Cisco 200-301 - Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA)

100 Hours / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced

Course Overview:

Cisco CCNA Part 1 course introduces the fundamentals of the most important topics in TCP/IP networking (networking, focusing on Ethernet LANs, WANs, Virtual LANs (VLANs), Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), and IP routing). Students will learn the details of how to implement IPv4 routing in Cisco routers and the core concepts of IPv6. 

The CCNA Official Cert Guide, Part 2 includes the topics that help students build an enterprise network so all devices can communicate with all other devices and includes the majority of the new security topics added to the new CCNA 200-301 certification as well as a few of the classic topics found in previous CCNA R&S exams. Students will then turn their attention away from the concept-configure-verify approach to topics that will be presented more from an architecture and design perspective. Finally, students will examine a wide range of products and architectures that also enable better operations and automation - how controllers can separate out part of the work formerly done by networking devices, the advantages of these new controller-based models, and details about Cisco Software-Defined Access (SDA), a controller-based networking approach to building enterprise campus networks.

This course includes FREE access for 12 months to a cloud based lab platform to assist students in developing the practical information technology (IT) skills necessary to succeed in high in demand IT jobs.  This cloud based lab solution uses real equipment that enables our students to execute each practical task in a safe environment that is accessible from anywhere without needing to buy their own hardware or risk damage to their own system.

Along with providing the necessary hardware in a virtual environment, students gain access to high quality practical exercises that cover many of the exam topics they will encounter on their certifying exams.

This course prepares a student to take the Cisco 200-301 - Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA) certification exam.

Course Outline:

Cisco CCNA 200-301 Part 1 Curriculum:

Lesson 1: Introduction to Networking

This first part of the book introduces the fundamentals of the most important topics in TCP/IP networking. Chapter 1 provides a broad look at TCP/IP, introducing the common terms, big concepts, and major protocols for TCP/IP. Chapter 2 then examines local-area networks (LAN), which are networks that connect devices that are located near each other; for instance, in the same building. Chapter 3 then shows how to connect those LANs across long distances with wide-area networks (WAN) with a focus on how routers connect LANs and WANs to forward data between any two devices in the network.

Lesson 2: Implementing Ethernet LANs

Part I provided a broad look at the fundamentals of all parts of networking, focusing on Ethernet LANs, WANs, and IP routing. Parts II and III now drill into depth about the details of Ethernet, which was introduced in Chapter 2, “Fundamentals of Ethernet LANs.”

Part II begins that journey by discussing the basics of building a small Ethernet LAN with Cisco Catalyst switches. The journey begins by showing how to access the user interface of a Cisco switch so that you can see evidence of what the switch is doing and configure the switch to act in the ways you want it to act. At this point, you should start using whatever lab practice option you chose in the “Your Study Plan” section that preceded Chapter 1, “Introduction to TCP/IP Networking.” (And if you have not yet finalized your plan for how to practice your hands-on skills, now is the time.)

After you complete Chapter 4 and see how to get into the command-line interface (CLI) of a switch, the next three chapters step through some important foundations of how to implement LANs—foundations used by every company that builds LANs with Cisco gear. Chapter 5 takes a close look at Ethernet switching—that is, the logic used by a switch—and how to know what a particular switch is doing. Chapter 6 shows the ways to configure a switch for remote access with Telnet and Secure Shell (SSH), along with a variety of other useful commands that will help you when you work with any real lab gear, simulator, or any other practice tools. Chapter 7, the final chapter in Part II, shows how to configure and verify the operation of switch interfaces for several important features, including speed, duplex, and auto-negotiation.

Lesson 3: Implementing VLANs and STP

Part II of this book introduces the basics of Ethernet LANs, both in concept and in how to implement the features. However, the two primary features discussed in Part III of this book—Virtual LANs (VLANs) and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)—impact almost everything you have learned about Ethernet so far. VLANs allow a network engineer to create separate Ethernet LANs through simple configuration choices. The ability to separate some switch ports into one VLAN and other switch ports into another VLAN give network designers a powerful tool for creating networks. Once created, VLANs also have a huge impact on how a switch works, which then impacts how you verify and troubleshoot the operation of a campus LAN.

STP—and the related and similar Rapid STP (RSTP)—acts to prevent frames from looping around a LAN. Without STP or RSTP, in LANs with redundant links, broadcasts and some other frames would be forwarded around and around the LAN, eventually clogging the LAN so much as to make it unusable.

