Cisco CCNA Data Center

Introducing Cisco Data Center Technologies (DCICT – 200-155) | Exam Experience

Cisco CCNA Data Center 

This was a tough exam! I failed on the first attempt but was pretty close to the passing score. Luckily at the end of the exam, you get a print out reporting on each area of the exam (review the exam objectives below) so it was a case of going back to the books and reading the weak areas whilst also ensuring I did enough touch upon the areas I was strong on. The second attempt was a pass.

It is also worth noting I have been working with some of the equipment (Nexus, UCS) for a couple of years now in my current role, I use the UCSM manager on a daily basis so have ‘hands-on’ experience. 

Below you will find the resources I used during my studies in pressuring the DCICT exam to obtain the Cisco CCNA Data Centre. I felt there was not too much material out there compared to the CCNA Routing & Switching, I guess this is because the Routing & Switching path is the preferred path for network engineers. Nevertheless, I found studying for the CCNA Data Centre very helpful in giving me more exposure to the Nexus line of switches and the Cisco Unified Computing System. 

Before studying for any type of certification I always head on over to Exam objectives to get a feel for what I need to learn in order to pass the exam. The DCICT 200-155 exam objectives can be found here. In addition to this Cisco has a study material page breaking down the material required to pass the exam with some useful video links also, this can be found here.

A quick dirty mind map I created can be found here

Book

I did not come across many books on Amazon… therefore I went with the official cert guide by Navaid Shamsee et al. I normally find the official guides very dry so was hesitate to buy this but giving there was very little choice… To be fair the book is good and includes the material you need to pass the exam. Though as a visual learner I needed to supplement this with videos.

CCNA Data Center DCICT 200-155 Official Cert Guide, 1/e (Certification Guide)

The approach I took was to read a chapter and if there was something I was not quite sure on, I would to try and emulate this in a LAB environment along with sourcing further material to help me better understand i.e. Cisco docs, Pluralsight or YouTube (I love videos!).

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