Top 20 CCIE Interview Questions and Answers
Are you preparing for a CCIE interview? If so, you must already be aware of the fact that clearing this interview is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and thorough knowledge of the Cisco networking technologies. But with the right preparation and guidance, you can turn this challenge into an opportunity to shine. Hence, fear not! We have got your back. In this blog, we have hand-picked the top 20 CCIE interview questions and answers in order to crack the interview with ease. These questions cover network fundamentals as well as advanced routing and switching concepts. With the right preparation, including comprehensive CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure training, you can confidently showcase your expertise and impress your interviewers. Let’s not wait any further and discuss the most asked CCIE interview questions and answers that every CCIE must know. The CCIE Interview questions and answers we are going to discuss will help you in getting a clear idea of what to expect in the interview. Also, after going through these questions, you will become more confident and ready. Let’s Begin! Here are the top 10 most asked basic CCIE Interview questions – The five ICMPv6 messages that we are going to discuss are used by NDP to manage node-to-node and node-to-router communication on a link. It allows features such as autoconfiguration, duplicate address detection, and next-hop determination. These are: The main purpose of a DMZ is to offer an additional layer of security in order to protect the internal network from unwanted or untrusted traffic. The protection is done by segregating public-facing services and servers from the rest of the internal network. Some of the most common devices and services placed in a DMZ include: SDN or Software Defined Networking is a network architecture that separates the control plane (decision-making) from the data plane (Forwarding) in a network. This allows for centralized, programmatic control of network behavior. Now, the OpenFlow protocol is a key enabler of SDN i.e., provides a standardized interface between the control plane and data plane. OpenFlow further allows the controller to program the forwarding behavior of network devices (switches and routers) by defining flow rules. This programmable network control allows network administrators to adapt to any network changes and requirements quickly. Also, assists them in optimizing performance and implementing advanced network services and applications. In IPv6, MLD or Multicast Listener Discovery plays an important role in managing multicast group membership. It allows IPv6 nodes to inform their local routers about their interest in receiving multicast traffic from specific multicast groups. This information is then further used by the routers to forward multicast data. In the forwarding process, multicast data is only sent to the network segments that have interested listeners. With this, one can optimize the use of network resources. STP modes are mainly used to determine how a network converges and maintains redundancy. Common modes include: When a router learns about a route from a neighboring router, it stores the route in its routing table along with a timer. This timer is called the route invalidation timer or route timeout timer. Route invalidation timers are a crucial component of routing protocols, and their purpose is to ensure that routing information remains accurate and up-to-date. The main purpose of the route invalidation timer is to: Cisco Firework is a network security solution that offers many security measures. Some of these are threat defense, intrusion prevention, and advanced malware protection. It integrates with many Cisco security products in order to detect as well as block threats in real-time. This provides visibility, control, and protection across the network. In order to troubleshoot a routing loop in an OSPF network, you can use the below steps. Tools Used: Here are some differences between the two – IP SLA is a Cisco router feature with which one can monitor as well as measure network performance, ensuring that service level agreements are met. The purpose of the IP SLA feature on Cisco routers are: IP SLA can be used to monitor network performance metrics such as Latency, Jitter, Packet Loss, Throughput, Response time, etc. IP SLA can be used to monitor network performance by means of simulating real-world traffic. Further, it assists in identifying bottlenecks and offers data for troubleshooting and optimization. These are the top basic CCIE Interview Questions and answers. Moving on let’s see some advanced ones too. Here are the most asked advanced CCIE Interview Questions with answers. A recursive table lookup, also known as a recursive route lookup, is a feature on Cisco devices that allows the router to perform a second lookup in the routing table to resolve a recursive routing decision. Let’s understand in detail for better understanding. Address summarization in BGP assists in stabilizing a network by reducing the number of routes that need to be exchanged and stored. This can only be achieved by combining multiple specific routes into a single route. Example: Instead of advertising individual routes for 192.168.1.0/24, 192.168.2.0/24, and 192.168.3.0/24, a network can summarize these into a single route of 192.168.0.0/16. This helps reduce the size of the routing table which further assists in decreasing the processing and memory requirements for routers. With this, network stability will be improved and also result in faster convergence times when network changes occur. VXLAN or Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network is a layer 2 overlay technology. It allows for the extension of Layer 2 networks over Layer 3 networks. It is used to encapsulate Ethernet frames within UDP packets which enables the creation of VLANs. These VLANs can span across multiple physical networks. VXLAN offers many advantages over traditional VLAN-based network architecture. Some of these are: DFS or Dynamic Frequency Selection is a mechanism in