This video explains the process of transitioning from network operations or implementation to network design. It clears out and simplify that process from core concepts to acquiring the highest certificates of network design such as the prestigious CCDE. Mohamed Radwan guides you through the journey of becoming a superb network designer, touching on essential topics such as the designer mindset and the skills you need, the core pillars of network design among many others…

1. NETWORK DESIGN
THE JOURNEY OF BECOMING A PHENOMENAL NETWORK ARCHITECT
With
MOHAMED RADWAN
CCDE #2014::67 CCIE #21067

2. HELLO!
• Founder / Director of AgileIS
• Two decades of professional experience
• CCDE / CCIE
• Award-Winning network architecture
• 1000s of students
• Designed for Fortune 500s companies
• More...
I’M
MOHAMED RADWAN

3. WHY ARE YOU HERE !
Don’t forget to fill the small survey 
DESIGNER | ENGINEER | PRE-SALES | ADMINISTRATOR | ENTHUSIAST | MARATHON RUNNER
THEREASONICREATEDTHISWEBINAR

4. PART ONE
THE
DREAMANDWHY MOST PEOPLE FIND IT EXTREMELY
CHALLENGINGAND GIVE UP MIDWAY

5. IT’S A ROUGH ROAD
INALONGJOURNEY

6. “I’mgoingtobeatop-tiernetwork
architectandtakeovertheworld”
“Ok…Igiveup”

7. PARTTWO
THE
WAYIT’S EASIERTHANYOU MIGHTTHINK.
YOU JUST NEEDTO KNOWTHE ROAD AHEAD OFYOU

8. IT’S USUALLY A
GRADUAL PROCESS
1. Fresh graduate
2. Learn & build solid foundation
3. Start in operations
4. Continuous Learning
5. Then Implementation
6. Practice as many hands on / labs as you can
7. Strong foundation on R & S then anything else would be easy

9. THEN YOU WILL
TRANSITION
• Time to move to Design track
• Don’t be scare of slow start (we all love TCP)
• Read a lot
• Ask why
• Challenge ideas
• Utilize design panel / peer review
• Bid process
• Identify - bridge - Deliver – Advocate
• Customer Understanding – Interaction
Network Design Roadmap / Journey

10. Here is
HOW I DID IT !
My journey into network design 15 years ago
• Experience
• Service Provider gained skills is a great asset
• 20 years experience
• Majority in Multinational Service Providers
• Almost 15 years design experience
• Customer facing
• Many projects/designs covers security , DC, SDN/NFV, and Cloud
Computing

11. KEEP IN MIND
CRUCIAL TIPS
• Write your dream and it will come true
• Plan (time, cost, resources, …)
• Evaluate yourself (SWOT)
• READ- More READING- KEEP READING
• Always ask why while reading
“Is there a better way to accomplish this task?”
• Evaluate and weight potential options

12. INSIDE THE MIND OF A
NETWORK DESIGNER

13. THE NETWORK DEAIGNER MINDSET
THINK… WHY?
• Analytical thinking
• Requirements gathering
• Understanding your customer
• Educating your customer
• Technologies are great  Use it to the customer’s benefit
• Stretch your business skills

14. A HISTORY LESSON
WHAT HAPPENED?
• Oscillation between distribution/centralized Model
• Coupling versus decoupling of Control and data plane

15. THE NETWORK DEAIGNER SKILLSET
WHICH SKILLS?
• Master your foundation
• problem analysis skills
• Documentation & Technical writing
• Top down design : start with
• Business
• People / Process
• Applications
• Then Network
• process frameworks including PMP, TOGAF, ITIL
• Always Consider Network Design Pillars

16. SCALABILITY
Network Designer Skillset
• Scale Up / Scale down
• In coordination with customer vision
• Scalable solution:
• Expansion cause only local change
• Size can double or triple with no major impact on design
• Ease of operation

17. AVAILABILITY
Network Designer Skillset
• Availability: Factor of Hardware + Human + Process
• total UP time
• Remember that  Availability = MTBF / MTTR + MTBF
• Availability per year or per month ?

