Stephen Ren shares his experience preparing for and passing the CCIE Collaboration lab exam. He studied for over 4 years, labbing over 700 hours from April to July 2016 using a home lab rack. He worked through all 54 labs in the IPEXPERT Volume 1 guide, then continued with Volume 2, labbing nights, holidays and weekends. By July 29th, 2016 he had completed over 268 hours of labbing and preparations and had passed the CCIE Collaboration exam.

1. How I passed
CCIE collaboration
lab exam
Stephen Ren
Senior Manager
Software Dev QA, Fortinet
6xCCIE#13946
RS,SP,Sec,DC,Collab,WL

2. After passing CCIE Wireless lab,I received
many congrats from my friends on
linkedin.Thank you all and you also inspired
me to do better. Each track of CCIE lab is not
easy to pass,no matter how well you already
know.It requires lots of work experience and
more importantly,tremendous hard work for
preparation.
My CCIE collab is a long journey.With many
years of working on voice network,I started to
prepare for collab lab from the year 2011,but
interrupted in the middle because of my
work.After 5 years I missed CCIE voice but got
CCIE collab in 2016. Here I'd like to share my
joy and pain during my preparation for CCIE
collab lab exam from Apr 08 to Jul
29,2016,that's my most memorable 700 hours
in 2016. From Apr to July, I stayed with my
CCIE collaboration rack every night,every
holiday including memorial day and
independence day,and I still need to
restore the energy for each hectic work day.
One of my friends in China recorded what I
was doing to prepare for CCIE collab lab
during that time by social networking
software,use hundreds of pictures to track my
daily life.All photos are put together to make
up this story of a CCIE candidate,myself.
My aim here is not to give you a detailed
strategy of what you must do to pass the ccie
collab lab,but to show you if you devote to
things you want to see happen,you will make
it!

3. I came back to bay area from China.The
first step is to read books.I carried these
stuff to here,you can imagine the weight!

4. Five years passed but I still can not get my
CCIE collab title, what I need is lots of time to
practise.No time?Just forget it!

5. Boring books made me feel sleepy…

6. Apr 22,I feel headaches,nausea,having
a fever.Come on! I have a business trip
next week….

7. That’s my world~

8. Video time. It looks if I want to get my
5th CCIE,the only way is to give up my
table tennis playing.If not I won’t have
enough time to lab.I need time…I like
Vik Mahi’s videos.

9. Are you kidding me?8.50PM again?Time flies
fast…It’s possible for me to get 200 more lab
hours if sleep less…

10. After more than 100 hours’ learning,I am
almost crazy…whereas I feel I still can not
master the details.How long shall I
need?When can I do better?

11. Be a vegetarian today~

12. I have finished watching following: cvoice 21
videos, cipt1 23 videos,cipt2 70 videos,ccie
theory 21 videos,ccie lab 70 videos…Each
video is about one hour’s long.I am done but
not good enough.Too complicated..If you want
me to view it again I’d rather die..Can ordinary
guy be able to watch it twice???

13. Planning to buy an imac.

14. I still remember my Routing
&switching rack used in 2004.How
about buy this collab rack on ebay?It
seems not too expensive.Get it get it!

15. With phones.

16. Last night I dreamed in the
Datacenter IPS test our device
rebooted 4 times abnormally.Don’t
come true~

17. My lab kit:
Branch 1:
1x CISCO2811 Router 512D/256F CME
8.6
1x VWIC-2MFT-T1 Module
1x WIC-1T Serial connection Module
1x AIM-CUE Voice Mail System Module
1x PVDM2-32 Voice Module
1x WS-C3550-24PWR-SMI POE Switch
2x CP-7940G IP PHONE
Branch 2:
1x CISCO2801 256D/64 CME 8.6
1x WIC-1T Serial Connection Module
1x WS-C3524-PWR-XL-EN POE Switch
2x CP-7940G IP PHONE

18. Branch 3:
1x CISCO2801 256D/64 CME 8.6
1x WIC-1T Serial Connection
1x NM-2V Voice module
1x VIC-2FXO (for external PSTN lines)
1x VIC-2FXS (for analog phones or fax)
1x WS-C3524-PWR-XL-EN POE Switch
2x CP-7940G IP PHONE
1x Analog Phone
Frame Relay:
1x CISCO2610 Router Frame Relay
Router 12.3 IOS
1x NM-4A/S Module

19. Includes the following VMware images:
*Cisco Unified Communications
Manager (CUCM) 9.1.1 Publisher,
(Comes with 60 days Demo license.
Request 180 days license from Cisco
and create a SnapShot).
*Cisco Unified Communications
Manager (CUCM) 9.1.1 Subscriber,
(Comes with 60 days Demo license.
Request 180 days license from Cisco
and create a SnapShot).
*Cisco Unity Connections 9.1.1
(Comes with 60 days Demo license.
Request 180 days license from Cisco
and create a SnapShot).
*Unified Contact Center Express
9.0.1 (Demo license, will expire in 30
days).
*Cisco Unified Presence Server 9.1.1
(Demo license, will expire in 60 day).
*Windows Server 2008 image for
Active Directory & DNS.
*Windows XP image with IP
Communicator and Cisco Jabber 9.2.1.
* Cisco Unity Express 8.6.4 (not
vmware image)
*Cisco Unified Communications
Manager Express CME-15.2-4 (not
vmware image)

