Cisco 360 Assessment Lab Review

Troubleshooting has been the major area in the lab exam that I have needed help in lifting my game.  I have used resources in multiple areas to give assistance and they have all helped improve my performance but I have been searching for that extra push to get there.  As previously mentioned I gave the Netmaster class updated assessment labs a spin and to be honest I found particularly in the troubleshooting area that this is the best I've come up against to simulate what you get in the real lab.

The NMC Lab is split into two parts - Troubleshooting and Configuration.  The Troubleshooting section is newer and handled differently to how the Configuration section appears.  To access the TS lab, you have to install a Cisco VPN client (the instructions you are sent a day or two before your actual sessions starts includes a download link for the VPN client as well as a test account to validate that you can connect)  Also included are recommendations to configure your web browser and telnet client which will make things easier so you can click on a router and have putty (or securecrt if that's your poison) fire up

Once your session has begun and you have connected to the VPN, you go to a web page which has the tickets and the network diagrams.  The major difference is that there appears to be 3 hours allocated for TS rather than 2.  I used a timer to force myself to stop after 2 hours to make it as real as possible.  The troubleshooting section is based on the Cisco IOU platform and supports approximately 30 routers.  Unlike the actual lab exam, this doesn't include simulated catalyst platforms, so it's not 100% accurate but is close enough for the majority of tickets you might actually encounter in the real thing and appears to cover all of the technologies in the blueprint.  The types of questions in this simulation are actually more vague than what I recall seeing in the actual lab itself which can be a little annoying, however if you can deal with those you will probably find the actual lab a bit easier.

The configuration section in the lab was a 6 hour configuration section using real routers and switches.  The copyright date of the exam was 2009 and the presentation was not web based - the questions were in a PDF file.  Although the actual config lab these days is usable via a web interface to read questions/see diagrams and no printed material is given, I would actually recommend that you print the configuration section questions out so you can get easy reference to the diagrams otherwise there will be a lot of scrolling up and down.  I found the config lab to be a nice challenge and I guess of similar level to what I have encountered in the real lab.

The timing of events were 3 hours for TS, 1 hour break, 6 hours of Config (I stopped TS after 2 hours so ended up with a 2 hour break in between)  The good thing about the Cisco 360 labs as far as booking the lab session itself is that the booking is based on a local timezone to the student allowing a good deal of flexibility compared to other rack vendors.   The other component that I liked was the automatic grading gave results and feedback in approximately 90 minutes after completion and included a comprehensive marking system and answer key and even a web based system that allows you to compare your configurations against the working reference as well as performing show commands for status and configurations.  The Cisco 360 assessment labs are more expensive than other vendors (approximately twice the cost of some) however with the most up to date version of the Troubleshooting scenario, richer and faster results and feedback and flexible booking times do help offset the higher costs.

What was interesting for my particular session was after the assessment lab, a group mentoring session was held which focused only on the TS component.  Things that were discussed included NMC's recommended strategy for attempting questions as well as an indepth dive into addressing all of the tickets in the assessment lab we did.  This group session was the first time it was run, and while I did find it useful considering it ran for 2.5 hours - I don't think I would attend it against, particularly since it was held at 3am my local time on a Thursday morning (thank goodness for caffeinated beverages or I wouldn't have survived the day at work)


I found the updated TS component in the Cisco 360 Assessment Labs to be very helpful.  There are a number of labs available.  If you are interested in doing one of these, some of the labs listed on their site are the older TS versions that don't use the IOU environment - so if you want the new labs (highly recommended) take care and select labs that have "TC" in the ordering code.  At the time I'm posting the updated labs are

CIERS1-TC-LAB02 (Assessment Lab 2)
CIERS-TC-LAB01 (Assessment Lab 3)
CIERS-TC-LAB02 (Assessment Lab 4)
CIERS2-TC-LAB02 (Assessment Lab 6)
CIERS2-TC-LAB04 (Assessment Lab 8)
CIERS-TC-LAB03 (Assessment Lab 10)
CIERS-TC-LAB04 (Assessment Lab 11)

The lab I took was CIERS-TC-LAB01 (Assessment Lab 3) and this was all paid for out of my own pocket.  I'm considering taking another one of these labs before my next attempt, so I think you could say I'm recommending this as a potential tool for your CCIE Lab preparation.