Cisco CCNP Data Center Certification Prep: FCoE vs FC Online Training

Yes, for most networking professionals with a few years of experience under their belt, the CCNP Data Center is a worthwhile investment of time, money and effort. It's not an easy certification to earn, as it represents several years worth of knowledge doing specific tasks on a Cisco data center network. But earning it proves to employers that you're a well-trained professional who can be trusted with their network.

It costs at least $700 to earn the CCNP Data Center since its core exam (350-601 DCCOR) costs $400 and you'll need to choose one of five concentration exams, each of which cost $300. The actual cost of earning the CCNP Data Center is usually more than $700, because very few people can take the combined 3 ½ hours of tests without intentional preparation in the form of online courses.

Fibre Channel (FC) is a storage networking protocol used in Storage Area Networks (SANs) that operates on specialized hardware (devices and cabling) called Fibre Channel fabric. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is a method of using the FC protocol in an Ethernet setting, without converting to the Fibre Channel fabric. In FCoE, FC frames are encapsulated into Ethernet frames. Infrastructure, convergence, performance, and scalability all vary between FC and FCoE deployments.

No, this is not a course designed to prepare you for the CCNP Data Center certification exam (350-601 DCCOR) in its entirety. This is a short and focused course dedicated to choosing between, managing and implementing FCoE and FC. Preparing for the entire CCNP Data Center exam (and one of its five concentration exams) can take months, and covers all the other protocols and skills necessary for operating an entire data center.

Network engineers who design, configure and maintain storage area networks in data center environments should take this course. Storage administrators who are responsible for maintaining storage arrays and SANs and who want a better understanding of the implications of choosing between FCoE or FC should too. Data center architects, sysads and IT managers will also benefit from the knowledge about the two storage protocols, making future decisions better and clearer.