
Strengthen foundational networking and systems administration skills for IT professionals transitioning from support, using theory plus hands-on labs with Packet Tracer and Wireshark to build a mindset for success.
Examine the OSI model’s seven layers from physical to application, and learn to analyze with Wireshark, troubleshoot, and address network security and cloud considerations.
Diagnose issues across the OSI seven layers, from application layer failures due to firewalls and outdated browsers to session cookies and transport protocols TCP and UDP.
Analyze network traffic with Wireshark by capturing packets, filtering by protocols, and mapping data to OSI layers—physical, data link, network, and transport—linking ports, addresses, and frames for security insights.
Learn how to install Wireshark on your home lab and use premium labs and ChatGPT to boost your learning while exploring OSI layers, TCP, UDP, and practical packet capture.
Explore how each OSI layer—from physical security to application layer—faces threats like ARP spoofing, MAC flooding, DDoS, SQL injections, and phishing, with mitigations such as SSL/TLS, SSH, IPsec.
Map OSI layers—physical, hypervisor, software defined data center, and native services—to cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Learn about the next lecture's labs, including rail and JCS labs, through visual demonstrations; use visuals to grasp concepts, or replicate with Wireshark and packet tracer later.
Identify network component for the OSI physical layer and trace how packets are encapsulated into frames with routing headers as they move through the physical, data link, and network layers.
Identify the data-link components of the osi model, focusing on the mac address and media access control sublayer, with arp and ipconfig lab walkthrough.
Identify the network layer components of the OSI model, including IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and routing information, and see how encapsulation guides packet delivery.
Identify components of the transport layer and the application layer in the OSI model (layers 4–7) using TCP, UDP, and netstat in a lab scenario.
Identify the components of the application layer in the OSI model (layers 4–7) using a lab with pfSense, Windows Server, and Windows 10, including web browsers and task manager processes.
Explore encapsulation and decapsulation across OSI layers, including headers, trailers, and how data becomes frames, packets, and segments, with troubleshooting and security implications.
Compare tcp and udp, outlining transport layer roles in tcp/ip and OSI models, and explain when to use reliable tcp versus fast udp. Cover handshake, sequencing, windowing, and headers.
Explore the tcp protocol suite and its many applications, and master essential troubleshooting tools—ping, ipconfig, traceroute, netstat, telnet, and wireshark—to diagnose tcp and udp issues.
Explore tcp and udp behaviors inwireshark, including flags (syn, ack, push, reset, urgent), the three-way handshake, FTP traffic on port 21, and windowing with scaling, sequence and acknowledgment numbers.
Explore TCP and UDP network security insights, including sync flood, reset attack, session hijacking, and mitigation through filtering, rate limiting, and analyzing abnormal ports and traffic patterns.
Learn to distinguish straight-through and crossover ethernet cables, understand mdix auto negotiation, and apply these concepts to connect switches, routers, PCs, and patch panels while practicing physical layer troubleshooting.
Explore test out lab complementary videos that simulate networking scenarios and wiring concepts with visualization tools, available to coaching members, but not included in standard membership.
Connect a cable modem to a WAN port, power on the modem, and link a PC via Ethernet to verify home network connectivity.
Connect fiber optic cables between the Cisco switch and the server using the SFP port, verify connectivity, and confirm IP address allocation in the lab.
Connect patch panel cables 13.3.6 to office one, port one to switch port three, and configure the desktop computer to obtain IP and DNS from the DHCP server.
Connect patch panel port one to switch port one, patch panel port six to switch port six, and lobby port to switch port eight; verify ethernet connectivity on the PCs.
Select and install a network adapter with the fastest speed into the computer, connect the LAN using the Ethernet cable, and verify connectivity by pinging ISP and local servers.
Connect a media converter to translate fiber to ethernet, link the ISP to fiber patch panel ports 23 and 24, and verify internet on a PC with IP 1982.28.1.3.
Configure a home router with firewall features after a new ISP setup, move cables from the old switch, connect the modem to the wall plate, and verify PC connectivity.
Explore the IPv4 header and its role in troubleshooting and security, covering fragmentation, MTU, identification, protocol, TTL, checksum, and Wireshark analysis.
Explore IPv4 addressing fundamentals, subnet masks, network and host portions, and practical subnetting concepts for troubleshooting in a cybersecurity context.
Explore IPv4 subnetting fundamentals by identifying IP addresses, network and host portions, and subnet masks; learn default classes, private RFC 1918 ranges, and practical binary-to-decimal conversions.