20. Just bought a monitor with
light leak,poor me..

21. Studing Mark snow’s videos.

22. After listening twice finally I get
what he is talking about.Geez…

23. I stayed up late at night.Andy’s voice is still on
the air.I will start my lab tomorrow.I am ready
for concepts now and hope to understand it
more deeply with my hands dirty.

24. My rack arrives~~Let’s try it
tonight.Maybe there are lots of
work to do.No one can prevent
me from becoming a 5xCCIE now.

25. Beautiful Devices...

26. Old phones..

27. Phones again..

28. Let’s set up ccie collab rack
from scratch.Oh my! Any one
could help me on this?

29. Cisco 2800 boot failed! But I
seckilled it.You know I am
expert?Aha~

30. What a mess! I need a dozen of rack
ears,one console cable,several ethernet
cables,I can not set it up without them!

31. What type of cable is this?Oh.It’s
T1.I connected it for POE power
supply…Stupid me….

32. What shall I start from?Let’s do…make frame
replay backbone ready first,then make campus
sites work,then cucm core…Right,let’s do it!

33. Setup is ongoing..

34. Seckilled ipbb followed by cucm booting
successfully!It seems there is only one step
away from phone register.

35. HQ/two sites are working now,this is my
first time to login to cucm GUI on my own
rack.What a success!That means I can start
my lab practice right away.Move on!

36. New monitor arrived.Check it first.No light
leaking,cool!

37. Call finally go through.1st cucm
call.This is 1st milestone.Record
the exciting moment!

39. New beginning,Start from part
1 out of 21,ipexpert volume 1.

40. Newly purchased rack ears will
arrive tomorrow.Don’t put on
grounds any more.Great!

41. Rack mounted,well organized.It looks
better!

42. It took me 3 hours to finish the lab
that should be done within 45
mins.Call park,call pick,what the
hell..I’ll move forward..

43. In first stage I’d like to finish this
volume 1 as quickly as I can….then…

44. Phone registered to CME!Almost cried..you
know I tried over and over again..Theory is
just theory,without practice you’ll never
know how to make it work.

45. 22:49,sip phone called sccp phone
successfully by CME,but I don’t
know how I made it work.It
worked…Geez..

46. Memorial day is coming.Gifted Lab time!

47. Multiple frame established.I am
good!

48. Registerd!Nothing can stop me.

49. Today is Memorial day.I am supposed to
finish dial plan part after this holiday.

50. When my phone recovered from
failure,I can not contain my
excitement.Knowledge is power!

51. Two issues so far.I’ll solve Backbone
issue first,then dual cucm issue. The
better comes after the worse.

52. Dual CUCM works finally.It’s not
that easy!I need a faster
server.Damn PC.

53. My PC is not powerful enough,3
virtual machines can not run at
the same time.Poor me..

54. So hungry after one day’s lab.

55. Now comes the part2,volume 1

56. It’s really complicated..

57. I really enjoyed 3 days’ lab on memorial
holiday.Good time to make my hands dirty.I
know the price of success:dedication,hard
work,and a devotion to the things you want
to see happen.

58. This morning I met a Mexican,I
said good morning to him and he
replied a Chinese “Zao”(meaning
good morning),Cool!

59. Nobody told me I have to tune a
parameter to make TEHO work!

60. It’s pretty hard to troubleshoot on SIP.

61. 00:18,Another night,globalization
on MGCP GW made me crazy.It’s
so weired.Go back to sleep…

62. 12:16AM

63. HERE IS GOD!
Last night I did not make globalization
work.But this morning it’s working after
booting up…I can not take it any more!

64. I see many issues on
CUCM.You just don’t work if I
don’t reboot you?Seriously?

65. The first audio I hear.

66. Finally finished dial plan part.Start
mobility now.I am so frustrated.

67. Labing from 10AM to 7PM without
stopping,disgusted and tired.A good guy can do
better if he push himself a bit harder.

68. MVA,hooray!

69. It took me one whole hour to load a
certificate.It made me mad!

70. I am being tortured by EMCC.Work
like this and that..Emmmm…

71. Failed to set up URI dailing because
peer id is same on my two virtual
machines.ILS is not working!

72. My pc is so slow tonight that I can not
stand it.Buying a high performance PC
admits of no delay.

73. It took me 500 dollars to own my rack while
this new pc cost me 1200 dollars.I don’t
believe it.

74. SAF CCD,no luck,can not call each other.

75. 12:30 AM,I am the only guy in
the office.I love you so much
collab.