Wi-Fi that allows APs to dynamically switch to a different channel in the 5 GHz frequency band. This is simply to avoid interference with radar systems used by weather monitoring, the military, and many other applications. The main purposes of DFS in Wi-Fi are: Cisco Meraki is a cloud-managed networking solution that offers a centralized cloud-based platform to manage as well as monitor network infrastructure via a web-based Meraki dashboard from anywhere. Meraki became part of Cisco’s CNG (Cloud Networking Group) in 2012. Some of the features of Cisco Meraki are: The basic difference between the public, private, and hybrid clouds is: In modern networks, zero-trust security plays a crucial role by assuming that all users and devices, whether inside or outside the network, are potential threats. It verifies the identity and permissions of every access request, using multi-factor authentication, encryption, and micro-segmentation to limit lateral movement and protect sensitive data. The basic difference between a stateful failover and a stateless failover is: FCoE or Fibre Channel over Ethernet is a storage networking protocol that assists in allowing the Fibre Channel traffic to run over Ethernet networks in data centers. With FCoE, it is possible to converge the storage and network traffic onto a single high-speed Ethernet infrastructure. FCoE works by encapsulating FC frames in Ethernet packets. This allows them to be transmitted over 10GbE or faster networks. FCoE switches and adapters convert FC traffic to Ethernet and vice versa. This enables seamless communication between FC storage and Ethernet-based servers and makes it an attractive solution for data center infrastructure. Cisco Modular Quality of Service (MQC) is a policy-based QoS framework. It allows network administrators to define, implement, and manage QoS policies across a network. It provides a modular, flexible, and scalable approach to QoS configuration. With this one can enable granular control over traffic classification, marking, policing, and shaping. Most importantly, it makes use of all those platforms that are supported by Cisco IOS software. These are the top advanced CCIE Interview Questions and Answers. You now have the top CCIE interview questions and answers to get you started. Remember, the 20 questions we have shared with you are just a starting point. It doesn’t mean that only these questions will be asked in your interview. Instead, use these questions and answers as a guide only. The only way you can clear a CCIE interview is by understanding the concepts, practicing regularly, and staying confident. So, take this as a starting point and practice more such questions to clear the CCIE interview. Good luck with your interview. If you have any more CCIE interview questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below.Introduction
Top Basic CCIE interview questions and answers
Q1 – What are the five ICMPv6 messages used by the Neighbor Discovery Protocol?
Q2 – What is the purpose of a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in network security?
Q3 – Explain the principles of SDN and the role of protocols like OpenFlow in enabling programmable network control.
Q4 – What is the role of MLD (Multicast Listener Discovery) in IPv6?
Q5 – Discuss the various Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) modes and their impact on network convergence and redundancy.
Q6 – What is the purpose of route invalidation timers?
Q7 – What is the role of Cisco Firepower in network security?
Q8 – How would you troubleshoot a routing loop in an OSPF network, and what tools would you use to identify the issue?
Q9 – What is the difference between a point-to-point and a point-to-multipoint connection?
Factor Point-to-Point (PTP) Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) Topology A dedicated connection between two devices One device connected to multiple devices Scalability Limited, as each device requires a separate connection Highly scalable, as multiple devices can share the same connection Application Typically used for high-bandwidth, low-latency applications (e.g., video conferencing) Often used for broadcasting, multicasting, and wireless networks (e.g., Wi-Fi) Cost Generally, more expensive due to dedicated connections Can be more cost-effective, as multiple devices share the same connection Example A phone call between two individuals A radio broadcast to multiple listeners Q10 – What is the purpose of the IP SLA feature on Cisco routers, and how can it be used to monitor network performance?
Advanced CCIE Interview Questions and Answers
Q11 – What is a recursive table lookup?
Q12 – How does address summarization help stabilize a network in BGP?
Q13 – Explain the concept of VXLAN and its advantages over traditional VLAN-based network architectures.
Q14 – What is the purpose of DFS in Wi-Fi?
Q15 – Explain the concept of Cisco Meraki in cloud-managed networking.
Q16 – What is the main difference between public, private, and hybrid clouds?
Factor Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud Ownership Third-party provider Single organization Combination of both Access Open to Public Restricted access Shared access Security Shared responsibility Full control Shared and dedicated Scalability High scalability Limited scalability High scalability Cost Pay-as-you-go High upfront cost Flexible pricing Customization Limited customization High customization Flexible customization Q17 – What is the role of zero-trust security in modern networks?
Q18 – What is the difference between a Stateful failover and a Stateless failover?
Factor Stateful Failover Stateless Failover Session Persistence Maintains session information Does not maintain session information Resource Utilization Higher resource utilization Lower resource utilization Failover Time Longer failover time Faster failover time Complexity More complex to implement Less complex to implement Scalability Less scalable More scalable Q19 – How does FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) work in data centers?
Q20 – What is MQC?
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