Who Should Read This Book?

This book is designed for those Routing and Switching Engineers and technologists who want to prepare for the CCIE Routing and Switching exam, or those looking for the equivalent knowledge. The reader is expected to have a network professional-level certification or the equivalent field experience.

How to Access the Lab Configuration Files

This book comes complete with the lab configuration files, which we have made available to you online. To access these files, simply register this book (ISBN: 9781587144721) at www.ciscopress.com/register. You will be asked to answer a security question based on the content of the book to verify your purchase. Once you have registered your book, you can access the lab files by going to your account page, clicking on the Registered Products tab, and then clicking the Access Bonus Content link under your registered book.

How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 1, “Physical Topology”: In this chapter, we explore the topology that will be used in subsequent chapters. The hope is to provide a clear and detailed explanation of the physical interconnection between devices that will be used to explore the technologies and features contained in this book.

Chapter 2, “Physical and Logical Topologies”: After decades of working with CCIE Candidates I have learned that there are some fundamental levels of knowledge that most students are missing. Among them is the ability to differentiate between physical and logical topologies. A well-prepared candidate should have an absolute mastery of the syntax and processes needed to discover the physical topology for any network deployment. Chapter 2 of this book focuses on that specific skill set.

Chapter 3, “Spanning Tree Protocol”: We explore all things Layer 2 in this chapter. In the Routing and Switching exam, the key focus seems to be on the Layer 3 components of routing; however, without a seamless Layer 2 infrastructure, routing protocols will not work. In fact, not even the most basic of IP communications can take place. We will focus on this very critical network element that prevents the formation of bridging loops.

Chapter 4, “Point-to-Point Protocol”: PPP in all its various flavors has been a long-time “go-to” technology to support wide area networking (WAN) infrastructures. However, in recent years, with the advent of Ethernet-based WAN deployments, we have found ourselves needing the traditional serial-based functionality in the context of Ethernet interconnectivity. This makes understanding how to deploy Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet a very important skill. This chapter explores its deployment, optimization, and capabilities.

Chapter 5, “DMVPN”: Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Networks are the replacement for Frame Relay technologies in the context of the CCIE Routing and Switching exam. I personally feel that knowledge of DMVPN is a critical skill for anyone working in a modern network enterprise, but I have also observed that it is one of least understood domains in the CCIE exam. As a direct result of this observation, I first deal with the fundamental technologies that enable DMVPN and its operation. Once these have been highlighted, I provide very clear delineations between the DMVPN operational phases and behaviors, recognizing that there absolutely has to be a concrete understanding of these elements before you can even hope to understand how a routing protocol behaves when running on top of a DMVPN.

Chapter 6, “IP Prefix-List”: IP Prefix-List has applications in almost every aspect of prefix filtering and packet filtering. IP prefix lists offer capabilities to match traffic based on variable ranges of networks and mask lengths. This tool, unlike other pattern-matching tools such as access lists, allows us to match multiple aspects of a network simultaneously. This chapter explores all aspects of prefix lists as independent tools.

Chapter 7, “EIGRP”: Enhanced Interior Gateway Protocol figures significantly into the makeup of the CCIE RS Lab exam. This demands a concrete understanding of both classical and named operations. This book looks at the operation of both these modes from a command-line perspective as well as covers how the two modes can and do interoperate between enabled devices. But whether you are running named or classic mode, as a candidate you need to master how to manipulate the protocol. This chapter covers both basic and advanced EIGRP operations. EIGRP is the first protocol that provides granular traffic engineering and prefix filtering, as well as various methods for injecting default routes. All these capabilities are covered in the hands-on labs in this chapter.

Chapter 8, “OSPF”: Single handedly, OSPF is responsible for more failed CCIE attempts than any other protocol (including BGP). I have observed that most candidates do not have a firm understanding of what actually takes place behind the scenes with OSPF. OSPF has many varying modes and enhancements that make it difficult to master. Route filtering, LSA operation, various stub configurations, and update filtering are just a handful of the protocol’s operational aspects that need to be managed. The labs in this chapter illustrate the function and configuration of each of these topics. We focus on how OSPF operates in single- and multi-area configurations as well as on how to manipulate its behavior in every way possible.

Chapter 9, “Redistribution”: When you talk to students that are preparing for the CCIE Lab Exam, most will tell you that they are terrified of redistribution. This is a direct result of Grey Market Trainers flooding the Internet with horrendously complex and error-fraught redistribution labs. The average student sees this and is immediately intimidated by what should be a straightforward routing mechanism. What are missing are the foundational basics associated with how to perform redistribution, and what happens when you do. My approach to the topic is to discuss the methodology and situations where redistribution can be problematic. Again this will be illustrated in labs that focus on the types of loops that can be generated, how to mitigate loops that have occurred, and procedures that will insure they never occur.

Chapter 10, “Border Gateway Protocol”: Border Gateway Protocol introduces complexity based on its overall scope and capability to “tune” or engineer control plane exchange based on attributes. These attributes far exceed the capabilities of protocols such as RIPv2, EIGRP, and even OSPF. This brings with it an ordered approach to how to conduct configuration and some interesting configuration syntax based on the desired manner of deployment. First, this chapter focuses on a concrete understanding of BGP’s complex Adjacency State Machine capabilities. After the introduction of both the internal and external peering mechanisms employed by the protocol, we explore how and what next-hop information is exchanged, plus we explore how to manipulate these basic operations. From there, we explore how to manipulate attributes or decisions based on attributes via ACLs, prefix lists, route maps, and regular expressions. Lastly, we focus on mechanisms designed to simplify BGP configuration by providing reduced command sets, behavior optimizations, and streamlined configuration syntax.

Chapter 11, “IPv6”: Gone are the days of being able to focus just on IPv4 addressing and routing protocols. IPv6 figures significantly into the CCIE Routing and Switching exam in that the exam requires a full understanding of the variants of protocols that support IPv6. Additionally, this chapter explores the operation of IPv6 in non-broadcast multi-access (NBMA) topologies such as DMVPN.

Chapter 12, “Quality of Service”: Given that the majority of QOS mechanisms that involve hardware-optimized operation have been removed from the exam, it is important to focus intently on what remains. This chapter explores the key fundamentals of QOS in the IOS-driven enterprise. This includes all aspects of marking and classification of traffic via enhanced and traditional mechanisms. Lastly, the chapter deals with the manipulations of such traffic after it has been marked. Emphasis is given to both policing and shaping of traffic. This focuses on both classical serial WAN connections and high-speed Ethernet WAN connections.

Chapter 13, “IPSec VPN”: The focus of the CCIE Routing and Switching Lab has expanded significantly in its last iterations. This expansion has included the incorporation of site-to-site solutions such as GRE/IPSec Tunnel mode as well as multisite VPN technologies and their protection/encryption. This chapter covers the application of encryption on these tunnels and VPNs from a command-line level. At this point, you should be able to apply encryption to DMVPNs. By waiting until this point in the lab exploration, you are able to better separate the DMVPN configuration task requirements from the necessary encryption and security configurations.

Chapter 14, “Multicast”: This chapter explores solutions that require end-to-end IPv4 and IPv6 transport between all devices. This includes protocol-independent routing optimizations such as policy-based routing, First Hop Redundancy Protocols and network address translation.

Chapter 15, “MPLS and L3VPNs”: MPLS and L3VPNs are tested heavily in the CCIE Routing and Switching Lab exam. This chapter takes a step-by-step approach to demonstrating the operational capabilities and deployment concerns involved in VPNv4 tunnels. Specific focus is given to the protocols running between the customer edge and premises edge equipment.