Progress on the first "Configure the Network" eBook

Thanks to all the people who replied and all of the positive responses so far for the CCNA Lab book. If you're interested in receiving a copy please sign up on the right with the mailing list I just created! I'm using this as a way to keep things organized as a ton of emails have flooded in and i don't want to mistakenly leave any one left out. as mentioned I am breaking this CCNA lab book into two parts for the ICND1 and ICND2 respectively. Below you'll see the rough draft of the outline I have created for the ICND1 labs. I'll also keep you updated via the mailing list so stay tuned!


I. Introduction

1. Configure the Network

2. Contoso Technologies

II. Contoso Task 1

1. Configure Client’s Cisco Switch

III. Contoso Task 2

1. Design and Configure Client’s SOHO Switch Network

2. Implement and Verify Switch Security Measures

IV. Contoso Task 3

1. Configure Client’s Cisco Router

V. Contoso Task 4

1. Configure Small Business Client’s LAN Network

2. Create DHCP Solution for LAN Network

3. Implement Solution to Access Remote Building’s Network

VI. Contoso Task 5

1. Develop LAN Network for College Campus Buildings

2. Provide Access to other Campus Buildings Using RIP

VII. Contoso Task 6

1. Configure Client’s T1 WAN Link

2. Change WAN Link for Multi-Vendor Use

3. Install Multi-Point Connection for Redundancy

VIII. Contoso Task 7

1. Build Cisco Inter-Network for Medium Business Client

Feel free to leave comments on what you would like to see on this lab!

Tuning Route Redistribution using AD

Today I went through a quick study session and lab that shows how administrative distance can cause suboptimal routing when using route redistribution. I tested this with a lab that was redistributing RIP and OSPF both ways. Since OSPF has the default AD of 110 and RIP has an AD of 120, the ASBR routers redistributing chose the OSPF routes even when the RIP routes were closer. To modify this I had to create an access-list with all the possible RIP routes and assign it the AD of 125 on the two ASBR routers and inject the access-list into the OSPF routes. Now when the ASBR's received a RIP route from OSPF (due to redistribution) it automatically had an AD value of 125 which was larger than the default RIP AD 120. The RIP routes were installed into the ASBR's routing table due to having a lower AD value of 120!

Route Maps and Distribution Lists

I spent most of my afternoon covering the topics for Route Maps and Distribution Lists. I've actually been waiting to get to this topic for quite awhile because I see these commands in my work environment all the time. Both of these tools are similar to access-lists but their purpose is to tune or route specific IP packets. Distribution lists filter routing updates which is something you can't do with a regular access-list. Route maps gives the engineer a lot of flexibility on what specific ip packets should be tuned and what should be tuned such as the router metric. Tomorrow I will learn more about tuning administrative distance (AD) to control the flow of routing packets.

Controlling Routing Updates

This morning I spent most of my time learning about passive-interfaces and the many ways we can control and tune routing updates. This chapter actually puts together a lot of pieces to the puzzle because it explains how routing protocols work together and how you can limit what each protocol knows about the other specifically. I also learned a little bit about distribution lists and will be creating a few labs for this tomorrow.

In other news I'm creating a lab ebook for all of you CCNA test takers out there so be on the look out for that. I will most likely make it a series along with splitting the ebooks up into ICND1 and ICND2. I want to make sure that the series is not only helpful but also very affordable because we all know that the study material, equipment, and exam isn't cheap by any means. I'm actually looking to hand out a few beta copies of my book for free to review and provide constructive criticism. Email me at shawnmoore_1@hotmail.com if you're interested and I'll add you to my current list of reviewers, spots are already filling up so be hasty!

Redistributing between Routing protocols

Today I spent most of my time going through the various redistributing differences between routing protocols. The hardest redistributing to remember was the metric for the protocols that used distance-vector technology which is RIP, EIGRP, and IGRP. The metric for these protocols have a default value of infinity which means that any other routing protocol wouldn't be redistributed unless you defined the metric that is to be used. Also OSPF doesn't redistribute classless IP routes by default, you have to specify that subnets will be used for whatever reason. IS-IS was surprisingly the easiest but maybe that's because I just finished that chapter last week? I have a ways to go to finish this chapter won't be until sometime next week most likely. I will run through some labs in my portable command-guide the next few nights to get some more practice with the theory I've learned so far.

Chpt. 7 Redistribution Overview

Today I went over the beginning pages of Chapter 7 regarding manipulating routing updates. This chapter started off with route redistribution which I have a little experience with all ready from previous labs and on the job experience. The pages I read went to the reasons why you would want to redistribute and situations that you want to look out for when injecting different AS protocols into another AS protocols. There really wasn't much to lab but I did create a lab based on an example provided in the study-guide book. Tomorrow should be a lot of configuration using the various routing protocols that has been learned through out the book so far.

Chapter IS-IS End of Chapter Lab

Today I finished up the short Chapter 6 lab on IS-IS and actually managed to get everything up and working this time. I'm still not sure why my other IS-IS lab wouldn't inject the routes correctly as I should so I'll probably run over that labs configuration again at some point. I also ended the chapter by finishing the multiple choice questions presented. As current CCNP's and above mentioned, the questions presented in the back of the book are CCNA level type of questions which really doesn't help enforce your command of the topics given.

I'm actually only 4 chapters away before finishing the entire book so I'm making really good progress thanks to the holidays I was able to get some extra study time in at work. Once i finish the study guide and go through the portable command-guide book I'm going to purchase the exam and lab guide and double up my studies. Once that's complete I'm going to hopefully fill in any gaps by going through any labs and CBT's from Cisco.com I can get my hands on along with going through white papers and RFC's. Repetition Repetition Repetition is the key to mastering and becoming successful with anything I believe, hopefully it pays off for the exam!