CCIE Collaboration study plan
CCIE Collaboration · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 8 hours per week
Collaboration Infrastructure and Design
Diagram a multi-cluster Cisco UCM deployment with intersite links, regions, and device pools, and justify each design choice against a stated scale and redundancy requirement.
Configure a three-node cluster (publisher plus two subscribers) in a lab and verify database replication and failover behavior.
Compare on-premises, hybrid, and Webex-hosted calling architectures and map each to the signaling and media protocols it uses.
Document the DHCP, DNS, NTP, and certificate dependencies that must exist before a cluster is installed.
Your checkpoint
A 10-15 page design document with topology diagrams, an IP addressing and device pool table, and a dependency checklist, plus lab screenshots showing replication status and a successful subscriber failover.
Call Control and Signaling
Trace a basic call end to end across SIP, SCCP, H.323, and MGCP, naming the messages exchanged at each leg.
Configure SIP trunks between two clusters and between a cluster and a Cisco Unified Border Element, then capture and annotate a successful call setup and teardown.
Diagnose and fix at least three deliberately introduced call-routing failures using dial-peer and translation-pattern changes.
Explain how route patterns, route lists, route groups, and partitions and calling search spaces interact to produce least-cost routing.
Your checkpoint
An annotated packet capture of a completed intercluster call (INVITE through BYE) with a one-page explanation of each signaling message, plus a written root-cause note for each of the three injected failures.
Call Control and Signaling & Collaboration Applications and Services
Build a dial plan with site codes, forced authorization codes, and tail-end hop-off, and verify correct routing for ten test numbers.
Configure a SIP URI dial plan and confirm that URI-based calls resolve correctly between endpoints.
Integrate Cisco Unity Connection with a cluster for voicemail, including MWI and a basic call handler, and test message waiting and retrieval.
Configure a Cisco Expressway pair for Mobile and Remote Access and register a Jabber or Webex App client through it.
Your checkpoint
A dial-plan and services test matrix covering all ten test numbers plus voicemail and MRA registration, with pass/fail results and captured evidence for each row.
Collaboration Edge and Security
Harden a Collaboration edge deployment by applying certificates, TLS, SRTP, and firewall rules, and verify that media is encrypted end to end.
Configure a Cisco Unified Border Element for SIP normalization, topology hiding, and call admission control, and prove each function with a test call.
Design and test a dial-peer-based toll-fraud prevention policy that blocks international destinations except for an authorized class of users.
Map the traffic flows and ports required for MRA, and validate them with a firewall rule review.
Your checkpoint
A security hardening report containing the certificate inventory, the firewall port matrix, and evidence of a blocked toll-fraud attempt alongside a successful encrypted call.
Collaboration Applications and Services & Collaboration Automation and Assurance
Deploy Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment or a comparable provisioning workflow to add users and devices in bulk from a CSV.
Build a runbook that automates a routine task (for example, adding a site) using AXL or the Webex APIs, and test it against a lab cluster.
Configure CDR and CAR or a comparable reporting stack, then generate a report showing call volume and trunk utilization.
Set up RTMT alerting for cluster health and simulate a threshold breach to confirm the alert fires.
Your checkpoint
A working automation script with a README, plus a utilization report and a screenshot of a triggered RTMT alert, all stored in a version-controlled repository.
Collaboration Infrastructure and Design & Collaboration Automation and Assurance
Execute a backup and restore of a cluster and of Unity Connection, and verify data integrity after restore.
Perform a cluster upgrade or COP file installation in the lab and document the pre- and post-checks.
Build a capacity and sizing model for 2,000 endpoints that accounts for regions, locations, and bandwidth.
Write an incident-response runbook for a publisher failure that includes the exact verification commands.
Your checkpoint
A backup, restore, and upgrade report with before-and-after verification output, plus a sizing spreadsheet and the incident runbook.
Collaboration Infrastructure and Design & Collaboration Applications and Services & Call Control and Signaling & Collaboration Edge and Security & Collaboration Automation and Assurance
Complete a timed 60-question mixed-domain practice set and score each domain separately.
Re-study the two weakest domains using targeted labs rather than reading.
Teach back three complex topics (for example, MRA flows, CAC, and dial-peer matching) in recorded five-minute explanations.
Resolve every missed practice question to a documented root cause and a corrective lab.
Your checkpoint
A scored practice exam report with per-domain breakdown, a remediation log for every missed question, and three recorded teach-back videos.
Collaboration Infrastructure and Design & Collaboration Applications and Services & Call Control and Signaling & Collaboration Edge and Security & Collaboration Automation and Assurance
Run a full-length timed mock exam under test conditions and review every answer.
Re-verify the weakest three labs from earlier weeks without notes.
Consolidate all deliverables into a single indexed study portfolio with a one-page summary per domain.
Finalize a day-before and exam-day logistics checklist.
Your checkpoint
A complete indexed study portfolio plus a final mock-exam score report showing improvement over week 7, and a signed exam-day checklist.
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain and demonstrate a complete call flow across two clusters and one CUBE without notes, and has fixed three injected routing faults.
Week 4: Has a working MRA deployment with encrypted media, a hardened CUBE, and documented evidence of a blocked toll-fraud attempt.
Week 6: Has completed a backup, restore, and upgrade cycle, and can produce a defensible sizing model for 2,000 endpoints.
Week 7: Scores at least 70 percent overall on the mixed practice set with no domain below 60 percent.
Week 8: Scores at least 80 percent on the full-length mock exam and has re-verified the three weakest labs unaided.