The current CCNA 200-301 exam blueprint includes exam topics for the configuration and verification of VLANs and related topics. However, the CCNA exam topics only mention RSTP concepts rather than configuration/verification. To that end, Part III opens with Chapter 8, which goes to the configuration/verification depth with VLAN topics, followed by Chapter 9, which introduces the concepts of STP and RSTP.

Part III closes with Chapter 10, which includes some RSTP configuration, along with Layer 2 EtherChannel configuration.

Lesson 4: IPv4 Addressing

The book makes a big transition at this point. Part I gave you a broad introduction to networking, and Parts II and III went into some detail about the dominant LAN technology today: Ethernet. Part IV transitions from Ethernet to the network layer details that sit above Ethernet and WAN technology, specifically IP Version 4 (IPv4).

Thinking about the network layer requires engineers to shift how they think about addressing. Ethernet allows the luxury of using universal MAC addresses, assigned by the manufacturers, with no need to plan or configure addresses. Although the network engineer needs to understand MAC addresses, MAC already exists on each Ethernet NIC, and switches learn the Ethernet MAC addresses dynamically without even needing to be configured to do so. As a result, most people operating the network can ignore the specific MAC address values for most tasks.

Conversely, IP addressing gives us flexibility and allows choice, but those features require planning, along with a much deeper understanding of the internal structure of the addresses. People operating the network must be more aware of the network layer addresses when doing many tasks. To better prepare you for these Layer 3 addressing details, this part breaks down the addressing details into four chapters, with an opportunity to learn more in preparation for the CCNP Enterprise certification.

Part IV examines most of the basic details of IPv4 addressing and subnetting, mostly from the perspective of operating an IP network. Chapter 11 takes a grand tour of IPv4 addressing as implemented inside a typical enterprise network. Chapters 12, 13, and 14 looks at some of the specific questions people must ask themselves when operating an IPv4 network.

Lesson 5: IPv4 Routing

Parts V and VI work together to reveal the details of how to implement IPv4 routing in Cisco routers. To that end, Part V focuses on the most common features for Cisco routers, including IP address configuration, connected routes, and static routes. Part VI then goes into some detail about the one IP routing protocol discussed in this book: OSPF Version 2 (OSPFv2).

Part V follows the progression of topics. First, Chapter 15 examines the fundamentals of routers—the physical components, how to access the router command-line interface (CLI), and the configuration process. Chapter 15 makes a close comparison of the switch CLI and its basic administrative commands so that you have to learn only new commands that apply to routers but not to switches.

Chapter 16 then moves on to discuss how to configure routers to route IPv4 packets in the most basic designs. Those designs require a simple IP address/mask configuration on each interface, with the addition of a static route command—a command that directly configures a route into the IP routing table—for each destination subnet.

By the end of Chapter 16, you should have a solid understanding of how to enable IP addressing and routing in a Cisco router, so Chapter 17 continues the progression into more challenging but more realistic configurations related to routing between subnets in a LAN environment. Most LANs use many VLANs, with one subnet per VLAN. Cisco routers and switches can be configured to route packets between those subnets, with more than a few twists in the configuration.

Finally, Part V closes with a chapter about troubleshooting IPv4 routing. The chapter features the ping and traceroute commands, two commands that can help you discover not only whether a routing problem exists but also where the problem exists. Chapters 15, 16, and 17 show how to confirm whether a route has been added to one router’s routing table, while the commands discussed in Chapter 18 teach you how to test the end-to-end routes from sending host to receiving host.

Lesson 6: OSPF

Part IV began the story in this book about IP Version 4 (IPv4) addressing. Part V continued that story with how to implement addressing in Cisco routers, along with a variety of methods to route packets between local interfaces. But those topics delayed the discussion of one of the most important topics in TCP/IP, namely IP routing protocols.

Routers use IP routing protocols to learn about the subnets in an internetwork, choose the current best routes to reach each subnet, and to add those routes to each router’s IP routing table. Cisco chose to include one and only one IP routing protocol in the CCNA 200-301 exam: the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol. This entire part focuses on OSPF as an example of how routing protocols work.

Lesson 7: IP Version 6

So far, this book has mostly ignored IP version 6 (IPv6). This part reverses the trend, collecting all the specific IPv6 topics into four chapters.

The chapters in Part VII walk you through the same topics discussed throughout this book for IPv4, often using IPv4 as a point of comparison. Certainly, many details differ when comparing IPv4 and IPv6. However, many core concepts about IP addressing, subnetting, routing, and routing protocols remain the same. The chapters in this part build on those foundational concepts, adding the specific details about how IPv6 forwards IPv6 packets from one host to another.

