The CCIP certification from Cisco (Cisco Certified Internet Professional) is the ideal certification for those working, or wanting to work, in service provider organisations. CCIP certified individuals have a good working knowledge of networking technologies applicable to service providers, including IP routing, IP QoS, BGP, and MPLS.
The CCIP is a 'professional level' certification which means that in order to qualify to take the CCIP exams, the candidate must first pass the relevant 'associate level' certification, in this case the CCNA.
Once the CCNA has been passed, candidates can then earn their CCIP certification by passing 3 or 4 exams, depending on which route they choose. The exams are:
4-exam route:
642-901 BSCI - Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks - 90 mins
or
642-892 Composite - Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI) and Building Cisco Managed Switched Networks (BCMSN) - 120 mins
642-642 QOS - Implementing Cisco Quality of Service (QoS) - 90 mins, 45-55 questions
642-661 BGP - Configuring BGP on Cisco Routers (BGP) - 90 mins, 50-60 questions
642-611 MPLS - Implementing Cisco MPLS (MPLS) - 90 mins, 55-65 questions
Or the 3-exam route:
642-901 BSCI - Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks
or
642-892 Composite - Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI) and Building Cisco Managed Switched Networks (BCMSN) - 120 mins
642-642 QOS - Implementing Cisco Quality of Service (QoS) - 90 mins, 45-55 questions
642-691 BGP+MPLS - Configuring BGP on Cisco Routers (BGP) and Implementing Cisco MPLS (MPLS) - 90 mins, 60-70 questions
Note that the 3-exam route simply combines two of the exams together to create one combined exam (642-691), so while the candidate is tested on the same content irrespective of which route they choose, the 3-exam route gives candidates the opportunity to save a little bit of money and perhaps time (the combined exam is cheaper than the sum of the two individual exams). Candidates must successfully pass both routing and switching subsections of the Composite exam to pass the exam.
The exam questions are a mix of multiple-choice, simulations, drag-and-drop etc. and vary in length and the number of questions asked depending on the exam. During the exam candidates can not go back to review or answer previous questions. The ability to mark questions for later review is not provided in CCIP exams, so each question must be answered before moving on to the next one (for more information about the exam formats and what you can expect in the testing center, read our section on Cisco exams).
At the conclusion of the exam the candidate will be provided with a score report which indicates a pass or a fail. Additional information regarding specific section scores is also provided to help the candidate identify areas of strength and weakness. Only once all the exams have been passed will the candidate earn the CCIP certification.
The CCIP certification is valid for three years after which time a candidate will need to recertify in order to continue to remain CCIP certified. To recertify a candidate must pass any '642' exam that is current at the time, or alternatively pass any CCIE written exam that is current at the time.
Below, and on the following pages, you'll find links to free CCIP self study resources. We do our best to add to our resource pool and to ensure that the links are active and relevant. You can help by reporting any broken links that you come across or by suggesting any other free CCIP resources that we've overlooked. Make sure that you use the exam objectives on the official CCIP page to guide your studying efforts, and check out also the other Cisco certification pages on this site for other resources that may assist you.
