Should be an amazing week with all the other delegates that have been selected already, just look at the talent that is going to be attending:

	Marcus Burton	CWNP	@MarcusBurton
	Sam Clements	SC-WiFi	@Samuel_Clements
	Daniel Cybulskie	SimplyWiFi	@SimplyWifi
	Rocky Gregory	Intensified	@BionicRocky
	Tom Hollingsworth	The Networking Nerd	@NetworkingNerd
	Jennifer Huber	Wireless CCIE, here I come!	@JenniferLucille
	Blake Krone	Digital Lifestyle	@BlakeKrone
	Chris Lyttle	WiFi Kiwi’s Blog	@WiFiKiwi
	Andrew vonNagy	Revolution Wi-Fi	@RevolutionWiFi

I’ve met a lot of the delegates at various Cisco events: Sam and Jennifer I see at all the Cisco Mobility PVT’s, Tom and Andrew I hung out with at Cisco Live 2011 (way too much fun!). I’m looking forward to finally meeting Chris and Rocky in person after talking to them online for a little over a year now!

All and all this should be a great week and I can’t wait for the learning to start! Stay tuned for post event blogs as well, I’m sure I’ll have some good ones!

If you have been following me on Twitter (@blakekrone) or read my other blog post CCIE-Wireless Lab: What Did I Learn you know I’ve been working hard at obtaining those digits for awhile now. It’s quite a relief knowing that I’m done and that it is in fact doable. This time around I wasn’t nervous about the lab at all, I knew I had fixed a lot of my mistakes in practice and speed was on my side. I thought I would share some of my tactics on how I finally conquered the exam.

• ORGANIZE - In order to pass this test you need to be organized, you can’t just step through the exam. The very first thing I do when I sit down is I read the ENTIRE workbook page by page. As I’m reading I’m writing down in outline format the key points to each section and how many points the section is worth. This allows me to have a “checklist” for when 3/4pm comes around and it is time to verify.
• SPEED – The name of the game in version 1 is speed. Given the multitude of WLCs that you are presented with you really need to know how to configure them from the CLI. Notepad is your friend during the lab, every command that I ran on any of my hardware was saved in Notepad documents, this allowed me to verify what I had done (looking for typos), remember what I had done, and also allowed me to copy paste between devices. My favorite code snippet that I used was “save config CR (carriage return) y CR” which allowed me to save the config on my WLCs in a matter of seconds (useful for before lunch, end of day, etc). You also need to know Autonomous CLI backwards and forwards.
• EXECUTE – The very first thing I do in the execute phase is group together common tasks and a proper task flow of my outline. Just because the workbook has something as the last step doesn’t mean you can’t do that first if it makes sense. As I go through my own outline I’m looking at the workbook at the same time, applying all the configurations from my Notepad documents or using the GUI if I have to. By using scripts I can create 6 dynamic interfaces for example across multiple WLCs in less than 5 minutes. As I step through my outline I’m putting a line through each item that I know is correct, and circling anything that I might have to go back to.
• VERIFY – I can’t stress this one enough! This was my biggest failure in all my previous attempts, I simply didn’t know the right show commands to verify my configuration was actually 100% correct and followed what was asked of me. Your verify stage should be started by 3pm, 4pm at the latest to fully get through the entire workbook a second time. Remember, the devil lies in the details on this exam. Just because it doesn’t make sense doesn’t make it wrong, this is a lab not real life!

The CCIE Lab not only tests your technical skills, but it also tests how methodically you can think, something we need to do when we are installing or when we architect a design in real life. I’ve heard multiple times that this lab was designed to be done in 4 hours, I started configuring my hardware at 10am after doing all my planning. We had a 30 minute lunch break around 1115-1145. I was completely done with my configurations by 3pm, which left me 2 hours to verify which was important as I found a couple of typos that I had made. Once 4pm roles around consider your configuration FROZE, DO NOT CHANGE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY! I can’t stress that enough, on one attempt I made the stupid mistake of trying something different on my client PC at 4pm, this resulted in my completely hosing my VM image and I had to ask for them to restore the image. I got the image back at 445pm and had to rush through those steps again.

Finally, don’t give up. I’m not afraid to show this image, it took me 5 tries, but it only took me 1 to pass.

Ok, with that out of the way let’s get down to business without breaking any NDA rules.

