Master IIUC 640-460 exam topics with the official study guide
Assess your knowledge with chapter-opening quizzes
Review key concepts with Exam Preparation Tasks
Practice with realistic exam questions on the CD-ROM
CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide is a best of breed Cisco exam study guide that focuses specifically on the objectives for the CCNA Voice IIUC 640-460 exam. Senior voice instructors and network engineers Jeremy Cioara, Michael Cavanaugh, and Kris Krake share preparation hints and test-taking tips, helping you identify areas of weakness and improve both your conceptual knowledge and hands-on skills. Material is presented in a concise manner, focusing on increasing your understanding and retention of exam topics.
CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide presents you with an organized test preparation routine through the use of proven series elements and techniques. “Do I Know This Already?” quizzes open each chapter and allow you to decide how much time you need to spend on each section. Exam topic lists make referencing easy. Chapter-ending Exam Preparation Tasks sections help drill you on key concepts you must know thoroughly.
The companion CD-ROM contains a powerful testing engine that allows you to focus on individual topic areas or take complete, timed exams. The assessment engine also tracks your performance and provides feedback on a module-by-module basis, presenting question-by-question remediation to the text and laying out a complete study plan for review.
Well-regarded for its level of detail, assessment features, and challenging review questions and exercises, this official study guide helps you master the concepts and techniques that will enable you to succeed on the exam the first time.
CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide is part of a recommended learning path from Cisco that includes simulation and hands-on training from authorized Cisco Learning Partners and self-study products from Cisco Press. To find out more about instructor-led training, e-learning, and hands-on instruction offered by authorized Cisco Learning Partners worldwide, please visit www.cisco.com/go/authorizedtraining.
The official study guide helps you master all the topics on the IIUC exam, including
Connecting IP phones to the LAN infrastructure
Cisco Unified CME installation
Cisco Unified CME IP phone configuration
Cisco Unified CME voice productivity features
Gateway and trunk concepts and configuration
Cisco Unity Express concepts and configuration
Smart Business Communications System
Configuring and maintaining the UC500 for voice
Companion CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains an electronic copy of the book and more than 250 practice questions for the IIUC exam.
Jeremy D. Cioara, CCIE No. 11727, works in many facets of the Cisco networking realm. As an author, he has written multiple books for Cisco Press and Exam Cram. As an
instructor, he teaches at Interface Technical Training in Phoenix, Arizona. Likewise, Jeremy has recorded many E-Learning titles at CBTNuggets. Finally, Jeremy is the CIO of AdTEC Networks and worksas a network consultant focusing on Cisco network and Voice over IP (VoIP) implementations. Jeremy also runs the Cisco Blog (http://www.ciscoblog.com) in his “free time.”
Michael J. Cavanaugh, CCIE No. 4516 (Routing & Switching, Voice) and MCSE +Messaging, has been in the networking industry for more than 22 years. His employment
with companies such as Wachovia, General Electric, Cisco Systems, Inc., BellSouth Communication Systems, and AT&T Communication Systems has allowed him to stay at the forefront of technology and hold leading-edge certifications. He has spent the last eight years focused on Cisco Unified Communications design, professional services, consulting, and support. Michael’s passion is learning the practical applications of new technologies and sharing knowledge with fellow engineers.
Kris A. Krake, CCIE No. 10229 (Routing & Switching, Voice), is a Unified Communications Systems Engineer for Cisco Systems. Kris has consulted in the networking arena for more than 13 years and has spent over half of that time focused on Unified Communications. His employment with an Internet service provider and companies such as Aegon USA, BellSouth Communication Systems, and Cisco Systems has given him the opportunity to design, implement, and support a vast array of networks and telecommunications systems that range in size from small business to the globally reaching systems of the Fortune 50.
Welcome to the world of CCNA Voice! As technology continues to evolve, the realm of voice, which was traditionally kept completely separate from data, has now begun to merge with the data network. This brings together two different worlds of people: data technicians—historically accustomed to working with routers, switches, servers, and the like—and voice technicians, historically accustomed to working with PBX systems, digital handsets, and trunk lines. Regardless of your background, one of the primary goals of the new CCNA Voice certification is to bridge these two worlds together.
In June 2008, Cisco announced new CCNA specialties, including CCNA Security, CCNA Wireless, and CCNA Voice. These certifications, released 10 years after the initial CCNA, represent Cisco's growth into new and emerging industries. Certification candidates can now specialize in specific areas of study. Figure I.1 shows the basic organization of the certifications and exams used to achieve your CCNA Voice certification.
Figure I.1 Cisco Certifications and CCNA Voice Certification Path
As you can see from Figure I.1, a traditional CCNA certification is a prerequisite before you venture into the CCNA Voice certification. As of June 2009, the CCNA Voice certification will become a prerequisite before you are able to pursue the Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP) certification.
Goals and Methods
The most important and somewhat obvious goal of this book is to help you pass the Implementing Cisco IOS Unified Communications (IIUC) exam (640-460). In fact, if the primary objective of this book were different, then the book's title would be misleading. The methods used in this book to help you pass the IIUC exam are designed to also make you much more knowledgeable about how to do your job.
This book uses several key methodologies to help you discover the exam topics that you need to review in more depth, to help you fully understand and remember those details, and to help you prove to yourself that you have retained your knowledge of those topics. So, this book does not try to help you pass by memorization, but helps you truly learn and understand the topics. The CCNA Voice exam is the foundation for many of the Cisco professional certifications, and it would be a disservice to you if this book did not help you truly learn the material. Therefore, this book will help you pass the CCNA Voice exam by using the following methods:
Helping you discover which test topics you have not mastered
Providing explanations and information to fill in your knowledge gaps
Supplying exercises and scenarios that enhance your ability to recall and deduce the answers to test questions
Providing practice exercises on the topics and the testing process via test questions on the CD-ROM.
