By Michael Aldridge Hi! Hi, I’m Michael Aldridge. I am a Senior Content Developer at Boson Software. We recently released ExSim-Max for THOOT, and I would like to share some thoughts with you about how to prepare to take Cisco’s 642-832 TSHOOT exam.
The TSHOOT exam is part of the Cisco Certified Network Professional track. It is quite different than previous exams. You will not only be asked traditional questions like drag-and-drop and multiple choice, but you will also be given troubleshooting labs that allow you to diagnose problems using a unique trouble ticketing system not found in any other Cisco exams.
The TSHOOT trouble tickets will assess your ability to troubleshoot complex network topologies. Each trouble ticket will include a scenario and three questions. The topology of each trouble ticket will remain the same, but the configurations on routers and switches will vary from ticket to ticket. An interface might be closed on one ticket, OSPF might be misconfigured in another, and IPv6 may be misconfigured in a third. The troubleshooting scenario may be the same for all three tickets. If you have a good understanding of the IOS and the CCNP objectives, you should be able diagnose the problem on each ticket.
How do you prepare for such an exam? How can you break gear and then “forget” about it so you can diagnose the problem? Boson can help you! The ExSim-Max TSHOOT practice exam will simulate what you might see on the real exam.
Boson’s Content Development team created a trouble ticket interface. It is affectionately called the Boson Ticket Processing Interface Next Generation (THING) in the office. The Boson THING allows you to interface with simulated switches and routers just like if you were connected directly to a rack of switches and routers. Our team built a rack of routers and switches to create the router and switch output and then configured a topology. We then broke each technology and captured the actual output of each device for each ticket. Boson’s ExSim-Max is TSHOOT. This is what you would see if a mysterious phantom were able to break your network. This practice is invaluable for preparing for the live exam.
In future blog posts, I will share more information about the TSHOOT exam and how to prepare for it. I look forward to supporting you in your journey to become CCNP certified.
Michael Aldridge MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
Check out a video demonstration of ExSim-Max on Cisco TSHOOT
