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Cisco Networking Tutorials for Beginners and Experts

My name is Harris Andrea and I would like to extend a warm welcome to you.

About me in a few words.

Let me tell you a story. When I was in my last year in University (in the late 90’s) I had to take some courses around TCP/IP and computer networking.

That was the time that something clicked in my mind. I don’t know if it was my professor’s teaching skills and enthusiasm about the subject, but after finishing those courses I knew that IP networking was the field I wanted to explore more in my professional career.

After graduating, I started working in a relatively small but high-caliber technology company that was a Cisco Gold Partner.

I was absorbing experience and information like a sponge. I got involved in all sorts of projects in designing and implementing networks based mainly on Cisco products and other high-profile vendors. That job was like a second University degree for me but in a more practical way.

After working there for almost 5 years, I moved on and got a new job in a big Internet Service Provider (ISP) where I’m still working until today.

During all these years in my new job I have been responsible for operating, supporting and designing huge networks that contain carrier-grade routers and switches, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, management and monitoring systems, security infrastructure devices and anything that can be found in an ISP environment.

About this Website

About 15 years ago, I decided to create a blog to share my experience in the form of Cisco networking tutorials, configuration examples, guides, tips, industry news etc for both beginners and experts. This is how this blog was born.

If you want to receive Cisco tutorials, configuration guides and other networking and security related topics from me, subscribe below to join over 18,000 other professionals that receive my emails.

If you want to explore my blog, scroll until the end of this post to see my latest articles or click on a category to the right for all the topics I have written related to Cisco technologies, network and information security, general networking etc.

By subscribing below I will send you also three Cisco cheat sheet PDF files about the following:

• Cisco Routers Commands Cheat Sheet.
• Cisco Switches Commands Cheat Sheet.
• Cisco ASA Firewall Commands Cheat Sheet.

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My Books

This blog has also been the home of my three books which have been embraced by thousands of professionals. They are available in both digital format (PDF) from this website and also as hard-copy books from Amazon so check them out below:

My Books in Digital Format:

ccna lab bookCCNA 200-301 Labs and Guide Book
DOWNLOAD LABS HERE

 

cisco asa firewall fundamentals ebookConfiguration Tutorial For
Cisco ASA 5500 and 5500-X Firewalls

(Covers Newest v9.x)
DOWNLOAD EBOOK HERE

 

cisco vpn configuration guide

VPN Configuration Guide For
Cisco Routers and ASA Firewalls

With FREE ASA 5505 Configuration Tutorial Bonus

DOWNLOAD EBOOK HERE

 

My Books in hard-copy format from Amazon

Cisco ASA Firewall Fundamentals – 3rd Edition

Cisco VPN Configuration Guide

CCNA 200-301 Lab Guide Book with Packet Tracer

Closing Remarks

I’m here to help you as much as possible, that’s why I always try to answer every comment and email that I receive. Don’t hesitate to contact me or leave a comment under my posts on this website and I’ll try to address and answer your questions if I can.

ccna certification ccnp certification ccsp certification

Filed Under: General Networking

The Most Important Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Timers Explained

bgp timers

Border Gateway Protocol or BGP is a routing protocol that uses timers as part of its operation.  Various timers perform different functions, and some are used for very specialized operations that are unique to BGP. In this article, we’ll be exploring some of the most common timers used for BGP as well as some less […]

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Filed Under: General Networking

Comparison of LLDP vs CDP on Cisco Networking Devices

comparing discovery protocols

Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) and Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) are network discovery protocols that perform similar functions.  These protocols operate at the Data Link layer and are used by network devices to discover information about neighboring devices connected to a local network.  Although LLDP and CDP operate in a similar manner, they differ in […]

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Filed Under: Cisco General

Explanation and Comparison of OSPF E1 vs E2 Routes

comparing e1 and e2 in ospf

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a popular routing protocol used in many production networks throughout the world.  Understanding route types is important when designing an OSPF topology for efficient and effective operation. Among the various route types OSPF offers, the External types E1 and E2 play an important role in importing routes from outside […]

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Filed Under: Cisco Routers, General Networking

