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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.

Download Free Cisco Commands Cheat Sheets

Enter your Email below to Download our Free Cisco Commands Cheat Sheets for Routers, Switches and ASA Firewalls.

By subscribing to our email list you will be receiving technical tutorials and industry news from time-to-time. You can unsubscribe at any time.

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

Failure-Mode Engineering: Turning Network Adversity Into an Advantage

site247

If you spend sufficient time with any network infrastructure, you’ll understand that things can break at the most inconvenient moments. A link that was stable for months suddenly flaps. SPF counters increase exponentially for reasons unknown. A small configuration mistake in the access layer echoes somewhere it shouldn’t. Once you’ve been through a few of […]

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Filed Under: Cisco General

Boost Network Security with Automated CIS Compliance

network configuration manager

Network admins often find themselves torn trying to juggle between optimizing configurations and meeting compliance requirements. With growing network complexity, achieving and sustaining CIS Benchmarks compliance can feel like an endless battle. However, it doesn’t have to be so daunting. While the CIS Benchmarks offer vital best practices for securing against evolving threats, manually enforcing […]

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Filed Under: Network Security

IBM and Cisco Quantum Computing Partnership: Analysis and Summary

cisco quantum labs device

IBM and Cisco have announced a strategic partnership to build a network of large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers, with the ambitious goal of creating a “quantum computing internet” by late 2030s. Image Source: Cisco Quantum Labs The goal is to move beyond isolated quantum prototypes toward a distributed, usable quantum infrastructure that enterprises, researchers, and governments […]

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Filed Under: Tech News

Beyond SNMP: API-Powered Monitoring for Cisco ACI Fabrics

cisco aci monitoring

Today, most data centers rely on policy-based automation and centralized control to manage increasingly dynamic workloads. Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) delivers this flexibility by combining software-defined networking (SDN) with application intent, enabling rapid scaling without manual intervention. However, monitoring Cisco ACI through SNMP alone fails to capture the complete operational picture of the network. […]

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Filed Under: Software

15 Best Network IP Sniffing Software Tools (Free&Paid) – Wired and Wireless

tools to capture network packets

A network sniffer, or packet sniffer, is a specialized software (or even a hardware device) that listens in over a network and records the IP packets of data that travel through it. Many network administrators use these tools to determine the efficiency of a network, to troubleshoot communication problems, to identify common network bottlenecks etc. […]

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Filed Under: Software

Automated Compliance for Network Devices using Network Configuration Management

site24x7

Compliance management in network configuration management (NCM) helps maintain secure, resilient, and predictable networks. If you are managing Cisco devices, mainly Cisco ASA firewalls or Cisco IOS devices, you know how fast things can go wrong with a single misconfiguration. But how do you ensure every change follows your security policies and regulatory requirements without […]

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Filed Under: Software

Difference Between Routers and Switches in TCP/IP Networks

comparison of router and switch

The key difference between routers and switches in TCP/IP networks is that Switches primarily function to provide Layer 2 connectivity and Routers provide Layer 3 connectivity (as described in the OSI layer model). What exactly does this mean? From a high level view it means that switches allow hosts to communicate as long as they […]

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Filed Under: General Networking

11 Different Types of IP Addresses Used in Computer Networks

ipv4 and ipv6 addresses

An Internet Protocol (IP) Address is a term that you will hear a lot if you are into any field of Information Technology. Especially people in TCP/IP networking have to deal with IP addresses in their every-day professional life. Just like any house or building in the world has a unique postal mail address in […]

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Filed Under: General Networking

What is Cisco Switch Virtual Interface (SVI) – Configuration Example and Explanation

cisco svi

Achieving convergence in computer networks is something that is controlled by both routers and switches in the network. The basic purpose of creating a computer network is to share resources and offer communication between hosts. Local Area Network (LAN) communication deals with switches, while internetwork connectivity (i.e between different LANs or WANs) requires the use […]

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Filed Under: Cisco Switches

Deleting the VLAN Database from a Cisco Switch (IOS or Nexus)

deleting vlan.dat cisco switch

If you have your own Cisco switch equipment at your home lab or at your work environment you might have encountered the situation that you want to completely erase the whole switch configuration including any VLANs that are already configured on the switch (usually the vlan.dat file). On a Cisco switch, erasing the switch startup […]

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Filed Under: Cisco Switches

Compare and Contrast Network Topologies (Star, Mesh, Bus, Hybrid etc)

advantages and disadvantages of various network topologies

Computer networking has been around for several decades, which is the backbone of what we all know as the Internet today. The Internet is simply a network of networks, which connects the world’s networks together for a holistic communication infrastructure. For a user or host computer to participate in data and resource sharing, it has […]

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Filed Under: General Networking

Beyond the Blips – The Importance of Network Traffic Analysis with the Right Tools

network traffic analyzer tools

Having visibility in your network’s bandwidth is very important in modern enterprise networks and is a 24/7 activity. It demands vigilant monitoring of network traffic, sharp strategic thinking to optimize performance, and the ability to quickly diagnose and resolve issues as they arise. When it comes to network health and monitoring, being proactive is key; […]

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Filed Under: Software

11 Networking Companies Like Cisco (Competitors)

competitors to cisco

Every network engineer is familiar with Cisco, and with its multiple brand acquisitions, it’s even become a household name for consumers in addition to business professionals. Cisco isn’t the only major player in the hardware and TCP/IP networking game, however. This technology giant has at least a dozen formidable competitors, many of which have developed […]

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Filed Under: 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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