CCNA — Networking Foundations

This course is preparation, not certification. The Cisco CCNA 200-301 exam is booked and paid for separately with Cisco, and no institute can guarantee a result.

The model everything else hangs on.

• OSI and TCP/IP, used rather than recited
  Layers as a diagnostic tool: which layer is broken decides what you check next.
• Ethernet, MAC addresses and switching hands on
  How a frame finds its port.
• IPv4 addressing and subnetting hands on
  Subnetting until it is quick and automatic, because the exam and the job both demand it.
• IPv6
  Addressing and why it is no longer optional.

The layer most office problems live in.

• VLANs and trunking hands on
  Segmenting a network, and why finance should not share a broadcast domain with guest wifi.
• Spanning tree hands on
  What loops do to a network, demonstrated in the lab.
• EtherChannel hands on
  Aggregating links for capacity and resilience.
• Switch security hands on
  Port security, DHCP snooping, and the rogue device on the office floor.

Getting traffic between networks.

• Static routing and the routing table hands on
  Reading a table and predicting where a packet will go.
• OSPF hands on
  Single-area configuration, adjacency, and troubleshooting when it will not form.
• Inter-VLAN routing hands on
  Router-on-a-stick and layer-3 switching.
• NAT and PAT hands on
  How a whole office shares one public address.

The things users notice when they break.

• DHCP and DNS hands on
  Configured, then deliberately broken and fixed.
• Wireless fundamentals hands on
  Standards, channels, interference, and why the office wifi is slow at 2pm.
• Access control lists hands on
  Filtering traffic, and the ACL that silently blocks the wrong thing.
• Network time, logging and SNMP
  Without synchronised clocks, correlating two logs is guesswork.

The parts the current exam added, and the job needs.

• Device hardening hands on
  Named accounts, SSH not telnet, and disabling what is not used.
• VPN concepts
  Site-to-site and remote access, in principle and configuration.
• Automation and controller-based networking
  APIs, JSON and why the exam now asks.
• Documenting a network hands on
  The diagram and address plan the next engineer will need.

Structured diagnosis under time pressure.

• A method, not a guess hands on
  Layer by layer, changing one thing at a time.
• Broken-lab drills hands on
  Faults injected without warning; find and fix against the clock.
• Packet Tracer and physical kit hands on
  Practising on both, since the job is on real hardware.
• Exam mechanics
  Booking, format, timing and cost — all handled directly with Cisco, not through the academy.

Before you start

• Basic computer literacy
  No prior networking needed; subnetting is taught from zero.

Where it leads

• CCNP
  The next Cisco level, for those going into network engineering.
• Cyber Security
  Networking is the foundation most security roles expect, so this order round works well.

Roles this prepares you for

• Network Support Engineer
  The usual first role, and what this course targets.
• IT Support with network responsibility
  Very common in Pakistani firms and ISPs.
• NOC Engineer
  Monitoring and first-line network operations.

Interested in this programme?

Try the subject free first — there is no reason to pay before you know you like it.