The Exam s Content

The Exam's Content

If you know the SAFE designs and the Cisco products used in themespecially the routers, PIX, IDS, and VPN productsyou should pass the exam. You will need to know how to configure VPNs on all of the devices that could terminate one (a router or PIX, using the CLI, and a VPN concentrator, using the GUI). This exam also has a practical, real-world orientation: Many networks have multiple products that use different versions of software. You should know which versions of Cisco software support which security features, and which versions of your network-management software have security features. In a real network, you might have to work with some devices that have the correct versions and some that don't; it helps if you understand why things fail to work as you planned.

Although there is no set sequence in which Cisco requires that you take its exams, you are required to hold a CCNA before a CCSP is granted. Of the five exams that lead to the CCSP, the SAFE Implementation Exam is always listed last. You may take it first, if you like, but it really does pull together many ideas from the other four exams, so you might want to take it last, with that other knowledge already in hand. The other four CCSP exams are as follows :

• SECUR, "Securing Cisco IOS Networks"

• CSPFS, "Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced"

• CSIDS, "Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System"

• CSVPN, "Cisco Secure VPN"

As you can see from the list, a deeper understanding of the products and how they are configured will be yours if you make the SAFE exam the last in the sequence. However, if that doesn't work for you, for whatever reason, you can still pass the exam. You'll just have to study harder.