CCNA Bootcamp

• What a network is and what each device does
• The OSI and TCP/IP layer models
• PDU names and encapsulation at each layer
• What changes at every router hop, the groundwork for troubleshooting by layer [2.4]

LAB Network tour: follow a packet through a small network

• IOS modes, getting help and a first configuration
• Saving your work: running vs. startup configuration
• The show commands you use every day, and log messages [2.4]
• Ping, extended ping, traceroute and packet captures [2.4]

LAB First configuration: name the devices, fix the path, save your work

• Copper categories, distances, pinouts, straight-through and crossover [1.1]
• Single-mode and multimode fiber, and SFP optics [1.1]
• Speed, duplex and autonegotiation [1.1]
• Reading interface counters: errors, collisions and signal levels [1.1]

LAB Layer 1: find the dead port and the slow uplink

• The Ethernet frame and MAC addresses
• How a switch learns, then forwards, floods or filters [2.4]
• Collision and broadcast domains
• Checking the network diagram with CDP and LLDP [2.3]

LAB Check the diagram with CDP, LLDP and the MAC table

• VLANs as separate broadcast domains: configure and verify
• Access ports for desktops, printers and IoT [2.2.a]
• The desk port: a PC behind an IP phone, with a voice VLAN [2.2.b]
• PoE and edge ports for access points and virtualized hosts [2.2.c-e]

LAB Build the access layer: VLANs, access ports and a voice desk port

• Why a trunk, and the 802.1Q tag [2.1.b]
• Configuring and verifying trunks and the allowed VLAN list [2.1.b]
• The native VLAN and its traps [2.1.b]
• How DTP builds trunks and why you turn it off; what VTP does with your VLANs

LAB Trunks, DTP and VTP: connect the floors without losing a VLAN

• Why VLANs need a router
• Router-on-a-stick with 802.1Q subinterfaces [2.1.b]
• A Layer 3 switch with SVIs and ip routing [2.1.d]
• Routed ports with no switchport, and finding inter-VLAN faults [2.1.a]

LAB Make VLANs talk to each other

• Why a loop takes a switched network down
• Root bridge election, primary and secondary [2.5.a]
• Root, designated and alternate ports, and port states [2.5.b]
• PortFast, BPDU Guard, BPDU Filter, Root Guard and Loop Guard [2.5.c-d]

LAB Choose the root bridge and put the STP guards to work

• Bundling parallel links so spanning tree blocks none of them [2.1.c]
• LACP, PAgP and static on: the mode pairs that bundle [2.1.c]
• Settings every member must share, and load balancing
• LACP for edge hosts [2.2] and troubleshooting with show etherchannel summary [2.4]

LAB Bundle two uplinks: an LACP EtherChannel that survives a lost link

• Network and host parts, classes, public and private addresses [1.3]
• Masks in binary, CIDR and the six questions for any subnet [1.3]
• The binary method, the magic number and VLSM [1.3]
• Host IP settings on Windows, macOS and Linux [1.6]

LAB Fix three hosts, then plan and apply a VLSM scheme

• Reading and shortening IPv6 addresses [1.4]
• Address types and prefix sizing [1.4]
• Modified EUI-64 and SLAAC [1.4]
• Configuring and verifying IPv6 on IOS, Windows, macOS and Linux [1.4]

LAB Address a small network with IPv6

• Reading show ip route: source, prefix, administrative distance, metric and next hop [3.1]
• Which route wins: longest match, then administrative distance, then metric [3.1]
• IPv4 and IPv6 network, host and default static routes [3.2.a-c]
• Floating static routes and troubleshooting static routing [3.2.d]

LAB Build static, default and floating routes

• Why routers need a routing protocol: LSAs and SPF
• Neighbors and adjacencies [3.3.a]
• Single-area OSPFv2 with network statements, interface commands and passive interfaces [3.3]
• Costs, a shared default route and reading OSPF routes [3.1]

LAB Bring up OSPF on three routers

• DR and BDR election on Ethernet, and why it never preempts [3.3.c]
• Broadcast vs. point-to-point network types [3.3.b-c]
• Changing a router ID safely [3.3.d]
• OSPFv3 for IPv6 next to OSPFv2 [3.3]

LAB Control the DR election and add OSPFv3

• Why hosts need a gateway that survives a router failure
• How HSRP and VRRP share a virtual IP and MAC [3.4]
• Priority, preemption and tracking [3.4]
• Reading show standby and show vrrp to find the fault [3.4]

LAB Read HSRP and VRRP status, then test a failover

• How a host gets its address with DORA [1.7]
• Running a DHCP server on IOS [1.7]
• Why a relay is needed and what giaddr does [1.7]
• Client commands on Windows, macOS, Linux and IOS, and troubleshooting each part [1.7]

LAB Fix a broken DHCP relay

• How a client turns a name into an address
• A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS and PTR records [4.4]
• DNS settings and tools on Windows, macOS, Linux and IOS [1.6]
• Is it the client, the path, the server or a record? [4.4]

LAB Diagnose name-resolution failures

• Why private networks need NAT, and the four NAT address terms [4.3]
• Static NAT, dynamic NAT and PAT on IOS XE [4.3]
• Verifying translations [4.3]
• IPsec site-to-site and remote-access VPNs: ESP, AH, IKE, tunnel and transport modes [4.5]

LAB Configure PAT for an office

• Top-down first match and the implicit deny [4.6]
• Wildcard masks [4.6]
• Standard and extended, numbered and named ACLs, and where to place them [4.6]
• Editing with sequence numbers and verifying match counters [4.6]

LAB Filter traffic to a server

• Enable secret, password types and local accounts with privilege levels [4.1]
• SSH version 2 instead of Telnet, and access-class on the VTY lines
• AAA with TACACS+ and RADIUS, and falling back to local accounts [4.1]
• Configuration backups over SCP and SFTP [4.2]

LAB Secure management access

• What a device on a user port can do
• Port security and its violation modes [4.7.e]
• DHCP snooping and dynamic ARP inspection [4.7.a-b]
• IPv6 RA guard [4.7.d] and storm control [4.7.c]

LAB Stop a rogue DHCP server

• RF in plain terms: frequency, dBm, RSSI and SNR [1.5.b]
• The 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands and channel selection [1.5.a]
• Causes of interference [1.5.d] and Wi-Fi security from WEP to WPA3 [1.5.c]
• Troubleshooting wireless clients on Windows, macOS and Linux [1.6]

LAB Troubleshoot wireless clients

• Type 1 and type 2 hypervisors and virtual machines [1.2]
• Virtual switches and containers [1.2]
• Device, controller, cloud, automation and infrastructure-as-code management [5.3]
• REST APIs and JSON in practice [5.3]

LAB Run workloads and manage the network through a controller

• Syslog messages, severity levels and facilities [5.6]
• Monitoring with SNMP [5.4]
• Running commands and changes with Ansible [5.5]
• Agentic AI in network operations and writing a safe prompt [5.1-5.2]

LAB Operate the network: syslog, SNMP and Ansible