1) FOR THE BETA: FAILURE IS THE ONLY OPTION? This test was poorly delivered, I had so many errors and mistakes in my exam that even if I were to have done lets say a 90% correct I still had no chance of passing. I had about 4 exhibits that didn’t show up resulting in me using my best guess elimination trying to pick the right 2 or 3 correct answers that maybe had a chance of correlating together. There was a few questions that I had the same answer listed twice, but, the kicker is that had they used the right negative (can / can’t, etc) one of them would be the right answer! So when you are presented with that which one do you choose?!?

2) KNOW THY PHY! I was thoroughly impressed with the fact that Cisco actually made more questions regarding the physical RF layer on the exam. All through the NA/NP exams I have felt there is a lack of RF questions, the exams are more of a how do you design a Cisco solution than how do you design RF networks. This has resulted in me always recommending people look at the CWNP exams to supplement the Cisco exam series, something I’m hoping to do once I get those magical numbers.

3) KNOW THE OBSCURE! Anyone can answer a question that is obvious about the Cisco product line, but can you answer the strange odd questions about Fresnel zones and odd/even bits? Or can you answer the strange QoS questions regarding UP packet markings at all the different levels (switch, IOS AP, thin AP, WLC, etc) and where the markings are in the packets structure?

4) READ, READ, READ! You can never read those design guides or technotes enough times, each time you read them you’ll find something else that is important. If you are truly committed to the CCIE-Wireless track you’ll find yourself reading these documents a hundred times before your lab. All those exam questions have to be backed up somewhere so the answers are there, you just need to figure out how to retain all that obscure information from above.

5) GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY! The key is to take what you read a hundred times and actually try applying the practices in a lab environment, yes this is the written but if you start to get into the habit of doing labs now that will set you up for success later on when you sit the 8 hour expensive lunch known as the IE Lab.

6) FINALLY, HAVE FUN! I know this one seems strange, but it’s just a test, this doesn’t determine whether or not you are going to be a garbage man or a doctor. If you fail, you just know now what you need to study and what the questions are like.

So, to conclude I’m sure glad I didn’t spend the full price to sit this test, I am bummed that I’m out $50 without even having a chance at passing given all of my errors on my test, but I provided feedback to the development team that will hopefully allow them to create a better test once it hits production. So far from what I have heard from others that took the beta exam my experience seems to be on par with them as well. As long as we all provided feedback then Cisco got what they wanted, guinea pigs to let them know what needs to be fixed before it goes live.

If you sat the exam please feel free to post your feedback in the comments, I’d love to hear what others thought about the exam!

So what exactly is a Cisco IP Phone Service?

Well in a nutshell an IP Phone Service (IPPS) is simply a web based application that is rendered to the client as XML which the IP Phone knows how to parse and display in a user friendly manner on the phone. Cisco provides a simple image below:

As you can see from this image that the components you need at a bare minimum are a web server and an IP Phone that is setup to use some sort of PBX device, Cisco of course wants you to use their CallManager product line however at home I use Asterisk. The application can be developed in basically any language you prefer, I like PHP so all my stuff is wrote in that. But PERL, .NET, etc are all supported. You could even develop an app that has a builtin webserver to host the pages.  Hopefully you have an idea about IPPS now and how it works so how about some code?

Simple Menu Example

Let’s say for example that you simply want to display a menu as seen below:

Your Cisco IPPS code would simply be:

Source code

<CiscoIPPhoneIconFileMenu>
    <Title>Menu</Title>
    <Prompt>Please Select An Item</Prompt>
    <SoftKeyItem>
            <Name>Select</Name>
            <URL>SoftKey:Select</URL>
            <Position>1</Position>
    </SoftKeyItem>
    <SoftKeyItem>
            <Name>Update</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/phone/?name=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
            <Position>2</Position>
    </SoftKeyItem>
    <SoftKeyItem>
            <Name>Exit</Name>
            <URL>SoftKey:Exit</URL>
            <Position>3</Position>
    </SoftKeyItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>0</IconIndex>
            <Name>Home Automation</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/ha?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>1</IconIndex>
            <Name>OpenBook</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/openbook/phone?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>2</IconIndex>
            <Name>Cameras</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/cameras?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>3</IconIndex>
            <Name>Weather</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/weather?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>4</IconIndex>
            <Name>Traffic</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/traffic?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>5</IconIndex>
            <Name>VisualMail</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/visualmail?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem>
            <IconIndex>6</IconIndex>
            <Name>Help</Name>
            <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/help.php?name=SEP001B0CDB5159&amp;devicename=SEP001B0CDB5159</URL>
    </MenuItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>0</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_ha.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>1</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_addressbook.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>2</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_cameras.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>3</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_weather.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>4</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_cameras.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>5</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_voicemail.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
    <IconItem>
        <Index>6</Index>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/home/images/sm_icon_help.png</URL>
    </IconItem>
</CiscoIPPhoneIconFileMenu>