In addition, this book uses quite a different style from typical certification-preparation books. The newer Cisco certification exams have adopted a style of testing that essentially says, "If you don't know how to do it, you won't pass this exam." This means that most of the questions on the certification exam will require you to deduce the answer through reasoning or configuration rather than just memorizing facts, figures, or syntax from a book. To accommodate this newer testing style, the authors have written this book as a "real world" explanation of Cisco VoIP topics. Most concepts are explained using real-world examples rather than showing tables full of syntax options and explanations, which are freely available on Cisco.com. As you read through this book, you will definitely get a feeling of, "This is how I can do this," which is exactly what you need for the newer Cisco exams.
Who Should Read This Book?
The purpose of this book is twofold. The primary purpose is to tremendously increase your chances of passing the CCNA Voice certification exam. The secondary purpose is to provide the information necessary to deploy a VoIP solution using Cisco Unified Communication Manager Express (CME) or the Smart Business Communications System (SBCS). Cisco's new exam approach provides an avenue to write the book with both a real-world and certification-study approach at the same time. As you read through this book and study the configuration examples and exam tips, you will have a true sense of understanding how you could deploy a VoIP system, while at the same time feeling equipped to pass the CCNA Voice certification exam.
Strategies for Exam Preparation
Strategies for exam preparation will vary depending on your existing skills, knowledge, and equipment available. Of course, the ideal exam preparation would consist of building a small voice lab with a Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express 2801 Integrated Services Router and Cisco Unity Express capabilities, a switch, and a few IP phones, which you could then use to work through the configurations as you read through this book. However, not everyone has access to this equipment, so the next best step you can take is to read through the chapters in this book, jotting notes down with key concepts or configurations on a separate notepad. Each chapter begins with a "Do I Know This Already?" quiz designed to give you a good idea of the chapter's content and your current understanding of it. In some cases, you might already know most of or all the information covered in a given chapter.
After you have read through the book, have a look at the current exam objectives for the CCNA Voice exam listed on Cisco.com (http://www.cisco.com/certification). If there are any areas shown in the certification exam outline that you would still like to study, find those sections in the book and review them.
When you feel confident in your skills, attempt the practice exam included on the CD with this book. As you work through the practice exam, note the areas where you lack confidence and review those concepts or configurations in the book. After you have reviewed the areas, work through the practice exam a second time and rate your skills. Keep in mind that the more you work through the practice exam, the more familiar the questions will become, so the practice exam will become a less accurate judge of your skills.
After you have worked through the practice exam a second time and feel confident with your skills, schedule the real IIUC (640-460) exam through Vue (http://www.vue.com). You should typically take the exam within a week from when you consider yourself ready to take the exam, so that the information is fresh in your mind.
Keep in mind that Cisco exams are very difficult. Even if you have a solid grasp of the information, there are many other factors that play into the testing environment (stress, time constraints, and so on). If you pass the exam on the first attempt, fantastic! If not, know that this happens commonly. The next time you attempt the exam, you will have a major advantage: you have experienced the exam first-hand. Although future exams may have different questions, the topics and general "feel" of the exam will remain the same. Take some time to study areas from the book where you felt weak on the exam. Retaking the exam the same or following day from your first attempt is a little aggressive; instead, schedule to retake it within a week, while you are still familiar with the content.
640-460 IIUC Exam Topics
Table I.1 lists the exam topics for the 640-460 IIUC exam. This table also lists the book parts in which each exam topic is covered.
Table I.1 640-460 IIUC Exam Topics
Chapter Where Topic Is Covered
Exam Topic
Describe the components of the Cisco Unified Communications Architecture
Chapter 2
Describe the function of the infrastructure in a UC environment
Chapter 2
Describe the function of endpoints in a UC environment
Chapter 2
Describe the function of the call processing agent in a UC environment
Chapter 2
Describe the function of messaging in a UC environment
Chapter 2
Describe the function of auto attendants and IVRs in a UC environment
Chapter 2
Describe the function of contact center in a UC environment
Chapter 2
Describe the applications available in the UC environment, including Mobility, Presence, and Telepresence
Chapter 2
Describe how the Unified Communications components work together to create the Cisco Unified Communications Architecture
Describe PSTN components and technologies
Chapter 1
Describe the services provided by the PSTN
Chapter 1
Describe time division and statistical multiplexing
Chapter 1
Describe supervisory, informational, and address signaling
Chapter 1
Describe numbering plans
Chapter 1
Describe analog circuits
Chapter 1
Describe digital voice circuits
Chapter 1
Describe PBX, trunk lines, key-systems, and tie lines
This review is from: CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide (640-460 IIUC) (Hardcover)
This book seems to be very well laid out with tons of great reference material. Jeremy Cioara does a great job of covering the material and makes it into an easy read. I have completed some of the exams for CCVP, but have decided to go ahead and get my CCNA VOICE before finishing the rest of the CCVP track. Plus after 6/09 it will be required anyway.
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This review is from: CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide (640-460 IIUC) (Hardcover)
This is an excellent book and the coverage of the exam is simply superb. Some configuration guides from the [...] sites can help a lot to understand some of the concepts in much depth, as it is not meant to cover most of the topics in depth for this certification/program, but the book by itself covers all the qquestions you will find in the exam.
I think it is also an excellent resource as a reference for some basic VoIP deployments.
A last word for exam takers: Be strong on the basics. if you learn and really understand the "key topics" and "notes" in this book you will pass the exam with a very high score, as I just did. Great job, Mr. Cioara.
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