CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure Exam Survival Guide

Window: Global | Qualifying exam + 8-hr lab (design + deploy + operate + optimize)

Must-do topics

• Core routing/switching: OSPFv2/v3, EIGRP, BGP (policy, path control), STP variants, EtherChannel, VLANs/VRF
• SD-Access & SDA fabrics: LISP, VXLAN, Cisco DNA Center workflows (provision, policy, assurance)
• SD-WAN: control/overlay (vBond, vSmart, vManage), policies (data/control), TLOCs, DIA/Hub-Spoke
• Security: 802.1X, TrustSec (SGT/SGACL), ACL/NAT, IPSec, PKI basics
• QoS & Multicast: classification/marking, queuing/shaping, PIM/IGMP
• Automation/Programmability: NETCONF/RESTCONF, YANG/JSON, Python snippets, telemetry

Top traps (avoid)

• BGP policy order and attribute precedence mistakes
• SDA underlay/overlay confusion; missing anycast gateway behavior
• SD-WAN policy directions (from-service vs to-service) misapplied
• QoS trust boundaries mis-set at access edge
• Forgetting idempotent automation runs and source of truth

Time split

• Written: ~120 min, blueprint-wide; pace ~1 min/Q
• Lab: 8 hrs → Design (3 h) + Deploy/Operate/Optimize (5 h); time-box each section

Last-48h checklist

• Mini-labs: OSPF area types, BGP policy, HSRP/GLBP, redistribution edge cases
• DNAC/SDA run-through: fabric roles, VLAN pooling, SGT mapping
• SD-WAN hands-on: feature templates, policies, app-aware routing
• QoS cheat sheet (LLQ, CBWFQ, policing vs shaping)

Quick facts

• BGP best path: weight → local_pref → locally originated → AS_PATH → origin → MED → eBGP > iBGP → IGP metric → router-ID
• RSTP: discarding/learning/forwarding; root chosen by lowest BID
• VXLAN in SDA carries endpoint SGT/VRF with LISP mapping
• NETCONF over SSH; RESTCONF over HTTP(S)

Speed tactics

• Draw micro-topologies; annotate costs, timers, tags
• Verify with show commands after each change; small commits
• Prefer simplest design that meets SLAs; avoid over-policying

Day-of mini-plan

• 20-min warm-lab: OSPF+BGP+HSRP basics
• Lock points early in deploy tasks; leave optimization for last hour
• Document configs and reasoning as you go