Hello Ronald,
The CCIE lab testing centers have been closed since March 16 because of COVID-19. The new lab exam is live since April 27 so nobody has seen it yet.
Here are two sources from Cisco that explain what the lab is like:
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/article/ccie-enterprise-lab-exam-overview
I think this gives a good idea of what it’s like. The lab is 8 hours:
- 3 hours for design.
- 5 hours for hands on + web based items.
The design and hands-on parts blend together. This should give us a clue of what to expect.
I think the design part is like a regular Pearson VUE exam but they give you one scenario with requirements, topology files, etc. All questions are about the same scenario and requirements.
When you finish the design section, you continue with the hands-on part. You probably have to configure (part of) the network that was introduced in the design section.
I think this is an improvement. V4 of the CCIE R&S lab exam which I did basically looked like this:
- Configuration section: a 15-20 devices topology that you have to configure from scratch.
- Troubleshooting section: a 20-30 devices topology (completely different than the configuration section) that you had to troubleshoot.
With the new CCIE lab, they slowly introduce you to the topology and scenario that you work on for 8 hours. This sounds much better to me.
The hands-on part, I can imagine what that’s like since it’s probably pretty much the same as the V4 lab that I did.
The design part is more difficult to tell but we know that the design and configuration part share the same topology and scenario. We still have the CCDE exam as the “CCIE design” exam so I don’t think it will be as high level as that.
With V4 of the CCIE R&S lab exam that I did, the lab really focused on the technology and not on best practices or anything. You would get weird topologies with redistribution problems and everything. With the new exam, the design + hands on part blend together so I would think that you get a more “real life” topology that you have to answer questions about and configure.
I’d think that you get design questions about the implications of doing certain things with a focus on the technology.
If I were to prepare today, I would go through the ENSLD material and perhaps the CCDE written material. We can only guess what the design part is like but I think if you are strong in understanding the technology and having a good sense of “high level overview” design, you should be good.
Rene