Lesson 8: IP Version 6

This book began with an overview of the fundamentals of LANs, WANs, and IP routing. It then described Ethernet LANs (wired LANs) in some depth over the course of seven chapters. The book then meandered through many chapters exploring the many concepts of IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, routing, and how to implement those features in Cisco devices.

This final part of Volume 1 turns our attention back to the LAN, not to wired Ethernet LANs, but to IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs—in other words, Wi-Fi. The four chapters in this part of the book lay down the foundations of how wireless LANs work and then show how to implement wireless LANs using Cisco devices.

Building wireless LANs requires some thought because the endpoints that use the LAN do not sit in one place and connect via a known cable and known switch port. To explain those details, Chapter 26 begins with the basics of how a wireless client can connect to the wireless network through a wireless access point (AP). After you learn the foundations in Chapter 26, Chapter 27 takes an architectural view of wireless LANs to discuss how you might build a wireless LAN for an enterprise, which requires much different thinking than, for instance, building a wireless LAN for your home.

Chapter 28 completes the three concepts-focused wireless LAN chapters by working through the alphabet soup that is wireless LAN security. The fact that wireless LAN clients come and go means that the LAN may be under constant attack as an easy place for an attacker to gain access to the network, so wireless LANs must use effective security. Finally, Chapter 29 closes by showing how to configure an enterprise wireless LAN using Cisco APs and the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) from the WLC’s graphical interface.

Cisco CCNA 200-301 Part 2 Curriculum:

Lesson 1: IP Access Control Lists

The CCNA Official Cert Guide, Volume 2 includes the topics that help you build an enterprise network so all devices can communicate with all other devices. Parts I and II of this book focus on how to secure that enterprise network so that only the appropriate devices and users can communicate.

Part I focuses on IP Version 4 (IPv4) access control lists (ACLs). ACLs are IPv4 packet filters that can be programmed to look at IPv4 packet headers, make choices, and either allow a packet through or discard the packet. Because you can implement IPv4 ACLs on any router, a network engineer has a large number of options of where to use ACLs, without adding additional hardware or software, making ACLs a very flexible and useful tool.

Chapter 1 begins this part with an introduction to the TCP/IP transport layer protocols TCP and UDP, along with an introduction to several TCP/IP applications. This chapter provides the necessary background to understand the ACL chapters and to better prepare you for upcoming discussions of additional security topics in Part II and IP services topics in Part III.

Chapters 2 and 3 get into details about ACLs. Chapter 2 discusses ACL basics, avoiding some of the detail to ensure that you master several key concepts. Chapter 3 then looks at the much wider array of ACL features to make you ready to take advantage of the power of ACLs and to be ready to better manage those ACLs.

Lesson 2: Security Services

With the introduction of the new CCNA certification in early 2020, Cisco expanded the number of security topics in comparison to the old CCNA Routing and Switching certification. Part II includes the majority of the new security topics added to the new CCNA 200-301 certification as well as a few of the classic topics found in previous CCNA R&S exams.

Chapter 4 kicks off Part II with a wide description of security threats, vulnerabilities, and exploits. This introductory chapter sets the stage to help you think more like a security engineer.

Chapters 5, 6, and 8 then focus on a wide range of short security topics. Those topics include Chapter 5’s discussion of how to protect router and switch logins and passwords, along with an introduction to the functions and roles of firewalls or intrusion protection systems (IPSs). Chapters 6 and 8 then get into three separate security features built into Cisco switches: port security (Chapter 6), DHCP Snooping (Chapter 8), and Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI). All three security features require a switch to examine frames as they enter the switch interface. This information enables port security, DHCP Snooping, and DAI to decide whether to allow the message to continue on its way.

Chapter 7 discusses the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) as an end to itself. While this topic is actually an IP Service and would be a great fit for Part III (IP Services), the topics in Chapter 8 require that you know DHCP, so Chapter 7 sets that stage.

Lesson 3: Services

Part III shifts to a variety of topics that can be found in almost every network. None are required for a network to work, but many happen to be useful services. Most happen to use IP or support the IP network in some way, so Part III groups the topics together as IP Services.

Part III begins and ends with chapters that examine a series of smaller topics. First, Chapter 9 examines several IP services for which the CCNA exam requires you to develop configuration and verification skills. Those services include logging and syslog, the Network Time Protocol (NTP), as well as two related services: CDP and LLDP.

