I initially started with this post and thought hard about whether this post is a knee jerk reaction to another SP track. A couple days later and nothing has changes. CCIE SP Ops is still not a winner.
Sometimes when news is made you either get a positive or negative vibe. When the rumors surfaced about CCIE Data Center, I had a positive vibe about it, from the speculation it just seems the right fit. A track that is needed by industry demand. A year ago when Cisco released CCIE Wireless, I had the same thoughts: ‘This is exactly what the industry needs’. Today Cisco announce CCIE SP Operations and my first impression is that this is going to be another CCIE Design or Storage. Is Cisco expanding with too many tracks too soon?
SP Operations will cover Cisco’s IP NGN which I have said on a couple of occasions should be on the SP track. Cisco IP Next Generation Network buzz is largely based on Carrier Ethernet. In very compact form, a mass migration from proprietary SONET/SDH/ATM onto Cisco Metro Ethernet and EoMPLS. I say Cisco Metro because it is an all Cisco or no Cisco affair since Cisco Metro Ethernet does not play ball with others well. This is largely due to not supporting standards QinQ 802.1ad on the Metro switches. From what I read in ‘future’ releases they would, but read between the lines, once they have the monopoly on Carrier Ethernet.
I have no doubt Cisco has put a lot of research into this track, but I think they overlooked the most important aspect. CCIE SP has been neglected for years and has been begging for an upgrade. People have been talking about the outdated ATM/Frame and no relevant Layer2 VPN for ages. This is a personal opinion but I don’t believe IP NGN warrants a CCIE track on its own and again a personal opinion I don’t believe MPLS L3VPN does either. A mixture of the two however makes a lethal combination.
Another aspect of a new qualification is the time and numbers it takes in order to get market recognition. SP is only at a very late stage maturing into a track that is generally known and accepted in the industry. Will Cisco dumb down the SP Operations track in order to get the numbers out which will ensure engineers build another proprietary carrier network empire? Yes, sounds like a brilliant business plan. The second part will be the cost in preparing for XR, this one is not going to be cheap. Perhaps Cisco will sponsor (read: leak) a simulator?
It is still early days and not much about CCIE SP operations is known to make a informed judgement, but I get the gut feeling this is a track developed by Business/Sales in order to push a revenue stream rather than demand from the industry. While a lot is still unknown, this is my initial conclusion: SP operations has all the right ingredients for another epic fail.
From the general outline of the SP Operations written:
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
Identify spikes and escalate tickets? My word, what is Cisco doing? Sounds more like a CCNA blueprint. Perhaps just trust and put faith in the network giant? Hope this does not destroy the CCIE reputation.