Troubleshoot IPv4 by verifying firewall permissions, correct IP addressing, and proper default gateway and subnet settings to enable inter-device communication. Block RFC 1918 addresses with access lists to deter threats.
Compare IPv4 and IPv6 addressing schemes, highlighting IPv4's 32-bit four-octet format versus IPv6's 128-bit hex eight-octet structure, and explore loopback testing with ping and ipconfig results.
Explore private IPv4 addressing, RFC 1918 ranges, and NAT/PAT for network translation. Practice static IP assignment in a lab, configuring 10.0.0.1 and noting APIPA when DHCP is unavailable.
Design and implement a classless ipv4 addressing scheme using subnetting and classless inter-domain routing to optimize ip allocation and private range management for a pfSense and Windows Server lab.
Diagnose and fix ipv4 configuration issues using ipconfig, ping, and tracert; activate dhcp scope, correct gateway settings, and restore internet connectivity across multiple pcs.
Learn to troubleshoot ip configuration using ping and ipconfig in Windows PowerShell with admin rights, verify default gateway, renew dhcp, and test connectivity to office, COP server, and ISP.
Troubleshoot IP configuration by using ping, ipconfig, and tracert to diagnose DHCP scope activation and verify connectivity from ISP to the IT admin PC.
Investigate and fix misconfigured IP addresses in a Windows lab by using ipconfig /all, enabling DHCP, and verifying connectivity with ping to validate proper DNS, gateway, and subnet settings.
Run PowerShell as administrator to ping several IPs, run ipconfig all to view IP, subnet mask, and a missing default gateway, and use tracert to trace hops in a lab.
Discover IPv6 in a nutshell, covering IPv6 basics, address spaces, header formats, and neighbor discovery, with security and cloud perspectives, plus Q&A and guidance toward CCNA pathways.
Explore IPv6 essentials: why it’s needed, unicast, multicast and anycast types, network and host portions, formatting with zero compression, and IPv4-IPv6 comparison with neighbor discovery and routing.
Explore IPv6 address spaces, including link-local, unique local, and global addresses. Compare them with IPv4 private and public addresses, and learn network and host portions, subnet IDs, and EUI-64 addressing.
Analyze IPv6 header elements, including traffic class, flow label, payload length, next header, hop limit, and DNS over UDP, with cloud security considerations and dual stack AWS VPC implications.
Configure an IPv6 address by inserting the given address and prefix length into the ethernet adapter, verify with ipconfig and ping to confirm connectivity.
Understand multicast addressing, its contrast with unicast and broadcast in LANs, and how one data stream to a group is distributed via IGMP, PIM, and cloud transit gateways.
Explain the DHCP process and how it works. Explore troubleshooting, cybersecurity, cloud perspectives, and key topics like APIPA, DHCP relay, and DHCP client identifiers.
Learn how the DHCP process assigns IP addresses automatically using a client–server architecture, detailing the four steps—discover, offer, request, acknowledge—and the roles of DHCP server and client.
Demonstrate dhcp's dora cycle—discover, offer, request, acknowledgement—via a Wireshark demo, using udp ports 67 and 68. Explore starvation attacks and cloud deployments on AWS.
Demonstrate how a DHCP starvation attack exhausts the DHCP server's 252 assignable IPs, denying new hosts an address, and show DHCP snooping with MAC binding as mitigation.
Configure DHCP per NIC to allocate addresses from separate pools for departments like sales and HR (for example 192.168.1.0 and 192.168.2.0), and use APIPA 169.254.0.0–169.254.252.5 when DHCP fails.
Understand how DHCP relay lets clients on different subnets obtain IP addresses by forwarding discover messages to a central DHCP server. Relay agents use IP helper addresses to bridge networks.
This lecture covers the dhcp client identifier, option 61, and how binding the client id to a mac address lets a server assign a consistent ip.
Install and configure a DHCP server to automatically allocate IP addresses to hosts, verify dynamic allocations, and complete post deployment configuration in a Windows Server lab environment.
Install and configure a DHCP server to automatically assign IP addresses, create and activate a scope with a defined IP range and lease, enabling dynamic addressing for lab hosts.
install and configure a dhcp server to automatically allocate dynamic ip addresses, verify the scope, and configure ip helper forwarders across network segments.
Create a dhcp exclusion in the IPv4 scope to prevent the server from assigning a specific IP, using the dhcp server console to add an exclusion entry.
