Manual Summarization CCNA Lab

I ended up creating my own Manual Summarization lab this morning going by the examples in the CCNA ICND2 book. I started with creating 5 routers with one side being in the 10.3.0.0 /16 network and the other side being in the 10.2.0.0 /16 network with a few subnets on both sides using the /24 mask. I used the EIGRP routing protocol for this lab this time instead of OSPF protocol. Once I had all my routers up and running, interfaces configured, and EIGRP setup I had to think about the best way to summarize the address on both sides. I started by giving the ip summary-address eigrp 1 10.2.0.0 255.255.0.0 and ip summary-address eigrp 1 10.3.0.0 255.255.0.0 command on both sides.

However this wasn't the best way to manually summarize these networks because I was summarizing networks that didn't actually exist similar to how auto-summarization works. I had to not only calculate a range that would summarize all of the existing subnets on both sides but also summarize the least amount of non existing networks as possible. After going through the manual summarization strategy I was able to summarize all the way down to 10.2.0.0 255.255.252.0 and 10.3.0.0 255.255.252.0 on both sides. This accomplished both goals of summarizing the existing subnets and summarizing the least amount of non existing networks as possible. I spent quite a bit of time doing this lab so I wasn't able to get to the VLSM Lab this week but I will finish it before I move on to the access-list chapters, all in all a good day!

VLSM-OSPF LAB

I've just finished reviewing some VLSM and even OSPF (unexpectedly) this evening. I am still getting use to all the quirks with GNS3 such as actually saving your lab correctly! This was a 5 router lab setup with multiple tasks such as figuring out if any subnets over lapped which of course they did. I also had to set OSPF in a specific way on each router. For example one task required me to set one router with the RID of 3.3.3.3 (I know easy stuff) and another task required me to set one routers interface in a different area. This was a pretty good lab and it was good because it got me to think about the path a packet takes when using OSPF and how routers uses its algorithm to determine this. I also went through some of the concepts regarding manipulating interface path costs that OSPF uses to determine a packets route. Tomorrow I'm doing another big VLSM lab and finishing up the chapter with manual route summarization review!

CCNA Static Routing Review

Today and yesterday I did a lot of configuring for a static route lab. Everything went pretty smooth and I'm glad I remembered most of the commands without having to refer to any documentation. I even got pretty detailed with Packet Tracer and laid it all out in a purrty picture as you see off to the side in this post! I also played around with a lab from the networking-forum.com website in regards to how RIPv1 routes IP's. Interestingly enough RIPv1 is smarter than what we give it credit for. You CAN route IP's that aren't a standard classful IP address and it is smart enough to determine the mask. However it will summarize the subnet if it's sent over a different class boundary, such as routing a class A address to a class C address, it will summarize the class A address before routing the packet. However if it's a class A network forwarding packets to another class A network it will know what the subnet mask is. Based on comparing it's IP network address to the other class A network addresses and will then take a best guess on what the subnet mask is.

STP & RSTP Review

The last few days I have been reviewing Spanning Tree and Rapid STP along with seeing how STP and VTP packets work together in Packet Tracer. Something interesting I've seen is that when you have a switch with two interfaces on the same link segment, only one of the interfaces will forward packets. Even if you have 5 interfaces on the same segment still only one interface will forward while the others are put into a disabled or blocking state. The next week or two I should be done with the CCNA switch review and will be moving on to CCNA Routing review. I received my BSCI study guide book so once I finish reviewing CCNA I can move straight into the CCNP topics! I still need to figure out how I'm going to do labs for CCNP, most likely I am going to guy a laptop and use Dynamips and GNS3 for all of the routing topics and buy switches for switching exam.

VLAN & VTP CCNA Review

The past few days I have been studying and practicing my VLAN and VTP skills. I am enjoying my studies a lot more now due to the fact that I don't have to rush and can take my time going at my own pace. I spent sometime playing with the Packet Tracer software from Cisco and never realized how good it really was. You can really do some cool stuff with it like creating a visio type diagram and log into the devices in real time. I created a VLAN lab that built on to itself starting by creating one switch in an office LAN closet with the 3 VLANs for Sales, Helpdesk, and Accounting. I then created another switch with the same VLANS then used VTP on the first switch to manage the VLAN's on both switches. Then obviously I needed to create a way for the VLANS to talk to each other since they were in their own subnets and since we all know switch's can't do Layer 3 routing (besides a L3 switch). I did the good ole Router-on-a-stick where we use a router's interface to create sub-interfaces and trunk 802.1q (or ISL) encapsulation over it's interface for all 3 VLANS. This was a good refresher!

Reviewing ICND2 Materials

I have officially started the first step to tackling the CCNP, I have ordered the Official BCSI Study Guide Book. This will prepare me to move on to the BCSI Exam Guide Book later. I will use mainly GNS3 to lab for this test, but hopefully I can through a little lab together with the spare devices we have in the NOC during the slower times at work. While I'm waiting for my book to arrive, I'm going through the ICND2 book and labs once again to make sure I have foundation laid to properly prepare for the CCNP topics. With that said you should be seeing more frequent updates for a while now!

Cisco Call Manager Study

I've been taking some time the last few weeks to really understand the inner workings of VoIP and how it works within the Cisco world. The ISP I work for deals with a lot of VoIP issues, so much that I think it's best that I spend the next few months learning how calls flow and are routed. A co-worker gave me great study material for Cisco Call Manager and how it works as a whole for VoIP. Honestly I never would of thought I would of liked VoIP but I guess that was because I didn't know anything about it. I figure that after I wrap up these Call Manager study guides and get some more on the job experience I'll focus all my attention back on to the Routing and Switching side of things. From there I think I'll see what the CCVP is all about!