Cisco CCNA in 60 Days

Explore ethernet cables and media essential for the CCNA exam, including RJ-45 connectors, shielded twisted pair, straight-through and crossover cables, and duplex, speed, and console connections.

Learn the basics of IPv4 addressing: 32-bit binary, four octets, decimal representation, subnet masks, and classful addressing (A, B, C) with network and host separation.

Practice subnetting with easy subnets, learn slash notation, and apply zero-subnet rules for CCNA. Use subnet charts to identify subnets, hosts, and broadcast addresses.

Explore IPv6 basics, including hex addressing, compression rules, and prefix notation; learn about global unicast, link-local, multicast, anycast, and autoconfig via I-64.

Configure a switch for voice and data by creating and naming a voice VLAN and setting the interface to access mode. Verify with show commands that the port carries VLANs.

Carry out a simple trunking lab to configure VLANs and trunk links between T-model switches, verify trunk status with show commands, and test connectivity with ping between PCs.

Explore dynamic trunking protocol (DTP) on switch ports, distinguishing trunk and access links, encapsulation options, and learn commands to enable or disable trunking across auto, desirable, and manual modes.

Learn how etherchannels group multiple physical links into one logical channel to boost throughput, covering layer 2 and layer 3 channels and port aggregation protocol modes like auto and desirable.

Learn basic switching troubleshooting, including enabling Telnet on the switch and configuring a management IP. Verify interfaces are up, VLANs, and the default gateway, duplex, and cabling to diagnose issues.

Troubleshoot VLANs by checking duplex and auto negotiation, cable quality, and port hardware; verify trunking, native VLAN, and VTP domain consistency to prevent misconfigurations and traffic loss.

Explore wireless security from WPA to WPA3, detailing encryption technologies like AES and TKIP, 802.1X with RADIUS, and the differences between enterprise and home networks.

Learn how routing protocols dynamically learn networks and determine the best paths. Understand routing table switching, administrative distances, metrics, and the longest-prefix match with RIPv2.

Practice building a static routing lab by assigning IPs, configuring static routes, and verifying reachability with ping and show ip routes, while noting the limitations of static routing.

Configure RIP version 2 to overcome version 1 limits, enabling classless updates and MD5 authentication. Use UDP port 520 and multicast 224.0.0.9 for updates.

Review the day 22 EIGRP lab troubleshooting, fix an administratively down interface, verify neighbor adjacency, and disable auto summarization to reveal full routes across 10, 20, and 30 networks.

Learn how OSPF uses hello messages and SPF to populate a link-state database. Understand the role of areas, backbone area zero, area border routers, and external routes.

Configure an ospf lab across the given topology, assign the correct area and wildcard masks, enable ospf on interfaces, and verify route propagation and neighbor relationships with show commands.

Master the OSPF open standard link-state protocol via hello exchanges and a link-state database, and learn area types, backbone (area zero) concepts, LSA types, and designated router behavior.

Learn how access lists filter traffic on Cisco routers, compare standard and extended ACLs, place lists on interfaces, and apply top-down evaluation with implicit deny for labs and debugging.

Create a named extended ACL called block ping to deny icmp from a specific host, then permit all other traffic and apply the ACL to a serial interface.

Builds on the IP addressing lab to implement a static NAT translation using a loopback interface and two routers. Configure inside and outside, perform extended pings, and verify translations.

Configure nat overload using a pool named internet, define inside and outside interfaces, create access lists, and verify translations with extended ping tests.

Configure nat overload using a defined ip nat pool and source list, enabling port address translation for many inside hosts, and compare emulator results with live equipment.

Explore quality of service in modern networks, differentiating voice, video, and data traffic, and learn policing, shaping, marking, and congestion management to prioritize resources.

Configure syslog for local and remote logging over UDP port 514, manage levels 0–7, enable logging, and apply service timestamps with milliseconds for precise monitoring.

Explore the Cisco ppp fallback lab, configure ppp authentication, and validate the challenge-response on the serial interface with encapsulation.

Set up a PPPoE lab with two routers, configure an aggregation group and virtual template, allocate an IP pool, and demonstrate a live PPPoE session becoming up.

Explore cloud computing concepts through virtualization, pooled resources, on-demand scaling, and access from any device, covering SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS and cloud resources like servers and storage.

Learn how organizations implement virtualization, move to private and public clouds, migrate servers, and trace cloud history from Hotmail to web mail and software as a service like Google Docs.

Explore switch security with port security concepts, configuring static, dynamic, and sticky MAC addresses, understanding violation modes, and defending against MAC table overflow and MAC spoofing.

Protect router security by securing physical access and console ports with strong authentication. Enable SSH, disable Telnet, use per-user accounts and enable secrets, and implement logging for secure remote management.