CCNP Progress: Passed the 642-821!
So I passed another CCNP exam today! Three down, one left to go. This one was far easier than the routing and switching exams. The shear amount of content those exams had was, in a word, overwhelming. I wonder if it's intended to weed out the slackers so only the truly dedicated persevere. The BCRAN tests your knowledge of a variety of different remote access technologies, from ISDN BRI/PRI (yes it's still around), to Frame Relay (yes, it's still around), to DSL, Cable Modem, and Satellite. You're required to learn and apply backup strategies so if your main link dies or becomes saturated, you have a means to back it up. You have to know the intricacies of several different queuing and compression strategies so you can optimize WAN capacity. Finally, you have to learn several ways of securing remote access, using such things as AAA and IPSec. Since this exam is retired, you have to be a Networking Academy student to take it, however, it still counts towards a CCNP. All in all, a fairly difficult exam, but certainly passable with the right amount of study and hands-on time. Onward to the last exam, the CIT!