Comparison of GRE vs IPSEC Used in TCP/IP Networks

comparing gre and ipsec

Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) are two related but distinctly different technologies. They can be deployed separately but can also work together (GRE over IPSec) to deliver network tunneling and security services to networks and individual users.  In this article, we’ll explore these technologies to understand them, and compare them to […]

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Filed Under: General Networking

Main Types of Computer Network Diagrams and Their Importance

a simple computer network diagram

For the average end user, a computer network seems simple. All they need to do is plug their PC into an ethernet port or connect it via Wi-Fi, and presto-they’re connected and ready to work. The thing is, though, computer networks are vastly more complex under the hood than most people think. They’re so complex, […]

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Filed Under: General Networking

How to Find a Device MAC Address on a Cisco Switch (show mac address-table)

topology to find a device mac address on cisco networks

When performing troubleshooting or maintenance tasks on an enterprise network, it is sometimes necessary to identify the MAC address of particular devices (hosts, other switches, other network devices) that are connected to the network.  On smaller networks, this is somewhat simple to achieve, however, on larger networks, it can become a challenge.  In this article, […]

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Filed Under: Cisco Switches

Discussion and Explanation of OSPF Graceful Restart and Shutdown

diagram of ospf network

OSPF is one of the most popular routing protocols for enterprise networks.  It has been around since the 1980s and has been continually updated and revised to conform to the requirements of modern IP networks.  As such, it is an extremely mature and robust routing protocol that can be tweaked and fine-tuned in many ways […]

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Filed Under: Cisco Routers, General Networking

13 Top Open Source Port Scanners for Windows for Host Discovery

open source scanners windows

Although I have been a TCP/IP networking professional for decades, in the last 10 years I’m also involved in network security as well. One of the tasks I’m responsible to do in my work environment is to either coordinate or perform network assessment projects on my own. A major part of a network security assessment […]

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Filed Under: Software

15 Best Firewall Management Software Tools for Rules and Policies

centralized firewall management software

Firewall management is one of the most challenging aspects of enterprise network security. The main issue is that many enterprise networks are complex, they contain a blend of many different vendors and technologies and this makes it time-consuming and difficult to maintain and support. The big hardware firewall vendors (like Cisco, Checkpoint, Fortinet, Palo Alto […]

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Filed Under: Software

Explanation and Configuration of OSPF MD5 Authentication on Cisco Networks

example ospf network

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) is a dynamic routing protocol used in IP networks, primarily within large enterprise networks. In this article we will discuss and configure OSPF MD5 authentication on Cisco devices. Like other routing protocols, OSPF shares information about network topologies and prefixes between devices.  This is done by exchanging messages between OSPF-enabled […]

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Filed Under: Cisco Routers, General Networking

11 Alternatives to Solarwinds NPM for I.T and Network Monitoring

network monitoring center

In my 20 years career in the fields of IT and TCP/IP networking I have procured and used countless of software tools to help my company in our day-to-day operation of complex infrastructures. I’ve used Solarwinds Orion back in the day and was a solid tool. However, I’ve also used other competitive software in the […]

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Filed Under: Software

Comparison of BGP Confederations vs Route Reflectors

diagram schematic

When deploying excessively large Autonomous Systems or ASes in BGP, it is necessary to overcome the limitation introduced by the iBGP full mesh peerings required within the AS in question.  There are two primary ways this can be achieved, using either BGP’s Route Reflector feature or BGP confederations. In this article, we’ll examine these two […]

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Filed Under: Cisco General, General Networking

What are BGP Confederations-Explanation and Discussion (With Cisco Example)

BGP confederations diagram 1

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the de facto routing protocol that is deployed on the Internet at large.  BGP is ideal for the Internet because of its scalability.  One of the many characteristics of this routing protocol that make it so scalable is what is known as BGP confederations. In this article, we’ll discuss what […]

[Continue reading]

Filed Under: Cisco General, General Networking

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About Networks Training

We Provide Technical Tutorials and Configuration Examples about TCP/IP Networks with focus on Cisco Products and Technologies. This blog entails my own thoughts and ideas, which may not represent the thoughts of Cisco Systems Inc. This blog is NOT affiliated or endorsed by Cisco Systems Inc. All product names, logos and artwork are copyrights/trademarks of their respective owners.

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