Topic Coverage

The following list gives you a thorough overview of the features provided in each chapter so that you can make constructive use of your study time:

• Objectives: Listed at the beginning of each chapter, the objectives reference the core concepts covered in the chapter. The objectives match the objectives listed in the corresponding chapters of the online curriculum; however, the question format in the Companion Guide encourages you to think about finding the answers as you read the chapter.

• Notes: These are short sidebars that point out interesting facts, timesaving methods, and important safety issues.

• Summary: At the end of each chapter is a summary of the chapter’s key concepts. It provides a synopsis of the chapter and serves as a study aid.

• Practice: At the end of each chapter is a full list of all the labs, class activities, and Packet Tracer activities to refer to at study time.

Readability

The following features are provided to help you understand networking vocabulary:

• Key terms: Each chapter begins with a list of key terms, along with a page-number reference to find the term used inside the chapter. The terms are listed in the order in which they are explained in the chapter. This handy reference allows you to find a term, flip to the page where the term appears, and see the term used in context. The Glossary defines all the key terms.

• Glossary: This book contains an all-new Glossary that defines more than 1000 terms.

Practice

Practice makes perfect. This Companion Guide offers you ample opportunities to put what you learn into practice. You will find the following features valuable and effective in reinforcing the instruction that you receive:

• Check Your Understanding questions and answer key: Review questions are presented at the end of each chapter as a self-assessment tool. These questions match the style of questions in the online course. Appendix A, “Answers to the Check Your Understanding Questions,” provides an answer key to all the questions and includes an explanation of each answer.

  

• Labs and activities: Throughout each chapter, you are directed back to the online course to take advantage of the activities provided to reinforce concepts. In addition, at the end of each chapter is a “Practice” section that lists all the labs and activities to provide practice with the topics introduced in this chapter.

  

  

• Page references to online course: After most headings is a number in parentheses— for example, (1.1.2). This number refers to the page number in the online course so that you can easily jump to that spot online to view a video, practice an activity, perform a lab, or review a topic.

About Packet Tracer Software and Activities

Interspersed throughout the chapters, you’ll find a few Cisco Packet Tracer activities. Packet Tracer allows you to create networks, visualize how packets flow in a network, and use basic testing tools to determine whether a network would work. When you see this icon, you can use Packet Tracer with the listed file to perform a task suggested in this book. The activity files are available in the online course. Packet Tracer software is available only through the Cisco Networking Academy website. Ask your instructor for access to Packet Tracer.

How This Book Is Organized

This book corresponds closely to the Cisco Networking Academy Enterprise Networking, Security, and Automation v7 course and is divided into 14 chapters, one appendix, and a glossary of key terms:

• Chapter 1, “Single-Area OSPFv2 Concepts”: This chapter explains single-area OSPF. It describes basic OSPF features and characteristics, packet types, and single-area operation.

• Chapter 2, “Single-Area OSPFv2 Configuration”: This chapter explains how to implement single-area OSPFv2 networks. It includes router ID configuration, point-to-point configuration, DR/BDR election, single-area modification, default route propagation, and verification of a single-area OSPFv2 configuration.

• Chapter 3, “Network Security Concepts”: This chapter explains how vulnerabilities, threats, and exploits can be mitigated to enhance network security. It includes descriptions of the current state of cybersecurity, tools used by threat actors, malware types, common network attacks, IP vulnerabilities, TCP and UDP vulnerabilities, network best practices, and cryptography.

• Chapter 4, “ACL Concepts”: This chapter explains how ACLs are used to filter traffic, how wildcard masks are used, how to create ACLs, and the difference between standard and extended IPv4 ACLs.

• Chapter 5, “ACLs for IPv4 Configuration”: The chapter explains how to implement ACLs. It includes standard IPv4 ACL configuration, ACL modifications using sequence numbers, applying an ACL to vty lines, and extended IPv4 ACL configuration.

• Chapter 6, “NAT for IPv4”: This chapter explains how to enable NAT services on a router to provide IPv4 address scalability. It includes descriptions of the purpose and function of NAT, the different types of NAT, and the advantages and disadvantages of NAT. Configuration topics include static NAT, dynamic NAT, and PAT. NAT64 is also briefly discussed.

• Chapter 7, “WAN Concepts”: This chapter explains how WAN access technologies can be used to satisfy business requirements. It includes descriptions of the purpose of a WAN, how WANs operate, traditional WAN connectivity options, modern WAN connectivity options, and internet-based connectivity options.

• Chapter 8, “VPN and IPsec Concepts”: This chapter explains how VPNs and IPsec are used to secure communications. It includes descriptions of different types of VPNs and an explanation of how the IPsec framework is used to secure network traffic.

• Chapter 9, “QoS Concepts”: This chapter explains how network devices use QoS to prioritize network traffic. It includes descriptions of network transmission characteristics, queuing algorithms, different queueing models, and QoS implementation techniques.

• Chapter 10, “Network Management”: This chapter explains how to use a variety of protocols and techniques to manage a network, including CDP, LLDP, NTP, SNMP, and Syslog. In addition, this chapter discusses the management of configuration files and IOS images.

• Chapter 11, “Network Design”: This chapter explains the characteristics of scalable networks. It includes descriptions of network convergence, considerations for designing scalable networks, and switch and router hardware.

• Chapter 12, “Network Troubleshooting”: This chapter describes how to troubleshoot networks. It includes explanations of network documentation, troubleshooting methods, and troubleshooting tools. The chapter also demonstrates how to troubleshoot symptoms and causes of network problems using a layered approach.

• Chapter 13, “Network Virtualization”: This chapter describes the purpose and characteristics of network virtualization. It includes descriptions of cloud computing, the importance of virtualization, network device virtualization, software-defined network, and controllers used in network programming.

• Chapter 14, “Network Automation”: This chapter explains network automation. It includes descriptions of automation, data formats, APIs, REST, configuration management tools, and Cisco DNA Center.

• Appendix A, “Answers to the‘Check Your Understanding’ Questions”: This appendix lists the answers to the questions in the “Check Your Understanding Questions” section at the end of each chapter.

• Glossary: The Glossary provides definitions for all the key terms identified in each chapter.