The Cisco CCT Routing and Switching certification refers to the enterprise track within the Cisco accreditation program and to the entry level. This designation proves your skills to provide online support and maintenances of Cisco switches, routers, and operating environments. The certified specialists are proficient in indicating Cisco switch and router models, interfaces, cabling, and accessories, understanding the Cisco IOS Software managing modes, and defining the found software. In addition, this accreditation is considered to be the best choice to gain foundational skills to support Cisco systems and devices.
Passing the 100-490 exam is a must on the way of getting the CCT Routing and Switching certification from Cisco. The evaluation aims to check your skills in maintaining and providing support remotely of Cisco collaboration endpoints as well as operating environments. In brief, the exam is about defining the Cisco collaboration endpoint cabling, interfaces, accessories, and models. You also are required to be knowledgeable of the Cisco collaboration software and the Cisco Command Line Interface. As for the exam details, it includes 60-70 questions which you need to complete in a given timeframe of 90 minutes.
Speaking of the exam content, it is divided into 4 parts, each of which is dedicated to a specific topic. The first domain is devoted to general networking knowledge. In this part, your skills to implement TCP, IP, and OSI models, describe main functions and core differences of wireless access points, LAN switch, and router will be measured. In addition, you should be able to know the difference of the Layer 2 technologies, be able to describe LAN cabling, an IPv6 & IPv6 subnet, and the Telco termination point. You also should know how CSU, DSU, FTP, PING, Telnet, and SSH function.
The second topic aims to evaluate your ability in operating with Cisco equipment and related hardware. It implies that you should be able to define switches and routers of various series such as the Cisco Nexus 9000, Catalyst 100, 2960, 3850, and Meraki, as well as Cisco 8000, Cisco ASR 1000, NCS 5000 for instance. Within this topic, you should be able to show your knowledge of Cisco Transceiver modules, the serial number of Cisco products, terms related to hardware memory, cabling on Cisco equipment, and various loop-back plugs.
The third topic evaluates your skills in dealing with Cisco IOS Software operation. This comprises skills in demonstrating the core roles of the Cisco software, which includes IOS, IOS-XR, IOS-XE, and NX-OS, choosing the appropriate operating mode, identifying the mode of a device, using the main Cisco ISO Software commands. Besides, your ability to define a configuration file on a Cisco device, and describe Bundle Mode as well as Install Mode IOS-XE will also be assessed.
In the fourth domain, you will be tested on Service-related knowledge. Here, you will be required to show that you are able to locate and implement Notepad, the Windows command prompt, and Terminal Emulation. This domain will measure your ability to provide internet connection on a laptop, configure FTP and TFTP servers, carry out software upgrade and downgrade, find and correct the main issues at Layer 1 and Layer 2.
As for the annual salary you can get with the Cisco CCT Routing and Switching certification, it is estimated at$65,000, as per the Payscale website.