The CiscoIPPhoneIconFileMenu is the specialized container that tells the phone I’m going to send you a menu to be displayed on the phone that will have icons associated with each line item. This menu is actually created via PHP code that dynamically creates that menu from a database. I have a web app that is wrote specifically to manage my Cisco IP Phones. I can assign what type of phone it is, whether or not it is authorized to use the home menu tool, and which apps are shown on the phone menu.

Simple Image Display

Generating a text menu is one thing, but how about showing an image? That can be done as well, the newer color screen phones such as the 7921, 7925, 7926, 7945, 7965, 797x, 7985, and the IPC can all display PNG images. The older phones such as the 7940/41/42 and the 7960/61/62 can show a CIP image that is a little more complicated to use. One of the uses for images that I use on my phones is to show my security cameras as well as traffic cams that were on my way to the office when I wasn’t working from home.

And the code for this IPPS page would be:

Source code

<CiscoIPPhoneImageFile>
    <Title></Title>
    <Prompt></Prompt>
    <SoftKeyItem>
        <Name>Back</Name>
        <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/traffic/?device=</URL>
        <Position>3</Position>
    </SoftKeyItem>
    <LocationX>0</LocationX>
    <LocationY>0</LocationY>
    <URL>http://192.168.10.20/cisco/services/traffic/templates/CP-7921G/gencamimage.php?cameraid=3&amp;rand=1626227066</URL>
</CiscoIPPhoneImageFile>

The URL for the image simply needs to be that of the raw PNG data, nothing else. So what I do is take a screenshot from the camera and use the PHP image tools to recreate just a raw PNG:

Source code

<?php
 
error_reporting (E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE);
 
$cameraid = $_REQUEST['cameraid'];
$display = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_CISCOIPPHONEDISPLAY'];
//$display = '298,168,12,C';
$display = str_replace(" ",'',$display);
list($x,$y,$depth,$color) = split(",",$display);
 
if(isset($cameras[$cameraid]['link']))
{
	$link = $cameras[$cameraid]['link'];
}
else
{
	$link = 'http://video.dot.state.mn.us/video/image?id=' . $cameraid;
}
 
$image   = imagecreatefromjpeg($link);
$image_x = imagesx($image);
$image_y = imagesy($image);
 
$image_resized = imagecreatetruecolor($x, $y);
imagecopyresized($image_resized,$image,0,0,0,0,$x,$y,$image_x,$image_y);
 
header("Content-type: image/png");
imagepng($image_resized);
imagedestroy($image_resized);
 
?>

User Interaction

Where the IPPS really comes into play is the ability to actually perform operations as well such as running scripts on a web server. Each of those menu items can call another web page that would have certain actions attached to it. For example in the image below this is a status screen of some of the home automation systems installed at the house:

Again we are using a basic CiscoIPPhoneIconFileMenu to display a list of items to the end user, we have two basic icons that are associated. The red icon implies that the device or sensors are in a “false” state and green icons imply “true” state. Each of these menu items however are associated with an URL that then goes and does a certain action on my Insteon based automation network being managed via Indigo which runs on OSX. In the case of the action that created the buzz on Twitter my device Lab Rack Power is turned on and off by hitting a certain URL on Indigo that toggles the relay which turns on/off the power to the rack. This allows me to query the status of the power as well as remotely control it via a 7921 for example as shown below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I hope this blog post shows some of the benefits of the Cisco IPPS features of an IP Phone. It’s very rare that I see any company actually use the IPPS features, most of the time I feel that it is simply because of lack of understanding how easy it is to develop the apps. Any web developer could easily create an IPPS in no time, most all of my apps have taken less than a few hours to do and Cisco has made it easy using headers sent via the phone’s request to know what the capabilities of the phone are (i.e. color, screen size, model, etc) to allow easy create of templates. For more information on how to develop IPPS apps please head over to the Cisco Developer Network

Here are some more images of some of my IPPS apps I have created:

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