Learn to create DHCP client reservations to map printers to specific IP addresses by associating MAC addresses with an IPv4 scope in the DHCP server using Server Manager.
Configure a DHCP relay agent via routing and remote access, add net team interface with zero boot threshold, point the relay to DHCP server 192.168.0.14, verify connectivity on two PCs.
Create and activate a new IPv4 scope on the DHCP server for another subnet, with range 192.168.102.1 to 192.168.2.199, gateway 192.168.10.5, and DNS servers 192.198.28.56.108 and 163.128.78.93.
Explore the domain name system (dns) fundamentals, troubleshooting perspectives, and its role in cybersecurity, network security, and cloud, as explained in dns part one and part two.
DNS converts domain names into IP addresses so computers can access websites. It resolves through caches, the host file, the router, and root server to map fqdn to IP.
Explore how the domain name system resolves a url to a public ip by tracing queries through root servers, top level domains, and hosting servers, with caching by the resolver.
Analyze DNS queries and responses in Wireshark, tracing IPv6 and IPv4 DNS traffic from a resolver to authoritative servers, filtering by transaction ID and port 53.
Troubleshoot DNS by checking cables, restarting the router, flushing DNS cache, renewing DHCP, and testing with ping, while learning about DNS flooding and tunneling hijacking.
Install and configure an alternate DNS server, create an A record in the forward lookup zone, and verify hostname resolution from the domain controller and Windows 10 client.
Install and configure an additional DNS server in an internal network to ensure high availability and fault tolerance, including creating a forward lookup zone for practice labs.com.
Configure a DNS A record for storage srv.practice labs.com on the DNS server, flush and register DNS, then ping the hostname to verify resolution.
Configure dns addresses by setting the preferred, alternate, and third dns entries in the ethernet tcp/ip settings, and validate the static dns server information to complete the lab.
Create standard dns zones by configuring a primary forward lookup zone on the cop dc server and enabling zone transfers to any server, and specify the master server.
Create a reverse lookup zone 192.168.0.0. Add host records for cop server 192.168.0.1; cop files 16 192.168.0.12; cop files 12 192.168.0.13; cop DHCP 192.168.0.14; cop web 192.168.0.15, with pointer records.
Configure CNAME records in the forward lookup zone by creating aliases with the specified FQDNs, including a blank alias, intranet, and www, and verify the lab completion.
Test connectivity with ping to the host cobweb.cop.net.local, create a dns forward lookup zone entry for cobweb with the shown ip, add the associated ptr record, and verify resolution.
In the fast-paced world of information technology, a strong foundation in networking is essential for success. The "Core Networking for Modern IT Professionals" course offers a comprehensive exploration of fundamental networking concepts, protocols, and technologies, equipping learners with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in today's IT landscape.
Course Content:
Understanding TCP/IP Fundamentals: Dive deep into the TCP/IP protocol suite, including IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP, DHCP, DNS, etc, and learn how these protocols facilitate communication in modern networks.
Configuring Network Devices: Explore the configuration and management of essential networking devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, and access points, mastering the skills needed to build and maintain robust network infrastructures.
Securing Networks: Delve into core principles of network security, including encryption, authentication, access control, and threat mitigation strategies, to safeguard sensitive data and protect against cyber threats.
Routing and Switching Technologies: Gain a comprehensive understanding of routing protocols and switching technologies
Network Troubleshooting Techniques: Develop troubleshooting skills using tools like ping, traceroute, nslookup, and Wireshark to diagnose and resolve common network issues efficiently.
Target Audience:
Aspiring IT professionals seeking to kickstart their careers.
Current IT practitioners looking to deepen their networking knowledge and skills.
Career changers transitioning into the field of IT.
Students and graduates pursuing degrees or certifications in IT-related fields.
Professionals seeking career advancement in network administration, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and system engineering.
Prerequisites:
There are no specific prerequisites for this course, making it accessible to individuals with varying levels of IT experience. However, a basic understanding of computer systems and familiarity with operating systems is beneficial.
Course Duration:
The course is self-paced, allowing learners to progress through the material at their own speed. The estimated duration for completing the course is approximately 19 hours, including lectures, hands-on exercises, and assessments.
Outcome:
Upon completion of the "Core Networking for Modern IT Professionals" course, learners will possess a solid understanding of networking fundamentals and practical skills applicable to a wide range of IT roles. Armed with this knowledge, graduates will be well-prepared to tackle real-world networking challenges and pursue rewarding careers in the dynamic field of information technology.