Chapter 12, at the end of Part III, closes with another series of smaller topics—although the CCNA 200-301 exam topics require only conceptual knowledge, not configuration skills for these topics. This chapter includes First Hop Redundancy Protocols (FHRPs), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and two related protocols: TFTP and FTP.

The two middle chapters in Part III also focus on IP-based services, beginning with Chapter 10’s examination of Network Address Translation (NAT). Almost every network uses NAT with IPv4, although in many cases, the firewall implements NAT. This chapter shows how to configure and verify NAT in a Cisco router.

Chapter 11 at first may give the appearance of a large chapter about one topic—Quality of Service—and it does focus on QoS; however, QoS by nature includes a wide variety of individual QoS tools. This chapter walks you through the basic concepts of the primary QoS features.

Lesson 4: Network Architecture

Part IV turns the attention away from the concept-configure-verify approach needed for many of the topics seen earlier in this book and in CCNA 200-301 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1. Instead, this part collects topics that will be presented more from an architecture and design perspective. In fact, the CCNA 200-301 exam organizes six exam topics with this same approach, all listed under exam topic 1.2 “Describe characteristics of network topology architectures.” The chapters in this part examine most of those topics.

First, Chapter 13 revisits LAN switching, which was covered to some depth in Volume 1. This chapter discusses campus LAN design concepts and terminology, like the 2 tier and 3 tier terms listed in the exam topics. This chapter also discusses how to supply power over that LAN infrastructure using Power over Ethernet (PoE), as well as the term small office/home office (SOHO).

CCNA 200-301 mentions WAN as an end to itself in one exam topic within the context of topology and architecture. Chapter 14 takes that thread and presents three major WAN architectures, going beyond the concepts you need to know to support the simple WAN cases used in the examples throughout both books so far. Those topics include MPLS VPN WANs, Ethernet WANs, and Internet VPNs.

Chapter 15 completes the architecture-focused chapters with a discussion of cloud architectures. This chapter begins by defining basic concepts and terms related to data centers and cloud and closes with design discussions that show packet flows in a public cloud environment.

Lesson 5: Network Automation

Part V of this book includes most of the network automation topics from the CCNA blueprint; however, the part includes as much discussion of how Cisco and others have changed the way networks work to enable better automation as it discusses tools and processes to automate networks.

Chapters 16 and 17 examine a wide range of products and architectures that also enable better operations and automation. Chapter 16 discusses how controllers can separate out part of the work formerly done by networking devices. The chapter shows the advantages of these new controller-based models and details a few examples. Chapter 17 then goes on to give more detail about Cisco Software-Defined Access (SDA), a controller-based networking approach to building enterprise campus networks.

Chapters 18 and 19 discuss a few more specific details about network automation. Controllers typically include REST APIs and often return data to automation programs in the form of formatted data like JSON. Chapter 18 introduces these concepts. Chapter 19 then moves on to discuss IT automation tools, specifically Ansible, Puppet, and Chef, with a focus on how to use these tools for network automation.

Lesson 6: Final Review

Now that you have finished the bulk of this book, you could just register for your Cisco CCNA exam, show up, and take the exam. However, if you spend a little time thinking about the exam event itself, learning more about the user interface of the real Cisco exams and the environment at the Pearson VUE testing centers, you will be better prepared, particularly if this is your first Cisco exam.

This first of two major sections in this chapter gives some advice about the Cisco exams and the exam event itself, specifically about:

• Question types
• Your time budget
• A sample time-check method
• The final week
• The 24 hours before the exam
• The final 30 minutes before the exam
• The hour after the exam

Cisco 200-301 - Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA) Live Labs:

• Networking Concepts - Part One
• Networking Concepts - Part Two
• IP Addressing and Virtualization Concepts
• Switching Fundamentals - Part One
• Switching Fundamentals - Part Two
• Configuring VLANs - Part One
• Configuring VLANs - Part Two
• Static and Dynamic Routing Principles
• Configure OSPFv2
• FHRP Configuration and Verification
• Static NAT Configuration
• NTP Configuration
• DHCP Concepts, Configuration and Verification
• Network Traffic Management using SNMP
• Configuring Syslog for Switching and Routing
• Remote Management Techniques
• Using File Transfer Protocols on Routers
• Network Management Tools
• Applying Security Protocols
• QoS for Routing Configuration using PHB
• Security Mitigation Techniques
• Wireless Architecture and Application

All necessary course materials are included.

Certification(s):

This course prepares a student to take the Cisco 200-301 - Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA) certification exam.

ProTrain, LLC is not affiliated with and has no relationship with Cisco Systems, Inc.

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