18. SECURITY
Network Designer Skillset
• Think about security during data gathering not after implementation
• Secure your valuable asset
• Simple solution  avoid human errors
• Cost of Security < cost of damage
• Don’t apply your security like the Donuts  Defense in Depth

19. MODULARITY
Network Designer Skillset
• Policy Enforcement
• Hide information
• Hide complexity from complexity
• Better Processing and utilization : low end devices

20. MANAGEMENT
Network Designer Skillset
• Lower MTTR
• Increase MTBM
• Security
• Visibility & Planning

21. RESILIENCY
Network Designer Skillset
• Includes redundancy in all layers
• Per Role/Function
• Specific for each Module (SP 3 layers)

22. CCDE
AS AN END-GOAL

23. More Value
Upmarket your value
in the industry
Next Level
Advance in your
Profession
Knowledge
Enrich your
Knowledge in the field
Wide Horizons
Stretch your technology
and business skillset
Competition
isn’t getting any easier
these days
Cisco?
It’s not a Cisco specific
certification
Identify - Bridge - Deliver – Advocate
R O A D T O C C D E
01 02 03
CAREER Financial and
Personal Goals
Technical
and
Business
Knowledge

24. OVERVIEW
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• Fear of the Unknown
• Tie business to technical
• CCDE Exam
• Written exam
• Practical exam
• Vendor neutral
• No hardware questions
• No Configuration questions
• There are business problems driving a specific technology solutions
• Designs large scale networks in a variety of business environments
• Identify root-cause and resolve design level issues

25. PREREQUISITES / SELF EVALUATION
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• No prerequisites for CCDE
• In my opinion candidate should have:
• At least 7 years experience
• 3 – 5 years design experience
• Customer facing (Pre-Sales) is a plus
• First, Evaluate where you currently are
• Download the spreadsheet and personalize it
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccde/written_exam/study-material
• Exam Topics
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/exams/docs/352-001_ccde.pdf

26. PRACTICAL EXAM QUESTIONS
R O A D T O C C D E
SCENARIOS
• Merge two organizations
• Add a Technology/Service
• Replace a Technology/Service
• Design failure, and how to fix it
• Scaling
39%
12%
13%
36%
Implement
Network Design
Validate &Optimize
Network Design
Develop Network
Design
Analyse Design
Requirements

27. CHALLENGE YOURSELF
Obstacles on the ROAD
• It’s Your Future  protect your dreams
• There’s no clear learning path to gather the required
skills and mindset for each stage
• Find the right Mentor
• Different Company culture
• Network is changing rapidly
• Find adequate time
• Work hard
• keep up, and never give up
Never do that !

28. WE CAN ALSO HELP
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• The perfect launchpad to your network design career
• CCDE Scenario based training
• CCDE: The practical guide book (Get an evaluation copy after this session)
• CCDE: Simulator
• Network design challenges
• Network Design Articles
• Webinar and freebies
• One on one sessions
• And much more…

29. YOUR POSITION AS A DESIGNER
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• Advance your career
• Self Esteem
• Accomplishments and achievements
• Financial boost

30. RESOURCES / BOOKS
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• Optimal Routing Design
• Definitive MPLS designs
• End to end QoS
• BGP Design & Implementations
• CCDE Study Guide
• CCDE: The Practical Guide
Additional Reading
• Designing Cisco Network Service
Architectures (ARCH)
• Layer 2 VPN Architectures
• Network Management Fundamentals
• Network Security Architectures
• Deploying IPv6 Networks

31. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• Not only as a preparation for CCDE exam, but they are really good reference in you real work experience
• The Art of Network Architecture
• MPLS Enabled Application
• Top-down network design -- 3rd Edition first four chapters
• Selecting MPLS VPN
• Comparing, Designing, and Deploying VPNs
• Network Security Architecture
• The Outliers
• Cisco Live
• design, and deployment sessions for each technology
• Cisco Validated Design

32. WEBSITES
ROAD TO THE CCDE
• Agile Integrated Solutions www.agileis.com.au
• Network Design Arena www.netdesignarena.com
• Light reading www.lightreading.com
• SDx central www.sdxcentral.com
• IP Space blog.ipspace.net/
• Cisco Learning Network learningnetwork.cisco.com

33. NETWORK DESIGN
COMMUNITYMADEFORYOU
Get help anytime, anywhere, meet experts and connect with your peers… completely free
nextgennetworing.slack.com

34. UPGRADEYOUR DESIGN SKILLS
NETWORK DESIGN CHALLENGES
Test and improve your skills with our periodical design challenges.
COMING SOON…

35. THE NEXT LEVEL OF NETWORK DESIGN
THE BREAKTHROUGH PROGRAM
FROM ZEROTOTHE HIGHEST LEVEL OF NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
UNVEILING SOON…
THE MOST POWERFUL TRAINING PROGRAM EVER MADE FOR NETWORK
DESIGNERS

36. THANK YOUMOHAMED RADWAN