The CCDP certification (Cisco Certified Design Profession) is Cisco's Professional-level certification designed to reflect advanced knowledge of, and experience in, network design. A CCDP certified individual should be able to design routed and switched networks involving LAN, WAN, and dial access services, applying modular design practices and making sure the whole solution responds optimally to the business and technical needs of the client.
In order to take the CCDP certification a candidate must first pass the Associate-level CCDA and CCNA certifications. Once the prerequisites have been met then the candidate must pass up to three CCDP exams (candidates can choose a two-exam path or a three-exam path). The exams are (click on each link to view the respective Cisco home page for that exam):
642-901 BSCI Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks - 90 mins
642-812 BCMSN Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks - 90 mins
642-871 ARCH Designing Cisco Network Service Architectures - 90 mins, 55-65 questions
Or
642-892 Composite BSCI Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks and BCMSN Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks - 120 mins
642-871 ARCH Designing Cisco Network Service Architectures - 90 mins, 55-65 questions
(The two-exam route combines the 642-901 and the 642-812 exams together in the form of the 642-892)
The exams are a mixture of multiple choice, drag and drop, simulations etc, and vary in length and number of questions depending on the particular exam. Exams are taken through any Prometric or Pearson VUE testing center.
The CCDP certification is valid for three years after which time the candidate must recertify if they wish to remain certified. Recertification requires passing any professional-level '642' exam, or any current CCIE written exam, and of course paying the applicable fees.
On the following pages you'll find links to free CCDP self-study resources, such as practice tests, study guides and more. Use the exam objectives from the Cisco CCDP home pages to focus your studying on the topics that you're likely to encounter in the exams, and be sure to check the Cisco home page often for updates and changes to the CCDP certification track. Be sure also to check out the resources listed on our pages under the other Cisco certifications as many of the resources are also relevant to the CCDP certification.
General CCDP certification information:
http://www.cisco.com Cisco's CCDP certification page
http://www.certmag.com Exam overview
http://www.certmag.com Study advice on preparing for the exam
http://ciscocert.custhelp.com Frequently asked questions and online support
http://www.submag.com Cisco's submag - need to register to receive
http://www.certcities.com Exam overview
http://www.tcpmag.com magazine for Cisco experts