76. Took a training today.

77. This is dream!

78. My phone’s camera is good~One SE is
saying today:1.We are doing perfect in
NSS NGIPS test.2.Always select RSU
instead of stock option.

79. Auto attendant,amazing~

80. I have labed 108 hours within 4 weeks,time flies
so fast that I did not even notice I already labed
4 weeks. I have not washed my car for long,I
forgot to have breakfast this morning,I am out
of order.

81. Labing quietly night after night,no one
in the office noticed me, I am growing.

82. Try my best to finish volume one
before Jun 18 as CUCM evaluation
license will expire on that day.

83. I am nearly desperate,I can not hear
MOH.

84. Location based CAC works now,the
trick is to start a service.Good to know
that.

85. The sun sets early,tomorrow will be better.

86. Oh,my switch often kernel crash.After
all it’s second hand devices!

87. Working! working!SIP precondition!

88. Step into Part 3 of volume 1!

89. AAR

90. This is CME SIP/SCCP SRST

91. Everything is working
smoothly,tomorrow I’ll start to
configure Unity.Euler!

92. I am hard hit in the face.Voice
mail cucm to cuc sccp is not
working.Why?

93. Here comes cme cuc integration.

94. I believe I can finish volume 1
this month with no doubt.

95. Lab39

96. Here comes lab 40

97. CUE

98. The first jabber client I configured!

99. Today is the 33th day since I start my self
bootcamp.Volume 1 is almost done,I’ve
finished 48 labs out of 54.Almost mad?!

100. Lab51.Step into last part in volume 1.You
will know the difficulty of 54 labs of
ipexpert volume 1 if you try it.

101. 35 days labing with no stopping!160 working
hours!CCIE collaboration ipexpert volume 1
done!done!done!This needs a hugh courage
and marks the 2nd milestone!

102. Look at Volume 1!

103. This concludes lab 54 and ….

104. A huge success!

105. A huge success!

106. Log this Memorable moments!

107. Redundant configure files after 30 days
working.

108. So long.

109. It’s hard to modify, I have to erase
them to start over.

110. Swear to Get all the CCIE titles in
next year!

111. You raise me up! Go ahead to
challenge ipexpert volume 2.

112. I am pretty good after doing volume 1.

113. Multicast moh from site b’s flash
is so touching.

114. This is Volume 2!!!Let’s celebrate a new start!

115. By contrast Ccbootcamp is so easy…

116. Take a break.

117. I am so sleepy.

118. 1st jabber in volume 2 is up,go ahead..

119. Lab time reach 200 hours till now.

120. I am so excited to finish dial plan in
lab1,volume 2.Although the lab design is not
good,let me dial without phone register?Dial
through GW without configuring GW?Damn
it.

121. Comprehensive lab is pretty tough.

122. At the end of lab 1,I opened lab2
.Wow amazing,there are 336 pages
totally..Can I conquer this?If….

123. High end Lab 2

124. Independence day is labing day too.

125. ILS configuration done means lab1 finish.
Tomorrow let’s start lab2 which is totally
new.

126. ILS

127. I like to write “done” on the cover of
every lab I finished.Go ahead,even it’s a
small step,there is a new height!

128. Mock lab 1 is fully functioning!

129. A bumpy journey

130. Happy Independence day with labing

131. I don’t feel good after configuring
more than 10 translation patterns. Just
take a break..

132. Spit out blood!!!

133. Oh my!

134. Oh my!

135. Oh my!

136. Emmmm….

137. Part 4 in lab 2.I nearly give up..It’s too
hard..

138. There is 3 voice mail boxes
configured here…What the hell..

139. CUC not stable?What’s the
behavior it should be?

140. Jul 03 night,IMPS ing

141. Jul 04,PC is not working at the end of lab
2.Too many virtual machines running..

142. Who shut down my interfaces?Bugs?

143. Lab 2 done!I am fed up with it!

144. This is lab 2.

145. I hope to get big progress within 2
months,but the precondition is I
can stand.

146. Jul 07,Today is the first day to go
home at daytime.Take a short break
and fight tomorrow.

147. Progressing rapidly.

148. Night，1:17AM.

149. Lab 3 is coming.

150. When I finish this I am already numb.

151. Hate it!

152. Lab to 268 hours,I can’t wait to finish it!

153. No pains,no pains.

154. 11:45PM,Although I am so sleepy
at night I sill need to fight.

155. Training 2 months so far.I am almost ready
for lab exam.I hope that day could come
early.

156. Want to sleep…

157. Another night..The day will come!

158. Lab 4,last ipexpert lab!

159. Lab 4,last ipexpert lab!

160. Jul 21, Quiet night

161. Midnight snack

162. Jul 29,today I received FortiChampion
award! I am so proud.

163. I am good.