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The following information provides general guidelines for the content likely to be included on the Cisco Internet Solutions—Architecture Essentials exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any specific delivery of the exam.
Basic Architecture
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Define Internet system architecture and explain the impact of good Internet system architecture on customers' Internet business initiatives |
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Explain various Cisco Internet business solutions and their architectures including: e-commerce, customer care, supply chain management, and e-learning architecture. |
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Explain the following design considerations that are important for Internet system architecture design: capacity, connectivity, availability, security, quality of service, and network and system management. |
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Explain the Cisco Internet access reference architecture given a diagram and list the benefits of the Cisco Internet access reference architecture. |
Service Level Agreements
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Identify business requirements necessary for Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and identify business processes, and ongoing management trends. |
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Explain what a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is and discuss its complexity, as well as define service components and Service Level Contracts (SLCs). |
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Explain what service level management is, its importance, how to assess its cost, and how its design relates to network integration, interoperability and scalability. |
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Discuss the functional differences between different service level monitoring tools and explain the operational capabilities of key applications used to monitor and measure service level metrics. |
Security
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Describe the high-level purpose, features, and functions of security in an e-business infrastructure. |
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Specify the phases of best practice security lifecycle management and explain the importance of each. |
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Distinguish between authentication, authorization, and access control. Explain why and how these security measures should be implemented in systems, applications, and networks. |
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Identify alternative methods of implementing encryption in systems, applications, and networks and describe how each method works. |
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Describe the purpose and function of a firewall. Distinguish between the various types of firewalls. Identify the various machines associated with a typical firewall. |
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Describe systems and network security |
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Identify alternative methods of implementing intrusion detection (i.e., host-based, network-based, profile-based, signature-based, firewall sensors) and describe how each method works. |
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Identify the five key elements of a Cisco Security Solution and identify examples of each. |
QoS, Load Balancing, and Caching
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Discuss the basic concepts involved in QOS including definition, benefits, components, and mechanisms to enforce QOS. |
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Summarize the steps involved in the QOS application process and discuss each step in detail. |
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Describe the function load balancing performs in an ebusiness infrastructure. |
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Describe the function caching performs in an ebusiness infrastructure. |
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Describe the purpose and features of content networking and the relationship among content networking, QoS, load balancing, and caching. |
Network and Systems Management
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Distinguish between the 5 categories of network management and discuss the FCAPS model. |
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Describe the purpose and function of fault/problem management and distinguish among its 5 steps: problem determination, problem diagnosis, problem bypass and recovery, problem resolution and problem tracking and control. |
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Describe the purpose and function of performance management. Distinguish among the following performance management steps: data gathering, data analysis, and determination of performance thresholds. Distinguish between reactive and proactive management methods. Explain the relevance of network throughput and error rates to performance management. |
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Distinguish among Simple Network Management Protocol, RMON, and Management Information Base and explain how each relates to Systems Management. |
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Define and distinguish among the eight basic guidelines for network management. |
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Define important metrics that are relevant to an existing system and discuss why it is important to understand and interpret the results of system and network inventory and performance tools. |
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Explain how Cisco solutions can ensure that all management tools operate harmoniously. Describe the process for assessing a client's current management tool set. |
High Availability
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Define High Availability and explain the benefits and tradeoffs of High Availability design. |
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Discuss two approaches for high availability architecture design and the advantages and disadvantages of each. |
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Discuss the process of Internet system architecture and the essential elements of a high availability architecture. |
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Discuss the essential elements involved in High Availability design. |
Designing Internet System Architecture
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Describe the process of Internet system architecture design and list the important design dimensions involved in Internet system architecture design |
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Explain what needs to be done in order to understand a customer's existing network and system architecture and the process of doing it. |
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Determine a customer's requirements for an Internet system architecture through information gathering |
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