more than happy to forward it to me.
And if there's something we talked about in class and they have no idea what we're talking
about because I went off on some little crazy story, adventure, that they weren't aware
of, then they'll forward it to me anyways, right, so that way there you always get the
best help and best assistance that you need.
So there's all your resources and how we're going to work with them.
Let's go to Cisco.com because for those of you planning on taking the certification exam,
you'd go under learn, and then you click on certifications, and then we can click on browse
all certifications, and Encore is where, Encore is going to be under enterprise, so if we
scroll down, or professional, and then under enterprise for CCNP right there.
So it's under enterprise, on the left, technology, CCNP enterprise, it's professional level after
CCNA, and it's about what, well if we scroll down, Encore is about the core enterprise
networking technologies, core enterprise networking technologies.
So core enterprise networking technologies for small, medium, and large organizations,
meaning that there's going to be core enterprise networking technologies that you may learn
today that you'll never ever use if you stay in the company you are in, simply because
of the cost prohibitive natures of those technologies.
Although they'd be great for you to have, you'd really not get a return on your investment.
So you're going to learn about a lot of different networking technologies here that you may
or may not never use, but at least you'll know about them, you'll have your certification
that says you know about them, and you'll be a more valuable member to your organization,
and maybe you'll be able to figure out how to implement some of these newer technologies
at a cheaper cost.
But the great thing is, is that the fundamentals still matter.
So we still have to learn about the VLANs, the trunks, configure, verify, troubleshoot,
VLANs, trunks, spanning tree protocol, inter-VLAN, routing, SVIs, all of those things, because
the newer technologies still rely on us having the proper underlying network set up, because
if we don't have the proper underlying network set up with the right dynamic routing protocols
and the right everything else, then we're not ultimately going to achieve the objectives
we're trying to achieve.
So that is your core exam.
And then underneath enterprise, you've got an RC, which I mentioned earlier, and then
we have some SD-WAN solutions, and then we have design solutions, and we have wireless
solutions and automation and programmability solutions, and so on and so forth.
So this is required.
So if you plan on taking your CCNA certification, not CCNA, if you plan on getting your CCNP
certification, CCNP certification, you need this exam.
You cannot skip this exam.
You have to take this exam, and then you can take one of the other exams that are on the
list below.
So this is mandatory.
You have no choice but to take this one, pass this exam, and then you can take any other
one you want in order to get your CCNP designation.
So let's click on Encore exam, and then under Encore, what are we going to find?
We're going to find our exam topic.
So the certification exam is broken out into these six different sections.
You've got architecture, virtualization, infrastructure, assurance, security, and automation.
So I'm going to click on that so we can get a little deeper.
And then here it is all broken out.
So I'll just quickly put this in the chat area for all of you who are here live with
me so that way there you have quick access to it.
But you'll see 15% of your exams on the architecture, 10% on virtualization, 30% on the infrastructure.
So let me just expand that out.
So if you don't know how to configure, verify, and troubleshoot layer two technologies that
are listed here, you're not going to be able to pass the exam.
If you don't know how to compare and contrast EIGRP versus OSPF or configure OSPF or configure
eBGP or describe policy-based routing, it'll be tough for you to pass the exam.
All right.
Wireless.
So wireless is very important here.
So make sure you take those extra wireless videos that we talked about that we put together
for you.
So all these wireless videos you see down at the bottom are going to give you the information
that you need in order to be able to successfully answer questions pertaining to wireless.
Are you going to become a wireless expert by taking Encore?
No.
Okay.
It's not intended to be that way.
But at least you'll be able to describe, describe, describe, describe, troubleshoot, maybe one
WAN configuration, and then describe.
So it's more about describing in this case than configuring, verifying, and troubleshooting.
And then your IP services.
So make sure you know NTP and Precision Time Protocol, NAT and PAT, HSRP, VRRP.
And then being able to describe multicast protocols like PIM and IGMP.
So 30% of your exam is focused on those.
Very, very important that you are really solid with these, because most of the time, these
are going to be the questions, especially Layer 2, Layer 3, and typically HSRP.
They typically end up as what?
As simulation-type questions where you might have to configure.
So making sure you do all exams, labs, I mean, and labs related to all these topics is going
to be really important, because you never know when they're going to show up on the
exam as an actual lab.
So a big part of your exam is 30%.
Now look, the other one is security.
So make sure that you are well familiar with line authentication, username and password
database authentication, using AAA, we've got you covered here for that, ACLs.
See, the thing about ACLs is they can show up in many different discussions.
So if you're doing like, for example, policy-based routing, well, ACLs are in policy-based routing.
You're doing NAT, well, ACLs are part of NAT.
If you're doing this, ACLs.
If you're doing that, ACLs.
If you're doing traffic filtering, ACLs.
If you're doing control plane policing, ACLs.
So they can test you in ACLs within other questions, meaning that that one question
could be a percentage of different sections on the certification exam.
So if you don't know your ACLs, it's going to be tough to answer potentially other questions
on the certification exam correctly.
Control plane policing, REST API security.
So we have that covered in our exam crash.
We would have that covered in our additional discussions on APIs that are in this as well.
So we've got you covered on that REST API security.
If you memorize what I have in regards to REST API security, it's very simple.
You'll have no problem answering questions about those on the certification exam.
And then all of these you can find in our exam crash information about that.
So the exam crash is really important to learn more about this threat defense stuff
and TRUSTSEC.
Well, no, we'll cover TRUSTSEC and MACSEC live because I like that stuff as well as
these.
But the next-gen firewall stuff, endpoint security, threat defense, and being able to
describe those, those are in the exam crash as well as our additional data.
So we won't do those ones live.
But again, you can see there's 50% of your exam.
50% of your exam is infrastructure and security.
And then you get sprinkled in with a lot of other things, like what?
Architecture.
Then virtualization.
Network assurance.
So you'll see SNMP, Syslog, NetFlow span, R span.
So that's a very small part of your exam.
But typically those ones are the easier questions.
So get them all right.
That way you get your 10% on that.
And then automation.
So we are not going to cover any of this stuff live.
All the automation stuff is down here in this section right here.
See automation preparation.
So you can see automation preparation.
See automation preparation.
So you cannot skip this at all.
If you skip this, you will not be prepared for 15% of your exam.
So in there, we'll talk about Python.
We'll talk about JSON.
We'll talk about Yang data models.
We'll talk about APIs with DNA Center and VManage.
We'll discuss Rescoff, Netcoff, Puppet Chef, Ansible, and EEM.
And by going through this information multiple times and using the exam crash, you combine
those two together.
Where's the exam crash again?
Up here.
So you'll see notes in the exam crash.
Plus automation will get you ready for that section.
All right.
So live, live will get you ready for like 90% of the exam.
The rest of it is going to be you making sure you finish those videos on your own.
All right.
Keep that in mind.
So there you go, folks.
That is what we're going to be doing here in Encore.
I hope you're all familiar with the exam objectives.
You are familiar with what we have to offer here in our course.
And as always, if you need any help outside of class, use the mentoring option.
If you're here with me live and you need help, use the chat area right over there on the
right-hand side.
So if you haven't joined the chat area yet, folks, make sure you do so immediately.
So that way you can get all the assistance that you need throughout our live sessions
together.