N1. Cisco routing and switching
Outcome: you can build, secure and troubleshoot a small Cisco campus network, and use automation and AI tools without trusting them blindly.
Skills: Cisco IOS configuration and show commands, VLANs and 802.1Q trunks, Rapid PVST+, EtherChannel, inter-VLAN routing, static routes, OSPFv2 and OSPFv3, HSRP, NAT and PAT, DHCP, NTP, syslog and SNMP on IOS, SSH and SCP, ACLs, port security, DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection, storm control, wireless LAN controllers, REST APIs and JSON, AI-assisted network operations.
Labs
- Campus switching: two switches with VLANs, a trunk, LACP EtherChannel and inter-VLAN routing on a layer-3 switch. Set the root bridge with Rapid PVST+, and add PortFast and BPDU guard on access ports.
- Routing: three routers in single-area OSPFv2, then add IPv6 and OSPFv3. Add a floating static route as a backup path and test it.
- Redundancy: run HSRP between two routers, shut one down and watch the failover.
- Services: DHCP, NAT and PAT, NTP and syslog on IOS. Allow SSH only, with local users, and back up a config with SCP.
- Security: standard and extended ACLs, port security, DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection and storm control. Set up a WPA3 wireless network on a controller in Packet Tracer.
- Automation and AI: in Cisco Modeling Labs Free, read a device's configuration as JSON through RESTCONF. Ask an AI assistant to draft the fix for one fault. Check every line against the device before you apply it, and note what it got wrong.
- Fault practice: a partner breaks four things (native VLAN mismatch, OSPF area mismatch, ACL in the wrong order, HSRP priority). Find each one with show commands.
Prove it: the lab file with a diagram and addressing table, the device configs in Git, and a troubleshooting log for the four faults.
Certs: CCNA v2.0 (infrastructure and connectivity 25%, switching and network access 25%, IP routing 20%, network services and security 20%, AI and network operations 10%).
Gate: CCNA (200-301) happens here, with two review weeks.