OG0-021 Exam

Introduction

CISCO is, and was ever since it was first founded, one of the biggest networking hardware companies on the globe. It has grown a legacy of fine, modern networking hardware providing some of the best networking solutions and devices on the market. As such, given its long line of work in the networking business, and its overall influence on the networking industry, CISCO also provides world-renown certifications in the field.

The CISCO Certified Network Associate certification, loosely abbreviated CCNA, offers accreditation at the associate-level for future networking professionals. This accreditation certifies that the holder has the required knowledge and skills to work in the networking business, with some degree of help and support. A CCNA certified individual is usually capable of operating, maintaining and troubleshooting small networks by themselves.

Exam description

Why is this exam required?

The Cisco 640-911 DCICN exam is required to gain the CCNA Data Center certification for associate-level networking technicians and engineers. Such a certification is useful for data center network administrators, as it is a cheaper and more productive way to design, operate, maintain, and troubleshoot small data centers. Network engineers can opt to take the training and the certification in order to not be dependent on specialized personnel to manage their data centers, and as such it is incredibly useful to any individual, or company that owns such a center.

Associated Exams

To take the CCNA Data Center certification, you will need to pass two exams: This one, the Cisco 640-911 DCICN and the Cisco 640-916 DCICT. Thankfully there are no prerequisite exams needed to be taken before these two. Also, as a CCNA certificate, taking these exams will open the way to further and more advanced certifications, such as the CCNP and CCIE Data Center certifications.

Objectives of the exam

The exam has a suit of 4 topics or domains each valuing a certain percentage of the exam's final score. As usual to CCNA certifications, one topic is significantly larger and more bulky than the others. Also, as with all CISCO certifications, CISCO reserves the right to add a few questions that are relevant to the domain of accreditation, yet may not be notified of priory in the topics. This is to better accommodate the ever-changing needs of the industry, but do not fret too much as the number of such questions is small and is usually indifferent to the final score. Current topics, which are pretty self-explanatory, are as listed:

Describe How a Network Works (15%)

Exactly as the title says, this topic asks you to describe how a network works.

Configure then Verify and Troubleshoot a Switch with VLAN and Interswitch Communications Using Nexus (21%)

This topic covers basic VLAN and Nexus facilities and utilization, as well as how to configure, verify and troubleshoot problems in the topic.

Implement an IP Addressing Scheme and IP Service to Meet Network Requirements in a Medium-Size Enterprise Branch Office Network Using Nexus (12%)

Although not going too much into the details, this topic is about IP addressing as well as IPv4 and IPv6.

Configure then Verify, and Troubleshoot Basic Router Operations and Routing on Cisco Devices Using Nexus (52%)

Certainly the biggest of the bunch, this topic will ask you to know how to configure, verify and troubleshoot a CISCO Router, and its router lookup process. This will require you to fully operate such a device by yourself.

Career prospects

As with most certifications, you will receive increased credibility and employability. You will be able to go above the entry level, to a junior engineer level, and will be capable of limited single work using data centers. Also, while it is only an associate-level certification, it opens up the path to further, more advanced certifications, such as the CCNP Data Center, which requires the CCNA Data Center certificate as a prerequisite.

If the individual so desires, he can also skip the CCNP Data Center and move on directly to the CCIE Data Center, which is an expert-level certification. While the CCIE has no formal prerequisites, and does not require the CCNA, it is the pinnacle of Data Center engineering certification. However such a certification should not be attempted without the CCNP except in the case that the individual has amasses quite a bit of experience in the domain and wishes to see it valued.

Even if the individual does not want to progress to a higher certification, the certificate is still valuable to any CV, being internationally recognized by all companies that require the use of networks, and work heavily with CISCO products.