CCNA 200-301 Quick Review Guide

Expose the differences between Soho and enterprise networks, explore core concepts, network diagrams, and essential topics like leaf-spine topologies, no single point of failure, routing basics, and dynamic routing protocols.

Explore classic LAN and WAN challenges, including which cables connect switches, routers, and PCs, and how MAC and IP addresses guide frame forwarding across a router and network.

Explore a LAN/WAN lab focused on essential show commands and basic router configuration. Verify running and startup configs, set hostnames, enable telnet, and ping connectivity.

Explore layer 2 vlan concepts, including dot1q and isl trunking, dtp negotiation, router on a stick vs layer 3 switching, and key vlan basics like native vlan and default gateway.

Master vlans concepts through exam-focused questions on extended vlans ranges, trunk configurations, native vlans, dtp and isl, 802.1w and 802.1S, bpdu guard, and portfast.

Demonstrates inter-vlan communication between vlan 2 and vlan 3 without a layer 3 device by manipulating native vlan on trunk links in a router-on-a-stick setup.

Master core routing concepts from subnet basics and broadcast addresses to static vs dynamic routing, and learn RIP, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, and default route fundamentals with administrative distance.

Explore routing on a layer 3 switch, enable a routed port, and apply ip route, then compare rip and ospf by administrative distance and prefix specificity, while verifying ip addresses.

Explore static routes and basic routing concepts by configuring and testing routes between routers, verifying subnet masks, using show ip route, and practicing pings from specific interfaces and lookback addresses.

Master OSPF key concepts, including area zero backbone, DR and BDR roles, and neighbor exchange. Tune hello timers, costs, wildcard masks, and inter-area routing in hands-on labs.

Explore the OSPF challenge: compare MD5 or plain text authentication, DR/BDR election priorities, zero-area connections via virtual links, and stop and stub areas that block type 5 LSAs.

Practice troubleshooting OSPF in a hands-on lab, using show and debug commands, route lookups, and deliberate misconfigurations of router IDs, interfaces, and passive interfaces.

Master IPv6 concepts, including global unicast and link-local addresses, anycast to the nearest server, and built-in IPsec, while understanding deployment challenges caused by the lack of backward compatibility with IPv4.

An ipv6 challenge tests valid and invalid ipv6 addresses, explains the double colon usage, and compares slack stateless configuration with a stateful dhcp server option for automatic addressing.

Master an IPv6 lab focused on static configuration and dual stack setups. Configure IPv6 addresses, static routes, and routing protocols like OSPF, RIP, or EIGRP, and verify with show commands.

Explore wireless fundamentals, including wireless LAN controllers, WPA3 features, and radius settings, and learn to configure enterprise versus standalone access points using a free virtual controller and 2.4/5 GHz basics.

Examine the 802.1x standard and the server-side certificate requirement, review WPA handshakes and WPA3 security, and compare non overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11 on 5 gigahertz for higher speeds.

Configure a wireless controller lab by creating a new interface and an SSID, enabling WPA 802.1x with a radius AAA server, and reviewing interface status via CLI.

Explore a Cisco access point with built-in controller, app-based setup, and network monitoring, including 802.11ac wave 2 speeds and capwap for controller communications.

Master network security fundamentals, including multi-factor authentication, AAA, certificate warnings, strong passwords, VPN options (IPsec, SSL, AnyConnect), hashing, key exchange, and access lists.

Explore layer 2 defenses by configuring port security to limit learned MAC addresses, understand DHCP snooping and ARP inspection to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, and explore using PRTG for monitoring.

Explore standard and extended access-list ranges, DHCP snooping trusted ports, and port-security violation modes (shutdown, restrict, protect), plus inside global, outside local, and outside global address types.

Participate in a hands-on network security lab to configure a small office router, enable dhcp, implement an extended access list, and secure access with banners, domain name, and ssh.

Configure and test standard and extended access lists, simulate extended ACLs without extra devices, apply ACLs near the source interface, and use nbar protocol discovery to inspect traffic.

Explore how automation reshapes large networks, from cloud models and virtual machines to software defined networking, and how data, control, and management planes, SBI/NBI, a controller, and playbooks enable configurations.

Explore automation concepts, including control interfaces for configuration management tools like Chef and Ansible, playbooks and data formats, and cloud models such as platform as a service.

Explore Cisco DNA Center's dashboard to design, provision, and enforce policies across sites and networks. Use assurance graphs and API platform to verify status and manage IP-based access and BYOD.