In this article we will discuss the similarities and differences between the 3 “First Hop Redundancy” protocols supported by Cisco devices. These are Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) and Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP). The main purpose of the above protocols is to provide redundancy to the default gateway (router […]
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What if I told you that there are almost 500 practical Cisco networking tutorials waiting for you on a single website that can help you learn hundreds of different networking topics? This resource is NetworkLessons and is probably one of the few online education portals with so many lessons on Cisco technologies, ranging from configuration […]
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This tutorial marks the beginning of a series of network security and penetration testing articles that I will be posting on this website. The purpose of this article is to describe how to perform a simple NMAP scan of an IP range/subnet on a network. There are hundreds of scan options with NMAP but I […]
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In this tutorial I will describe the configuration of an interesting network scenario that I’m sure many of you will find helpful. This scenario is applicable in many real world situations, mainly in small to medium networks. The network scenario is as follows: We have three different internal LAN networks which host user computers and […]
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What is WPA2: WPA2 is short for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 and is standardized under the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 is a security protocol framework that is used to protect wireless networks. WPA2 is currently considered as the most secure method to protect a Wi-Fi network. It provides layer 2 based security and uses IEEE […]
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In a previous post, I have published a Cisco Switch Commands Cheat Sheet tutorial. Since these kinds of posts are useful as a reference for many people, I have decided to create also a Cisco Router Commands Cheat Sheet with the most useful and the most frequently used configuration commands for Cisco Routers. Cisco IOS […]
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Cisco switches can be used as plug-and-play devices out of the box but they also offer an enormous amount of features. Although the main purpose of the switch is to provide inter-connectivity in Layer 2 for the connected devices of the network, there are myriad features and functionalities that can be configured on Cisco Switches. […]
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Introduction One of the best practices in network security is to try and stop security threats from the entry-point of a LAN network. This means that the switch can play an important role in network security since it’s the entry-point of the network. For example, port- security on Cisco switches can be used to stop […]
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Introduction In my previous article, I talked about basic configuration of a Cisco WLC controller. In that post I stated that there are two wireless architectures, Distributed and Centralized. Distributed architectures incorporate Access Points (APs) that are standalone without any central management. The APs in distributed architecture are also called Autonomous Access Points. On the […]
[Continue reading]Introduction Cisco introduced two types of Wireless architectures in its WiFi portfolio: Distributed Architecture. Centralized Architecture. Distributed WiFi Architecture: In Distributed Architecture all the WiFi Access Points (APs) are self-contained and called autonomous or standalone APs. Autonomous APs work individually and have to be configured and managed one by one. In this Architecture an autonomous […]
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Back in the day when I started studying for my Cisco certifications (around 17 years ago), I remember that the only options available to study for the exams were the following: CiscoPress Books (plus some other authors): I remember that if you could sit down and study the whole 600-pages official Cisco Press book for […]
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Cisco is continuously developing new versions of its Certification Exams and adds more and more practical requirements in the syllabus. For the CCNA, you can pass the exam without much practical experience, but for the Professional and Expert Level certifications (CCNP, CCIE), having hands on experience on Cisco equipment (or labs) is required if you […]
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In this article I have done some research to find out the average CCNA salary (in the USA) which is an important factor to consider if you are interested to pursue such a professional certification to advance your career. Before going after any professional certification, it is a good idea to research the demand in […]
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