CCDE Reading List

CCDE Reading List

One of the most common questions I get from CCDE candidates is: “What should I read?” and “Where should I start?”
This post is the CCDE reading list I actually used to pass the CCDE written (400-007) and practical exams. I have organized everything into my O’Reilly playlist, publicly accessible, so you can follow it directly if you have an O’Reilly subscription.

This list includes full books, individual chapters, and video courses. Some chapters were selected for their specific content, while the video courses provide a complementary perspective on subjects covered in the books.

CCDE Tips

CCDE Practical Exam — Tips and Tricks for Exam Day

I recently passed the CCDE practical exam at Cisco Live. I am now CCDE #2026::37. During my preparation, I gathered insights from fellow candidates, seasoned CCDEs, and instructors, including Zig Zsiga, Russ White, Orhan Ergun, Mark Holm, and others. I combined them with my own experience on exam day: it took me three attempts to pass, so I have some experience. This post is my attempt to distill all of that into a practical guide for anyone sitting for the CCDE lab.

Scale-up, Scale-out, Scale-across

Understanding Scale-Out, Scale-Up, and Scale-Across Networking

Modern AI and HPC workloads place extraordinary demands on the underlying network infrastructure. And as network engineers, we are often pulled into conversations about GPU clusters, maybe without a clear map of the terrain.

Three terms come up constantly: scale-out, scale-up, and scale-across networking.

They describe fundamentally different network constraints and requirements. Here is a brief and simple explanation of each.

FabricPath to VXLAN BGP/EVPN migration

Migrating Cisco FabricPath and Classic Ethernet Environments to VXLAN BGP/EVPN over a 400Gb-based Clos Topology – the Why

During the past three years, I have spent a good portion of my time testing, planning, designing, and then migrating our DC network from Cisco FabricPath and Classic Ethernet environments to VXLAN BGP/EVPN. And simultaneously, from a hierarchical classic two-tier architecture to a more modern Clos 400Gb-based topology. The migration is not yet 100% completed, but it is well underway. And I have gained significant experience on the subject, so I think it’s time to share my knowledge and experiments with our community about FabricPath to VXLAN BGP/EVPN migration.

Cisco DCAUTO exam study resources

Cisco DCAUTO exam study resources

I just passed the Cisco DevNet DCAUTO (300-635) exam (Yay!). This is my 3rd Cisco exam on network automation after NPDESI in 2018 (replaced now by the DevNet program), and DevNet CORE (DEVCOR) in 2020. This time, I documented everything I studied, so I could report it here and build a good Cisco DCAUTO exam study resource list. And by doing this, I hope to help anyone who wants to study for this certification.

HDD

NVMe, NVMe over Fabrics and RDMA for network engineers

In the past, the evolution of network-based storage was not really a problem for network engineers; the network was fast, and the spinning hard drives were slow. Natural network upgrades to 10Gb, 40Gb, and 100Gb Ethernet were more than sufficient to meet the networking needs of storage systems.

But now, with the introduction of ultra-fast solid-state disks (SSDs) and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe), this is no longer true! Storage teams now have the ability to potentially saturate the network with incredibly fast devices.

Linux Networking with ip and nmcli commands

Linux Networking with ip and nmcli commands

We have all heard, at one time or another, a system administrator blaming the network. Then, it is up to the network engineers to prove that the network is not in cause. To do this, a minimum of network troubleshooting skills on Linux systems could be required. For the first post in the series:  Linux Networking with ip and nmcli commands