1st Anniversary
Today is Just another CCIE’s first anniversary. Kinda strange since this means I got my number since a bit more than one year (already got CISCO’s 12 Month reminder) and I should start preparing for my recertification. But it does not feel like one year, more like maybe 6month or so 
Also nice to see the blog got over 30′000 hits lately, even though Im really really lazy with writing updates (still working on the solution guide for the lab..) since a few month but during busines days the blog gets between 90 and 110 hits a day which is still good. Might be better if there would be more articles and more updates around.
Dunno this is somehow a nonsense article but I thought its worth to mention.
Anyway thanks to all readers and commenters and enjoy your day
best regards
Michel
CCIE R&S Changes
Rumors about it were already posted on the Groupstudy mailinglist two weeks ago, but Cisco now confirmed the changes yesterday:
https://cisco.hosted.jivesoftware.com/docs/DOC-4605
Cisco Revising CCIE R&S Certification
The upcoming Version 4.0 of Cisco CCIE® Routing and Switching certification will test hands-on troubleshooting, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and VPN networking
To reflect the growth of the network as a service platform, Cisco is revising the certification requirements for CCIE Routing & Switching (CCIE R&S)–the expert level certification for network engineers. The new requirements were developed with assistance from Cisco enterprise customers and reflect the expectations of employers across industries.
The competencies required for CCIE R&S v4.0 certification were released on May 5, 2009, and are available on the Cisco Learning Network under the CCIE R&S v4.0 Written Exam topics and CCIE R&S v4.0 Lab Exam topics. Exams based on the new requirements are scheduled for release on October 18, 2009, and will immediately replace the currently available v3.0 exams. Candidates who plan to take their exams on October 18, 2009, or later should prepare using the new v4.0 exam topics.
Both the written and lab exams will be refreshed with new questions and will cover MPLS and VPN networking. The written exam will add scenario-based questions to the multiple choice questions, and the lab will now require hands-on troubleshooting of preconfigured networks, in addition to configuration. Exam duration and pricing will remain the same, with the two-hour written exam at USD$350 and the eight-hour lab at USD$1400.
A beta version of the new CCIE R&S v4.0 written exam (351-001) will be available to all customers in the July–August 2009 timeframe at a discounted price of USD$50. An announcement will be made when scheduling begins.
Looks like I gonna try to get my recert before october so I got more time to prepare on MPLS and VPN for the next recertification
About
Im a network engineer working for an international medical company based in Basel, Switzerland. I began my professional life in 2000 after 4 years of an IT apprenticeship. I started as the Network Management System responsible with quite a lot other of other tasks inside the Cisco networking field. In 2005 I changed to my current employer where I changed my field of knowledge from part NMS part Networking to full time Networking. I also started to educate myself deeper into networking. After passing the CCNA and CCNP exams I wanted to go further with my education and took the CCIE R&S track instead of doing a school with lots of stuff Im not interested in 
I started the CCIE journey in August 2007 with the first of 5 workshops at the Cisco Network Academy in Rapperswil and passed the CCIE in Brussels at 07th of May 2008.
During that time I wrote a lot of documents to keep the stuff I learned and I thought it might be an idea to make it public so it might help other people on their path through the Cisco Certifications. I hope this site gets useful not only for CCIE candidates but also for other networking professionals on their search for knowledge.
If you have any questions or want to contact me, please drop me a line to pashtuk at gmail.com
